Monroe man's efforts result in Distinguished Flying Crosses for two men who saved his life

MONROE — It's never too late to make sure someone gets what he or she rightfully earned.

Just ask Monroe resident Harvey Horn, whose persistence and work has resulted in the U.S. Air Force awarding the Distinguished Flying Cross - one of its most prestigious service medals- to two men who saved his life 67 years ago.

Horn's quest to make sure the pilots of the B-17G were honored for their lifesaving work began in January 2009 after reading about the heroic efforts of U.S. Airways Airbus A-320 pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger. Now known worldwide, Sullenberger ditched his aircraft in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all passengers and crew.

March 20, 1945 It was a reaffirmation of the similarly heroic efforts of the pilots of the B-17G bomber 64 years earlier, when pilot John Lincoln and co-pilot Lorin Millard ditched their plane into Quarnaro Bay off of Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia), saving the lives of the crew.

On March 20, 1945, Horn, who was attached to the 772nd Bomber Squadron, 463th Bomber Group, 15th Air Force based in Foggia, Italy, was a navigator in a crew led by Lincoln and Millard.

The mission of the B-17G, named “Pretty Baby's Boys,” was to bomb the marshalling yards south of Vienna at Amstettin, Austria.

But, the plane was hit by enemy fire over Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

With one engine on fire, as a direct result of enemy fire, two engines not working and the fourth barely working, Lincoln and Millard successfully flew the damaged aircraft over the Alps, through anti-aircraft fire and into Quarmaro Bay, part of the Adriatic Sea, without breaking up.

The heavy bomber floated long enough for all 10 crew members to get onto rubber boats.

Almost immediately, they became prisoners of war of the German Navy.

For 36 days, the crew was held captive, not knowing what would happen to them until they and other POWs were able to capture German guards and turn them over the U.S. 3rd Army 86th Blackhawk Division.

Horn detailed the story of what happened to him and the crew in his book, “Goldfish-Silver Boot, The Story of a World War II Prisoner of War,” which he hopes keeps alive information about what service people did in order to defeat the enemy.

'They saved our lives' After Sullenberger's “Miracle on the Hudson” took place, Horn had a conversation with one of the B-17G's crew members who said to him: “You ought to put in a medal for the crew.”

But Horn felt differently. “Why?” he said. “We didn't do anything. John and Lorin deserve a medal, they saved our lives. Sullenberger had just ditched his jet and everybody was saved. I said to (my wife) Minerva, 'My guys did the same thing with worse conditions. How were they able to ditch this thing without cracking up and staying afloat for eight minutes for us to get out?' I decided I was going to take action.”

And so he did. The amount of paperwork required was tremendous, Horn recalled, and included writing to the Air Force secretary, U.S. senators in the home states of the two men and others.

“We went through the application line by line,” he said. “It took over a year to get this to the Air Force Review Board. It was something I felt I had to do. I felt I had to take a shot. My whole work in life has been defined by what is doable. I would find a way to get it done.”

By then, Lincoln had died, but his family assisted by providing the necessary documents to submit with the application.

Millard, who was still alive at that time, provided a written narrative supporting Horn's application.

Initially, the medals were seemingly not meant to be. Last year, a review board of three people rejected it by a 2-1 margin.

At that point, Horn, who had a stack of paper “inches thick,” set them aside, believing his pursuit to honor the two would be forever lost.

But this past March 16, he received a call that his application had been reviewed, and the decision was reversed. Lincoln and Millard would be receiving their Distinguished Flying Crosses.

“I don't know why they did it, but they did it and I'm delighted they did it,” Horn said. “The fact that all 10 of us are alive is because of the skill and courage of these guys. I think that deserves recognition. I don't know of any bomber group … a B17 or B24 … in all my talking to POWs or guys who flew during World War II, that all 10 walked away. Somebody should say thank you.”

Lincoln's family received his medals over Memorial Day in California, where they lived.

Millard died last July. Horn's only regret was that he didn't live long enough to be present for the medals ceremony.

'Tattoo' day at the base But Millard's family lived in Ohio, and bigger plans were made for the awarding of his at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's annual “Tattoo” day this past June 29. The Ohio base follows the old Scottish custom where people get together, show emblems, sing, play military songs, drink and celebrate. It uses this day to award medals.

Horn and his wife drove to Ohio to attend the ceremonies, which had to be modified due to bad weather. The Millard family received the medals (including the Prisoner of War Medal) from Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, the Air Force's first female four-star general, in her office.

“When the proclamation was read, I choked up, I really did,” said Horn. “I can't tell you how pleased I was when they presented the medals. It's one the great days that one can have, to see something like this. I don't know how else to say it.”

He hoped others might take what he did and apply to any comparable situation in their lives.

“I've always felt that way, if you have an opportunity to help others, do it,” Horn said. “You try to do whatever you can. The medals are something they earned. This was just a labor of love for the world to know and the families know what they were able to accomplish under the worst conditions. There's no way that you can say thank you and cover it all.”

By Nancy Kriz