“…and the land shall reveal its blood and it shall no longer conceal its slain ones.” (Isaiah 26:12)
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Continuing with my ongoing series of posts about the military service of Jewish soldiers in WW II, “this” post, like other preceding it, concerns Jewish soldiers who were either military casualties (killed, wounded, or missing) or, who received military awards or decorations, for action on a specific calendar date during that conflict. For the purpose of these posts, that calendar date is based on information in news reports or obituaries about Jewish military casualties published in the The New York Times, most such news items appearing in 1945. As such, the above-mentioned “date” which serves as the criterion for these posts is the date on which a serviceman was a casualty, when he performed or participated in action for which he was the recipient of military awards, or, if he was involved in any other significant, news-or-memory-worthy event – rather than the date on which a news item was published in the Times.
In ironic hindsight, the fact that a soldier was a Jew was neither the criterion nor the focus of the Times’ reporting, since the nominal acceptance – let alone an unapologetic and positive assertion! – of Jewish collective identity; Jewish peoplehood – has long been anathema to the animating ideology of the Times. As of 2021, that worldview remains undiminished in intensity and taken-for-granted-acceptance, and will probably persist until the arrival of an informational or sociological “black swan event“.
And with that, a “new” name makes its appearance: Second Lieutenant Wallace Franklin Kaufman (serial number 0-931082), a B-24 Liberator navigator in the Army Air Force. Born in Brooklyn on February 14, 1922, he was the son of Louis (12/23/88-9/5/78) and Lillian (7/23/98-1/17/95) Kaufman, the family residing at 456 Schenectady Avenue.
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Via Apartments.com, here’s a quite contemporary image of 456 Schenectady Ave. (East Flatbush.)
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More than a nominal record in a Missing Air Crew Report (MACR 14351 to be specific, or the WW II Honor List of Dead and Missing for New York), Lt. Kaufman’s fate is directly associated with a brief newsreel, and a series of photographs, that because of their dramatic, haunting, and terrifying nature, have become etched into the photographic record and popular culture of WW II aviation in particular, and, news coverage of the Second World War, in general.
A member of the 867th Bomb Squadron of the 494th (“Kelly’s Cobras“) Bomb Group, Lt. Kaufman was one of the eleven crew members aboard Brief (44-42058), a B-24M liberator piloted by 2 Lt. Glen R. Custer, when that aircraft was shot down by a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire during a bombardment mission to Koror, in the Palau Islands, on May 4, 1945. The only crewman of Brief to escape (and to even have had a chance to escape) from the mortally damaged bomber, Lt. Kaufman was captured shortly after landing by parachute in – probably – the Ngurumetegol Strait. You can read a succinct and detailed summary about this incident at PacificWrecks.
But, by August 15, when Emperor Hirohito read the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, Lt. Wallace Kaufman was no longer alive: On May 24 – almost three weeks after falling into Japanese captivity – he had been murdered.
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Well, here’s notice of Lt. Kaufman’s death, as published on page 31 of Times on November 4, 1945, almost three months after the war’s end. Notably, three significant aspects of the article are not entirely correct. First, Lt. Kaufman was not personally and immediately captured by Lieutenant Katsuyama and was not the Japanese Lieutenant’s personal prisoner – that’s a real oversimplification. Second, Lt. Katsuyama himself (full rank and name: First Lieutenant Tetsuji Katsuyama) actually acted under orders of Lt. Col. Toshihiko (“Yoshie”) Yajima, who himself was under orders of of Lt. General Sadae Inoue. Third, Lieutenant Katsuyama survived the war. As revealed in late 1947, Lt. Kaysuyama and some comrades concocted a story to the effect that he’d committed suicide, when in reality he went into hiding commencing with the postwar occupation of the Palaus by American forces. He returned to Japan in early 1946 under the name of Mikio Koyama, a Japanese soldier who had actually been killed in battle, the full story only coming to light some time later.
Well, anyway. Here’s the text of the Times’ article…
Second Lieutenant Wallace Franklin Kaufman Tuesday, February 14, 1922 / 17 Sh’vat 5682 (Friday, May 4, 1945 / 22 Iyyar 5705) Thursday, May 24, 1945 / 13 Sivan 5705
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה – תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
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Brooklyn Flier Slain By a Japanese Officer
Second Lieut. Wallace F. Kaufman, Army Air Forces, a former lightweight boxing champion at Brooklyn College, was murdered by the Japanese last May 24 after the B-24 bomber of which he was navigator was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and he had parachuted to safety.
