A fighter pilot during World War II, he was shot down over Germany,
captured by the Nazis and put in a POW camp. He later successfully
escaped from the camp, although he was recaptured two weeks later. The
camp was the same one from which a breakout occurred that was the
inspiration for the Steve McQueen film The Great Escape (1963).
Delivered his youngest daughter himself when she was born in the back
seat of a taxicab.