Michael J. "Mike" Pohorilla was born in the coal mining town of Kingston, Pennsylvania in January 1924. Pohorilla attended high school at a private boarding school in Philadelphia called Girard College. He graduated in June 1940 at the age of 16 and took one year of college courses at Girard after his graduation. Pohorilla's father, a World War 1e veteran who suffered a gas attack while in France and who worked in a coal mine upon his return, died from lung disease when Pohorilla was five years old. His mother paid off the family's mortgage using the life insurance money left by his father and managed to support the family throughout the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. Pohorilla returned home to support the family and found work at a truck farm. He also did some clerical work. Pohorilla was listening to the New York Giants [Annotator's Note: American professional football team] football game on the afternoon of 7 December 1941 when the broadcast was interrupted to announce the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. In August 1942, Pohorilla enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation cadet program. He joined them because airplanes and flying had always seemed glamorous to him as a child. He reported to Miami Beach [Annotator's Note: Miami, Florida] for basic training. At the time the USAAF was training over 100,000 pilots per year. He was sent to Southern Field in Americus, Georgia for flight training. Upon his arrival there he was struck to find out that Charles Lindbergh [Annotator's Note: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, American aviator] had flown from the same air strip. Pohorilla completed 40 hours of training on board a PT-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 Kaydet primary trainer aircraft] training aircraft but was unable to pass. As a result, Pohorilla was to become a navigator. He was first sent to Fort Myers, Florida for aerial gunnery school. This was the most fun he had while in the service and he became a pretty good shot. He was put in a truck and as it drove around, he had to shoot at moving targets. After gunnery training, he reported for navigation training at Selman Field [Annotator's Note: Selman Army Airfield, Monroe, Louisiana]. He graduated and earned his wings and rank of First Lieutenant in April 1944. From Louisiana, Pohorilla was sent to Sioux City, Iowa to form a flight crew that consisted of 10 guys from 10 different States. The crew practiced formation, long distance, and night flying in the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] for weeks. They received orders to ship to Europe three weeks after the invasion of Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944].

Michael J. "Mike" Pohorilla boarded a converted Italian luxury liner, the Saturnia [Annotator's Note: MS Saturnia], for the journey to Liverpool [Annotator's Note: Liverpool, England]. The bunks were installed floor to ceiling. They only had two meals a day because there were too many people on board. Upon arriving, Pohorilla was assigned to the 550th Bombardment Squadron, 385th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. The 8th Air Force Division was the largest division in World War 2, but it also had the most casualties. The squadron was based about an hour north of London [Annotator's Note: London, England]. The base was easy to spot from the air when not socked in, or covered, by the poor weather conditions. The area was covered with Allied air force bases which made for extremely crowded skies during practice runs. Once monthly, Pohorilla and the rest of his squad would receive a three-day pass [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] to visit London, which he called "a bloody zoo." The place was full of journalists and correspondents looking to cover the exploits of the 8th Air Force. Pohorilla's first mission was as a substitute navigator with a different flight crew over Sindelfingen [Annotator's Note: Sindelfingen, Germany]. He woke up at five-thirty in the morning and had fresh eggs for breakfast. 36 bombers took off at seven-thirty in the morning, flying in tight formation with P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] around as protection. The mission was successful. Pohorilla visited Sindelfingen 20 years later as a marketing executive and saw the same factory he had previously bombed. He says he felt invincible when he went up for his first mission but became humbled in microseconds as they came under heavy enemy fire. In the moment, Pohorilla was very busy preparing to drop the bomb load with Hell all around. He was not part of the bomb squad when they bombed Saint-Lô [Annotator's Note: Saint-Lô, France]. The 550th Squadron slowly came together as a crew and formed bonds unlike any he has formed throughout the rest of his life. The decorum between officers and sergeants was more relaxed than in Army Air Corps than any other military service. Everyone did their job and the crew only lost one man, an 18-year-old waist gunner who went down with another crew.