Details of the murder were disclosed in a letter received yesterday from the War Department by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kaufman of 456 Schenectady Avenue, Brooklyn. Lieutenant Kaufman, who was 23, has been reported missing in action since May 4.
A Japanese, Lieutenant Katsuyama, took the navigator prisoner after the plane was struck near Koro Island, Palau Group of the Caroline Islands. Katsuyama killed his prisoner and later committed hara-kiri to prevent falling into American hands, according to the War Department. The other ten members of the B-24 crew perished in the falling ship.
Born in Brooklyn, Lieutenant Kaufman was graduated from Boys High School and Brooklyn College. He enlisted with the AAF in February, 1943, and was sent overseas last February.
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…and here’s page 31 in its fullness, showing the above article’s setting amidst a variety of advertisements. It’s 1946: Life goes on.
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The shoulder-patch of the 13th Air Force…
…the emblem of the 494th Bomb Group (“Kelly’s Cobras”) (found at EBay)…
…and, the insignia of the 867th Bomb Squadron, posted to Pinterest by Nikolaos Paliousis.
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Between September 3, 1944, and June 23, 1945, the 494th Bomb Group was based at Angaur Island, the southernmost island of the Palau Archipelago, or (more accurately) the Republic of Palau. This Oogle map shows the Palau Islands, with Angaur (outlined in blue), and Koror, (outlined in red). The air distance between the two is a mere and ironic 37 miles.
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Here’s the video of the fall of Brief: Available through the War Archives YouTube channel, this luridly titled British Pathé film, “AIR DEATH – B-24 Shot Down In Carolines Raid” shows the last moments of B-24M 44-42058. Uploaded in August of 2011, the video has attained many views.
(I’ve been ambivalent about including the video in this post, but, well, here it is…)
(I t h i n k the sounds of aircraft engines, falling bombs, explosions, and other sounds in the film were actually recorded in real time, but were instead were dubbed into the film prior to its distribution by British Pathé. For example, at 00:40 seconds – for the string of 12 bombs – the sound s e e m s (?) akin to that of a single bomb being dropped from a German Ju-87 dive-bomber.)
From 00:07 to 00:10 seconds, the camera focuses on the 867th Bomb Squadron B-24J Liberator 44-40729, alias Hay Maker, an aircraft which survived the war.
This image of Hay Maker’s nose art, originally for sale through EBay, is from ww2aircraft.netforum… Note that the canvas cover draped over the nose turret is marked with the digits “729”, suggesting that each 494th BG aircraft had its “own” set of protective coverings…
…while this picture appears in Ken Rust’s 7th Air Force Story.
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Here’s the utterly un-“pronouned” and un-“woke” nose art of Brief. The aircraft nickname, and, the design of the winged-star symbol, were probably (?!) inspired by the 7th Air Force magazine of that name.
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This image of the matzevot of Lt. Kaufman and his mother, at Mount Hebron Cemetery, in Flushing, New York (Block 81, Reference 2, Line PP4, Grave 2, Sam D. Johnson Association Society) at FindAGrave, is by Knickerbocker Chapter DAR, New York, N.Y. The matzeva of his father Louis (cut off in the image) is immediately to the left.
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Via FindAGrave researcher Chuck, this image shows the collective grave of Brief’s crew. The location? Long Island National Cemetery, in Farmingdale, New York- Section J, Grave 13630. Listed alphabetically below the image (neither by crew position nor rank!) are the names, serial numbers, home towns or cities of residence, and crew positions of the ten. The group burial took place on August 31, 1949.
