NINE LIVES: Wayne Buchanan says his brother Walter, who turns 90
today, is like a cat with nine lives.

Walter Buchanan was born in Lottsville, Pa., and came to
Bradford to work at Taylor Aircraft. When the Bradford factory
burned down, he moved with the company to Lock Haven.

But after about a year, he joined the Air Force in World War II.
It was there that Walter had the first of what would be quite a few
close calls.

Walter, a corporal, was a belly gunner on a B17 which ran out of
gas and ditched in the Pacific. The entire crew was dumped into the
ocean but survived and managed to get into emergency boats.

The crew spent a couple months in the New Guinea jungle and
survived with the help of natives. Eventually, they were rescued
and returned to the service of their country.

Walter’s second close call came when he and others were clearing
a landing field using high octane gas. Someone lit a cigarette, and
everyone caught on fire.

“Seventy person of his hide came off him, and he lived through
it,” Wayne says. In fact, his brother was the only one who did
survive the fire.

It was several months until he recovered. When he got out of the
service, he lived in Bradford. At some point, he moved to Warren
where his next close call occurred.

He was working on an automobile when a pan of oil caught fire
and so did he. He ran to a nearby creek but ended up knocking
himself out on a tree. His hands were burned and he went to the
hospital.

That’s the extent of the “nine lives” Wayne told us about but he
assured us there was at least half dozen close calls.

There were five boys in the family and all served in World War
II. Wayne, the youngest, was in the Artillery. Gordon served in
Europe in a tank company. Two brothers, Ivan and Gerald, have
passed away.

Wayne says he’s not planning a huge celebration for his big
brother but will be taking him a cake – which he hoped to have
decorated with a B17.

Walter and his wife, the former Violet Ackley of Bradford, have
many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc.

If anybody made a movie out of Walter’s life, nobody would
believe it!