there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly. tonight on "war stories" -- >> new kind of war and never will be another one like it. >> in the b-17s and 24s they flew the treacherous skies over europe. >> if i made a mistake it wasn't just me that paid the price. it was nine other young guys. >> their mission, destroy the nazi war machine. >> they said this is such an important mission if you don't come back, the sacrifice is worth the destruction of the oil wells. >> they wer the bomber bombs. that's next on "war stories." good eveningful i'm oliver

north and this is "war stories." behind me is a liberator. along with the counterpart, the boeing b-17 flying fortress, bombers like this dropped over a million tons of bombs over nazi targets in europe from 1942 to 1945. these missions weren't without a price. and almost half of those who took off from bases in england, north africa and italy didn't make it back. 21-year-old pilot named george mcgovern crashed his plane three times. tonight we bring the story of the other front line. the skies over europe where the pilots, navigators, bombers and bombadiers stared death in the face on every mission they flew. ♪ >> london bomb. suburban area where explosive rained from the sky. >> 1939. movie reels brought the home

from europe. washington was still publicly neutral. >> i am a pacifist. you are pacifists, too. >> behind the scenes, the u.s. was quietly gearing up for the inevitable entry into the war. expert of "wings of morning" explains. >> the united states on the eve of the second world war, when war broke out in europe in 1939 it was almost a disarmed country. the administration could see the handwriting on the wall. had an uphill battle. all of the preliminary work had to be done in the environment of isolationism. >> young men and boys by the thousands decided to sign up for military service before being drafted. this meant they could choose the branch of service they wanted to be in. 22-year-old robert morgan from asheville, north carolina, knew

what he wanted. >> why not try up in the air? >> i think what's really interesting of this is that these guys for the vast, vast majority of them had never been in an airplane. these men suddenly a lot of them had driver's license. >> mechanicized armies of the nazis blast their way toward paris. >> while the nazis stormed into paris, would be pilots were all signed up with no place to go. training hadn't started yet. young george mcgovern was put on the waiting list. >> they didn't have any pilots to train us. didn't have any airplanes. didn't have any airfields so it was almost another year. it was the following february before we were sworn in. it was a very daunting task that was confronting those people in the military and in the roosevelt's administration. >> even though i applied in november of 1940, they didn't call me up until march of 1941. >> the army found it necessary

to turn to private contractors. >> civilian pilot training schools first established in the late 1930s. the military used the pilots to give the boys the first les ones on single engine aircraft. robert sternfelg got the ride of his life. >> it was a disaster. because they gave us cheap skin helmets and they didn't have any ventilation and the sheep skin odor finally got to me. and i left my mark inside of that cockpit that day. >> the first time he took me up, he just did slow snap rolls and finished an hour of training, i was wondering if i was meant for the army air corps. >> they scrambled to build air bases and train pie lots, they were developing new strategies to strike at the heart of the german industrial center, to cripple the third reich's ability to make war they knew what they had to do. they had to build planes and

build them fast. but how to do it? >> the air planners looked around. of course, there was no mass fleet of bombers and they turned to private industry in the united states and turned to the boeing corporation in seattle. >> the sleek boeing b-17 was a state of the art four-engine bomber. flew at an attitude of more than 20,000 feet with a bomb load of 6,000 pountds. it was equipped with 13 50-caliber machine guns. buck freeman remembers now the b-17 got its dmam. >> when the plane was first built, i think it was out in seattle, washington, they were flying it. one of the writers described it as a flying fortress with all of the machine guns on board. >> the term stuck. the idea is guns in the waist, turret below, a tail gunner, top turret gunner that the plane would be able to defend itself against enemy aircraft. >> only plane in the world to take a beating and stay in the

air like they were. >> washington contracted the consolidated corporation for a new bomber they designated the b-24. >> what was the sense of what that airplane was like? >> it was the biggest bomber we had at that time and fly further, faster, carry a bigger bomb load than any other plane. >> but those that flew in the b-24 like frank tadesco and george mcgovern knew it wasn't like the more comfortable b-17. >> interior of the plane was cramped, crowded, cold and dangerous. >> it was a very difficult airplane to fly. i mean, physically, different. you had to use every muscle in your body to keep that plane on a mission for eight hours, ten hours, 12 hours. >> plane designed and built for one purpose only and obviously that was for dropping bombs. >> the b-24 was nicknamed the flying boxcar. it wouldn't win any beauty contests but it was just what the air corps needed. now they had to mass produce the