Sgt. Floyd Collins Bennett, 14185619 – Blue Mountain, Ms. – Passenger 2 Lt. Irving R. Brown, 0-778710 – Detroit, Mi. – Co-Pilot 2 Lt. Glen Ruben Custer, 0-2058730 – Mo. / San Diego, Ca. – Pilot 2 Lt. Norbert J. Giese, 0-929814 – Chicago, Il. – Bombardier Sgt. Richard E. Grimes, 32974352 – Mahopac, N.Y. – Flight Engineer Cpl. Albin Rynkiewicz, 4205866 – Nanticoke, Pa. – Gunner (Tail) Cpl. Robert Neil Shillenn, 33576063 – Clearfield, Pa. – Gunner (Ball Turret) T/Sgt. James F. Tenney, 32677148 – Oswego County, N.Y. – Radio Operator Cpl. Irving Topp, 12177268 – Brooklyn, N.Y. – Gunner (Dorsal Turret) Cpl. Victor B. Wilson, 13195222 – Dunmore, Pa. – Gunner (Nose Turret)
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News articles about Lt. Kaufman appeared in the following publications on these dates…
Brooklyn Eagle – 11/6/45, 4/25/46, 10/29/49 New York Times (Casualty Lists) – 7/4/45, 8/29/45 New York Times (News Articles) – 11/4/45, 11/21/45, 7/16/62 New York Times (Obituary Section – “In Memoriam”) 2/14/46, 5/24/46 American Jews in World War II – 360
Nearly two years later, Associated Press news articles pertaining to the trial and sentencing of Lt. Katsuyama appeared in the national news media on December 5, 1947. (As for the postwar fate of Lt. Col. Toshihiko Yajima and Lt. General Sadae Inoue, I have no further information.) There, however, the story did not end: In July of 1962 news relating to Tetsuji Katsuyama, no longer a lieutenant and having been released from prison some years before, again appeared in the news media. This time, the news pertained to Mrs. Anna Topp’s (mother of Cpl. Irving Topp) continuing search for definitive information about her son’s fate.
In terms of the number of Allied aviators taken captive by the Japanese, during combat missions during which they specifically served as air crew members in any capacity (as opposed to having been captured early in the war during in “ground action” ((for lack of a better phrase)) – for example, during the fall of Singapore, or, the Philippines), who survived as POWs, I’ve determined that 664 of these men lived to see the war’s end.
Breakdown by nation and air arm follows:
United States United States Army Air Force – 498 United States Navy – 130 United States Marine Corps – 6 American Volunteer Group – 3
Australia Royal Australian Air Force – 8
Canada Royal Canadian Air Force – 7
Netherlands Netherlands East Indies Air Force – 1
New Zealand Royal New Zealand Air Force – 1
England Royal Air Force – 10
Parsing the total of 662 by the aircraft they’d been fly-“ing” (or, flying “in”) when captured, the numbers are the following:
The total of 40 includes 1 airman from the NEIAF, Sgt. Van Burg of No. 18 Squadron.
B-26 Marauder – 2
B-29 Superfortress – 258
Three B-29 crews (33 men of the 258) survived intact:
1 Lt. John B. Boynton, 6th Bomb Group, 24th Bomb Squadron, B-29 42-24759, 15 // Blind Date / Lady’s Delight, May 23, 1945 (MACR 14482) – 11 crew members; Mission to Tokyo
1 Lt. William C. Grounds, 6th Bomb Group, 40th Bomb Squadron, B-29 42-24916, 54 // The Peacemaker, March 28, 1945 (MACR 13465) – 11 crew members; Mine Laying Mission to Minefield “Mike”
Capt. Robert C. Shanks, Jr., 40th Bomb Group, 45th Bomb Squadron, B-29 42-24574, 293, December 14, 1944 (MACR 10376) – 11 crew members; Mission to Bangkok
C-46 Commando – 10
Includes one fully intact crew:
Capt. Frank E. Cowart, Air Transport Command, 30th Transport Group, C-46 41-12294, December 27, 1943 (MACR 1555) – 4 crew members; Mission – cargo flight from Mohanbari, India, to Chungking (Chongqing), China; crew parachuted 2 miles from Canton, China
So, in light of all the above, the basis of this post is the calendar date of May 4, 1945 (not May 24, the date of Lt. Kaufman’s murder), for in essence and fact, given Japan’s WW II-era cultural, ideological, and racial attitudes concerning enemy military captives (and captive enemy airmen, in particular), Lt. Kaufman’s story was tragically predetermined the moment he took to his parachute, even as the broken Brief and her ten crewmen fell towards the island of Koror.
Yet, more than the events pertaining to the immediacy of Lt. Kaufman’s fate, this story, especially its postwar aspects, is part of a far larger whole. It is a reflection (one of many, many such reflections) of the postwar devolution in attitude and policy towards Japanese war criminals: When the cynical winds of realpolitik (commencing even before the war’s end, as explained by Edward Behr in Hirohito – Behind the Myth), economic interests, bureaucratic apathy, institutional inertia, postwar prosperity, and the natural and inevitable (?) desire that society “move on” and leave the past behind – all of these, in the context of the Cold War – made justice incommensurate, inconsistent, and fleeting. In all this, there are undeniable and solid parallels with the postwar policy of the WW II Allies towards German war criminals, as explored in great and disillusioning depth by Tom Bower in Blind Eye to Murder.
