Michael Ruta Story

As published in The Star Ledger of
Newark, New Jersey, May 19, 2003

WILLIAM GORDON
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

By most accounts, Michael Ruta was eccentric in his final years, difficult to get along with, estranged from his siblings, a lifelong bachelor living alone in an unkempt apartment in Palisades Park, where he died on April 4, 2001, at the age of 75.

Among those who knew him, only a few were aware of what seemed to be the one bright spot in his darkening life - his unwavering affection for a family in rural France who risked their lives to save his, along with others in his bomber crew, after they were shot down during World War II.

In gratitude, Ruta, a retired carpenter, left three-quarters of his estate in equal parts to the three now elderly sons of the late farm couple, Marcel and Berthe Ledanois. The total estate was valued at $260,000.

Beneficiary of the fourth quarter of the estate is the 390th Memorial Museum Foundation in Tucson, Ariz., which is dedicated to preserving the heritage and history of the 390th Bombardment Group, Ruta’s unit during the War.

The veteran’s next of kin contested the will, but their complaint that their brother lacked mental capacity when he executed it in 1990 was rejected in a Superior Court ruling in Bergen County on March 3.  One judge described Ruta’s experience in France as “the defining moment” of his young life.

The litigation shed light on the not uncommon episodes of World War II in which ordinary citizens of Nazi-occupied France, at great risk to themselves, came to the aid of American servicemen who parachuted into their country from stricken aircraft.

Ruta did not reunite with his protectors until 1986, a passage of 42 years. The occasion was his trip to France with a veterans group in June of that year.

The emotions generated by that visit are reflected in his letter of June 28, 1986, to André, one of the three brothers, in which he told of his plans to return soon to “La Belle France.”

“This time, André, I will be by myself, so that I may visit my tres bon amis, also your mother & others that I had known. André, I would like to visit the woods, the canal where we swam, the house & farm that I was welcomed, very warmly by yourself & family and made to feel at home.”

Ruta was a 19-year-old U.S. Air Force waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress — “Prowlin’ Tom” — when it was hit by German anti-aircraft fire over France on June 8, 1944, two days after D-Day. Ruta and eight others in the 10-man crew bailed out.  The tail gunner was killed in the crash.  The co-pilot was captured and the others scattered.

In an article he wrote in 1983 for the 390th Bomb Group Anthology, Ruta told of taking off from England in “very foul” weather on a 17-plane mission to bomb an airfield at Tours, France.

“After takeoff we could not see our wing tips at 50 feet,” he recalled. “We had to climb to over 30,000 feet to try to break clear of the weather, upon doing so we were all alone.”

Separated from their group, the Prowlin’ Tom received permission to abort the mission. The bomber flew about aimlessly until the pilot spotted a hole in the cloud cover and descended to 2,200 feet, only to be greeted by anti-aircraft fire from a German airfield. In the act of bailing out, the New Jerseyan was struck in the hand by a piece of flak. He landed hard in a field outside the ancient town of Noyon and found a hiding place in a hole covered by vegetation in the side of a crater. He cowered there, existing on malted milk tablets from his survival kit while listening to German soldiers searching for him above.

After four days in the crater, Ruta, disoriented and thinking of giving himself up, began walking. He soon encountered four woodcutters. They hid him until a leader of the local Maqis – the French underground fighting the Nazis – arrived.

Covered with a blanket, Ruta was taken by horse and buggy to a safe house where he was given medical attention, food, clothing and French identity papers.  At the same time, French resistance fighters had been rounding up others of Prowlin’ Tom’s crew.  Ruta was soon reunited with two of them, the B-17’s radio operator, Louis D. Lewis, and bombardier Henry Ford Wilson.

All three Americans were spirited to the village of Larbroye several miles outside Noyon, where they were welcomed into the farm household of the Ledanois family and their three sons, Marcel Jr., then 25, André, 23, and Louis, 19.

For 71 days, from June 12 to Aug. 22, the Americans led a clandestine life with the Ledanois family, fearful of discovery but inspired by their host’s bravery and humanity.

The airmen lodged together in a small separate house, but were transported in a cart covered with hay for meals with the family, Mme. Ledanois doing the cooking for all eight in her extended household. The guests helped with the chores on the small farm.

Wilson, now a retired Baptist minister living in Kathleen, Ga., is the only surviving member of the Prowlin’ Tom. He recalled how they evaded capture with the help of the Ledanois family.

“The agrarian village of Larbroye was perfect for cover - many of its inhabitants were members of the French underground. We were disguised as farmers and worked the farm, alongside Marcel, Louis and André, and except for the language became indistinguishable from the local population.

Wilson said if the Americans had been discovered, the Ledanois family would probably have been killed, and their house and barn destroyed.

Wilson recalled that Ruta during the war “was always a quiet and gentle man.”

The dangerous life of the Americans ended on Aug. 22 when Marcel, the father of the family, led them at night through the woods and marshes to a rendezvous at Calvaire with the other members of Prowlin’ Tom crew, who had been hidden in other villages.

From there they were taken to meet advancing British troops.  Early in September they were officially liberated by the U.S. Army’s 2^nd Armored Division, flown out of Cherbourg to London, interrogated, and shipped back to the United States.

The Ledanois brothers, reacting to word of Ruta’s bequest, said they did not need or want the money. Louis, 78, the youngest brother, a retired French army officer, said it would be shared with the 390th Memorial Museum Foundation, in Michael Ruta’s name.

“We are satisfied and proud to have protected those young boys,” he told The Star-Ledger. “Michael will remain for us an honest and close friend, one of the brave American boys bringing us freedom in 1944.”

Editor’s Note:
Michael Ruta’s own account of the fateful mission and life with the French saviors has been previously published in the 390th’s Anthology I and subsequently republished in the Spring issue of the Bulletin in 2003.

Michael was on his 19th mission when the crew was shot down. The crew is listed below as well as the Nose Art of “Prowlin’ Tom,” their fateful airplane, that was recently added to our west wall.

A. Anzanos