"I was the luckiest 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force." (Audio interview, 10:32)

Fred Grant Hargesheimer

Fred Hargesheimer in his home, Grass Valley, California [1/22/2008] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron Service Location: Garbutt Field, Australia; New Guinea; Fort Dix, New Jersey; Sikeston, Missouri; Randolph Field, and Brooks Field, Texas; March Field, California; Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia; Pacific Theater Rank: Major Place of Birth: MN

A pilot with the 8th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, Fred Hargesheimer was on his 49th mission taking pictures in the South Pacific when he encountered enemy fire. Forced to bail out, he landed in a eucalyptus grove with all of his limbs and his survival kit intact. After a month of eating snails to stay alive, a group of villagers found and cared for him for nearly five months before he was rescued. After leaving the military at the end of the war, he raised funds to build a school in the New Britain community where he had landed, in order to say thank you to the people who had saved his life.