War story

Richard Carson has posted a fascinating clip from I've Got a Secret. A Belgian lady named Ann Brusselmans hid many American airmen who were shot down over Europe during World War II. She appeared on the show with four of the men that she and her husband concealed for a time in their small apartment.

Henry Morgan eventually guessed the secret, after guest panelist Kathryn Grant did a lot of the hard work in narrowing the search down to World War II. After the secret was revealed, the contestants told some literal war stories. Like the time the Germans searched the lady's apartment and were about to open the door into a room concealing an American. Mrs. Brusselmans persuaded them not to enter by telling them her son was sick in the room with typhoid fever.

World War II is receding further and further into history. But this game show clip makes the war seem almost eerily present. "Human wormhole" is how some have dubbed the phenomenon. In a bit of much more minor history, the December 10, 1958 episode marked Bess Myerson's debut on the show. She would stick around for nine more years.