News - Off Beat Stories
American WWII pilot to search German cellar for lost wings
Posted: Sep 4, 2009 7:43 AM by Associated Press
An American veteran of World War II is heading back to Germany this weekend in search of his wings.
Sixty-five-years ago, 1st Lt. Bernerd Harding was huddled in a cellar with a few other airmen captured by German farmers after being shot down. He buried his pilot's wings, fearful he'd be beaten or shot as an American bomber pilot.
Now, at age 90, Harding wants those wings back. He hopes -- with the help of a German doctor -- to find the farm house cellar and dig up the 3-inch long metal wings that he had proudly pinned to his shirt. The house was in rural Klein Quenstedt, Germany, southwest of Berlin.
In an interview from his New Hampshire home, Harding says he knows "exactly" where the wings are, and "won't need a shovel" to find them.
Harding just hopes he finds the right cellar and that no one has poured concrete over the floor in the years since he scratched his shallow hole in the dirt.
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