Bartholomew County and Columbus honored those who gave their lives for freedom with a ceremony yesterday morning at the veteran’s memorial on the courthouse lawn.

The featured speaker was John C. Walter, a World War II B-17 bomber pilot who flew 35 missions over Germany.

He talked about learning from his father about the hidden wounds some veterans suffered. That was after seeing a local man in his hometown who would would act erratically, after being affected by poison gas during World War I.

Walter remembered going through air cadet school and making fast friends with a man named Bill Nolan.

His friend’s plane had been in a mid-air collision, killing Nolan and two instructors.

Further, Walter remembered his first mission over Germany. Where bursting artillery shells decimated his crew.

His co-pilot died and a flight engineer was incapacitated by shell-shock. On his third mission his navigator died after his oxygen supply hose came undone.