![]() "It's a great honor," she said.Īlso planning on attending are the two daughters of Bronx native Isidore Ifshin, the only other of the five crew members still living. Nash said she's overwhelmed by the tribute the Italians are paying to the two pilots. Her husband, their three daughters, a son-in-law and a granddaughter also are making the trip, which includes a visit to Remmel's grave in the American military cemetery in Florence. Nash, of Troup, Texas, will be in Ronzo di Chienis on Sunday for the dedication of the memorial to her father and Speer. "From reports I've heard from the town, they consider my dad a hero also because it saved the town," said Barbara Nash, Remmel's daughter, who was only 1½ when her father died. With their airplane severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire before it could complete its bombing run over a rail yard, Remmel and Speer apparently decided not to jettison their bombs as they flew over the nearby village during a desperate effort to gain altitude so the crew could bail out. In the alpine village of Ronzo di Chienis, the two pilots are remembered as heroes for another reason. All five were captured by the Italian police and handed over to the Germans. "There's no question that Remmel and Speer were heroes," said Silas Barrett of Norfolk, Massachusetts, who was a 19-year-old gunner when he safely parachuted to the ground along with the other crewmen on Feb. The plane crashed into a mountain moments later. Pilot Earl Remmel of Hooker, Oklahoma, and co-pilot Leslie Speer of Jeffersontown, Kentucky, kept the plane steady long enough for the other five crew members to bail out. The B-25 Mitchell dubbed "Maybe" was damaged during a bombing run near Trento during World War II. Nearly 70 years after they died when their crippled bomber slammed into a northern Italian mountain, the two Americans at the controls of the ill-fated warplane are being honored by residents of a village near the crash site.
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