Growing up in rural Maine, young Armand Sedgeley had little opportunity to see aircraft beyond the once or twice that barnstormers landed in a farmer\u2019s field and offered rides. But his interest led him to purchase model airplane kits and, some years later, join the ROTC and learn about the fledgling Army Air Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Sedgeley and five of his friends ventured to Portland to take exams that would qualify them to become aviation cadets. They all passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he reported to the air base at Montgomery, Alabama, he underwent further tests that sorted 100 cadets into three skill groups: pilot, navigator or bombardier. He was one of 10 assigned to be bombardiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought everybody would be a pilot,\u201d Sedgeley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After pre-flight training in Houston and bomb training in San Angelo, Texas, he was given his commission in January 1942. He went through gunnery training \u2014 a skill that would come into play later \u2014 and eventually was assigned to the 97th Bomber Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They flew missions predominantly to German-held targets in Italy, though occasionally hit Germany and southern France. As their aircraft experienced more and more mechanical issues, they also found themselves assigned to a new B-17 model, which performed much better on its first two missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut on the third mission,\u201d Sedgeley said, \u201call hell broke loose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Feb. 14, 1944, trouble began on the flight to the Italian city of Verona, where the bomber group would target enemy supplies in boxcars at a railroad marshaling yard. When crew members tested the plane\u2019s machine guns, the tail gunner reported that his wouldn\u2019t fire, making the plane vulnerable to a rear attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When four German fighter planes descended on the bombers, they homed in on Sedgeley\u2019s aircraft, which flew on the right outside edge of the formation as the planes banked left to correct their attack angle. The maneuver essentially isolated the aircraft and made it an inviting target. Sedgeley released the bombs so they wouldn\u2019t detonate if struck by enemy fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enemy cannon rounds battered the bomber\u2019s engines and also killed three crew members \u2014 radio operator Householder, waist gunner Staff Sgt. George Murphy and tail gunner Staff Sgt. Tony Duca. Meanwhile, one of the German fighters approached along the bomber\u2019s left side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019d been firing to the rear of our plane, and (they) weren\u2019t getting fire from the tail,\u201d Sedgeley said. \u201cAfter they did what they needed to do back there, this one thought that inasmuch as we were still flying, he decided to kill those of us in the front of the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From his position in the nose of the plane, Sedgeley opened fire with his .50-caliber twin turret guns. The navigator, 2nd Lt. Thomas Cowell, opened up with his single gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBetween the two of us,\u201d Sedgeley recalled, \u201cwe destroyed the plane. There happened to be a cloud below us, and our pilot flew into it, so the fighters didn\u2019t have visibility. And that\u2019s how we got away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fighters destroyed two portside engines and damaged one on the starboard side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a result of that, we knew we\u2019d have to go down,\u201d Sedgeley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The closest friendly airfield was at a British fighter facility on the French island of Corsica, about 200 miles away. Fortunately, the plane was crippled at 20,000 feet and had a good glide angle. But as the plane approached the landing strip, the crew realized the runway wouldn\u2019t be long enough to accommodate their huge aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut we had to get down,\u201d Sedgeley said. \u201cSo instead of landing, we flew over the water and ditched the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He positioned himself in the plane\u2019s radio room, his back to the bulkhead and his arms raised. But when the plane came to a jarring halt in the Bay of Calvi, the force broke loose a table that crashed into Sedgeley, cracking his ribs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the plane rapidly took on water, the others who were still alive managed to surface and pile into a dinghy. Sedgeley, injured and underwater in the plane\u2019s radio room, had the presence of mind to pull the air cartridge on his life vest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just floated out,\u201d he said, \u201cand all the others were in the dinghy by the wing, waiting for me. I don\u2019t know how, to this day, I was able to hold my breath that long. I have no recollection. But I did and was able to get out. Somehow, I was very fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who saw the plane go down reported that it probably crashed and killed the crew. Sedgeley\u2019s mother got a telegram saying her son was missing in action, even though all seven survivors had been picked up by British air-sea rescue not long after they had ditched. She had no telephone Sedgeley could call to relate his experience, and she hung a gold banner in the window