MIflyer
Captain
Their bomber hit badly by flak, the crewmen of a USAAF B-24 realized they would not be able to make it back to England and bailed out over France. Most of the crew came down and went into standard escape and evasion tactics, but one waist gunner was disgusted to realize he was coming down near a French village that clearly was occupied by German troops. Not looking forward to a frantic scramble through the woods only to end in capture or perhaps death, he shed his parachute when he got down and walked into the village to surrender.
Only, the Germans were not interested. The first group he walked up to turned their backs to him and pretended he was not there. He wandered around the village and got the same reaction from every group of German troops he saw.
What he did not realize was that armored force coveralls recently adopted by USAAF bomber crewmen greatly resembled the coveralls that Luftwaffe pilots had been using since before the war. His outfit and the open way he walked up to the village led the Germans to assume he was yet another Luftwaffe pilot who had gotten shot down and expected the ground troops to drop everything and give him a lift back to his airfield; they'd had enough of being taxi drivers for Goring's people.
Then a door opened and a French voice said, "Pssst! American! Come this way quickly!" They got him to the French Underground.
Only, the Germans were not interested. The first group he walked up to turned their backs to him and pretended he was not there. He wandered around the village and got the same reaction from every group of German troops he saw.
What he did not realize was that armored force coveralls recently adopted by USAAF bomber crewmen greatly resembled the coveralls that Luftwaffe pilots had been using since before the war. His outfit and the open way he walked up to the village led the Germans to assume he was yet another Luftwaffe pilot who had gotten shot down and expected the ground troops to drop everything and give him a lift back to his airfield; they'd had enough of being taxi drivers for Goring's people.
Then a door opened and a French voice said, "Pssst! American! Come this way quickly!" They got him to the French Underground.
