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Event 1
The book begins with Henry Forester preparing for his 15th mission very early in the frosty morning on his crew's B-24 Liberator. When Henry is soaring over French skies, he meets up with artillery fire from German gun turrets. The plane bursts into fire during the dogfight and goes down over France in a ball of flames. Henry and his crew are forced to eject into the dangerous, daring unknown. -
Event 2
While Henry floats down on his parachute, his pilot, Dan, is shot by a nasty, crazed Nazi fighter pilot. Once he reaches the ground, lucky enough to only have broken his leg, he heads to a small town in France and meets up with the French resistance forces. While there, he meets up with some interesting new characters as he works hard to continuously fight the Nazi forces which shot him down. He is also facing the choice of whether to use his last morphine shot. -
Event 3
Henry finds an old, yet hospitable farmer who takes him to a hospital in Switzerland. Henry meets up with the Maquis who are a resistance group in France. -
Event 4
Henry follows the Maqui's instruction all the way across the snowy, harsh Alps to a new Maquis camp, where he joins other downed pilots. The downed pilots are betrayed by their guide, but Henry's luck saves his life yet once more because he stayed behind with Bill. He just barely makes it out, but Bill is shot at the last second. -
Event 5
Henry is captured by the Germans, but once again luck is on his side, and he manages to escape. -
Event 6
He then joins another Maquis camp. -
Event 7
The Maquis plan another attack and then raid the German's camp. Unfortunately, Henry's luck comes to an end when he is captured and taken to the belly of the beast in the middle of the Nazi camp.. He is then forced to dig his own grave. In his mind, he fears that his grave will soon be occupied. -
Event 8
The guard that was going to “kill” Henry handed him a note saying that he was free and that the guard was with the Allies. So Henry runs away towards France. -
Event 9
Henry returns home to his family on the day of Thanksgiving and when his family all lost hope. They are surprised to see him and they all live happily.