About...
Bud & Margie
2009
...four years ago, I asked my mom if there were any living crew members from my grandfather's B-17. She said, "Yes. One." I asked her if we could go interview him about what he remembers from the war. We went to Vineland, NJ to interview my grandfather's best friend on the crew, Bud Poulson. That interview set in motion years of research, reunion(s), phone calls, internet searches, handwritten letters, and led us to Pompano Beach, Florida where the (now) last surviving crew member lives, Stan Gampel. The insight given to us by Stan has been immeasureable in finding out information about the crew. We have since located family members of every crew member.
The interviews, photos, and video that we had taken led me to one conclusion--a web site. We wanted to tell the story of the crew from their time in training through to the POWs, escapees in as much detail as possible.
The highlight of all of this research came after we located the daughter of the pilot (Lackey)--Carol Cole. We had found her father's name written in a book (Accident of Fate) by Imre Rochlitz, the man who rescued her father after he bailed out of the plane. We told her that Imre was still living, and was in London, England. As fate would have it, Carol was about to take a vacation...to London, England. We gave them contact information, and Carol was able to meet her father's liberator (right).
This web site is our contrbiution to the stories of the men who fought in World War II who were our grandparents, uncles, sons, and also for the mothers, wives, and sisters who gave up so much for the cause of freedom. May their stories, and sacrifices, never be forgotten.
Stan Gampel
2013
Joseph Rochlitz, Carol Cole, Imre Rochlitz