planes in a very short period of time. the army went to the man who wanted to put a car in every american's driveway. >> the government turns to henry ford and says, can you make these parts for what would be the b-24 bomber? ford said, no. i can't. i'll make the whole airplane and then we can start with an enormous facility west of detroit. willow run. >> 20-year-old dave hutchens began their training on the b-24 and the b-17. the bombers were state of the art machinery and the size was intimidating. >> i felt like i was a fly on an apartment house. it was sort of like asking someone to fly the space shuttle. >> i stood beside one and i honestly felt like i was standing beside a hangar. >> air base to air base learning about the giant bombers. >> tucson is where we trained in b-24s. that's our initial training. and then we flew to new mexico for advanced b-24 training.

>> the men who were going to be flying these big four-engine planes took nine months to a year to train. >> this training brought its own set of tragedies. >> it was a very common occurrence. pilot take off, suddenly lose altitude at the end of the runway and explode in a great billowing orange streak of clouds of flames. >> by the time germany declared war on the united states 1941 the first wave of recruits were in the final stages of training. the krus consisted of two pilots, a navigator, radio man, bombadier and five gunners. >> very interesting crew because guys all over the united states. it was strange how we fitted together so well. i mean, it was just a real perfect match. >> everybody had their function. >> you can't be a master of every job. >> they recognized that i had a job to do and they let me do my job and i let them do their job. 'went got along real well.

>> trained and ready to fly, the crews were on the way to combat. some were assigned to the newly formed eighth air force in england. >> they were building the bases as fast as they could. >> the area transformed in a gigantic air base. the biggest aircraft carrier in the world. >> the first missions so smooth it would give some a false sense of security. >> always remember that night standing -- sitting around the bar, standing around the bar. boys said, gee whiz, this is not going to be bad. get this over with in a pretty big hurry. >> a top secret mission in the heart of the third reich's industrial heartland when "war stories" returns. if you're taking prescription medications, does your mouth often feel dry? a dry mouth can cause cavities and bad breath. over 400 medications can cause a dry mouth.

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target is german naval supply center in france. >> nobody had any idea in 1942 when these men arrived in england what sort of casualty rates they would be facing. >> in august of 1942, the eighth air force launched its first real missions over main larnd europe. the b-17s and 24s fighter escort only as far as the english channel. after that, they were on their own. as it flew past the coast of france, they were met by elite squan drons of the german luftwafa 21-year-old butler remembers the first run-in. >> we were intercepted by the yellow nose wolves and quite a

reputation as being very aggressive. >> we had been warned that the fighters were going to give us trouble. >> the casualties began to mount, both from fighter interference and from the anti-aircraft fire. of the casualties, 37% lost in the first 3 missions. >> as the air force fought off the luftwafa, patton was driving desert fox out. the ocean of sand known as the sahara desert supplied what the allies needed. land for air bases. they were among the first assigned to the arid wasteland. >> they told us where we were going to go and that was out into the des sbeert benghazi, libya. and that's a hell hole really. >> it was pretty rough. the first thing we did and benghazi, two shovels. we dug in to the desert and then put a tent over this hole that we had dug. the temperatures went up to about 120 degrees during the

day. >> the boys began training for a top secret low altitude bombing run. >> the training was low level and i mean it was down on the ground. >> pilots true were not happy about this. 500 feet and somebody with a machine gun could knock you out of the air and hit by a sloing shot. >> a couple of airplanes scraped the desert. we heard that one airplane hit a camel and killed it. >> this would be no ordinary mission. >> i'd say about two days before the mission we start getting briefings. where we were going. and what was expected. >> at the briefing, the boys learned the details of what was to known as operation tidal wave. formation of 175 b-24s to take off from the libyan desert and head north across the aegen sea and descend to avoid german radar and drop the bombs on the

oil fields of romania. it was hitler's black gold mine. the key to fueling the third reich's war machine. >> ploesti in romania produced about 40% of the overall crude oil. >> the general said if the mission was successful and the refineries were destroyed and every one of our airplanes was lost it would still be worthwhile. >> there was two things they said for us to do. number one, write a letter home and we'd mail it if you don't come back. number two, pack your bags and put it on top of your cots so we knew damn well they didn't have all the answers. >> the commander of the 9th air force actually presented with two options. one of a high altitude raid and the other was the low. he chose the low. the crews petitioned and said maybe we should rethink this. he said any commander that doesn't want to be part of this is gone. >> the boys including stern feld and butler were well trained and

experienced and nothing could prepare them for one of the most dangerous missions ever attempted by the army air corps. take this plane and bomb the enemy by bombing so low they barely cleave the tree tops. that's next on "war stories." i love to eat. i love hanging out with my friends. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free. it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well fitting dentures let in food particles just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made even the kiwi an enjoyable experience try super poligrip free

