I posted Monday about my chance meeting with Paul Sersland while on my mission trip to Utah.
Our church group was busy with breakfast at 6:30 in the morning when an older couple entered the room. The woman had a wonderful smile and her husband was tall and slender, dressed in a suit and tie.
When he entered the room, he immediately asked if anyone had heard of the Hell’s Angels. A few of us smiled and nodded, unsure where the discussion was headed. He explained he was in the original Hell’s Angels, part of the 303rd bomber group in World War II.
As I stood and talked with Mr. Sersland, I noticed immediately his eagerness to describe what had to be one of the scariest times of his life.
“Kneel down on your knees a moment,” he said to me.
I was dressed in jean capris at the time and smiled, chuckling an ‘okay’ as I kneeled down.
“Now, imagine sitting in that position for several hours at thirty below zero and all you have on is boots and a flight suit. Don’t even think about having to go to the bathroom.”
The mission of the 303rd during WWII was to help cripple the Nazi power. They began their flights in 1942 and Sersland flew in his missions from October of 1944 to March of 1945. Mr. Sersland completed 35 raids as a tail gunner in a B-17 over Germany. Targets included airfields, shipyards, ball bearing plants and other strategic targets.
Sersland was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as well as several other air medals.
Mr. Sersland told me he was born in 1924 and was 95 at the time of this interview. When I asked the secret to his long and happy life, he told me:
“Put God first in everything you do, he is the most important thing and have a healthy diet.”
His story can be found in the book Hell’s Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II as well as the website www.303rdbg.com.
