“One shell whizzed past my ear, ripping the oxygen mask off my face. Seconds later, our wing was strafed and started to unravel . . . We were unable to control the plane any longer. She started to plummet.”

Frank Kirkland dreamed about serving his country as a fighter pilot during World War II but was reassigned as a bomber pilot—where the dangerous flying conditions proved to be less glamorous and more deadly. After getting shot out of his plane and landing on German-occupied soil, Kirkland learned about rescue and redemption during some of the fiercest years of the twentieth century. Decades later, Kirkland’s story of fighting for his country would be the last fighting chance to mend his relationship with his son.