26 Oct Shot Down
(2014) Shot Down by Steve Snyder is the true story of the Susan Ruth, a B-17 shot down over Belgium on February 8, 1944. Steve’s Dad, Howard Snyder, was the pilot and on this fateful day, as the burning plane began to fall apart, each crew member suffered a distinctly different fate.
I wrote about the Susan Ruth a couple of years ago, and it was then that I met Steve Snyder. Our Dads had been at Thurleigh at about the same time, and we were both attending reunions of their bomb group, the 306th BG out of Thurleigh airfield near Bedford, England.
Steve has done a great job of following the footsteps of his Dad beginning with his training to become a pilot, life at Thurleigh through all the harrowing experiences after their plane literally crashed and burned. I anxiously awaited the fate of each airman.
What was especially endearing to me was the love story. Howard and Ruth married shortly before he went to war. Susan Ruth was their baby daughter, and of course there was no other name considered for his new flying fortress than hers. Steve is fortunate to have every letter that his Dad wrote home. I enjoyed reading about all his crew members’ hijinks while Howard was writing to Ruth about how much he missed her and their daughter. He wasn’t interested in anything but her.
Shot Down takes us from England to the skies over occupied Europe to the underground resistance in Belgium and in France. These young men were struggling to stay two steps ahead of the Gestapo while the brave citizens of the small villages risked their lives to help them.
Years later, the families of these citizens are still remembering with gratitude the young men who lived and died among them.
We can never thank our veterans enough.
SHOT DOWN: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
tammyCA
Posted at 15:00h, 10 NovemberI’ll have to add this to my growing list of WWII books to read…thank you! 🙂 I watched a DVD on a fighter pilot who was shot down over the Netherlands, protected by the very brave Resistance but then captured and taken prisoner & put in a isolated hole in a cellar! If they were out of uniform while trying to escape they were assumed to be spies and that was a much more brutal treatment than a uniformed POW.
Robert Nori
Posted at 16:56h, 14 NovemberMy father, Robert Nori, Sr. was a radio operator in a B17 in the Eighth Army Aircorp. Their plane went down behind enemy lines and my father was captured by the Germans and spent about 14 months in the infamous Stalag 17. The entire crew survived the war and my Dad is still alive and well in 2014.
Clarence Miller
Posted at 13:15h, 02 DecemberI am about one fourth of the way through the book. His devotion to his wife and daughter are heartwarming. The book is a great read. It is really hard to put down and I can’t wait to read what will happen next.
It also gives me an insight into the life on my cousin Orian Owens who lost his life trying to
get back to England in San Remy.
A big thanks to you, Pat, and Steve for keeping the men and women of “The Greatest Generation” alive. They are becoming fewer and fewer, but their memories continue on.
Pat DiGeorge
Posted at 14:29h, 02 DecemberThank you so much for your comment, Clarence. It is feedback like yours that I love. We can never thank our veterans enough!
tammyCA
Posted at 23:30h, 23 SeptemberOh, wow I just saw my original comment; how funny that I actually later heard Steve Snyder speaking in person about his book at a vets meeting ..I did buy it; got it signed even! :).