Etowah Library

On December 17, 1944, the second day of the Battle of the Bulge, American P-47 pilot Ed Cottrell's engine was shot up by a German Messerschmitt. In the same battle on the same day, German pilot Karl-Heinz Bosse's Messerschmidt 109 was shot down. Cottrell steered to his base and expertly managed a dead-stick landing . Bosse ejected and parachuted down but was seriously injured and hospitalized.

Seventy-nine years later in December 2023, at the site near Bonn, Germany where Bosse's plane had crashed, these two pilots and former enemies had a four-hour visit all these years later, sharing their stories with the help of a translator.

Lt. Col. Ed Cottrell, USAF (Ret.) will tell the story of meeting his former enemy in December of 2023--two pilots whose historic mission was to destroy each other's planes—and perhaps lives. Cottrell will share how these former adversaries developed a quick friendship, ending their meeting “forever friends.”

Cottrell will be available to sign a copy of the book We Shall Come Home Victorious, which tells his complete story. Books will be available for purchase ($20) with proceeds going to the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas in Brevard.

Registration Required | For Adults & Teens 16+

This FREE program is made possible with funds provided by the Community Foundation of Henderson County through the Richard J. and Betty A. Scott Estate.