Coffin Corner Boys

By: Carole Engle Avriett, Captain George W. Starks

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

As a young band of brothers flies over German-occupied France, they come under heavy fire. Their B-17 is shot down and the airmen - stumbling through fields and villages - scatter across Europe. Some struggled to flee for safety. Others were captured immediately and imprisoned. Now, for the first time, their incredible story of grit, survival, and reunion is told.

In 1944, George Starks was just a 19-year-old kid from Florida when he and his high school buddies enlisted in the US military. They wanted to join the action of WWII. George was assigned to the 92nd Bomb Group, in which the median age was 22, and on his crew's first bombing mission together received the most vulnerable spot of a B-17 mission configuration: low squadron, low group, flying number six in the bomber-box formation. Airmen called George's position the "Coffin Corner" because here exposure was most likely to draw hostile fire. Sure enough, George's plane was shot down by a German Fw 190, and he jumped at 25,000 feet for the "first and only time", as he tells the story. He landed near Vitry-en-Perthois to begin a 300-mile trek through the dangers of war-torn France towards the freedom of neutral Switzerland. Through waist-deep snow, seering exhaustion, and close encounters with Nazis, George repeated to himself the mantra "just one more day". He battled to keep walking. His comrades were scattered all across Europe and experienced places as formidable as German POW camps and as hospitable as Spain, each crew member always wondering about the fate of the others.

After the war, George made two vows: he would never lose touch with his men again and one day would attempt to thank those who had risked their lives to save his. Despite passage of time and demands of career and family, he accomplished both. He reunited with his crew and then 25 years later, returned to France to locate as many as he could of the brave souls who had helped him evade the enemy.

Join George as he retraces his steps to freedom and discover the amazing stories of sacrifice and survival and how 10 young American boys plus their French helpers became heroes.

©2018 Carole Engle Avriett (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

good memoir

the story of escape and perseverance is overshadowed by the poor and, some would say criminal treatment the escapees received from the Swiss. More and more the myth of Swiss neutrality is revealed and history can demonstrate that rather being neutral, the Swiss for the most part were collaborators with Nazi Germany.

Riviting

The narrator seemed like an odd choice at first, but by the second chapter it was obvious the narrator does this story its justice.

Each member of this crew had a dangerous and riviting path back to freedom... each which is brilliantly recollected and retold.

intriguing

the narrator started off quite slow, but it picked up a bit. very interesting to hear all the accounts on each of the people...

It felt too superficial…

Maybe it was the narrator going in and out of a variety of weak accents that grated on me…I dunno. Story was ok, but it was a lot of crew members to follow and I failed to connect the the characters. Seemed like it went on about 30 mins too long. They are hero’s, but this book isn’t

Humanity in it's Finest Form

This harrowing true tale of an American B-17 flight crew forced to bail out of a heavily damaged bomber over a German occupied France, is told through the multiple viewpoints and true experiences of each heroic airman from moment of jump to freedom and beyond. A true ode to not only the bravavity of the pilots trying to survive a dangerous adventure to reach allied lines, but the selfless sacrifice of the many French partisans and everyday average citizens who literally risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones by aiding shot down pilots to not only avoid capture, but assist them on getting home safely. It also tells the beautiful story of how some of these same pilots who made it home, went back to France many years later to reconnect, and thank those civilian heroes, making lifelong international friendships and celebrating the successes of an amazing adventure across France filled with hope, bravery, risk and survival.

Awesome story , poorly read

An amazing story unfortunately the narrator sounded like a 15 year old boy. It took away from the story !

You Can't Make This Up

Listening to this book is like listening to your uncle tell you tall tales, except they are true. More fun than a good Ludlum novel.

Great story, narration could be better

A great story of ww2 valor and survival. The narration was limited basically a simplistic old timey, golly gee like American voice for every character, very 1 dimensional and didnt serve the story unfortunately.

Wonderful Story of a Downed Aircrew and their French Helpers

I heard of this book from a podcast and it was fantastic. It tells the stories of crew members of a B-17 that was shot down over France and the struggles each man went though to survive and escape. It also tells about the extreme risk French citizens would go to in order to help these men avoid capture from the Germans. Well worth listening to.

Another harrowing tale of our flybys in Europe!

This is an exciting tale of survival that was repeated over and over in Europe during WW II.