Sgt Gerald Tucker (whose first name is often misspelled Gerold) was Right Waist Gunner on B-17 #42-3119 when it was shot down on the Hamburg mission of 26 July 1943. The plane ditched in the North Sea and all ten crew were saved and returned to base. Sgt Tucker was again shot down, on the 17 August 1943 mission to Schweinfurt, in B-17 #42-2990 'Dame Satan. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
Growing up in Montana, Gerald attended Lolo Grade School for first through fifth grade, Woodman School for sixth grade, and went back to Lolo for seventh and eighth grades, graduating from Missoula County High School in 1936. The son of a farmer, Gerald helped him break Percheron horses teams to the harness, breaking his first one at age 8 and was able to run every piece of horse-drawn equipment by the time he was 12. After graduation he continued to run the ranch until 1939. He then went to work for Rossignol Logging, hooking logs and later driving logging trucks until 1941 when duty called.
After his service and imprisonment during WWII, he returned to Lolo to work on the ranch. In 1947, he left the ranch to work for Zadra Logging, and skidded logs until 1947-1950. His skills as a caterpillar operator led him into road construction and he worked for Miller and Strong, Bud King Construction and Rossignol Logging, running road jobs in Hungry Horse, McCall, Idaho, Libby, Perma, Trout Creek, Lochsa and Mormon Peak Lookout.
In 1955 he met and married Myrtle Spencer while in the construction business. In 1957 they returned to the ranch in Lolo to raise cattle until selling it in 1979. In 1980 he married Jean Rock and they spent the following years on numerous fishing trips with friends to Holter, Hauser, Canyon Ferry, and Clark Canyon in search of the biggest fish. They were also able to take an extended trip to Australia with friends which they enjoyed.
In 1993, 50 years after he was shot down, in a very memorable and emotional trip, Gerald Tucker was able to return to Belgium with his son Gary to visit the families that cared for his wounds and helped him during his evasion until the time he was arrested.

Service

Events

Event	Location	Date
Born	Missoula, Montana, United States	14 March 1919
the son of James P. and Edna Frances (Hollensteiner) Tucker
Enlisted	Missoula, Montana, United States	9 April 1942
as a Private in the Air Corps
Evaded - Prisoner of War (POW)	Braunau-Gneikendorf, Austria	13 November 1943 – 22 September 1944
Seriously wounded, he was helped in his evasion of capture by Belgian citizens until he was denounced and arrested in Brussels on 13 November 1943. Interned in Barracks 18A at Stalag XVIIB he served there as Mail Supervisor. Due to his condition, he was part of a prisoner exchange program and boarded Swedish Hospital ship "Gripsholm" in Göteborg, Sweden, and arrived at Liverpool on 16 September 1944. After former Commonwealth POWs had disembarked there, the ship left for the United States with 219 wounded and seriously ill American servicemen on board. The ship arrived at Pier F in Jersey City, New Hampshire, on 26 September 1944. Gerald Tucker and the others were transferred to the Halleran General Hospital on Staten Island, New York. Tucker then spent a year in Walla Walla, Washington State, at a military rehabilitation center.
Died	Missoula, Montana, United States	17 January 2013