Michael J. "Mike" Pohorilla's most memorable mission [Annotator's Note: with the 550th Bombardment Squadron, 385th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] was his 18th over the German town of Merseburg. Jimmy Doolittle [Annotator's Note: then US Army Air Forces Colonel, later US Air Force General, James H. Doolittle] was the commanding general for this mission. [Annotator's Note: Pohorilla is interrupted at 0:30:15.000.] The missions in the beginning of 1944 were to take out train depots which ended up failing because the Germans would use slave labor to rebuild them. The target on Pohorilla's 18th mission was a coal processing plant that was used to make synthetic oil for the German war machine. This factory was one of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. He completed missions to Merseburg after the 18th, and encountered heavy resistance, but none like the first visit. There must have been 1000 guns throwing flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] at the formation of bombers. The Germans hoarded fuel during the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] and attempted to capture Allied fuel supplies. His bomb found its target and the crew made their way back to England. On 25 November [Annotator's Note: 25 November 1944], on the flight back, the number three engine became disabled because of the flak. With only three operating engines, the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] was burning fuel fast. Pohorilla enjoyed being in a B-17. It was a great aircraft that flew great on four engines and good on three engines. Even on one engine, it will bring you home. During this particular mission, he informed his pilot that they would not make it back to England, the pilot instructed the crew to put on their parachutes and jump. The plane was too low to execute a successful jump and Pohorilla advised the pilot to make a crash landing near Renaix, Belgium [Annotator's Note: Ronse, Belgium; Renaix is the French spelling]. The ball turret plowed up dirt as the belly of the plane touched down and one of the propellers digging into the Earth, causing the plane to turn and come to a stop. They were lucky to have landed in British occupied territory. They were housed for three days with a group of British soldiers, and he had a lot of fun. While with the British, his pilot called their base in England to tell the commanding officer not to send their gear back to the United States. They were picked up by a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft] and returned to England where they were granted a week of R-and-R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation]. Pohorilla and the other officers were sent to an English manor in Oxford [Annotator's Note: Oxford, England]. He slept in Lady Evelyn's [Annotator's Note: unable to identify] bedroom. Unfortunately there was no Lady Evelyn.

The fog finally lifted after months of bad weather, and on December 26, 1944, Michael J. "Mike" Pohorilla [Annotator's Note: with the 550th Bombardment Squadron, 385th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force] took off for his 19th mission. 2,000 planes took off that day in support of ground troops involved with the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. He and his crew had previously crash landed [Annotator's Note: 25 November 1944]. Pohorilla is unsure about his survival chances had the crash happened only weeks later [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of the Bulge]. After this, the remainder of his missions were routine. They have begun to merge together in his mind. On one mission, he watched an Me-262 [Annotator's Note: German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter aircraft] and a P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] involved in a dog fight over Hamburg [Annotator's Note: Hamburg, Germany] which the P-51 won. Another time he watched German V2 rockets [Annotator's Note: German Vergeltungswaffe 2, or Retribution Weapon 2, ballistic missile] being launched along the coast and clapped when he saw one travel east into the Fatherland [Annotator's Note: term for Germany]. His final mission was relatively easy, and he prayed to make it back alive knowing that he was finished. On every mission, Pohorilla was in charge of completing crew checks to ensure that everyone's oxygen masks were operational. Once, Pohorilla instructed the bombardier to complete the check. Pohorilla did not answer when his name was called, his mask had frozen, and he had passed out from lack of oxygen. The pilot ran over and unfroze Pohorilla's mask to restore the flow of oxygen. He knew his body was beginning to shut down because his bladder had emptied in the short time that he was unconscious. In mid-February 1945, Pohorilla received orders to return to the United States. After a week on leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in London [Annotator's Note: London, England], he boarded a hospital ship in Liverpool [Annotator's Note: Liverpool, England] and returned home in a large convoy. The ship dropped depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] across the Atlantic. Pohorilla was based in Ellington, Texas until he was transferred to Indiantown Gap [Annotator's Note: Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon, Pennsylvania] for his discharge in October 1945 as a First Lieutenant. When he returned to the United States, people were still rationing. He celebrated VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] at Ellington Field [Annotator's Note: now Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Houston, Texas]. He adjusted back to civilian life fine. He would have nightmares sometimes. Pohorilla took advantage of the G.I. bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] and studied chemistry at the Pennsylvania University [Annotator's Note: in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]. He graduated in 1949 and received a master's degree in 1950. The G.I. bill was an excellent piece of legislation as it built America's middle class. The return on investment from the bill is incalculable. He married and had his first son while he was in college.

Michael J. Pohorilla's ball turret gunner, Herb Baudier [Annotator's Note: Herbert L. Baudier], was a Flamin' Cajun [Annotator's Note: nickname; cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Texas] and devout Catholic [Annotator's Note: in the 550th Bombardment Squadron, 385th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force]. After the return of one dangerous mission, Baudier told his crew that he thinks he had the record for the most Hail Mary's [Annotator's Note: prayer used chiefly by Roman Catholic Christians] over the target. Pohorilla's pilot worked for an insurance company after World War 2 where he protected artwork. His co-pilot stayed in the service and became a colonel. Pohorilla's most memorable experience of World War 2 was when his plane had to crash land. He chose to fight because he was young, all his friends were serving, and he thought it was his obligation and duty, so he enlisted. His two brothers served in the Navy. One brother was part of the second wave at the Normandy [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. His youngest brother served on an icebreaker [Annotator's Note: type of ship designed to break through sea ice] up in England and also served in the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. His family is a wartime family. He had cousins and uncles that served as well. Pohorilla would not have been able to attend college if it was not for his military service and the benefits of the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment]. He had a successful career with a small oil company which developed advances in mechanical oil and pioneered multi-grade oil. Pohorilla loves America and after traveling around the world, it made him even more of a patriot when he returned home. The current generations do not know what World War 2 is, so he does not know what the war means to America. He is happy to educate students about World War 2. He believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and they should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.