Elmer Bendiner enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He served as navigator on Tondelayo, a B-17 'Flying Fortress,' and was awarded the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal with three oak-leaf clusters. After the war he worked as a journalist and author. He died on September 16, 2001.
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On an August morning in England in 1943, a group of American airmen were told that before the day was out they would deliver the blow that would win the war. Flying the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress, their mission was to destroy the industrial fac... SEE MORE