Robert O'Hara Jr. is worried his part in World War II will be blown out of proportion.

John Beale, Post-Gazette Robert O'Hara Jr., a World War II hero, is in the class of vets being inducted into the Hall of Valor at Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum. Click photo for larger image.

"I don't want anything exaggerated," said O'Hara, a South Fayette resident who grew up in Carrick.

There's no need to exaggerate. The barest of facts about his experience with the Army Air Corps as a radio gunner are hair-raising.

A tech sergeant, he flew 27 missions from England to Europe. On the 27th, his plane was shot down "over the heart of Berlin." All 10 crew members parachuted to the ground alive -- O'Hara with an undiagnosed injury that left him unconscious about 11 days -- only to be captured by the Germans and imprisoned for 13 months.

When the Germans learned the Allies were coming, they sent the prisoners on a three-week march that ended when Americans found them in the woods.

O'Hara, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, is one of 25 southwestern Pennsylvania war veterans who will be inducted Sunday into the Soldiers & Sailors Hall of Valor, part of the Soldiers & Sailors National Military Museum & Memorial in Oakland.

Among them are winners of the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, Silver Star, Kearny Cross, Air Force Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross.

Nineteen of the men, including the late actor Jimmy Stewart of Indiana, Pa., served in World War II. The class also includes one veteran each from the Spanish-American War, World War I and the Korean War, and three from the Vietnam War.

Eleven of the 25 inductees are deceased.

Considering his injury, O'Hara easily could have been, too.

O'Hara's crew wasn't originally scheduled for a 27th mission. Their initial assignment was for 25, but Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered five more. On the day O'Hara's plane was shot down, he said, so were 64 others.

As is the case with many veterans, it's hard to get O'Hara to talk much about the war.

"He never talked about it to me," said his wife, Grace.

Recently, he's been a little less reticent, and research by his youngest sister, Nancy Belack of Upper St. Clair, has helped to fill in the blanks. She also nominated him for the Hall of Valor.

His war records were lost decades ago when a fire hit a military repository in St. Louis. But his discharge papers show he earned several medals besides the Distinguished Flying Cross, including the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters and a Bronze Star.

In response to questions, O'Hara pointed to a book that contained photos from Stalag 17: "Where did the camera come from?" he asked.

"You bribed the guards -- with cigarettes," O'Hara said. "Once they took the bribe, you had 'em. They couldn't do anything to you."

Asked if the Germans otherwise honored the Geneva Conventions, O'Hara shook his head "no."

"They didn't even know what the two words were," he said. "When we were on the road, it was tough."

There was no food or clean water, no bedroll, no warm clothes to huddle under in rain or snow, but all 10 members of his crew survived to greet their liberators.

The inductees are Leroy Bloom, Oakland; Charles H. Booth Jr., New Kensington; the late Alvin P. Carey, Ligonier; Harold E. Dougherty, Penn Hills; John P. Eichmiller Jr., Mount Washington; the late John L. Fleming, Grove City, Mercer County; the late John T. Hamilton, Allison Park; the late Robert W. Hockelberg, Indiana, Pa.

The late John Hotkowski, Pittsburgh; the late Joseph Lubas, Johnstown; Leonard H. Marinaccio, Pittsburgh; Charles W. McKeever, Greensburg; O'Hara, South Fayette; the late Louis Rodriguez, Ambridge; Robert E. Rutter, North Braddock; the late Joseph Daniel Sanko, Footedale, Fayette County: the late Warren Shepherd, Cherry Tree, Pa.

William C. Sommer Jr., Harrisburg; Michael E. Stephan, Pittsburgh; the late James Stewart, Indiana, Pa.; Frederick M. Tate, North Side; James A. Theys, Cranberry; Ernest M. Williams, Sewickley; George C. Yates, Canonsburg; and the late Edward A. Zolnierzak, Allegheny County.