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. All of the rooms in Lager windows, the barracks doors were was a water supply in case there A were already full. so they told our locked, and dUring the night we was a fire, but we never saw any Crew thatwe would have to move into could hear the guards and dogs as kind of pump and all we had to the small wash room at the end of they patrolled this area inside our carry water in was buckets. Some Barracks # 9. compound. of the guys made small sailboats The Tipton crew's enlisted men Our crew at this time was told and had some boat races. but they (Jasicko. Holcombe. Ralston, Brady. that we would now be living in Lager did not seem to draw very large Deironimi, and myself) were still to­ A Barracks #9. so I will try to de­ crowds. gether and we all felt very lucky that scribe the general layout of our new The barracks were constructed we had not been split-up as we had home. Our lager was laid out in a of wood and were about 40 x 130 been through a lot together in the more or less conventional military feet. each containing ten living past nine months. We had no idea manner. with the bUildings facing a areas, five rooms on each side with where our officers were, but we were combination athletic field and pa­ a central hallway running down praying they were alright. When the rade ground.There were ten bar­ the center of the building, and at guards opened the gate and led us racks, five on each side of the field the far end there was a small wash into Lager A, a large crowd ofprison­ vith a latrine and wash room and room and a pitlatrine thatwas only ers started milling around us and ..vater pump located in the center of open for use at night. During the they were all asking a lot ofquestions each row. There were no buildings day you had to use the large out­ about the war, where the front lines across the far end as it looked out house type latrines. Each room were, etc., and where we were from? across the cleared area towards the had eight double deck bunk beds That was the first time that I found forest and the guard towers. Across spaced around the perimeter ofthe out that I did not know hardly any­ 6 thing about the ground war and re­ the British airmen had been prison­ removed the wooden braces that alized that I had probably been ers of the Germans for three or four locked the doors at each end of our avoiding thinking about the war and years and had learned the hard way barracks and someOne from our was just living from mission to mis­ how to best benefit from the rules barracks removed the outside shut­ sion and not worrying about any­ established at the International ters that had been installed over our thing else. A few days later I was out Convention Relating to the Treat­ windows the night before. When you there greeting the new POW's just ment of Prisoners of War, signed at first woke up, ifyou wanted to wash like everybody else, but now I had Geneva, July 27, 1929. by 47 na­ up you had to take a pan outSide to learned a lot more about the prog­ tions. The U.S. ratified these laws in the well and draw the water by using ress of the war and other current 1932 but Japan and Russia never th'e hand pump. Even though it was war news about the Eastern and signed this agreement. The British only August we were pretty far Western front lines. used these rules to usually stop North, so the water was already We were issued two blankets, obvious abuses when they were pretty cold and by December it was one American Gl wool blanket and dealing with the older regular army near freeZing. There was no break­ one German blanket that was very German officers, but with officers fast as such. but the kitchen Crew coarse and made from horse hair. At with ties to the Nazi party nothing every moming at about 7:30 am. did this time or perhaps a little later seemed to work. prepare either hot tea (it did not Deironimi was issued a pair of black We had an elected "American taste like Lipton) or ertaz coffee. English shoes with hob-nail soles to Man ofConfidence", Frances Paules They were both hard to get used to, wear in place of his heated boots. from Lansdale, PA., over all of the but eventually we decided they were They were a lot better than what he lagers, a camp leader for each lager better than nothing. Each room had was wearing, but not as good as our and a leader for each room. He had a metal beverage container and we Gl shoes because when you were signed a pledge that hewould not try took turns standing in line to get our standing around on frozen ground to escape, so hewas allowed to travel room's ration and then brought it which we did a lot of later on, the between lagers when problems back and our room leadermade sure hob-nails transferred the freezing arose Our lager had an all volunteer everyone got the same amount. cold right through the shoe soles to kitchen force that prepared and Most days we were each issued the bottom of his feet. Some of the cooked all ofour food. The kitchen in one-seventh ofa loafofa heavygrain prisoners that came in from Dulug our lager had only two or three large black bread that was covered with Luft 11 had been issued a capture vats and no other utensils in which saw-dust and sometimes we would kitwith extraclothes and some toilet to cook the food, so everything had even find pieces ofwood inside. Itdid articles, but those of us arriving to be mixed together and cooked like not taste too bad and it was some­ from Budapest had only what we a stew or mush. what moist. but ifyou tried to save it were wearing when we were cap­ Shortly after you become a pris­ too long and it dried up, it got a lot of tured. oneryou begin to realize that proba­ surface cracks and looked like dried From the Vorlager we were es­ bly the most important thing in your clay. The Germans brought the bare corted into Lager A and then over to life becomes when and if you are loaves into camp stacked in an open Barracks # 9. We entered the bar­ going to get your next meal. When wagon pulled by oxen or sometimes racks through the double doors into you read stories about young service by cows. Sometimes they