EPILOGUE
"Looking back", said Ralph Lavoie, "I don't think I have to tell you that I think war is pretty stupid. I don't think anything is ever accomplished by it. It brings more misery to the human race then anything else I can think. of. It pits one group of humans against another group, and the ones that fight it really have nothing against the other group. I found many Germans, guards in the camp and civilians I came in contact with, to be great people. And it's funny that when I first saw the German people I was surprised they had ears and noses and eyes the same was we did. I think our government had as good a propaganda machine as Germany ever thought of having. We sure thought they were terrible people. I guess they followed Hitler just like we followed Roosevelt. It's just that the leaders took us in different directions, but we both ended up in war at any rate. I'm proud of my military service, I'm proud that I was in the thick of it and I'm proud of my country, not only for what it did during the war, helping to free many, many people. I'm also proud of what it has done since, and all its humanitarian works. I know we get frustrated sometimes with the amount of money our government spends overseas but we are a very generous and compassionate nation."
· Ralph Lavoie gave a deposition to the War Crimes Commission regarding his shooting while a POW. He later heard unconfirmed reports that both German soldiers were hanged for their involvement in the death of Jim Proakis. Lavoie does not believe it happened. He never found out their names and never was interested in knowing.
· A Boeing representative told Ralph Lavoie after the war that when he was hopelessly trapped in the ballet turret of his burning plane, the center of gravity of the falling B-17 changed as it came out of its initial dive, and the weight of the ammunition stacked on the other side of the ball turret outweighed Lavoie. This weight shifted within the turret, angling Lavoie's guns to the down position and in turn allowing the clamshell doors that led back into the airplane to open, enabling Lavoie to climbed into the plane, retrieve his parachute and bail out. The ball turret usually carried around 1200 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition, enough for about two minutes of continuous firing.
· Ralph and Mary Lavoie retired several years ago, to Rindge, New Hampshire.
· Today Bill Binnebose is retired in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. He and Ralph Lavoie have maintained a strong friendship over the years...
· After the war Jackie Brunnel joined the French Foreign Legion.
· Ken Kurtenbach survived Stalag XVII, married and has ten children. He is highly respected by the men who shared the privations of being POWs under his leadership.