Sometimes, it seems, the only justice available to men lies in the act of memory.
This is a meagre second to “reality”, but it is better than no justice, at all.
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There is far, far more that I can relate concerning this utterly numbing story. But (for now) I’ll hold any such future post in abeyance, for I have other topics to cover; other eras to explore; other subjects to address.
(For, now.)
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Yet… Here are two news items from the late 1940s, when Lt. Kaufman’s story was yet fresh in memory. Both were found via Thomas M. Tryniski’s Fulton History database / website.
This article was published in the Brooklyn Eagle on April 25, 1946, and covers the establishment of a Jewish War Veterans Post, in Brooklyn, named in honor of Lt. Kaufman.
New J.W.V. Post To Be Named for Late Lt. Kaufman
Institution of the Lt. Wallace F. Kaufman Post, 416, of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States, and installation of the post’s officers will be held Saturday night at the Congregation Shaari Zedek of Brooklyn, Kingston Ave. and Park Place.
Lt. Wallace F. Kaufman, in whose honor the new post is named, was an only son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kaufman of 456 Schenectady Ave. and a nephew of Benjamin Kaufman, past national commander of the J.W.V. and World War I Congressional Medal of Honor winner. He was killed by the Japanese on May 24, 1945, after the B-24 bomber of which he was navigator was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and he had parachuted to safety.
The other ten members of the bomber, which crashed near Koror Island in the Palau group of the Caroline Islands, lost their lives in the crash. After landing in the water, Lieutenant Kaufman was taken prisoner and 20 days later was killed by his captor, a Jap lieutenant, who, fearful of retribution, committed hari-kiri, according to the War Department.
The 23-year-old Army Air Force lieutenant, a native of Brooklyn, was graduated from Boys High School and Brooklyn College, where he was lightweight boxing champion. He enlisted in the service in February, 1943, and was sent overseas in February, 1945. His uncle, Benjamin Kaufman [see here, here and here], was his “idol”.
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Via Ancestry.com, here’s Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman’s Abstract of Military Service, filed in 1920.
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At Brooklyn College, Kaufman won the college’s intramural boxing medal and studied business administration in preparation for a law career.
Harry Finkelstein, chief of staff of Kings County Chapter, J.W.V., will be in charge of the post’s institution ceremonies. Others participating will include Col. William Berman, past J.W.V. national commander, and Municipal Court Justices Harold J. McLaughlin and Daniel Gutman.
Old Newspapers
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Two years later, on February 27, 1948, the following announcement – concerning a Leap New Year’s Eve Annual Dance at the Lt. Wallace F. Kaufman Post – appeared in The New York Post.
New York State Digital library
I’m not sure, but I guess that the Lt. Wallace F. Kaufman Post 416 Post no longer exists.
This past is not only a different time, it is a different place.
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Though the fact that “May 4, 1945”, marking a point in time only four days from Second World War’s end in Europe (May 9 is an alternative date, as explained here and here) might suggest few-“er” casualties and therefore fewer names and events for “this” post, this is hardly so: Even if the war in Europe was concluding, the war with Japan continued; entirely unabated and with undiminished ferocity. And so, though most names presented below occur in the context of the Pacific Theater of war, names are also present for Jewish servicemen who were casualties in the European theater – even at this “late” date. And, along with the names of American Jewish soldiers, I’ve included the names of Jewish soldiers who were casualties while serving in the armed forces of other Allied nations (France, Poland, and the Soviet Union).
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Yet, the ironic abundance of information pertaining to this date has eventuated in my creating – unlike my unusual practice – three separate posts: “this” post, for Army ground forces.
A second post, for other members of the Army Air Force.
And a third post, for the Marine Corps and Navy. But…! Due to the plethora of events and the abundance of information pertaining to May 4, 1945 in the Pacific Theater, that will be the lengthiest of this set of three posts, and will take a measure of time to complete. But, I hope to get it up and viewable eventually.
(Well, hey, my posts do tend to be on the longish side: The intentional antithesis of the ethos (is there an ethos, other than a gnostic interpretation of reality, such as here, here, and here) of those at the commanding heights (or plutonian depths?!) of the “tech elite” of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Oh… Er… Uh.. I mean, y’know, Twitter and Facebook. (Gag.))