of her house indicating a dead or missing service member had lived there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weeks later, when Sedgeley showed up at home, she was \u201cmore than surprised,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He had survived the ordeal. But within about two minutes after impact, the B-17 was sinking to the floor of the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2015\u2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Fine\u2019s discovery of the dog tag in the fuselage of the B-17 ultimately allowed him to connect a crew to the plane lying at the bottom of the sea off Corsica. But initially, his research very quickly went nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI tried everything,\u201d Fine said. \u201cArchives, nothing. U.S. Army, nothing. U.S. Air Force, no reply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n About three years passed, and as Fine prepared to attend a film festival on Corsica, he received a phone call. An officer in the office of the secretary of the Air Force had been shredding some documents when he happened upon Fine\u2019s letter seeking help tracking down the B-17\u2032s crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within three hours, Fine said, the officer had gotten back to him with the names of two survivors: the plane\u2019s pilot, 2nd Lt. Frank Chaplick, and 2nd Lt. Armand Sedgeley, the bombardier. That quickly, Fine resolved to plan a ceremony at the site where the plane was ditched to honor those lost as well as those who survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chaplick was ill and couldn\u2019t attend. Sedgeley, who became a civil engineer and settled in Colorado after a business trip introduced him to the state, was enthusiastic, but he couldn\u2019t afford the trip. United Airlines eventually stepped up with free airfare for him and one of his sons to attend the 1995 festivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fine arranged the ceremony with French officials, \u201cuntil it finally became a last World War II 50th anniversary commemorative celebration, and it was wonderful.\u201d They went by steamship to the site of the crash and laid a wreath on the water. Fine sprinkled holy water given to him by the local archbishop. A bronze plaque commemorating the crew was later installed on some nearby cliffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd that was it for a long time,\u201d Fine said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he and Sedgeley remained in contact. When Fine learned that some others had received the Silver Star for their heroism in combat that day, he broached the subject. Sedgeley said his squadron leader had put him in for the honor, but it didn\u2019t get approved \u2014 although two gunners among the crew were recognized. He heard no explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll I know is we all did our best and it was recognized by the squadron, but from there on, I have no information, and they can\u2019t seem to locate the Silver Star orders,\u201d Sedgeley said. \u201cSo it is a mystery. I don\u2019t understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unbeknown to Sedgeley until recently, Fine has pursued the honor on his behalf. He said that through archives and Sedgeley\u2019s own flight diary, he discovered information that wouldn\u2019t have been part of the original narrative \u2014 information that might trigger a reconsideration. \u201cBusy commanders could not have had all the information available now or they surely would have awarded this 22-year-old hero his Silver Star,\u201d he wrote in his appeal to government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fine said he sought help from Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner\u2019s office to expedite the process, although Gardner\u2019s spokesman said that policy prohibits commenting on such casework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now, they wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s most unusual for a person to go to the expense he\u2019s gone to, to get a medal without even being involved,\u201d Sedgeley said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know he was doing it for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for Fine, the impact of seeing the wreckage and finding one man\u2019s dog tag made this an irresistible quest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs I looked at the wreckage, I knew men have lost their lives there who were just out of their teens, men in their 20s,\u201d Fine said. \u201cSomething had to be done. We can\u2019t forget those that saved the world from fascism. We can\u2019t forget them. I was determined that we would not forget them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even at 96, Armand Sedgeley recalls long-ago events with the clarity of the raw, 22-year-old Army airman he was on the day he fell from the sky over Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":42554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","middle-column","home","good-news-report","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"5":{"categories":["your-army","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-army"}}},"categories":[101,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3890],"class_list":["post-19865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XKCJPTV4EFCDHJTXNY3RQZCLUU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/04\/29\/wwii-vet-could-get-recognition-after-bomber-wreckage-found\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP18114716423156.jpg.jpg\")