Over 60 years ago our country was attacked on its own land. The brutal assault by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor marked the beginning of World War II for the United States, it also marked a new beginning for young Ray Parker. The day after the attacks, at the age of only 18, he joined the Air Force. He became a navigator on a B-24 Liberator Bomber and was part of the allied effort of relentless bombings that brought Germany and Italy to their knees.
His first mission was lead by the movie star, Major Jimmy Stewart. On his 10 th mission his plane was shot down behind enemy lines. Ray survived the parachute fall only to be quickly captured by the Germans. Interned at a Prison camp, he was approached by the American commanding officer and asked to secretly edit the underground newspaper for the 9,000 captured soldiers there. Using information received via a hidden radio, his paper spread hope through reports of the D-Day invasion and the Allies march on Germany until he was caught by his captors only one month before the war ended.

This Documentary Short takes Ray Parker back to that time as he recounts his tales of battle and imprisonment. It is important to remember that Ray’s story is just one incredible account out of over 16 million Americans who helped combat these forces of evil. They fought and sacrificed for our liberty. The stories of these men and women from World War II are being lost at a rate of over 550 a day. We hope to continue to capture their personal histories, and to share them with the country that they so fiercely battled for.