“They Don’t All Hit The Targets:” A Television Visionary Recounts His Experiences as a B-17 Crewman

Norman Lear, famed television producer, activist, and philanthropist, served as an Army Air Corps Tech-Sergeant during World War II. He was a radio operator and top turret gunner on a B-17 based out of Foggia, Italy. He is credited with 52 missions over occupied Europe during the war and participated in the bombing of Berlin. In this interview, he discusses his wartime experience, including his recollections of the Tuskegee Airmen, how the war changed him, and how the war changed the country.