The Greatest Generation: One Airman’s Life

S/Sgt Michael R Henneberry’s B-17 was shot down on his first mission during the second raid on Schweinfurt in October 1943 - the Black Thursday that still lives in Air Force lore. A guest of the Third Reich in the infamous Stalag 17B until war’s end, he returned home with shattered health. He was never reported by the Germans as a POW and, described as missing in action by the US government, was presumed dead by family and friends. On arriving home in 1945 he received what he thought was a cold reception and departed for parts unknown, reenlisting in the AAF in 1946. He had no contact with any family member for 25 years until he was rediscovered by a nephew with the identical name in a remarkable coincidence in Pearl Harbor in 1983, and so the old soldier was reintroduced to family and friends. He now rests in Arlington National Cemetery with the US Air Force Memorial standing guard over his grave. This is the story of his life, told as a true story documented with official Air Force records and interspersed with elements of historical fiction.