Battle of the Bulge Enemies Reconnect Decades Later

On Dec. 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. Lt. Col. Cottrell (Ret.) of Hendersonville, now 102, steered to his base and expertly managed a dead-stick landing. Bosse, now 99, ejected and parachuted down but was seriously injured and hospitalized.