Lionel Drew was Bombardier on the 26 June 1943 mission to the Tricqueville airfield, France, on board B-17 #42-3172. The Fortress was attacked by fighters and the Pilot, Captain Raymond Check (on his 25th and what had to be the last, mission of his tour) was killed by shrapnel. Co-Pilot Lt. Col. James Wilson was severely burned. When he heard the alarm bell sounding, Lionel Drew baled out of the Fortress, which was brought back safely to England, piloted by Ray Check's regular Co-Pilot, William Cassedy, who had taken the Waist gunner position that day. Drew went out via the nose hatch, cutting his hands on it, and went by so close to the ball turret, he could have touched it. He opened his chute at 10,000ft and landed in a hay field neat Pont-L'Evêque, 50km NE of Caen, France. The hay was about 3ft high. He pulled in his chute, wadded it up and stood up. He saw a farmer and a boy working on a haystack a hundred feet away. The French farmer was leaning on his pitchfork looking at him. Drew started to run, over to a hedgerow, where he stuffed in his chute and Mae West. The farmer (Hubert Caillaux) came and spoke to him in German, asking for identification. After Drew showed him his dog tags the farmer started to speak in English. He hid him in a hedgerow and about an hour later the farmer returned to ask if Drew wanted something to eat. He said he was thirsty. The farmer brought him a mixture of coffee and calvados, and Drew stayed put. About 10pm the farmer returned and told Drew to follow him, but not to walk with him. They went to the farmer's dirt-floored, stone house where Drew sat down in the kitchen with the farmer, his wife, son and daughter, and friend Ernest. They had soup, black bread and wine. Drew slept in the barn for about a week, hiding in the fields by day. After 4/5 days, the French underground took him over. He was passed on to Georges Castelaine in Pont-l'Evêque who sheltered him in his inn/restaurant. He stayed with the family of three for a couple of days. There was a high ranking German naval officer in the next room. Parisian Pierre Cornet came on a tandem bicycle one Sunday afternoon, and took him 15 miles away to the farm of Edouard and Clara Lanos,

at Ouilly-du-Houley, where he stayed for 5 weeks (in July/August). One Andre was also hiding there and it was him who brought food. Drew and André played checkers to pass the time. Lionel Drew's Escape & Evasion Report E&E 288 is not available at NARA (one empty page...) and the rest of the story and following details come from French Helpers' archives.

Pierre and Francine Cornet came to fetch Drew and take him to Paris via Lisieux, a town 10km SW of Ouilly-du-Houley. Three days later, Pierre Cornet took Drew from Paris to Joigny (Yonne) where he was passed on to Pierre Argoud of Aillant-sur-Tholon. Antony Leriche of Joigny had also helped Drew on his way.

Pierre Argoud and his wife sheltered Drew and three other evaders RAF airmen (F/O D.F. McGourlick and his crewmen, Sergents H.L. Nielsen and T.H. Adams) for a few days until 18 August 1943 when Drew and McGourlick were taken to stay with Mme Maxine Carre at Saint-Aubin-Chateau-Neuf, while Nielsen and Adams were sheltered with Lucien Boudot at Bleury. Mme Carre sheltered Drew and McGourlick from 18 August 1943 until 6 September when they and Nielsen and Adams were taken to Paris by Jean-Claude Camors and Pierre Charnier. Camors sheltered Drew and the others for two days in his apartment before they were moved to the Grand Hotel de France in Paris. Drew and the others left Paris on 21 September for Nantes and remained in the area until 5 October when they left for Vannes (Morbihan). [ On 11 October 1943, Camors was shot by the French traitor and German infiltration agent Roger Leneveu at the Café de l'Epoque in Rennes and died of his wounds that evening. ]

Drew, Adams and Nielsen left the Nantes area on 7 October. They were taken to Saint-Nic (Finistère). Mme Vve Chistine Magne, of Brest, had sheltered Drew, Nielsen and Adams at her home in Saint-Nic until 21 October 1943 when they heard the Gestapo were hunting for Mme Magne's sister, Ghislaine Niox. Ghislaine and Paul Le Baron took the three evaders to Brest where they stayed overnight with Mme Magne's parents, Colonel and Mme Scheidhauer at 1 rue Neptune. The Scheidhauers passed Nielsen, Adams and Drew to Daniel Phelippes de La Marnierre and his wife Yvonne at rue de Traverse in Brest on 22 October 1943. After almost two weeks, they were guided to Landerneau.

On 3 November, Drew, Adams and Nielsen and other evaders were led to the Guennoc Island where they were supposed to contact a British boat party. They waited there for five days without any form of shelter and with food for only one day. The group was recovered and brought back to the mainland and spent the night at Mme de La Marnierre’s château at nearby Lannilis, the group being split on the following day. Drew, Adams and Nielsen were led to 17 rue Voltaire in Brest, which also belonged to Mme de La Marnierre. Due to bad weather and other problems, it was only on 26 December 1943 that Drew and 10 other American airmen, the 2 RAF men Adams and Nielsen, as well as 6 Royal Navy personnel boarded a British Motor Gun Boat (MGB 318) at Ile-Tariec (Brittany) in Operation FELICITATE. Drew was back in England the following day.