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STALAG LUFT IV Hit the Roller and Broke Plexiglass on the Lower by Harold B

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STALAG LUFT IV Hit the Roller and Broke Plexiglass on the Lower by Harold B the side ofthe runway. BettIe tried to startthe out board engine to miss the roller, but could not. We STALAG LUFT IV hit the roller and broke plexiglass on the lower by Harold B. Farrar part of the nose. The nose gear also hit and stopped us. An ambulance arrived qUickly as well On July 16, 1944 on a mission to Vienna the Tipton crew as a truck and tractor. began to have problems with their aircraft. By the tme they left Two other crews were lost because of flak so the target two engines were out and they were forced to leave in the end with all our problems we felt lucky. theformation. Afteran encounter with aMe 109 they had to bail On June 7th, the next day, we went to the out nearzagreb, YugoslaVia. They were captured by the Ustachl flight line to look at the plane. We counted 159 troops and turned over to the German soldiers. Two days later holes. Old Yellow D looked pretty bad. On the they were taken to Budapest, Hungary for interrogation. From right Wing about a foot from the leading edge I here the officers, Lt Dale Tipton, Lt Eugene Weiss, Lt VeITlon noticed 3 or 4 ricochet bullet tracks across this Burda and Lt Eugene Krzyzynski, were sent by train to Stalag part of the wing. ThIs probably came from the Lujt III at Sagan, Germany. The enlisted men, T/Sgt Frank fighters. These hit between No. I and 2 engine. Jasicko, T/Sgt Hulitt Holcombe, S/Sgt Harold Farrar, S/Sgt Somehow, the propellers were not hit. On the Albert Ralston, S/Sgt Paul Brady and S/Sgt Michael Deironimi leading edge of the wing was a large hole badly along with 20 otherenlisted men, were sent by boxcar to Stalag chewed up. Mallory Simmons. our crew chief, Lujt W. Harold Farrar will tell about life as a POW. Editor. gave me a big piece of flak he had removed. This It was now August 4, 1944 and the Tipton Crew's enlisted piece of flak is about one inch by 1/2 inch thick men had traveled over 600 miles north since they left the prison in Budapest. They uncoupled our box car at a small train and 4 1/2inches long. I still have itas a souvenir. station called Kiefheide near the town ofGrosstychow about 25 Simmons, Becnel and Ferich, our ground miles inland from the Baltic Sea in the Province of Pomerania. crew, placed about a dozen cans of beer they had When wegot out ofthe box car we were hungry, weak, stiff, very saved up on Our plane to get cool. They were tired, and somewhat scared. Our guards were replaced by placed forward ofthe camera hatch. We had a few soldiers dressed in the blue uniform ofthe Luftwaffe as we were hits there and they lost all but three cans. lined up and ordered to start marching down a dirt road. We walked along the road for over a mile and a halfthrough a heavy As pilot ofthe crew ofSacajawea, I felt a great forest until we broke out into a large clearing and offin the dis­ pride in the work these guys did. It brought us home. Luck helped too, butwe made it. The June tance we could see a large compound of many wooden build­ 6th Ploesti mission was a tough one for the Group ings completely surrounded by double fences of barbed wire. -and the 78 Ist. Two aircraft from the Squadron After they opened a large locked gate we were led into an outer were lost over Rumania on this mission. Lt. camp that contained the German administration/housing Martin's crew bailed out and survived with some portion of the camp called the Vorlager. We were told we were injuries as did Lt. MacFarland's crew. in Kriegsgefangenenlager der Luftwaffe Nr IV. a prisoner ofwar Bennie Naticchioni. our injured tail gunner, camp for enlisted airmen. We were stripped ofall ofour clothes said to me after landing, 'Thanks, Lieutenant. I and completely searched. After we dressed we were photo­ really didn't want to walk home." How in the graphed, finger printed, and assigned a prisoner of war num­ world can you thank anyone person for a per­ ber for identification purposes. My POW number was # 649 I. formance like that? They - all 10 - did it, and did This was a new prison camp that had just been activated it damn well! in early May. Learning from their earlier experiences at other Through the rest of June, July and August camps, this camp was located, deSigned, and constructed to 1944, the Crew flew 26 more missions. Three eliminate as many escape and tunneling routes as pOSSible. more times over Ploesti. Although damaged First it was located as far North and East as possible