Virgil Scott's Experience in the U.S. Army Air Corps
Staff Sgt. Virgil Scott enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1942.
Thirteen months later, he was stationed in Casa Blanca, and in October 1943, he was sent to North Africa.
On February 24th, I went on my last mission. It was a mission to bomb a target over Steyr, Austria. As we were making our bombing run, we were attacked by German fighters. They set our plane on fire and we had to bail out at 23,000 feet.
Fortunately, the entire crew survived, but Scott's parachute was hit. Despite this, it opened correctly, and he landed in a tree inside a Luftwaffe camp, where he was taken prisoner.
After landing in a tree inside a Luftwaffe camp, I was taken prisoner and had a pretty hard life for the next fourteen and a half months.
Author's summary: Virgil Scott shares his experience as a prisoner of war.