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So, ground forces…
Friday, May 4, 1945
21 Iyyar 5705
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United States Army
Pacific Theater
Killed in Action
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה – תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
Berman, Irvin Leslie, T/5, 20316073, Purple Heart, at Negros Island, Philippines B Battery, 222nd Field Artillery Battalion, 40th Infantry Division Born Philadelphia, Pa., 12/15/21 Mr. and Mrs. Israel L. and Melissa Berman [later Prestia] (parents), 2231 N. 8th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Kenneth Lane Prestia (half-brother) Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines – Plot E, Row 3, Grave 22. Symbolic matzeva at Mount Sharon Cemetery, Springfield, Pa. (Section N), inscribed with date “5/5/45” Casualty List 6/1/45 Jewish Exponent 6/8/45 Philadelphia Bulletin 6/2/45 American Jews in World War II – 511
Here’s an image of T/5 Berman’s matzeva at Mount Sharon Cemetery, in Springfield, Pennsylvania.
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Katz, Abraham (Avraham bar Mordechay HaCohen), PFC, 12042839, Silver Star, Purple Heart A Company, 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division (Previously wounded; approximately 9/1/44) Born 6/26/21 Mr. Max Katz (father), 378 Pennsylvania Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Wellwood Cemetery, Pinelawn, N.Y. – Section 3, Block 49, Row 2, Grave 4, Plot A-12, Society Jewish Postal Workers Welfare League of New York; Buried 2/27/49 Casualty Lists 11/1/44, 6/14/45 American Jews in World War II – 358
Via, FindAGrave.com, this image of PFC Katz’s matzeva is by Marie M. Bennett.
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Kletter, Benny, PFC, 32821733, Purple Heart, at Okinawa A Company, 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division Born Essen, Germany, 1/24/23 Mr. Louis Kletter (father), 1970 East 18th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 34 Bond St., New York, N.Y. Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, N.Y. – Block 12, Reference 11, Section F, Line 30, Grave 5 Casualty List 6/26/45 American Jews in World War II – 364
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European Theater
Killed in Action
Perlis, Benjamin (Benyamin bar Yitzhak), Pvt., 42138962, Purple Heart A Company, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division Born Brooklyn, N.Y., 6/28/26 Mr. and Mrs. Isidore and Ida Perlis (parents), 264 Rochester Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Montefiore Cemetery, Springfield Gardens, N.Y. – Block 26, Row 008R, Grave 3, (Society: Graiever Young Men’s Benevolent); Buried 1/16/49 Casualty List 6/11/45 American Jews in World War II – 404
These two images – of Pvt. Perlis’ matzeva, and, his photographic portrait mounted thereon in ceramic – are by FindAGrave contributor Matt Flyfisher.
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Horowitz, Irving (Yitzhak bar Moshe), PFC, 32769169, Purple Heart, French Cross Born 9/7/25 Mrs. Ida Horowitz (mother), 150 Governor St., Paterson, N.J. Riverside Cemetery, Saddle Brook, N.J. – Map 165, Block O, Section 53, Society Anshe Leibowitz Casualty Lists 5/24/45, 6/22/45
This image of PFC Horowitz’s extremely simple matzeva is by Mark Pollack, a contributor to FindAGrave.com.
