My grandfather, Charles Anderson, did not talk much about the war, and he certainly refrained from talking about his experience as a prisoner of war. My mother, aunts, and uncle had very little information about this particular area of their father’s life. This made me a little frustrated because, out of his time in the military, I especially wanted to explore his experiences as a POW. Nonetheless, I have learned about his time in POW camps the best way I could. I learned about several men who not only served in the Army Air Force, but also were POWs during World War II.
StalagLuft 4
“World War II in Europe saw an enormous number of soldiers, sailors, and airmen fall into their enemy’s captivity”. More Americans became POWs during World War II than in any other war involving the United States. More specifically, there was over ten times the number of American POWs during WWII at 130,201 than in every other war (concerning America) combined at 12,056 (“American Prisoners of War”). These statistics certainly have great importance, but as I read the individual stories of so many men, numbers began to seem very insignificant. Numbers are so cold and unemotional; they do not tell stories and experiences. A story is more significant than a number.
Although I came across countless stories of American prisoners of war, I chose to focus on three men whose military experience appears very similar to my grandfather’s. These men include James Dowling, Joseph P. O’Donnell, and Lloyd Kilmer. All three served in the Army Air Force during World War II. Dowling served in the 445th Air Wing of the 8th Air Force. Kilmer, also in the 8th Air Force, was a B-24 pilot in the 448th Bomb Group, Squadron 712 in the 2nd Air Division. The 8th Air Force, stationed in England, was very close to the 15th Air Force (located in Foggia, Italy), in which my grandfather operated. Joseph O’Donnell also flew in the 15th Air Force, 483rd Bomb Group, 815th Bomb Squadron. I chose to write about these men because they all served in the Air Force and became POWs; their stories must somewhat resemble my grandfather’s.
"Roll Call- at a StalagLuft
Many parts of the men’s stories are quite alike. Each of their crews got shot down while operating bombing missions to Germany. O’Donnell’s crew was actually bombing the aircraft factory in Wiener Neustad, Austria, where my grandfather was first brought after being captured as a POW. Germans eventually captured the men after each of them bailed out of their respective crash. Joseph O’Donnell saw trees and rocks as he descended after his bailout. He thought about the little training he had gotten and remembered he needed to keep his legs crossed if he thought he would land in a tree. He ended up landing in some bushes, but I wonder if my grandfather’s thoughts resembled O’Donnell’s after he bailed out, as he did land in a tree. After his crash, O’Donnell came upon a freshly plowed field while deciding his best route to escape, but was detected by a German plane. A short time later he found a German soldier waiting for him.
After his crash, James Dowling reunited with his crewmembers only to be captured. They then loaded into boxcars for a ride to a POW camp. Riding in the boxcars seems to be an experience every prisoner of war went through. This is actually one of the situations my grandfather survived that I actually have knowledge about. My grandfather told about how the POWs were bombed by their own men while stuck in the boxcars. This is something that Dowling also experienced. On a long 300-mile ride he and fellow POWs experienced bombing by U.S. planes. Unaware that Americans were in the boxcars, the U.S. bombed them. O’Donnell also noted that they had no food, water, or toilet facilities in the crowded boxcars.
After riding in the boxcars, but before they “settled” into camp, prisoners of war faced interrogation. During interrogation, POWs were threatened if they did not supply information. O’Donnell received a right hand chop to his ear because he would only give his name, rank, and serial number. Later he was asked to provide some maps he had in exchange for food. He eventually surrendered the maps when the Germans threatened to shoot him.
Lloyd Kilmer also tells an interesting story of his interrogation experience. Kept in solitary confinement for days, he refused to repeat more than his name, rank, and serial number (like O’Donnell). As a result of his “stubbornness,” the Germans pressed him at gunpoint for information concerning the 8th Air Force. When he declined to inform them, a German officer came to have a word with him. He decided that because Kilmer would not disclose anything, he would show him what they knew. The officer proceeded to show a book with information regarding Kilmer’s bomb squadron, bombing reports, and biographies of the crewmembers. He said to Kilmer, “You think we’re pretty smart, don’t you? We know ninety-five percent of what’s going on in the American Armed Forces. However, your government knows ninety-seven percent of what’s going on in the German Armed Forces”. Hearing these stories, I cannot imagine what my grandfather encountered, especially because he never talked about it.
My grandfather did comment a little about how the Air Force men were despised by civilians outside camps. Because of this, the airmen were not allowed to do forced labor outside camp. This is something that O’Donnell recounts. After his interrogation, a truck with a German guard took him to the camp. He told the guard that he did not need to be guarded; that he would not escape. The guard replied that he did not guard him from escape, but from the civilians. He said if civilians found out that he was an airman they would hang him without question because he had just destroyed their town and killed their families. Joined by other airmen on a train in Vienna, they experienced this hatred first-hand. He said, “they knew we were air corp and violently vented their anger. Fortunately for us, their only weapon were a swift kick, a deliberate punch, or a wad of well aimed spit in the face” Any time air corp POWs went outside the camp, they would be subjected to this abuse.
Though they could not participate in forced labor, POWs did not have an easy life in the camps. My grandfather never talked much about it, and I could not find very much on the life inside the camps. However, Kilmer is one of the few former POWs who did talk a little about life in camp. He remembers how he watched many other inmates get shot when they attempted to escape. He also comments on how the meals only included watery cabbage or turnip soup, and they spent cold nights with only a thin blanket. He lost sixty pounds in his time at camp.
These men merely survived in camps until the end of the war. Only Kilmer commented on his experience at the end of the war, and I took great interest in that part of his story. When the war ended, he resided in Moosburg Stalag 7A, the same place my grandfather was at the end of the war. On April 29, 1945 Kilmer attended a POW church service when the men heard an explosion of small arms fire. Soon a U.S. tank came through the German barbed wire. Their time at camp was over! He told about the wonderful sight when the American flag replaced the Swastika. I really enjoyed reading his story about April 29, because I just cannot help but imagine this is possibly the sight that my grandfather saw that day.
James Dowling, Lloyd Kilmer, and Joseph O’Donnell have brought my family and me a gift without even knowing. As I read each man’s story with great interest, it gave me insight into a piece of what my grandfather may have gone through. He did not speak much about life as a prisoner of war, but I cannot help think it had a tremendous affect on him. Through these men I have taken bits and pieces of their stories, and imagined what he must have experienced. It is truly fulfilling just to know a little more about what he faced, and I have been granted that through these men’s stories.
Additional Sources:
www.thehewitt.net
mywebpages.comcast.net/abner00
www.wpafb.af.mil
www.381st.org
www.bibl.u-szeged.hu
www.thebattlezone.com
www.armyairforces.com
www.west.net/~awon
