BLOOMINGTON, Ind., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- A World War II veteran claims in a new book that U.S. anti-aircraft fire destroyed the plane carrying famed bandleader Glenn Miller 62 years ago.
Clarence Wolfe of Indiana claims further that after the tragic friendly-fire incident in 1944, his commanding officer tried to set him up to have him killed in order to keep it a secret.
The book "I Kept My Word" chronicles the shoot-down of Miller's small plane over the English Channel by Wolfe's anti-aircraft battery based in Folkestone, England. The 82-year-old Army vet said he was in charge of the equipment that relayed targeting information from British radar to the U.S. gunners.
Wolfe contends that once the mistake was realized, his captain swore the gun crew to secrecy and began assigning him to dangerous missions such as picking up unexploded ordnance from the invasion beaches at Normandy and spying behind German lines.
Wolfe said he kept his vow for more than 60 years and knew he had survived the war in order to reveal Miller's true fate, release from publisher Author House said.
