"Let courage be your password, make fortitude your guide / And then instead of grousing, remember those who died." (Memoir, page 51)

Milton W. Stern

Milton Stern as a cadet. [detail] War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 381st Bomb Group Service Location: Ridgewell Air Force Base, England Rank: Major POW: Yes Place of Birth: Buffalo, NY

Shot down over Holland in March 1944, navigator Milton Stern was sheltered by Dutch partisans for 10 weeks before being captured and sent to a German prison camp. There he recorded lists of German rations by weight and composed poems to keep up his spirits. Later in the war, he helped "liberate" a shipment of Red Cross parcels that civilians working near the camp were hoarding, gorging himself on the contents in anticipation of his own liberation by the Allies.