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Summerfield, Norman Sylvan, Pvt., 34720133, Purple Heart, in Austria L Company, 409th Infantry Regiment, 103rd Infantry Division Born Memphis, Tn., 12/26/23 Mrs. Fannie Summerfield (mother), 1056 Linden St., Memphis, Tn. Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France – Plot B, Row 24, Grave 1 American Jews in World War II – 568
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Continental United States
Died Non-Battle
Satloff, Herman (Hayyim bar Shlomo), Cpl., 33340623, at Camp Blanding Florida Born Philadelphia, Pa., 6/13/21 Mrs. Nancy (Katz) Satloff (wife), Washington, D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Fannie Satloff (parents), 1704 West 65th Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkintown, Pa. – Section 12C, Lot 64, Grave 1 American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
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Soviet Union
Red Army РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)
Killed in Action
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה – תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
Bukrinskiy, Mikhail Efimovich / Khaimovich [Букринский, Михаил Ефимович / Хаимович] Junior Lieutenant [Младший Лейтенант] SU-76 (Self-Propelled Gun) Commander (You can read more about the SU-76 – in English – at Wikipedia, while ru.Wikipedia’s coverage of the SU-76 includes production figures for the vehicle. Images and video of an SU-76 before, during, and after restoration can be viewed at Aregard (“Rear Guard”).) 1204th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, Northwestern Front (Lightly wounded previously – on 8/24/44) Born 8/17/23, city of Kiev, Ukraine Mrs. Sofya Markovna Bukrinskiy (mother)
Guterman, Petr Grigorevich [Гутерман, Петр Григорьевич] Guards Lieutenant [Гвардии Лейтенант] Chief – Chemical Services 158th Guards Artillery Regiment, 78th Guards Rifle Division (Wounded previously – on 3/1/42, 5/22/42, and 5/21/43) Born 1910, city of Pertikov, Belorussia Mrs. Mariya Dubova Guterman (wife) Buried in Benedorf, Germany
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Magaziner, Mikhail Davidovich [Магазинер, Михаил Давидович / Давыдович] Lieutenant [Лейтенант] Platoon Commander – Rifle Platoon 332nd Rifle Regiment, 241st Rifle Division Born 1907, city of Berdichev, Ukraine Mrs. Klara Eyzikovna Magaziner (wife) Buried in Czechoslovakia
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Shulman, Ilya Abramovich [Шульман, Илья Абрамович] Lieutenant [Лейтенант] Headquarters Translator 1099th Rifle Regiment (Wounded previously – on 8/15/43) Born 1923 Mrs. R.I. Shulman (mother) Buried in city of Tsibinka, Poland
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Vayner, Isaak Ilich [Вайнер, Исаак Ильич] Senior Technician-Lieutenant [Старший Техник-Лейтенант] Chief – Assistant Technical Department for Procurement 1531st Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 134th Rifle Corps, 2nd Belorussian Front Born 11/9/19, city of Mariupol, Ukraine
Feder, Chaim, Pvt. (Operation Brand Berlin) 35th Infantry Regiment Mr. Chylowys Feder (father?) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 85
Feldman, Leon, W/O Born 1924 Mr. Sakowicz Feldman (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 20
Filhaber, Abram, Pvt. (Operation Brand Berlin) 35th Infantry Regiment Mr. Szlomo Filhaber (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 85
Ginzberg, Wolf, Pvt. (at Kitten, Germany) Intelligence Company, 7th Infantry Division Born 1914, Lwow Mr. Zacharia Ginzberg (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 24
Rejchman, Jozef, Cpl. (at Lieske, Germany) 25th Infantry Regiment Born 1918; Zalesie, Lubelskie, Poland Mr. Wladyslaw Rejchman (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 95
Sztern, Icek, Cpl. ((Operation Brand Berlin), Orianenberg, Brandenburg, Germany) 16th Infantry Regiment Mr. Abraham Sztern (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 68
Sztynzak, Adam, Pvt. 35th Infantry Regiment Mr. Hersz Sztynzak (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 – 98
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Wounded in Action
United States
Pacific Theater
Cominsky, Joseph, PFC, 33177055, Purple Heart, at Okinawa I Company, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division (Philadelphia Bulletin lists date as 5/5/45; Previously wounded on 7/26/44) Born Philadelphia, Pa., 5/12/14 Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Fannie Cominsky (parents), 103 Roseberry St., Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 11/24/44 Philadelphia Record 11/1/44, 6/21/45, 6/22/45 Philadelphia Bulletin 6/21/45 Ours to Hold It High – 467 American Jews in World War II – 516
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Kushner, Jerry, PFC, 13127158, Purple Heart, at Okinawa I Company, 306th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division Born Philadelphia, Pa., 3/31/24 Mrs. Bessie Kushner [Zatlin] (mother), 5018 N. 10th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 6/29/45 Philadelphia Inquirer 6/21/45 Philadelphia Record 6/22/45 Philadelphia Bulletin 6/21/45 Ours to Hold It High – 514 American Jews in World War II – 534
France
Europe
Armée de Terre
Tordjam, Jacques, Soldat de 2ème Classe, Croix de Guerre (at Baviere, gorges d’Inzell) Regiment de Marche du Tchad Had been severely wounded by several bullets in the body by assaulting strongly held emplacements. [A été grièvement blessé de plusieurs balles dans le corps en se jetant des emplacements fortement tenus.] Livre d’Or et de Sang – 167
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Here’s a reference..
