POULSBO — Bill Barlow, U.S. Air Force Pilot in World War II, now sits at the peaceful Montclair Park home for seniors with his wife Betty and a stunning view of the Olympic Mountains.

Many recollections of his life as a veteran come back to one defining adventure that happened in the Hürtgen Forest in Germany.

The year was 1944, the mission was routine, but German fire turned an ordinary mission into the ultimate test of the 20-year-old Barlow’s will, endurance, strength and hope.

Flying with his squad high over Germany that September, Barlow’s P-47 Thunderbolt was pierced with enemy rounds. The aircraft’s riddled wings burst into flames and Barlow burst out of the cockpit.

While free falling through heavy crossfire, Barlow opened his parachute just below the cloud deck and floated to the ground in the Hürtgen Forest.

“When I came down I knew that I was behind the German lines,” Barlow said. “I hit the ground, took my chute off hid it in the brush and started running.”

That sprint began the most trying episode of Barlow’s life.

After hiding in underbrush to elude the initial German search party, Barlow began walking westward.

With no food and only muddy water made potable by a Halizone tablet from his emergency kit, Harlow walked for days on end.

“I was getting weaker, and my feet started swelling and giving me problems, so I took my shoes off, which was a mistake,” he said.

Walking around the German forest for more than a week with no shoes — only do-it-yourself booties made from the sleeves of his GI sweater — Barlow finally decided that it was time to give himself up.

He came to a road and saw a German convoy approaching, knowing that he didn’t want to surrender to a pack of troops, he waited. Soon after a single German-style staff car came along, which would be his savior.

After passing out and waking up in the backseat of the car he heard one of the troops say, in English, “You want a cigarette, buddy?”

As it turned out, manning that staff car were undercover GIs who were following and radioing information about the German convoy. They took Barlow to a field hospital beginning a three-and-half-year stint which the vet would spend in army hospitals where he would eventually meet his wife Betty.