[November 11, 2009] Emmaus WWII flying ace Frank Speer featured on PCN Veterans Day show today Tweet Nov 11, 2009 (The Morning Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A local flying ace shot down a week before D-Day will be featured in a PCN special today in honor of Veterans Day. All day today, PCN (Service Electric 7, Blue Ridge 71 and RCN 97) is airing interviews with World War II veterans from around the state. It starts at 10 a.m. and includes interviews from veterans from all branches of the armed services. Frank Speer, 87, of Emmaus will be interviewed at 12:30 p.m. on the special. As a young pilot, Speer, a 1939 Allentown High School graduate, destroyed six German aircraft with his P-51 Mustang, dubbed "Turnip Termite" in honor of the Li'l Abner cartoon. His skills as a fighting pilot earned him several honors, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. Speer was shot down in Poland a week before D-Day -- June 6, 1944. He spent a week with no food and no sleep trying to get to Denmark before being captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. Speer, who did laps around the German POW compound to keep in shape, survived a 77-hour death march from Breslau to Nuremberg in a blinding snowstorm. Speer ultimately escaped after 11 months in the camps. He has written three books about his unit: "Wingman," "The Debden Warbirds" and "One Down, One Dead." The dozen interviews that will air on the statewide network are among more than 60 from veterans featured in PCN's two books, "World War II: In Their Own Words" and "World War II Reflections." [email protected] 610-778-2235 To see more of The Morning Call, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mcall.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]