to keep many times over, never as seriously as the June it a great distance from the Western front, so you would have 6 mission. a very long and dangerous walk if you did escape. Next it was John Forham caught flak in the nose turret located on sandy soil in the center of a very large cleared area in the middle of a forest of trees, so you would have to dig a over Linz, Austria. while we bombed the Herman tunnel in sandy soil that would have to be shored up, so that Goering Tank Works. A flak wound in his right it would not collapse. lower leg resulted in a compound fracture. Both About 350 acres had been cleared of trees and the camp John and Bennie recovered fully and completed was built in the middle 150 acres, so a tunnel would have to their missions and returned stateside in 1944. extend a long ways just to get to the edge of the camp and a lot All members, except Lt. William Magowan who had a non-flying injury. completed all mis­ farther to reach the safety ofthe trees. The barracks floors were sions and returned to the states and survived the raised about 30 inches off of the ground, so they could see war and many years after. Today, some 52 years underneath the barracks and also tum their dogs loose under later. four of the ten guys that kept Sacajawea there to sniffout any possible escapees. We also found outthat '--~ flying are still living the good life. the floors were made of two layers of wood. The planks were running in one direction on the lower floor and the planks on top were placed in the opposite direction. So you could notjust remove the upper planks over a small area and still get through 5 the bottom layer because they were running in the wrong direction. The camp was divided into four sompounds. or lagers, and each was \. 0. separate and self contained unit. Lagers designated "An and "B" were side by side and lagers designated "cn and "D" were right behind them. There was a road and single gate ~ , leading into each lager. Around each ~ ~'1·rt lager were double barbedwire fences "." • ',-14 f ..,;:1. about ten feet high. High towers with . ".:N.....­ ...... ~~~ .4' guards, machine guns. and search .~ ··~,.I~J. '. lightswere evenly spaced around the "-l"'''' -",1!~'£- ~ perimeter of the camp. These same ...,' ... j ......,,.;!l;~ {~~. ~ ~~.:f". type towers were also located behind .;:'- ~..,~ 'I :ll.-f, .., the double fences between the la­ #~'~"~:" "#' ............. • • • M: , j' \ gers, so each lager had machine gun '~ J~" ~«..; i'" ~ 4f . towers on all four sides. At this time , •• '(..1. ...,..". ?"'':n'.• 'if"''' I ,. • ~..... '. Lagers "Cn and "D" were still under . ',':,1 . i-l.~ . I '»<' ,/ ...1 $ . f .," l.. ... j ,.".J ';,.'.' l.~iJ '.r~ "" ; .. ~ -;;~ -;.r~ ... '. ..~ construction. but "cn was nearing • ..... : 'f. ,-' .' , I:g., Ii,., ... in: .. I completion. Lujt IV during co~b-ucti.o;;' You can see the double barbed-wireJence Around all of this, guards on foot between compounds and the warning line creating a no man's lar..d. with large vicious police dogs pa­ area in which no prisoners could trespass. Later a prisonerfrom my trolled at night. There was one large barracks went insane and tried to climb over theJence in broad daylight guard called "Big Stoop" thatwas the and was shot by the guard. The German's then added more sloped most vicious and injured several barbed wire along the top oj the existingJence. prisoners while they were being the near end of the compound room. There was a small round heat­ processed into the camp. He had there was a large building housing ing stove with a flat iron top that used 'ery big hands and liked to cuff pris­ the kitchen. two sleeping rooms. a compressed coal brick as fuel. Only 'oners on the ears with an open hand two offices. and a large general- a limited number ofthe coal brickets which caused a lot ofpressure on the purpose room that we called the were issued per room, so during the ear, sometimes puncturing the ear "Red Cross Room" Also. located winter they had to be used very spar­ drum. He was generally brutal in right outSide this building was a ingly as they were also our only everything that he did dUring our shallow concrete structure that source of heat. There also were two stay here and also later on during looked somewhat like a swimming tables, some stools, and a small light our forced march. pool and was full ofvery dirty rain­ bulb in tire center of the room that At sundown each nightwe had to water. We never found out for sure had to be turned off at 10:00 o'clock install wooden shutters over the whatitwas for, butsome thoughtit each night.
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