My father (Pop) owned a small restaurant, Snyder’s Coffee Shop, in Pasadena, California, at the corner of Altadena Drive and Colorado Blvd. Looking the part, we played Army in vacant lots, along washes, and in the yards of people with big homes. Although my father was in the Air Force, I wore his shirts to look like an infantry soldier. We had authentic looking (at least to us) toy rifles. My pals and I went to Army surplus stores to get ammo belts, canteens, and helmet liners. A favorite pastime was playing with little rubber toy soldiers like the ones in T oy Story, and one Christmas my absolute top present was a Remco Navy Pom Pom gun. Growing up in the 1950s, I loved watching World War II movies ( Halls of Montezuma, Run Silent Run Deep, The Flying Tigers, Battle Cry, The Enemy Below, From Here to Eternity, Sands of Iwo Jima -with John Wayne as Marine Sergeant John Stryker, etc.) and reading landmark books about World War II ( Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Guadalcanal Diary, The Battle of Britain, The Story of D-Day, etc.). I was born on April 24, 1947, almost two years after V-E Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8, 1945. Snyder gets his crew out of his B-17 when bailing out over Nazi occupied Europe. You are there, almost holding your breath as Lt. Shot Down moves history out of the footnotes into reality, keeping the stories of real people alive as they experience being shot down. World War II fades in importance as each year goes by. Centered around the 306th Bomb Group in Thurleigh, England, it is informative, insightful and captivating.įor most, 70 years is a long time ago. Shot Down was created from the vast number of letters and journals of Howard Snyder diaries of men and women on the ground who rescued, sheltered and hid the crew and interviews conducted by historians. creation and dedication of the monument to the Susan Ruth and its crew located in Macquenoise, Belgium in 1989.

behind-the-scenes stories of the Belgium civilians who risked all to save American flyers who were in the air one moment, spiraling down in flames the next.German atrocities toward captured crew and civilians.underground and resistance and what Lt.training before heading to foreign soil.separation for young families as men went off to war.

Author Steve Snyder’s story of his father, Lieutenant Howard Snyder, and the Susan Ruth crew, provides in-depth details about many aspects of World War II few understand or know about including the: For the first time, the full and complete story of the B-17 Flying Fortress Susan Ruth is shared in unbelievable detail.

Shot down by steve snyder