Memorial Day: Joseph Moffitt

News Cut will present stories about those who served in whatever capacity and have died. Please send me a few paragraphs about them and, if possible, a picture and I’ll be sure to add it here.

My late uncle, Joseph Moffitt, was the pilot of a B-17 (416th Squadron, 99th Bomb Group)during WW II. He and his crew were shot down during a raid on Steyr, Austria on April 2,1944.

He and his crew survived and were hidden by local partisans under Tito’s command. Unfortunately, the locals were betrayed and my uncle’s crew were captured by the Germans. They were taken to Stalag 17-B, the prisoner-of-war camp in Austria notable for the being the basis for the 1953 William Holeden film “Stalag 17” and (in name only) the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes.”

After the war, my uncle became a car salesman and rasied a family in Indianapolis. He died of COPD about 15 years ago.

– Bob Moffitt