Plane 3 When Thunder Comes

Crew of Plane #3

These wonderful old men were little boys when their fathers rescued Capt. Charles Ozuk , the navigator of Plane 3. I was honored to have met them and spent time in their homes.

Google Earth map of Plane 3 Crash Site, and where Engineer Gunner Cpl. Leland Faktor died in the crash.

Map of Jiangshan, Zhejiang Province area where plane crashed and crew parachuted.

Map detail

Crash Site Plane 3. I bought a metal detector to search the very rugged area. We were guided there by Mr. Zhu a man who lived nearby, and whose father witnessed the crash.

We recovered a single fragment. The detector worked.

Bolt from Plane 3 given to me by our guide Mr. Zhu. His father recovered several pieces of the B-25.

Mr. Zhu’s home. We drove there from Hangzhou in our little GM Spark, which we called the Little White Horse.

Large fragment of Plane 3. Mr. Zhu’s home.

DaJian Vilage where Capt. Ozuk was evacuated to. He was carried down the mountain to the village boss Mr. Liao’s home.

Liao Family home.

Mr. Liao and his wife.

A penny given to the family by Capt. Ozuk.

Mr. Liao’s handwritten memoirs of the rescue.

Man who carried Capt. Ozuk down the mountain.

The son of the man who carried Capt. Ozuk down the mountain.

These men have been neighbors all their lives. This is in the Liao family home.

These gracious old men asked me to sit in the lounge chair where Capt. Ozuk used to soak up the son during his recovery. They told me he was taller than me, and I told them they were a lot shorter back then. The boys said Capt. Ozuk enjoyed their mother’s cooking, especially her egg fried rice.

My wife and I outside the village.

The steep terrain near Plane 3 crash site.