The Tides of War

The next day Lenny received a message to report to General Mays’ office. The first thing that crossed his mind was that the general was going to tell him news about Frank. He walked with dread as he was let into General Mays’ office. Jake was there with a smile on his face and that relieved Lenny to no end. Lenny was asked to take a seat. General Mays said, “Captain Dawson, we have a secret mission that we need a special pilot to perform. He must be very young looking because after he flies a plane into Germany he must play the part of a scientist’s sixteen year old son. This pilot must also speak German fluently. I was talking to Major West here and after hearing the criteria for this mission he said there was only one person who fit that billet in the entire Army Air Corps, and that is you. “This is strictly a volunteer mission so I volunteered you,” and they all laughed. Then Mays said, “Seriously Captain, this mission is very important to the Allies. We will be putting you through some special training to learn about the boy you will portray. He’s sixteen and I see you can pass for sixteen. You will be taught all about this boy’s family history by a person who knew the boy.” Lenny found that the boy’s name was Joseph Ruben, the son of a Hugo Ruben, a noted German physicist. Mays said, “Hugo Ruben not only has the plans for Germany’s new missile, but the locations of their manufacturing and launching sites. You will be asked to fly a plane into central Germany and land on a very short field. We have picked an English Mosquito bomber for the mission as it is light and fast. We are reconstructing the bomber to accommodate two passengers as you will be bringing back both Hugo Ruben and his wife, Anna. Because of the bombers light weight, we feel it can takeoff and land in a very short space. We will check you out in the Mosquito and you can practice landing and taking off within the space limitations. We will simulate all conditions as closely as we can to give you the best chance of accomplishing your mission.” The person briefing Lenny about young Ruben said, “Joseph Ruben participated in an attack on a train carrying missile parts. We believe this mission set back that operation some months. Unfortunately Joseph was seen and badly wounded. He was taken back by the partisans, but later died. The Gestapo know the boy was wounded badly as one man said he positively saw one of Joseph’s arms severed by a machinegun. The arm was found by the Gestapo and they are now looking for such a young man. So you see you must appear with the Ruben’s to show that Joseph was not the boy on that raid.” What General Mays failed to tell Lenny was the flight was to take place at night both ways. Lenny learned this at his next briefing. The plane was painted gray and black like some of the camouflaged German planes, but without the military markings. Lenny practiced for two weeks and then was told that he must leave the following night. He had studied each night the landmarks for his route. He wondered how he would see them at night. He was to fly at treetop level and given compass bearings. Lenny thought to himself that this was a suicide mission, but then thought that it wasn’t any different than flying a B-17 over flack filled skies with German fighters shooting at them most of the trip. If he found the field to land on, he would be signaled with a green and red light. A green light at the beginning of the field and a red light on the fence of the end. He was then to meet a woman who would take him on a hike of over four miles into a village. There they would be driven to a mansion owned by a partisan. He would meet Hugo Ruben there. He would stay there three days before they would retrace their steps and return to his aircraft. Lenny thought the odds were very long on just him finding the landing place at such a low altitude by just following the directions as well as he could. The night he left he gave Jake a copy of his will with the address of Gil and Hilda Getz and said, “Jake you can have my uniforms, we are about the same size. Take everything in my room. Some of it belonged to Frank, but I know he would want you to have it.” Jake said, “Lenny I didn’t just choose you because you are the best pilot for this mission, but you are also the luckiest. I have no doubt that you will be back here in a week.” Instead of shaking hands, Jake embraced Lenny and said, “Go with God, I will pray for you.”