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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's the morning of April 30, 1943, just off the coast of southwest Spain.

A local fisherman named Jose rose his small boat through the waves.

23-year-old Jose is a fish spotter.

His job is to look out for shoals of sardines and alert the other fishermen.

But today, the skies are overcast, the water is a dull gray, and after hours at sea,

Jose hasn't spotted anything.

He's just about to turn his boat around and circle back in the opposite direction

when something catches his eye, dark shape bombing on the surface of the water.

Curious, Jose rose a little closer.

It quickly sees that it's the body of a man floating face down.

He's wearing a yellow life vest over what looks like a military uniform.

World War II is currently raging throughout Europe, but Spain is officially neutral.

And sometimes Jose still hears the sound of guns over the horizon

or finds the debris of distant battles washing up on shore.

But this is the first time he's found a body.

Jose carefully maneuvers closer, and reaching over the side of the boat, he grabs hold of the man's waterlog coat and flips him face up.

He immediately recoils and lets go again.

The man is half rotted and the smell is overpowering.

Covering his nose, Jose gets up and shouts across the water.

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