Herb Heilbrun & John Leahr

When little Herb Heilbrun posed for his third grade class picture in Cincinnati, Ohio, he didn’t really know the black child beside him. Years later, when Herb piloted a 15th Air Force B-17 over targets in Europe, he didn’t really know the fighter pilots escorting him who kept his bomber safe from German fighters. In the 1990s when Herb Heilbrun dropped in on a reunion of black World War II fighter pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, he didn’t know he would make a lifetime friend of a hitherto anonymous person who stood beside him in grade school and flew beside him in combat.

Our hat’s are off to both Herb and John. We thank them for this inspiring story. Sit back, enlarge the screen and enjoy.

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