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Bernie Lay wrote about his escape ex-
periences in the book ‘I’ve Had It’, which
he published in 1945. A second edition
in 1980 was titled ‘Presumed Dead: The
Survival of A Bomb Group Commander’.
After returning to England and the
necessary recoup time, Lt.Col. Lay was
no longer authorized to take part in
combat missions. It was a security rule
that excluded from flying over enemy
territory those who had come into con-
tact with the underground resistance
movement after having been previously
shot down over the continent.
He again held staff positions and
retired from the Army with the rank
of Colonel in 1946. He moved with his
family to Hollywood, where he became
involved in the film industry, but mainly
devoted himself to writing.
Although Bernie Lay flew fewer than
ten combat missions during the war,
the horrors of those missions never
left him. For writers, the way out was,
among other things, writing. It provid-
ed the inspiration for the book ‘Twelve
O’Clock High’, published in 1948. Shortly
after that, the offer of a lifetime came
- to create a screenplay from the book
in cooperation with Sy Bartlett and
Henry King for a film about the fate
of the crews of American four-engine
bombers during the Second World War.
Bernie Lay thus not only applied his
own experiences in the book and the
subsequent film, but above all he im-
mortalized the memory of the people he
met and respected during his fighting
career. Among them was Thomas Mur-
phy and even his B-17F ‘Piccadilly Lily’.
It became the central plane of the story.
The film premiered in 1949 and starred
Gregory Peck.
Other films followed, for which Ber-
nie Lay wrote screenplays. The most
Back cover of ‘I’ve Had It: The Survival of a Bomb Group Commander’
(Harper and Brothers, 1945)
Bernie Lay shortly after the war (photo: Allan T. Duffin)
Twelve O’Clock High movie poster from 1949
HISTORY
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September 2024