Case File 48-0-26 / 48-44, Records Group 153, United States National Archives, College Park, Maryland, “Report of Investigation Division, Legal Section, GHQ, SCAP”, Inv. Div. No. 1349, Title: “Corporal Irving TOPP”. “Synopsis of Facts: Statements from Onose, Hamano, Doi, Ogaki and Watanabe set out. Witnesses report only one survivor from plane crash on 4 May 1945; execution of survivor, Lt. Kaufman, performed by order of Inoue; executor Katsuyama, believe to be still alive and in Japan.” (Includes interviews of Ichiro Onose (Intelligence Section of Inoue-Butai Headquarters, Babelthuap Island; Norio Doi, commander of forces stationed on Koror Island; Daiichi Ogaki)
Here are some books about history…
Behr, Edward, Hirohito – Behind the Myth, Villard Books (Random House), New York, N.Y., 1989
Bower, Tom, Blind Eye to Murder – Britain, America, and the Purging of Nazi Germany – A Pledge Betrayed, Granada Publishing Limited, London, England, 1981
Chiche, F., Livre d’Or et de Sang – Les Juifs au Combat: Citations 1939-1945 de Bir-Hakeim au Rhin et Danube, Edition Brith Israel, Tunis, Tunisie, 1946
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Herbert, Kevin, Maximum Effort: The B-29s Against Japan, Sunflower University Press, Manhattan, Ks., 1983
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945, World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1994
Rogers, David H.; Sigler, Alvin L.; Wilcox, Charley F.; Martin, Briton; 494th Bombardment Group (H) Association, 494th Bombardment Group (H) History WWII: From Orlando, Wendover, Mountain Home, and Kauai to Corregidor, Zamboanga, Koror, Shanghai, and Hiroshima with the Liberators of Kelley’s Kobras and Back Home After All That, 494th Bombardment Group (H) Association, Annandale, MN (c/o E.R. Glazier, 135 E. Park St., Annandale 55302-0336), 1997
Rust, Kenn C., Seventh Air Force Story, Historical Aviation Album, Temple City, Ca., 1979
No specific author…
Ours To Hold It High: The History of the 77th Infantry Division in World War II, Infantry Press, Washington, D.C., 1947 (A very rich source of information, Ours to Hold It High, digitized by Oogle (isn’t everything, including “us”?!), can be accessed and downloaded via Archive.org.)
[Created a couple of years ago – ! – this post has been updated, with the inclusion of maps, as well as new documents and illustrations. I also removed the two images of MACR 10140 (covering the loss of Lt. Davis’ B-24), due to the (non-typically) poor quality of the digital (Fold3) versions of these documents, replacing them with a simple list of the names of the plane’s crew members.]
Lieutenant Richard H. Davis, from Belle Harbor, New York, was the subject of several news items during his military service. Three such items appeared in The Wave (Rockaway Beach) on July 22, 1943, and May 18 and August 24, 1944, and covered his military training and deployment to England.
On April 12, 1945 the sad news item covering Lt. Davis’ death – during an operational mission over Europe on October 18, 1944 – appeared on The Wave’s front page. This announcement was accompanied by a photograph of the Lieutenant standing before a B-24 Liberator bomber.
The article (found and accessed via Thomas M. Tryniski’s fantastic FultonHistory.com website) is presented below.
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Lt. Richard H. Davis Killed In Action
Lieutenant Richard H. Davis, 20-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Davis of 156 Beach 134th Street, who was reported missing October 18, 1944, was killed in action on that date in the European Theatre of Operations, his parents were notified by the War Department last week.
Lieutenant Davis was a navigator on a Liberator B-24 bomber with the 8th Air Force. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and was called in February, 1943. He received his training at Selman Field, Louisiana, and few to England in July, 1944, and attended combat training school in North Ireland. While there he underwent a period of intensive training in high altitude bombing procedures used in the European Theatre of Operations.
Lieutenant Davis was the holder of the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
He was a graduate of Public School 114 and of Far Rockaway High School, class of 1942. Before enlisting in the service, he was active in Boy Scout Troop 112 and in the Beth-El Players Guild, having appeared in “It Can’t Happen Here,” “Out of the Frying Pan,” and “Our Town.”
Before enlisting, Lieutenant Davis was a Government Civil Service employee in Manhattan.
