D-Day: 70 years
P-47 pilots of the 404th Fighter Squadron gather for a picture in the spring of 1944. Kneeling, second from the left is 2nd Lt. Joseph E. LaRochelle, who became the 371st Fighter Group’s first pilot shot down and captured by the enemy when he bailed out of his flak-stricken P-47 overwater just off Granville, Normandy, on the afternoon of June 6, 1944. Standing in the back row, sixth from the right, is Harry W. “Pop” Strahlendorf, who flew both missions that day, quoted in this article. (Courtesy “The 371st Fighter Group in the E.T.O.” via 406FS P-47 Pilot Francis E. Madore)