# probably won't be able to tell the type of bike by the photo...



## piercer_99 (Nov 12, 2018)

Hope I am not out of line here, I just wanted to share this cool set of photos with you all.

The guy on the bike, is the Dad of one of my friends from high school, in the older photo (when he was young), he was stationed in Bassingbourn England in spring of 1943, he was 19.  The photo was taken 4 or 5 weeks before he got to spend the next 19 months in the care of Hitler and his crew, between stalag 7 and stalag 19 (I believe), for the remainder of the war until he was liberated.  He was a top gunner on the HelNo Gal, both times it was shot down. The second time was when the handful of guys who lived were captured.

Anyway, the other is kind of a reenactment shot, last year in Marana, AZ at the airshow he was 93 in this photo.

He is 94 this year, and still just as spry.  A heck of a guy, who raised some great kids.

Anyway, here are the photos of Walter, an American hero, and his bicycle.


----------



## Land O' Aches (Nov 12, 2018)

Awesome - thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Frank and Pam Skid Kings (Nov 12, 2018)

Nice tribute. Tell him THANK YOU !


----------



## kreika (Nov 12, 2018)

Very cool! Thanks for sharing his story. o7....that’s a salute to Walter!


----------



## JOHN DANGER (Nov 19, 2018)

nice photo , the bike in the original old photo is a military Columbia or Huffman


----------



## johan willaert (Nov 19, 2018)

FWIW Most likely a Westfield Columbia by the look of the gothic (ribbed) front fender!

Great pictures...


----------



## piercer_99 (Nov 19, 2018)

I was wrong on the Stalag 19, it was 17.


Anyway, if you are interested, he tells his story much better than I ever could.

I went to school with his son Harry, who is a racecar driver now.

https://www.nogalesinternational.co...cle_aee12034-51fd-11e3-bb41-0019bb2963f4.html


----------



## piercer_99 (Aug 20, 2019)

So the guy on the bikes in the photos above, Master Sergeant Retired Walter Ram, received his second purple heart for injuries in WWII today in Tucson Arizona.

He is still a heck of a guy.     They had his photo at the ceremony.   

https://www.kold.com/2019/08/21/tuc...Lz8808_bJJXD8vs3RrlRUuVDCrkABXg-WpgFWwSfzb8gY


----------



## piercer_99 (Aug 20, 2019)

His son, my friend, posted this a week ago.

 I am very proud to add that my dad, MSGT Walter Ram USAAF(Ret), will be receiving his SECOND Purple Heart Medal for injuries sustained 76 years ago during a crash landing after being shot down in battle by nazi fighter planes during a mission in WWII. The presentation ceremony will be held at Davis Monthan Air Force base on August 20, 2019. Dad was a crew member on the B-17 "Helno-gal" from the 331st Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. Special thank you to COL Reed C. Olson USAR(Ret) for your unrelenting efforts over the last few years to make this happen.

Here is the Helno-gal


----------



## rusty_apache (Aug 20, 2019)

Riding a bike tends to keep one spry!





piercer_99 said:


> Hope I am not out of line here, I just wanted to share this cool set of photos with you all.
> 
> The guy on the bike, is the Dad of one of my friends from high school, in the older photo (when he was young), he was stationed in Bassingbourn England in spring of 1943, he was 19.  The photo was taken 4 or 5 weeks before he got to spend the next 19 months in the care of Hitler and his crew, between stalag 7 and stalag 19 (I believe), for the remainder of the war until he was liberated.  He was a top gunner on the HelNo Gal, both times it was shot down. The second time was when the handful of guys who lived were captured.
> 
> ...


----------

