50-caliber machine guns," Armbruster said. "Some of the recruits had trouble handling those heavy. He convinced his parents and he was on his way to gunnery school in Las Vegas, where he excelled. So, he went home and lied to his parents, saying he already took the oath but just needed the signatures. He tried forging the signatures, but he got caught. He went to the Army Air Corps recruiting base in Madison and soon discovered he still needed his parent’s permission. 7, 1941, he desperately wanted to join the service when he turned 18. "I got the pilot to wave back at me," Armbruster remembers Moran saying. Moran was late because he saw an airplane flying over the Kickapoo Valley and chased it. One time, a young Moran was supposed to bring in the cows for milking, but he was late. Here is Gene Moran’s story, according to Armbruster, his book’s website and an obituary for Moran, who died in 2014.Įugene Paul Moran was born in 1924 near Soldiers Grove on a small southwestern Wisconsin dairy farm. So started the interviews, dubbed "Thursdays with Gene," in January 2011. Armbruster and some of Moran’s friends through the American Legion knew how incredible his story was, but they didn’t want him to take it to his grave.įinally, Moran decided he would share - but only if Armbruster wrote the book.
"But that got it going," Armbruster said. Armbruster said Moran gave short, cryptic answers and looked down a lot. Ron Kind interviewed Moran for about 20 minutes. Moran started to share bits and pieces in 2007 as part of a Congressional veterans oral history project. " Maybe someday I can have you talk with him, but whatever you find out, you’ll know more than we do," he remembered her saying. When Moran’s daughter gave Armbruster the newspaper clip, she said, "That’s all we have." "Fisher said he promised to vouch for Moran’s story." "Moran’s one request, Fisher said, was for backing when he returned to the United States with the almost unbelievable story," the newspaper article states. But he'd remember: "We don't go there."Ī few days after Moran’s daughter shared those words with Armbruster, she gave him a small La Crosse Tribune article from 1992 with the headline, "Soldiers Grove gunner falls 4 miles in plane tail - and lives!" The Tribune got some details through a S. Armbruster would silently look at Moran’s hands and think about the fighter pilots he went to war against. Photo courtesy of John Armbrusterīut they never dared to talk about the war. They talked fishing and hunting.Ī 1992 newspaper clipping about Gene Moran from the La Crosse Tribune. They watched Green Bay Packers games together. 'That's all we have'Īfter Armbruster’s father and father-in-law died, he said Moran became a surrogate grandfather to Armbruster’s kids. Armbruster joined WPR’s " The Larry Meiller Show" for a segment airing Memorial Day, a day to honor the memories of soldiers who died - soldiers whose names and stories are known, and those that are not.
But after years of Armbruster and Moran’s families becoming close and building trust, Moran agreed to share his remarkable story - but only if Armbruster wrote it.Īfter three years of interviews and research, Armbruster wrote the book, "Tailspin," which came out April 30.
She told him: "We don’t go there."Īs was the case for so many families of veterans, the details of their loved one’s deployments remained largely unknown, untouched, undiscussed. But Moran’s daughter told him that wasn't an option. The rookie history teacher started to hear layer after layer of this story - Gene Moran, the Soldiers Grove native whose Flying Fortress bomber was shot down in World War II, yet he somehow survived the 4-mile descent, the 17 months inside Nazi prisoner-of-war camps and a 600-mile forced march.Īrmbruster had to share Moran's story. 'Lean Gene the fighting machine,'" Armbruster remembered her saying.Īrmbruster’s mind started racing.
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