Ed Wahl, right, stands with Michael Phillips, a British man who was born shortly after a B-17 crashed into his house near Wahl’s Air Corps base in 1944. Phillips visited Wahl at his home in Evans City on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. Butler Eagle File Photo

Ed Wahl, a young medic with the Army Air Corps’ 305th Bombardment Group stationed in Chelveston, England, during World War II, was returning to base from a nearby town when he was stunned to find smoke and flames everywhere.

It was March 24, 1941, and Wahl and another medic leaped from the ambulance they had driven the half-mile to the farm’s gate to help a husband with his wife — who was in an advanced state of pregnancy — escape the blaze. Both were injured when the bulk of a bomber crashed into the top of the house.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, the baby born as a result of Wahl’s efforts, Michael Phillips, visited Wahl at his Leisie Road home in Evans City for the first time, traveling from Britain to the U.S. for the meeting.

“It was wonderful to see him,” Wahl said of Phillips. “He’s a great guy.”