also is­ a wide central hallway and were led men running around in foreign sued us a white margarine to spread down to the far end to a small wash lands. they always write that all they on our bread and I thought it was room on the right hand side of the are interested in is that famous four one ofthe better tasting things they barracks. We entered through a letter word that begins with an "F". gave us to eat. So USUally I had one single door into the smallwash room Once you become a prisoner I can piece of bread spread with some of with four double-deck bunk beds tell you with some certaintythat the the margarine and either the coffee jammed inside and there was one most important "F" words that most or tea and called it breakfast. We window looking outside on the oppo­ of us were thinking about was food, next were busy trying to become site wall. family, friends and freedom. With familiar with the camp layout and Each lager was governed some­ that in mind I will try to describe our determine what was expected of us what differently and since the ma­ typical first days as we were trying to and how best to adjust to this very jority of the prisoners in this com­ learn to survive with very little food. restrictive prison life. About 50 feet pound hadjust recently transferred lots of support from our friends, from the barbed wire fence was a here under very severe conditions worrying about our family, and our warning line, a 2 x 4 board that was from Luft VI, we were goveITled by complete loss offreedom. You do not raised about 18 inches above the the rules they had developed and realize how important freedom is ground. that extended around the operated under at that camp. Our until you find yourself in a situation perimeter of the lager. Anyone that Lager A leader was named Richard where all the decisions are made for crossed over this line into the "no M. Chapman from Daytona Beach, you by a man carrying a gun that is man's land" area would be shot on FL. and he had been trained by the pointed in your direction. Sight by the guards in the tower. British airmen at Luft Vl. Many of Early in the morning the guards This warning line around the lager

7 became the outside guide line for a stood at attention. Oneofthe German filled with food that had been common exercise path for all of us. counters was an older Sergeant who prepared in the large vats. The Also later on some airmen would had lived in Chicago, spoke very good best tasting food we received for come back to the room after walking English, was somewhatfriendly, wore Iunch was a barley cereal similar '----" around the exercise path and an­ a Green Anny uniform, and he was to cooked oatmeal. Nearly every­ nounce that there was 10,220 barbs called the "Green Hornet". We also one agreed that the barley cereal on the top rowofbarbed wire around heard that one of his sons was a was by far the best food we re­ the perimeter of the compound and fighter pilot. Most of the time the ceived. After the war when 1 was usually someone else would tell him count did not come out right, so we all back home on a normal diet I he made a mistake and quote some had to stand there until it was tried some and it was terrible. other large number as being the straightened out In the rain and dur­ That gives you an idea as to what correct count. Also if you sat on the ing the winter this caused a lot of the other food tasted like. Usually rear steps of your barracks and hardship particularly on those that lunch was either potato soup, watched the passing prisoners often were sick from colds and various ail­ cabbage soup, a dehydrated times you were re-united with other ments, so our Camp Leader assigned sauerkraut soup, or a dried friends from your squadron crews a couple of our airmen to help them greens soup. On a few occasions that had gone down recently and complete the count. Each room leader you could see small pieces of sometimes you saw airmen that you was responsible to make sure every­ meat in the soup. They brought had met in the various schools dur­ one was out of the barracks, but the raw meat covered with a ing earlier training. many times after a couple of mis­ green mold into the lager in open wago ns pulled by oxen or cows. The sauerkraut or greens soup smelled and tasted so bad that even though we were .. • --r nearly starving most of us could not eat it, so we had to sneak it over to our 32 hole latrine and dump it down into the pit. I know it is hard to believe, but the soup odor drowned out the prevailing odors which was no easy task. Our room leader ...... dished out equal -~ _ amounts of food from ,; . ...' the bucket into our dish which was in Luft N - Prisonersjrom Lager 'AU inJonnationfor the twice a day head-count required most cases a small tin by the German's to assure that no prisoner had escaped. can and we ate it ifwe At mid-morning every day, re­ counts a search of the barracks pro­ possibly could. gardless ofthe weather, we all had to duced a half dressed, sleep-eyed air­ We fell out into the same type fallout on the parade ground and man staggering out onto the parade formation in mid-afternoon to be line up five deep by barracks to be ground much to the dismay of the counted again and there were counted. Der Kommandant along Kommandant and a lot ofwet and cold just as many foul-ups in the af­ with our Camp Leader stood in the pIisoners. Sometimes two or three ternoon count as there were in front of the formation with armed guys were miSSing at the same time the morning. In those rooms that guards lined up behind our forma­ before the guards rousted them out of a deck ofcardswas available they tion, while we were counted by a different rooms in the barracks. After played hearts, bridge, or other couple of German NCO's. Der Kom- we were dismissed from this formation various card games or even mandant was a Lt.Colonel and he we had no assignments, so some though there were veryfew books was old by our standards and he played cards, others read. some gath­ you got on the waiting list and stood stiffly at attention in his sharp ered for class/lectures, but most just read whatever book that became