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December 21, 2021

The Adventures of a Jewish Bomber Pilot in World War II

Si Spiegel didn’t want to be a mechanic. He wanted to fight Nazis.

Now ninety-seven, Si Spiegel is one of few American World War II B-17 pilots still alive. Spiegel, a Jew who grew up in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, enlisted in the army without telling his parents, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. To his disappointment, he was assigned to an aircraft-mechanic school; he instead wanted to fight Nazis, and to that end applied to be a pilot. Laurie Gwen Shapiro tells his story:

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December 21, 2021

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  5. The Adventures of a Jewish Bomber Pilot in World War II

    Si Spiegel didn’t want to be a mechanic. He wanted to fight Nazis.