At the age of 20, Abe Wilen was living and working with relatives  in Monessen, Pennsylvania when Pearl Harbor was bombed and American entered the war.  Wilen signed up for the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program partly for the glamour of being a “Fly Boy” and wearing “wings” on his uniform, but mostly because this was the branch of service where he though he could do the most good.

Life would never be the same.  His story is timely.  His story is arresting.  Hear Abe tell his story as no one else can – from having Jimmy Stewart as an Operations Officer to surviving as a prisoner of war. 

I know now why men who have been to war yearn to reunite. Not to tell stories or look at old pictures, not to laugh or weep on each other’s knee.  Comrades gather because they long to be with men who once acted their best.  Men who suffered and sacrificed, who were stripped raw right down to their humanity.”