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hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. the mission which was launched on august 1st snake bit from the beginning. >> august 1st, 1943, up before sun rise, sternfeld and butler readied themselves for the

bloodiest mission they'd ever fly. >> we went to a rather short believing. i can remember our group commander saying now, if anybody doesn't want to go, don't go. nobody declined. >> we took off. one airplane apparently lost an engine right after takeoff. he started to lose a lot of attitude and in doing so he hit a concrete telephone pole and went in and splattered the whole airplane all over the desert. there were a couple of survivors but all the rest of them perished. >> we joined up in the overall formation. flying out across the mediterranean until we saw one of the airplanes up ahead of us in a spin and go down. this is the second airplane we had seen go in. >> two planes down and they weren't past the mediterranean yet. >> as the formation which had already lost now a number of airplanes approached one of the lead arngt veered off in the wrong direction. >> the ip was the point where the planes were supposed to make

their final turn in the direction of their target. but before they reach it, the colonel compton leader of the bomb group ran into a thick layer of clouds. >> the 376 and the 93rd climbed to get above the clouds. picked up a tail wind, so consequently got quite a ways ahead of our other three groups. >> he turned prior to the time that he was supposed to. >> and the turnoff subsequent groups know and broke radio silence and they were hollering to the leader that this is the wrong place. the wrong turn. wrong turn. the colonel that was flying the first airplane and he said he never heard anybody call him. >> colonel compton kept to radio silence and had no idea they were trying to tell him he made a wrong turn. only when he saw the streets of bucharest, romania instead of the refineries did he realize

they veered off course. >> our group was behind them about 20 minutes. didn't make that error. we went on to the proper place or ip and then we turned to the right and went in to the target. >> now, you've got all of these groups b-24s approaching the target from different directions. by the time they reached, they made another terrible discovery tie germans knew they were coming. >> the germans, the romanians knew a large bomber force was on the way. flying low altitude made no difference. >> all of a sudden there was all kinds of opposition. haystacks swung open and guns in there started firing at us. off to the right we could see a train that was firing at us. >> the germans had quite a few fly batteries around and the great 88s, the big anti-aircraft guns. >> anti-aircraft fire pounded the bombers. it opened up a pandora's box of new problems. >> the planes were so low that the gunners on the b-24s were

actually engaged in battles with gunners on the ground. this is the four-engine is not supposed to be doing but they were that low. >> our flight engineer said that our right wing came within 20 feet of scraping the ground. >> the prop wash all over the target so severe you have 200 propels chewing up the air and going through it it's rough as hell and things were happening one thing after another. >> if that wasn't enough the germans were also sending up barrage balloons to wreck havoc with the propellers. sternfeld and butler run-ins with the lethal contraptions. >> i hit one of them and the cable wound around the prop and broke and came in to the airplane. >> we caught it right between the fuselage and the number 3 engine. we lost number three engine from that. >> after fighting their way there, the bomb group found the

target obscured with thick plumes of black smoke. >> one of the groups on the previous airplanes made another turn and they saw a large refinery and they bombed it. that happened to be the target that we were assigned to bomb and that cost our group a tremendous amount. >> of course, the smoke starts building up. flames flying 200, 300 feet into the air. planes coming toward them. going across. so planes were falling out of the sky right and left. it was a scene of real catastrophe. >> this amazing picture by le roy morgan shows the aircraft narrowly avoiding the smokestacks. >> i saw the smokestacks on my right and so i decided not hit those and so i banked the airplane a little bit and avoided them. my iszed them by 65 feet. >> sternfeld's managed to drop his bombs where he could and then tried to maneuver the wounded aircraft home.

he'd only make it as far as the island of sigh press where he had to make an emergency landing. mean white, butler and the 44th bomb group were only unit to hit the target to which they were assigned. >> we made it back to benghazi. got out of the airplane and there was an ambulance there and a man grabbed me and they hauled me off to the hospital to give a transfusion to somebody. >> coming up, the story of one crew that became famous merely for surviving and a romance that caught the imagination of the american people when "war stories" continues.

