by Sheila Blankenship

At this time of counting blessings, it is good to remember that one man's blessing may be another man's pain. but the opposite is also true. The suffering and loss of one family in Hooker in 1945 was such a huge blessing to the people of Ronzo de Chienis, Italy, that it is still commemorated today.

Capt. Earl H. Remmel was flying his 70th and final mission before returning home to his family in Hooker, when anti-air fire critically damaged a wing on his B-25 Mitchell known as "Maybe." He did not follow protocol and drop his load of bombs immediately to gain altitude and possibly make it over Monte Crieno because of the villages below. Remmel and his co-pilot, Leslie Speer of Jeffersontown, Ky., held the plane steady to allow five crew members to parachute safely before the plane crashed into the mountain. 

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Source: http://www.leaderandtimes.com/