Flying on a Wing and a Prayer

In 1942 Ralph left behind days behind an adding machine, week nights in accounting courses and weekends courting sweetheart Bette Lou and joined the Army Air Corps. He survived cadet shenanigans and rookie pilot mistakes to join the "Mighty 8th Air Force" flying over Nazi-occupied Europe. But nothing in his training prepared him for bailing out of his B-17 over occupied France. There, he found himself forced to rely on the courage and kindness of ordinary French men and women, who risked everything to help him. This is his story and theirs.