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numbers for the raid were

devastating. over 50 b-24s shot down and 500 airmen dead or missing in action. >> when the planes limped back, 30% of the planes were lost. >> it was disastrous and instead of 75% of the oil capacity destroyed, maybe 40% destroyed in the raid. >> for the boys from libya, the mission was tragic and back in england it wasn't much better. the shore up the sinking morale, a limit was set on the number of missions that could be flown by any airman. >> let me ask you about the missions. who picked that number? >> i think that was the 8th air force flying out of england. i think most pilots that flew with the 8th air force required to fly 25 missions. >> but the losses were so high, the general put out an order that if anybody finished 25 missions can go home. >> bob morgan and the crew would be household names but october '42 before they'd flown any missions tradition required they name the b-17. pilot bob morgan got resistance at first for the name he wanted.

>> i dated this girl and she is from memphis and what about the name memphis belle? no. they didn't think that was such a good idea. >> his power of persuasion and more than a couple of beers won over his crew. >> i couldn't count how many we had. we had quite a few. >> the b-17 christined the memphis belle and the nose of the plane skated with a sketch of his memphis sweet heart. >> a new form of art emerged, a nose art. a kind of girl esquire magazine kind of pin-up that was done. >> the main artist at this time was named petty and i called him on the phone. told him i wanted a picture of one of his paintings. he said he would be glad to send one. i did. that's how i got the memphis belle. >> the nose art was a fun distraction but once the crew of the memphis belle hit the skies

they were all business. the belle flew missions against submarines, railroad yards and naval bases in germany all among the most dangerous target it is 8th air force attempted. to keep the crew psyched up, morgan gave them a pep talk before each raid. >> we had a little thing. when we got throughout to go on a mission, just before climbing in the airplane, guys, on one airplane comes back today it is going to be us. don't think gee whiz. this may be my last mission. >> by mission 15 they survived the laughway mark for going home. one day morgan was surprised by a visit by william wilder. >> we were one of the few crews still there and a lot of combat experience, he came to us and said i've been instructed to get some combat film. he said i want morgan to fly a few missions with you. >> this crew singled out because it was close to being done and it was chosen for a wartime

morale boosting film about life in the 8th air force. >> i said, bill, tell you what. we'll try it but if it doesn't work, i have to say that we'll have to stop. so, we tried it on a mission. he was just great. mine, he was running all the over that airplane with a camera in one hand and bothering you in the other hand flying five combat missions with us. >> nearing the magic number of 25, morgan tried to keep them focused on the raids ahead. >> in the last missions, they began to get really nervous. they could see the end and you don't want to go down on the last one or two or three or three or fifth missions. >> this, this trying to dwell on that particular subject. >> despite very close calls, the crew of the belle were the first in the 8th air force to complete their 25 missions. >> after we landed after the 25th mission, william wilder said to me, you know, this filming we have been making? it is supposed to be a documentary and going to call it

"the memphis belle." it was news but that's not the most important new it is me or any other crew member. we were going home. >> they were happy just to be alive but what happened next was beyond anyone's expectations. >> that's when the publicity started. >> bag and baggage and hasty good-byes and the prospect of home sweet home. >> out of london and be interviewed. >> even had an audience with the queen of england. they were asked to do one last good deed for their country. >> decided to send the bomber and the crew home and do a 26th mission. >> the 26th mission would be a war bond tour of america covering 20 states. it was a time when america had to raise money to fight and the crew of the memphis belle flew their bomber from town to town, first stop, washington, d.c. and then to memphis. and a chance to reunite with his girlfriend, the memphis belle. unbeknownst to the boys, they were already celebrities.

