The Writing 69th

Walter Cronkite beat the odds on February 26, 1943 and so did Andy Rooney. Both were part of a group of eight journalists called "The Writing 69th" that was assigned a risky mission: accompanying an 8th Air Force bombing raid on Bremen, Germany. On that day, the B-24 bomber carrying New York Times reporter Robert Perkins Post was shot down over Germany as it approached the target. Post died along with eight members of the crew. Jim Hamilton follows the journalists through their training, the high-altitude mission, and its aftermath. The true story of Post's death, which had never adequately been told until now, builds on accounts that Hamilton gathered from journalists, airmen (American and German), and German civilians who witnessed the crash of Post's bomber and the results of the bombing.