A graduate of UCLA, at the beginning of World War II Harry F. Reardon enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps. On 26 February 1943, Captain Reardon of the 305th U. S. Bomb Group ("Can Do") , 366th Bomb Squadron, 8th U. S. Air Force, was the co-pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress flying a mission to bomb the German port facilities at Wilhelmshaven. After completing its mission, the B-17 was shot down. Captain Reardon and his crew were able to successfully parachute from the aircraft, but were captured and spent the rest of the war in prison camps.