Even the "short" of this story is "long."
Nine young men from the town of Erwin, Tennessee (population 3,500) sign up for the military in World War II. All nine were assigned to separate bomber groups in the Army Air Corps. All nine were shot down on missions at different times and all of them were taken prisoner. Of the more than fifty prisoner of war camps in Germany, all nine men from Erwin eventually end up at the same POW camp. And each one of the "Erwin Nine" made it home safely.
"The nine of us played ball together before we left and we're still friends when we came back," recalled George Hatcher who, at age 95, is one of three men from that storied group still living.
"I think it is just about a miracle, I think the Lord was looking out for us," said Mr. Hatcher who still has the picture his German captures took moments after they took the then 23 year old radio man prisoner, ten days before the D-Day invasion in 1944.
In our on camera story Mr. Hatcher shows us the telegrams his mother received about his status as a prisoner of war. He describes the surprise meetings he had on a string of occasions with his buddies from back home who ended up with him overseas. He described how he endured starvation and seeing at least one fellow prisoner shot for a breaking a minor rule.
"I remembered the Bible verse that said God will never leave you or forsake you. And he will never put on you more than you can bare, and he never did," said Mr. Hatcher who recalled spending 11 months and three days in captivity before he was liberated.