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American football player (1918?2007)
American football player
Harold Van Every
(February 10, 1918 – August 11, 2007) was an
American football
back
in the
National Football League
(NFL) who played 21 games for the
Green Bay Packers
. In 1940, the Green Bay Packers used the ninth pick in the first round of the
1940 NFL Draft
to sign Van Every out of the
University of Minnesota
.
[1]
Van Every went on to play for two seasons with the Packers and retired in 1941.
Van Every then joined the
United States Army
for
World War II
, then transferred to the Air Corps after six months, becoming a bomber pilot.
[2]
He was assigned to 510th Squadron,
447th Bomb Group
,
Eighth Air Force
, flying a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
heavy bomber out of
Rattlesden Air Base
in England.
[2]
On his ninth mission, his B-17 was shot down by flak on May 12, 1944. He was taken prisoner and sent to
Stalag Luft III
, arriving just after the famous "Great Escape".
[2]
Near the end of the war, with the Russians closing in, the Germans marched their
prisoners
away from the camp. Finally, on April 29, 1945, the POWs were liberated by
George S. Patton
's
Third Army
.
[2]
References
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External links
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