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 Richard Faulkner was 19 when the B-17 bomber in which he was
flying collided with another allied aircraft, killing everyone
except the staff sergeant, who found himself stranded behind enemy
lines.
When he escaped Nazi-controlled territory Faulkner was offered the
Purple Heart, but he declined it.
The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who
are wounded in battle and posthumously if they are killed in action
or die after being wounded in action.
About a year ago Faulkner found himself regretting his decision
because he wanted his grandchildren to have something by which they
could remember his military service, said his daughter-in-law Mary
Ellen Faulkner.
She said the veteran had felt awkward about receiving an award given
the deaths of the other servicemen.
She reached out to her father-in-law's congressman, Democrat Dan
Maffei, whose office determined that the veteran was still eligible
to receive the medal. Maffei plans to visit Richard Faulkner's
Auburn, New York, home on Saturday to present the award, his office
said in a statement.
Faulkner was in the gun turret under the belly of the lumbering B-17
when the accident occurred, slicing his plane in two. He parachuted
out. "The next thing I knew I was in under my chute on a side hill,"
Faulkner recalled in an online posting on Scribd.com.
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German soldiers searched for him, but the wounded airman hid and was
later sheltered in a hayloft by a farmer.
Faulkner connected with French resistance fighters, who helped him
get to the coast, where downed Allied airmen were picked up by
British ships.
When the torpedo boat that rescued Faulkner was attacked by German
aircraft, he took up gunner duties to replace a man who was killed
by enemy fire.
Faulkner made it to the safety of England on April 16, 1944 after 29
days behind enemy lines.
(Reporting by Matthew Liptak; editing by Scott Malone, Toni
Reinhold)
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