The Black March. McNew attended Mabelvale High School before graduating from Bryant High School in 1943. After graduation from high school, he joined the Army Air Force in late 1943. In the European theatre, McNew was part of the 98th Bomb Group based in southern Italy. In October 1944, on his nineteenth bombing mission as a waist gunner, his B-24 Liberator "Little Joe" was shot down during a bombing raid over Maribor, Yugoslavia. McNew parachuted to safety, but was captured and became a prisoner of war of the German government in the Stalag Luft IV POW camp. During the so-called "Black March," a nearly 600 mile forced march through intense blizzard conditions, McNew and a handful of other prisoners escaped by overpowering a guard, finding their way to the American line. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and received the Purple Heart and the Air Medal for Meritorious Achievements.