World War II veteran thankful for life after war

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The American flag on the outside of this Southwest Side home tells you something about the man on the inside. He's Henry "Hank" Rutkowski, and in December of 1944, he was a crew member on a B-17 bomber flying missions over Germany. He's very lucky to be here.

"It's what Thanksgiving's all about. Giving thanks and we're all healthy and we're together," Rutkowski said. "And I'm alive, yeah."

Rutkowski was just 19 at the time, and on Dec. 6, 1944, he and his eight other crew members took off from England on their first and last mission over Germany.

"We made our bomb run, dropped our bombs, made our turn to go back to the airbase and then got hit by anti-aircraft fire flak," he said.

The flak tore through the right wing, rupturing a fuel tank, causing them to lose speed and altitude. Their flying fortress, "Blanco Diablo," was going down. The nine men bailed out over Nazi-occupied Holland.

Rutkowski said he was captured as soon as he landed.

"Just saying my prayers coming down," he said.

Rutkowski would spend the next five months in a German POW camp until the end of the war. Eight members of the nine-man crew would survive that ordeal; only 19-year-old Joe Marlowe was killed jumping from the plane. Seventy years later, of all those guys, only Rutkowski is still alive.

"I've been very fortunate getting through the war and the rest of my life here," he said.

He married his high school sweetheart Vikki, who passed away six years ago. They have three kids and 23 grand kids and great grand kids.

On Dec. 6, a mass will be held at St. Bruno's parish dedicated to Joe Marlowe, the only one who didn't escape that crash 70 years ago.