50 Missions to Dawn: A WWII B-24 Pilots War with Paul E. Heacock @ Leawood City Hall

The Leawood Veterans Memorial Group presents a lecture by Paul E. Heacock on his book 50 Missions to Dawn: A WWII B-24 Pilot’s War in the Oak Room of Leawood City Hall. This air combat memoir follows young Bud and his crew as they fight to survive a 50-mission tour over Nazi-held Europe. Heacock tells the true story of his father-in-law, 1st Lt. John S. Bud Hertrich, who flew fifty B-24 combat missions from Italy in 1944, built from Bud’s own wartime diary, flight logs, and 460th Bombardment Group records. In March 1944, the 23-year-old from Missouri climbed into the pilot’s seat of a B-24 Liberator at Spinazzola, Italy, and began flying combat missions for the 460th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force. Over the next seven months he flew fifty missions through flak thick enough to walk on, into oil refineries at Ploesti and Blechhammer, across the Alps at 40 below zero, and once back to the airfield on three engines after losing #2 on takeoff. Heacock combines archival photography, original artwork, an authentic B-24 engine soundtrack, and a dramatization of Bud’s August 7, 1944 failed takeoff for Blechhammer. Enter Leawood City Hall on the lower level through the north doors. Free, no need to register. Donations to the Veterans Memorial Project are appreciated. Visit leawoodveteransmemorial.org to learn more.