World War II – The Chuck Yeager Foundation

Gestapo is Coming

By Victoria Yeager / March 15, 2021

Raoul ultimately takes me back to Gabriel. We ride bikes at night from Ambrus to get there. Gabriel was a larger-than-life man. I will never forget how he protected me. He was the leader of the Maquis in Nerac, the mayor, and was friends with the Germans in town. The Germans knew that the Maquis…

Gabriel, head of French Underground Threatens F/O Yeager With his Life

By Victoria Yeager / March 12, 2021

I stay at Gabriel’s house in Nerac, hiding from the Nazis in his shed out back. The first day, I’m bored so I leave the shed and sit under the tree in his yard. I remain outwardly calm as a small platoon of Germans march by. After they are completely gone, Gabriel calls me in.…

Flight Officer (F/O) Yeager Makes Way to Nerac to Evade Nazis

By Victoria Yeager / March 11, 2021

March 10-12, 1944 The Germans seem to have lost interest in finding me; there are fewer patrols now. Maybe they think if they stop looking for me so hard, I’ll become careless and fall into their net. And it nearly happens that way. Little Jean-Pierre and I are hiking to the pond, while crossing an…

6-9 mars 1944: Caché à la vue de tous à Casteljaloux et à Pompogne à Vélo

By Victoria Yeager / March 9, 2021

6-9 mars 1944 Abattu le 5 mars 1944, se cachant toujours des Allemands et de la Milice française. J’ai passé la nuit dans une maison bien en vue à Casteljaloux, France. J’étais caché sous la maison dans un espace qui s’étendait de l’avant à l’arrière de la maison, une petite fenêtre à chaque extrémité donc…

March 6-9 Hiding in Plain Sight from Germans and French Milice

By Victoria Yeager / March 9, 2021

March 6-9, 1944 Shot down March 5, 1944, still hiding from the Germans and French Milice. I spent the night in a house in plain sight in Casteljaloux, France. I was hidden under the house in a space which extended from the front to the back of the house, a small window at either end…

Germans at the Door – Escape and Evasion Continues

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2021

March 5, 1944 continued I decided to stay put until dark. Several times I hear low-flying planes-Germans hunting for me. I’m sweating but stay well-hidden under thick brush. I saw a lot of farmland coming down and at night I’ll pop out of these woods long enough to raid some turnips and potatoes. I figure…

Shot down over France

By Victoria Yeager / March 4, 2021

Free falling. Flat on my back. Spinning from 16,000 feet. Velocity doubling each second. Hold off. Get below clouds where Krauts can’t see your chute. Yank that cord now, you’re dead. Germans strafe guys floating down. Clouds whisk past. French countryside filling horizon. Even so, wait goddammit. Ground rushing up. Occupied territory. Two fingers grip…

Combat over Berlin March 4, 1944. The Cavalry

By Victoria Yeager / March 3, 2021

Glamorus Glen March 4, 1944 Some of us never got word of the recall. The weather was stinkin’. There were only two of us P-51s escorting a box of bombers for the first US daylight raid over Berlin. None of us had gotten the recall. I spotted an Me-109 below me, dove on him and…

From Chuck Yeager shot down over France

By Victoria Yeager / March 7, 2018

March 4, 1944 1st daylight raid over Berlin. Weather was stinkin’. Only 2 P-51s guarding a box of bombers. They hit their targes. I shot down my first enemy aircraft (a/c). Woo hoo. I was out of ammo returning home. I espied the stragglers of the bombers in formation heading home. I called ahead. “Can…

March 1944 Escaped Nazis – Make it to Spain

By Victoria Yeager / April 1, 2016

I wake from a deep sleep to knocking on the door. I freeze. Where am I? It slowly comes back. It was not a dream- I should be in Spain. I made it over the Pyrenees without getting caught. Who is at the door, though? I cautiously move toward the door, scanning the room for…

March 1944 Escaping Germans – a farmhouse in Spain

By Victoria Yeager / March 30, 2016

General Chuck Yeager: Having been shot down March 5, 1944 and hidden with the French underground, I was now carrying a fellow airman over the Pyrenees, the story picks up in Spain, not out of the woods yet. After catnapping, I dragged and carried the airman for what seemed like hours. We were starving. We…

Yeager! Can’t you do anything right?

By Victoria Yeager / May 5, 2015

In General Yeager’s own words: After returning from being shot down, to return to combat, I had to go all the way up the chain of command until I found myself before General Eisenhower, The problem was if I was shot down again, the Germans might find me, torture me, and get information re the…