This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Detroiters loved him. Sonny Elliott was on the radio and television airwaves in southeast Michigan for more than 60 years. He enlivened his weather reports and forecasts with gags, puns and jokes about small towns in the Upper Peninsula. People who tuned in felt they knew Sonny Elliott, but very few of his viewers ever knew that he had spent 16 months as a prisoner of war during World War II. Sonny Elliot was born Marwin Elliot Schlossberg in 1920 in Detroit. His sister Anne dubbed him Sonny and the name stuck. Elliot studied acting and broadcasting at Wayne University, now Wayne State University. He also took flying lessons and earned his pilot's license. In 1941, just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Elliott enlisted and trained as a pilot on four engine B24 bombers. He piloted a B24 on bombing raids over Europe. But Elliott's 16th mission was his last. His squadron ran into enemy fighters and flak. His plane was hit and caught fire. He and his nine crewmates bailed out. All survived. February 1944 found Sonny Elliot in a German prisoner of war camp. During his time in the prisoner of war camp, Elliot did not try to hide his Jewish origins, and his heritage was noted on his prisoner of war identity card. He became the camp morale officer and helped put on shows and skits for the other prisoners. In the spring of 1945, the Red army liberated the camp. After the war, Elliot returned to Detroit, and in 1947 he got a job with Michigan's first TV station, WWJ TV. He became the station weathercaster and livened up his program with jokes and gags. If there was a storm brewin, Elliot would joke that it was busier than a one armed pickpocket with a large family. And he quipped that Jacobsville in the up was a town so small their dog catcher is a vicious cat. By the mid-1960s, Elliot was Detroit's top television personality. In 1972, WWJ made Elliott its public relations director. He appeared at events everywhere around the city, notably at charity fundraisers. Sonny Elliott moved to Channel 2 in 1980 and retired in 2010. He passed away two years later. He had turned down many offers from bigger TV stations, choosing instead to remain in the Motor City. I was born here, I grew up here, he said. Detroit is where I belong. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.