222813 2nd Lt. Gerald Maurice "Thumper" Limon United States Army Air Force from:Salem, MA Gerald Limon, my father, was shot down on Jan. 11, 1944 on a mission that was mainly recalled. He was the navigator on a Flying Fortress; the pilot (Hallden, I believe) and co-pilot were killed. He bumped his head on the navigating table and then again on the hatch as he exited the plane, so he fell unconscious until the clouds awakened him. Upon landing, he was interrogated and tortured -- the interrogator kept hitting him where he was wounded in his effort to get out of the plane -- and he passed out twice. A companion from the plane heard his screams.
When he got out of prison, he met my mother, a nurse, in Belgium, where they were married before returning to the United States. They had three children before he died of an aneurysm, possibly a delayed reaction to the head traumas, on Feb. 29, 1960.
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