Arnošt Kafka

"There were probably four fighter planes towards the end of the war. They were Americans, supposedly. They shot down planes, probably from Bratislava, because there were PC desks in the fire site. At a distance of, let´s say, about four kilometers in the direction to Pozďatín as the crow flies, we could see them shooting at each other, and then we saw one falling down, towards Studenec. So, we went to find out further above Studenec, on the hill, if it landed there. It flew around those houses and it was on fire when we arrived there. Some of the soldiers who jumped out of the plane with a parachute, as the plane was descending rapidly, so they got caught on the back rudders and the plane was pulling them. As long as they were flying in the height that the distance of the twigs of the parachute was sufficient enough, then it was ok, they were hanging on it. However, when it flew as if upwards, then it dragged them with it. So, when we got there, they were lying there, moaning. Some of them, I don't know if there were five, I don't know if they survived. But the co-pilot jumped out of the already burning plane, and he said that the commander of the plane, the lieutenant, that he had both legs broken, that he could not get him out, so he died in a fire there."