The Supercar Registry - Long overdue award for Liberator pilot

About ten years ago I met a local NJ veteran who owned a rare coin store in Jersey City, NJ. He served as a Liberator Navigator in WWII. We talked a bit about his experiences. I told him I had read a book called "The Log of the Liberators." Great book with great stories of the guys and their planes. The Ploesti raid is detailed extensively in the book. Lots of photos.

I eventually brought the book to him and he pointed out a photo of his plane from the raid. He had never seen the photo before. He missed the Ploesti raid as he was in the hospital with dissentary at the time. Neither his crew nor his plane returned from that raid.

Amazing guy. He was 80+ years old back then and he chain smoked cigarettes one after the other. Great attitude - he said every day beyond that last day in the service in WWII was gravy, so the cigarettes weren't going to hurt him.