WWII Vet Visits Muskego, Shares Memories to Keep History Alive

Wearing the United States Army uniform he first donned 68 years earlier, George Michel tells the story of his part in World War II as a gunner on a B24 Bomber with the Army's 392nd Bomb Group.

Michel's knack for detail is incredible—names, precise dates, aircraft specifications, and the timeline of his own escape to France after the aircraft he was in went down in Switzerland after being peppered with flak during a bombing run in Germany.

He was stuck in Switzerland—a country whose neutral status in the war he says was somewhat overstated—for about six months. Then he got a forged pass (which he has kept and shares along with his story) to leave Bern, promising to return. He instead used it to begin his journey out of the country via a boat ride across Lake Geneva.

An unknown man rowed him across Lake Geneva to safety in France. It was an act the man repeated many times, assisting 119 soldiers during the war.

After the war, Michel married his wife, Colleen. They raised six children and spent nine years in Brazil where he worked as an engineer. But Michel never forgot the risk taken by the mysterious man who helped him gain his freedom.

Michel took up the search in 1990, writing letters to all of the mayors in towns along the shore of the lake, describing the man in hopes someone would have a name come to mind.

One responded with a name—Raymond Servoz. Six years later, the men finally met again in Switzerland.

Of all the soldiers Servoz helped, Michel was the only one to find him all those years later and thank him.

“How could I not?” Michel said of his quest to find Servoz and offer his thanks. “I owed him that much.”

The next year Servoz returned the visit and came to meet Michel in Racine, where he and Colleen were then living.

Michel has kept nearly everything—even a pair of “skivvies” from his wartime service.  He has shelves full of documents, photos and correspondence secured after the plane crash, as well as the investigation done by Swiss police. For his 87 years, he speaks with great clarity and certainty of the years that fill the binders on those shelves, which he has considered donating to the Wisconsin Veteran's Museum in Madison.

In his presentations, which he has given to schools and senior centers, he hopes to tell the real story of World War II from his part in it. Michel recently gave a presentation at Muskego Regency, where he lived until moving to neighboring New Berlin.

He says he is frustrated with how history is taught in schools.

"At times, I think people are clueless,” he said. “There is so much to cover in talking about World War II, and I have to work with teachers to find out what they'd like me to focus on.  History is really fascinating, I just think how it's taught can be pretty boring.”

Presentations scheduled for two hours stretch into four, as questions keep coming from the audience, and Michel's vast memory helps provide insight into the real stories beyond the textbooks.  He never seems to tire of it, and it perhaps has helped to keep his memory so sharp.

In addition, Michel admonishes other veterans to share their own stories.  He feels their reluctance takes away from real history, saying, "If you don't tell your story, someone else will, and they're not likely to get it right."

Those who didn't come back from the war can't tell their stories, he reasons, and it would seem sharing, while perhaps painful, can serve to honor the memories of the fallen.  Michel's presentation includes a brief rundown of some of his classmates who did not make it home, one killed by a land mine, one shot down from a plane and yet another a victim of the Bataan death march.

So long after the close of the war, Michel's memory still serves to educate and honor.