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Description
Oral history interview of Henry Kiesel. Henry L. Kiesel was drafted into WWII (1942-1956) in the Army Air Corps 739th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group. He was a Technical Sergeant and saw action in the European Theater, in Algiers, Brazil, Iran, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Tunis, Tunisia. He would open the bomb bay door on the plane, walk the catwalk, and pull the bomb pins. During a group bombing run over the Alps mountains in Austria, Henry’s plane was hit by enemy fire. He had to jump from the plane. In the bombing group was a plane that had cameras onboard to record damage the bombing run inflicted on the target.That plane actually took a photo of the B-24 falling through the sky after being hit and it also showed Henry’s parachute and Henry falling through the sky heading for a landing in a snow-covered area of Austria. He was a prisoner of war at Stalag IX-B, at Bad-Orb, Germany for 15 months.