The saying “That every cloud has a silver lining” certainly proved true here this week. About twenty-four hours
after a wire was received Monday night by Mrs. Brandon Nuttall that her son, Lieut. Brandon Duncan Nuttall, fighter pilot
of a P-47 Thunderbolt with the Ninth Air Force had been missing in action since March 18 over Germany, a letter in his hand-writing,
stating he was well and telling of his experiences came.
The letter in part said: “I will tell you the whole story, it’s long but I’m leaving out nothing. Before
I start I’ll say I’m feeling perfect. My right arm is stiff but O.K. and that’s the complete extent of all
my hurts. I walk to all meals and anywhere else I want to. I’ll be getting passes to leave the area soon so there is
nothing to worry about at all. I’m about decided to call it a six weeks rest away from the outfit.
I got shot down on my 46th mission. I had flown one that morning and this was my second one that day, Sunday,
March 18. I felt fine and the mission was an easy one. We had been shooting up lots of vehicles trying to evacuate Jerry across
the Rhine River. We went down on a convoy of big trucks and horse drawn carts, mostly carts. I went in 3rd and
plenty fast enough to be safe. I pulled up and heard light machine gun hits on the wing and engine. The engine just quit so
I had to go down right then. I landed in pretty rough country and a couple of Jerries got me out of the ship O.K. I was naturally
somewhat dazed. The Germans had me about 36 hours and really surprised me because they treated me swell. I was not even searched.
I have my watch and all right with me now. I was asked about three questions but I can’t understand much German so they
gave up. They tried evacuating me but could not get transportation to do it. Four of them were with me. They were very nice
and talked quite a bit. About noon the second day we began to hear machine gun fire up on the hill. I watched awhile then
went over to a basement and instead of the four being there, there were 26 of them. By means of about four words of German
and lots of signs I made them surrender to me. By then our tanks were entering the town so I turned them in and climbed in
with some medics to find a ride back to the base. My arm was just a little stiff then. I had to stay with them until they
reached their objective on the Rhine River before I could start back. Everything was going forward.
I’ve been evacuating by ambulance and plane for three days and now I’m settled in South Western England.
All I can say is I see it as a forced rest. We can be sure your son, Duncan will be Japanese theater bound though.”
Love to all for now
Duncan.
