Donna Maurillo

I have been riveted since the first episode. My father was a B-17 bombardier out of Grafton-Underwood, England with the 384th Bomb Group. He could barely talk about his experiences because they were so traumatic. I fly an American flag on my home in memory of Sgt Ralph Watson, one of his crew members who was killed on their first mission. I just don't want this 19-year-old to be forgotten. Dad was left with lifelong PTSD that haunted him to his last days. I read a lot about WWII history and the role of these particular fliers. I joined a group that is dedicated to preserving the stories of these intrepid crews. But until watching Masters of the Air, I had no idea how terrifying these missions could be. The story is told in graphic detail about the fears, the trauma, the mutilating injuries, the unopened parachutes that sent fliers to their deaths, the terror of watching your plane be shot to shreds while you tried valiantly to keep it aloft, the horror of having to leave survivors on a dying plane because you simply could not get them out, the guilt of returning to the base knowing that your friends were gone forever... Some say that the personal stories are maudlin or out of central casting. That is their opinion. I just know that I finally understand the events that drove my father and many others like him to be condemned to spend their lives reliving these events that happened at an age when they should have been attending college parties or marrying their high school sweethearts.