>> they built it up so much in newspapers and all this, love story of the memphis belle and margaret and bob morgan so, you know, it was very interesting and we wanted to get married. >> morgan's plan was to marry margaret polk in memphis. but the air force had other plans. >> we had a public relations captain that was flying with us. he talked to his people in washington and said they would wish you put off your wedding until after this tour is over because the publicity is so great just as it is. love story. so after much discussion, we decided to put it off. >> morgan went on the goodwill tour and margaret stood behind and this would be their undoing. after a party ran a picture showing morgan on the arm of another girl, the engagement was called off. the famous love story was now history. >> so that's how we broke up. we stayed friends. always did. she died in 1990. as a matter of fact, my late

wife and i visited her many times before she died. in memphis. >> more on the men that flew the unfriendly skies over europe when "war stories" continues. [vo] when it comes to investing, looking from a fresh perspective can make all the difference. it can provide what we call an unlock: a realization that often reveals a better path forward. at wells fargo, it's our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock.

i think memphis belle was a morale booster but it didn't do anything really to hide from these men their chances of survive are not good. >> the bomber boys were facing seemingly insurmountable problems. shortages of just about everything. >> it took a long time to train crews. planes were being produced and they were running out of aircraft

october 14th was so bloody it was dubbed black thursday. 60 b-17s were lost. many more damaged and 594 men were listed as missing in action. pilot david hutchens remembers the mission as if it were yesterday. >> german fighter really worked us over. it was like a parachute drop with all of the airplanes going down so we dropped our bombs and turned for home and had an engine problem. we couldn't keep up with the formation. >> bill eagleson remembers the dreaded fighters.

>> you could see other planes go down. you could see the human fighters coming in, slow rolling, taking on everybody's with them. >> you began to wonder, you know, how are you going to get 25 missions in with these statistics working against you? and so that works on you. psychologically, you know. >> by january 1944, the allies wrenched southern italy from the grip. the 15th air force moved to air bases. with the new bases came a new fighter aircraft, b-51 mustang with its long-range fuel tanks. >> when they introduced the p-51s with the wing tanks, they brought us right into the target area. it gave us a great feeling of having someone helping to protect us. >> that was our savior. that went all the way to the target with us and brought us home. >> the fighter escort gave the boys new confidence. but death or capture was still a

constant reality. fresh from the raid on tokyo, newly appointed 8th air force commander lieutenant general doolittle came up with a new strategy. b-24 navigator son of jewish immigrants remembers the briefing. >> he said to us, you men are expendable. your object to knock out the luftwafa. we invade the continent. we don't want any enemy planes in the air. >> so is bombers were basically bait at that phase of the war. >> they routed us through fighter areas where we would bring up fighter planes. >> the boys inside the bombers had to endure the harsh conditions inside their planes. >> what was the airplane like? >> those planes were not heated. the temperature inside would be around 45 or 50 degrees below 0. we were on oxygen from 10,000 feet to on up so you had these sheep lined helmets with goggles and then the oxygen mask right

up under the goggles and then solid sheep skin lined shoes and flack vests and all the rest. >> the luftwafa fighters not the only problem for the bomber boys. thousands of fragments of anti-aircraft fire called flack. >> little pellets flying all around. little pieces of the shell and you look and see black puffs here and all over the place. >> flack scatter usually at the coast and the vicious kind. it was called tracking flack. and usually manned by german troops. and it was just puff up to your aircraft. when we got into the target, we had barrage flack and that was fourth of july all over again. that just came in all directions. >> he remembers what it was like to see the aircraft next to him go down in flames. >> look for the parachute. see how many men were able to

come down. sometimes it just flows up. nobody comes out. once in a while, you know, by a quirk of fate, as they blow up the plane, some had the chutes on. they're out and pull the cord and open the chute. >> they had over plans for him. may 8th, 1944, mission to germany, the moment all airmen fear came true for him. >> we were rammed by a german fighter and we went down. we had gotten in orders from the pilot to bail out and then we started to come out one by one. i started to come down and i'm looking around and a lot of men running around. looked like farmers. and waiting for me to come down. and when i did, they come over to me and first guy pointed a gun to my head and asked for the fur lined boots and then started to march me back into town. i wanted to know what they'll do with me. to where they treat me as an american officer or they treat me as a jew. that's -- that was running

through my mind. >> his plane was shot up and forced to bail out into the heart of nazi germany and he just happens to be jewish. how does navigator abe wieland survive? that's next on "war stories." two become one.

