The currently famous, four-star Gen. David Petraeus is coming to stay awhile in Tampa. ...more

October 31, 2008

SEBRING — Oct. 14, 1942, is a day Ted Biever Sr. remembers vividly. On that fateful day, Biever, a retired Air Force master sergeant, who served as a gunner on World War II aircraft, was shot down while conducting a mission over Germany. "To tell you the truth there was so much going on when we were shot down that I had no idea it was happening until we hit the ground," said Biever "I slept all night inside of a haystack," said Biever. "The following day I got up, and I was in the middle of Germany. I didn't speak the language, didn't have a compass and didn't have a map, so all I could do was hope to run into someone friendly on the ground." So, Biever, then 21, approached a group of farmers he thought looked friendly. "I was hoping they'd be friendly but they weren't," said Biever. "They took me into a village and threw me in this one-man jail until some German soldiers came and picked me up." Over the next 21 months, Biever was held captive by Nazi forces. ...more

November 11, 2007