Ike had the wonderful privilege of meeting and visiting with Mr. Nolan (Country) Ruiz. Country is 99 and fought in WWII. On Country’s 21st mission, his plane was shot down and Country parachuted with his team into enemy territory where he was taken prisoner for 14 months. Listen to the video at the bottom of this post to hear Country talk about the food he ate as a POW.
During WWII, Country was a gunner in the belly of the plane, He was 19 when he had to jump to escape the burning plane. He said he cried all the way down because he had never jumped out of a plane and he knew that he was jumping into enemy territory. Country found out much later that the mission had been scrubbed because the Germans had discovered the mission-but his plane never got that message. He said that after 14 months in POW camp, the Germans marched the POWs for 89 days to reach the Americans and turn over the POWs. Listen to Country talk about the food in the POW camp.