"He says, 'Boy, you speak pretty good English for a Frog.' And I says, "I'm not a Frog; I'm an American pilot.'" (Audio Interview, 1:26:45)

Robert Joseph Grace

War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 411th Squadron, 373rd Fighter Group Service Location: Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama; Carlstrom Field and Eglin Army Airfield, Florida; Bainbridge, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Millville Army Airfield, New Jersey; Woodchurch, Kent, England; Belgium; Hillsgrove Army Air Base, Rhode Island Rank: Captain Place of Birth: OH

After the U.S. entered World War II, recent high school graduate Robert Grace wasn't eligible to enter the air cadet program without a college degree--unless he passed a test, which he did. During training, trying to have a mock dogfight with another pilot, he dove at the wrong plane, carrying an instructor, and almost washed out, but he was given a second chance. So it could not have come as a surprise that, when he was shot down over Belgium on his 11th mission, he managed for months to evade capture by the Germans, even with a broken leg. Sheltered by families, by monks, and by the Underground (who mistook his Midwestern response, "Yeah" for the German "Ja"), Grace lived up to his name and was finally taken in by Allied forces pushing inland after D-Day.