Luke’s 464 Bomber Group Flight // October 30, 2025

Luke Layton McLaurine, Jr. graduated from advanced bombardier training and was grouped with the pilot and copilot prior to the rest of the crew joining them. McLaurine had taken navigation and gunnery training including operation and repair of the turrets. The ball turret gunner was a highly technical duty plus it necessitated the gunner be small in stature. Luke tells the story of becoming a POW in Stalag 11 after their plane was shot down over Germany. He was taken by train to Frankfurt with his crew and four other captive Americans after bailing out of his Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber on 16 November 1944. He recalls the grueling marches he and other POWs were forced to do by their captors to avoid Russian and American soldiers. Luke, originally from Memphis, TN, ran his parents’ bakery, McLaurine’s Bakery, upon returning from the war.