World War II veteran still reporting for duty, sharing story of survival

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – At 101 years old, World War II veteran Walter Ram still shows up every Monday at the 390th Memorial Museum in Tucson — not to relive his past, but to share it.

Ram was a radioman and gunner aboard B-17 bombers at just 19 years old when his plane was shot down over Europe. What followed was two years of unimaginable hardship as a prisoner of war. Ram said it was an experience he kept buried for more than three decades.

“I went down unconscious, and I hit the ground unconscious,” Ram recalled. “How I opened my parachute, only God knows how I did it.”

On June 13, 1943, Ram’s plane was hit by German fire…

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