On a night in late March, Yeager was put in the back of a truck with a group of other American airmen the driver had picked up earlier. When the truck screeched to a stop, each of the men was given a hand-drawn map and a knapsack filled with bread, cheese, and chocolate. The driver pointed to a narrow mountain path, and the airmen, on their own, began climbing into sheets of rain and gale-force winds. When the others lagged behind, Yeager teamed up with a powerfully built B-24 navigator named “Pat” Patterson.