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after bailing out over germany, abe was in a bit of trouble. at gun point his boots were taken and marched to the town of sell. >> a man to the city officials and crowd around me and marching me through the middle of town. i'm looking at the people of the town lined up. clubs and pitch forks and everybody's hollering the fact

that i was jewish and made me more of an enemy than everybody else. >> during the interrogation it seemed they knew everything about him. >> german officer sits opposite me and a big book and opens the book and i take a look and there's my crew picture on that page. where we were educated, where we were trained. >> after hours of questioning, he was thrown into a boxcar. he had no idea where he was going. >> they had anywhere from 60 to 80 men in a boxcar. the only air coming into the boxcar is little cracks in the side of them. men with disintear, nausea and the stench was horrendous in there. >> he was a prisoner of war at a camp. conditions weren't much better than the boxcar, especially the food. >> we didn't get that much to eat. there was a sad situation as far as food was concerned. they gave us packages but the germans were stealing the red cross packages so they could

eat. >> summer 1944. while abe was a p.o.w. george mcgovern and the crew were flying missions all over germany and austria. >> the worst mission. >> the worst mission was probably over the scota ammunition works in czechoslovakia. we lost an engine on the way into the tar get. i advanced the other three engines and stayed in formation until we got to the target and we got hit hard over the target. we lost another engine. all of a sudden all of the oil came out. of our rudder. and when that happened, it froze. >> we started back to the home base in italy. and we got about to the head of

the adriatic sea. >> we lost the third engine and we were losing altitude then. pretty rapidly. >> mcgovern said let's start throwing things out of here. we threw everything that we could get our hands on out of the airplane. . fortunately the biz an island off the coast was there. i said, emergency strip. well, a very small landing area. very short in between mountains. >> as i lined up with the runway, i could see the car casses of bombers that had smashed into a hill at the end of the runway. >> mcgovern needed 4,000 feet of runway to safely land. get half of what he needed. >> luck was with us. we put that plane down right on the end of the runway and the co-pilot and i both got on the brakes as hard as we could press. we were right up out of the our seats jamming those brakes all

the way down. >> that plane ground to a halt just a few feet from the end of the runway. >> when something like that happens, when's the reaction of the crew afterwards talking to their command pilot? >> it was the only time i saw that crew leap out of the plane and down on the ground kissing the ground. i hate to get into all that. it was a love feast when we walked away from it. they knew it was a good landing and i did, too. >> he and his crew had three brushes with death and survived them all. higgins doesn't chalk it up to luck. >> he was a good pilot. i always said he brought us back and sincere man. george got for the landing the distinguished flying cross. >> relentless pounding of industrial targets finally paid off. in late 1944, germany was no longer rebuilding destroyed

factories or refineries. >> finally one was able to see a sudden drop in german production across the board and particularly in oil. one of the reasons that bomber crews were not seeing as many luftwafa planes in the skies over germany. they didn't have enough fuel. >> germany was collapsing in a cataclysm of destruction. >> the. >> the allies were closing in. on april 29th, 1945, george patton's 3rd army arrived. abe was there. he remembers his liberation as a joyous occasion. >> tanks came through. knocked the gate over. somebody said, look, look! we took a look at the german bar racks. command post. and somebody had climbed the flag pole, pulled down the nazi flag and put up old glory and there were 130,000 prisoners of war in that camp who were just cheering away to beat the band. >> the bomber boys now men were

on their way home. >> what was it like coming home? >> i landed outside of boston. we hit that field with a bang. and i got on the intercom. i said to the crew, well, i guess there's no doubt we have now hit the united states. everybody laughed. they didn't care about a drop them 20 feet. >> coming into new york harbor, i got the feeling. i just couldn't talk. i was just spellbound and i'm looking at the statue of liberty and i'm free and i'm home and i'm an american and i'm proud and i'm happy. god bless america. >> i'm ol jer north. stay right here on fox news for more "war stories." i love kiwis.

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over 40,000 airmen lost their lives flying impossible missions in an effort to deny hitler the black gold and other materials he immediated to wage war. for many survivors of those missions, the trip back home brought a struggle to figure out why they lived and their fellow airmen had not. though that question goes unanswered to this day, one thing they knew for sure. their efforts changed the face of war forever. they carved legends in the sky and redefined how wars are fought. they laid foundations for all time. who is done by men of a special time. they were indeed men of a special time. and theirs is a war story that deserves to be told. good night. video collection.

welcome to our first show that we're doing. i'm real excited. careful, you'll smear my lipstick. (laughter) (lively music) good evening, sir. ♪ (laughter) my goodness. ♪ millions of people are demanding my return to the screen. -what's so funny? -we are. (tarzan yell) (applause) why the hell don't the two of you go on home and let me watch my tv? (goofy laugh) (tim) mrs. wiggins? hello? goodnight, thank you. (applause) well, hello. i'm carol burnett,