black leather overcoat with his right loafed around. available. We did not have a deck hand over hiS heart Napoleon style. At noon someone from each room of cards in our room at this time, Some referred to him as "Rigor stood in line at the kitchen window and but we were still mostly trying to Mortis" because of the stiff way he received a ten quart bucket partially learn the system for daily sur­ o vival. gather these reports and that every­ slept in barns at night and on a few We stood in line with our bucket day it had to be disassembled and occasions had to sleep out in the for the evening food thatwas usually the parts hidden to keep it from open on the ground. On February mostly boiled potatoes which would being discovered. If anyone was 13th the Russian army was only a not have been too bad except they caught with any ofthe radio parts or short distance from us, so on that . added a large turnip- like kind of they learned the names of those day we had to walk for 23 miles in stringy vegetable called Kohlrabis. involved in obtaining the messages, freeZing weather and then spent the The strong tUrnip taste dominated they would have been executed. At rest of the night in a open field. the potatoes, ruined the flavor, and 10: 00 o'clock the light went out and We walked from the Eastern made it hard to get down. You had to after that there was total darkness Front to the Western front and as the eatitorgo to bed hungry every night. since the wooden shutters over the British troops approached we then Jasicko said that some farmers in windows blocked out even the headed back East until the Russian Montana raised Kohlrabis as food for moonlight. I cannot really do a very Army approached and then we their cattle, so I was feeling a little good job of explaining the long turned West again and were fInally sorry for the Montana cows. nights, but sleep did not come easy liberated by the British 2nd Army on Deironimi recently reminded me even though some how you had May 2, 1945. We crossed the Elbe that since we were one of the fIrst made it through one more day. River three times in the last six crews to live in a wash room we We had been at Luft IV for six weeks of the war. We were flown to received the same amount of food in months and then near the end of Camp Lucky Strike in France and our bucket for seven people that a January, 1945, after lock-up, our most of us were transported home room ofsixteen received because the leaders told us that since the Rus­ by the Navy arriving home in early kitchen crew had no way of knowing sian army was only a few miles east June, 1945. and put the same amount of food in ofus that we were probably going to each bucket. Our food lud{ was en­ be leaving our camp soon on a joyed only for a short time as our forced march. They also said that FOLDED WINGS camp was filling up fast as more an the 1500 prisoners in the poorest Ralph Finch. (McKerma's crew Ball more new prisoners were arriving health were going to be moved out of Gunner) passed away in his sleep in each week. In about four weeks the our camp by train. They asked us to June 1995. Germans decided the wash room submit names of those we thought was needed for the whole barracks to were in the worst physical shape Richard J. Bilger (Radar Navigator) used, so we were moved out. We and could not stand the march. passed away November 14, 1996 due .stayed in Barracks #9 but the rest of Those prisoners that were in the to a mass.ive heart attack. Reported my crew members were put in one hospital were to stay here for now. by Stan Winkowski. room and I was assigned to room #8. Each room submitted names and There were 16 beds and I was the the 1500 were picked from this list. R. Leon Crouch (Ashley's crew co­ 17th in the room, so I had to sleep on Brady, our nose gunner, had a bad pilot) passed away recently. His mail the floor. Before the end ofNovember knee and other swollen joint prob­ was returned stamped ~deceased." there were 23 in our room, so there lems and he was selected as one of Unable to get further information. were 7 of us sleeping on the floor. those to leave byboxcar. A train ride At dusk someone from each locked in boxcars traveling across In a phone conversation with room went outside and installed the Germany was no picnic as there was Patsy Bilger she said Richard was wooden shutters over the windows. always the threat of being bombed buried in the Ladi Cherokee Memo­ The guards closed the double doors or strafed by our own air force. rial Park. Veterans Section, Ladi. CA at each end of the barracks and About 50 prisoners were put in with fun military honors. He served barred them by placing a long each boxcar and transported this in WWU. Korean War and Vietnam wooden 4x4 across the Width of the way for several days with very little War. After retirement as a Lt. Colonel opening. There was one small bulb food and water across northern he worked for the Bureau ofAlcohol, (about 25 watts) in the center of the Germany to Stalag Luft I at Barth. Tobacco and Firearms for 27 years. room that provided marginal light­ Another 1500 prisoners from Lager He was located by Bernie Badler ing for the whole room. You had B were transported under similar just a couple of years ago. He at­ access to all the rooms in your bar­ conditions to Stalag Xlll D in Nurn­ tended one reunion, but health did racks, but you soon found out that burg in southern Germany, and not permit him to be with us in room members were rather close then in April forced to march about Montgomery. knit, so you pretty much were in­ 80 miles to Moosburg. Our thoughts prayers to our volved only With your own room. On February 6th the remaining After lockup some nights one of 6500 of us left on a forced march fallen comrades who have found , .:he leaders would come to our room everlasting peace. - you served '-.--­ that lasted for 86 days and we cov­ and give us the latestnews about the ered about 550 miles on foot and your countrywell. We will remember progress ofthe war. Later we learned about 30 miles in a box car. It was you forever. there was a hidden radio used to the coldest winter in years and we 9