Name:
Robert Zeno Grimes
Rank:
Flight Lieutenant
Serial Number:
O-797521
Unit:
339th Bomber Squadron, 96th Bomber Group
Date of Death:
2010-04-21
State:
Virginia
Cemetery:
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
Plot:
Section 66
Row:
Grave:
5261
Decoration:
Comments:
Pilot of the B-17 "Shack Rabbit III". He was wounded in the leg and was taken in by a Belgian family. They took him to a doctor with the excuse that he couldn't talk because he had a "sore throat". They removed the bullet in his leg and he made his way across France and into Spain. He was attacked by Spanish troops and captured. He was held in a sort of prison until on Christmas he and other down flyers requested to attend Mass in the town and it was granted. Bluffing their one guard they escaped to the American consulate where their way home was arranged through Gibraltar.