The B-24 serving as the backdrop in the photograph appears, based on the shape of the forward fuselage and bombardier’s window, to have been a modified “D” version Liberator, with a Consolidated A-6 tail turret (installed by the Army Air Corps Oklahoma Modification Center) replacing the conventional D-version bombardier’s “greenhouse”. Given that such planes were assigned to the 8th Air Force’s 479th Anti-Submarine Group, the image probably was taken after Lt. Davis’ arrival in England, while he and his crew were undergoing additional training in that country.
By way of example… The images below (Army Air Force Photographs 76491AC / A11896 and 76493AC / A11897, respectively) showing 479th ASG aircrews at Saint Eval, England, in 1943. The crew in the former image are anonymous, while the caption of the latter image states that the pilot is Lt. Hill.
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A month after the article in The Wave, on May 12, 1945, The New York Times carried an obituary for Lt. Davis, which included a portrait taken when he was an Aviation Cadet.
Bombing Plane Navigator Lost in Europe Last Fall
Lieut. Richard H. Davis, navigator of a Liberator bomber and holder of the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, who was reported missing last Oct. 18, was killed on that date in the European theatre, according to word received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Davis of 156 Beach 134th Street, Belle Harbor, Queens.
Lieutenant Davis, who was 20 years old, entered the Army Air Forces in February, 1943. He was attached to the Eighth Air Force.
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Nearly a year after the mission of October 18, 1944, The Wave – on October 25, 1945 – carried mention of a memorial tribute held in Lt. Davis honor at Temple Beth El, on Friday evening, October 19, 1944.
Another year – October 20, 1946 – and Lt. Davis’ was mentioned in the “In Memoriam” section of the New York Times obituary page.
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Lt. Davis was and his crew were assigned to the 68th Bomb Squadron of the 44th Bomb Group, otherwise known as the “Flying Eight-Balls”.
Missing Air Crew Report 10140 covers the loss of Lt. Davis and his crew in B-24H Liberator 42-50381 (WQ * K), piloted by 1 Lt. Julian H. Dayball. As described in detail in Will Lundy’s 44th Bomb Group Roll of Honor and Casualties, during a mission to chemical works at Leverkusen, Germany, there was apparently a mid-air collision between WQ * K, and B-24H 41-28944 (NB * D, “Flying Ginny“) of the 67th Bomb Squadron, which was piloted by 1 Lt. Michael Bakalo. This occurred over Belgium in severe weather, while their formation was returning to the 44th’s base at Shipdham, England.
The planes crashed 1 kilometer from Petegen, near Deinze, in Belgium, the general location indicated by the red oval in the map below.
Of the 21 men aboard the two aircraft there emerged two survivors – waist gunners S/Sgt. George J. Encimer and S/Sgt. Cecil L. Scott – who were both seriously injured after parachuting from Flying Ginny.
Lt. Davis’ crew, none of whom survived, comprised:
Richard Davis is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo. (Section 82, Collective Grave 114-115.) Other crew members buried at the same site include Lt. Dayball; right waist gunner, Sgt. Couvillion; tail gunner, Sgt. Shea; flight engineer, Sgt. Fink; nose gunner, Sgt. Steinke, and radio operator, Sgt. Sicard. The image below – from FindAGrave contributor “Remo” (the late Bobby Jean “Remo” Remelius) – shows their collective grave marker.
Lieutenant Davis was awarded the Air Medal and two Oak Leak Clusters.
His name never appeared in the postwar publication American Jews in World War Two.
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Some (some) other Jewish military casualties on Wednesday, October 18, 1944 (1 Cheshvan 5705), include…
Killed in Action – .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –
United States Army Air Force
Herman, Bernard L., 2 Lt., 0-817213, Co-Pilot, Purple Heart Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin C. and Molly Herman (parents), 7301 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore, Md. Place of burial unknown Baltimore Sun 2/6/45 American Jews in World War II – 140
Stern, Jerome J., T/Sgt., 16105797, Radio Operator, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart Mrs. Celia Stern (mother), 1656 47th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Place of burial unknown
Casualty List 2/6/45 American Jews in World War II – 455
Lieutenant Herman and T/Sgt. Stern, members of the 67th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, were crewmen on “Flying Ginny”, the loss of which is covered in MACR #15241.
Witkin, Leonard, 2 Lt., 0-701359, Navigator, Purple Heart, Ten Missions United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 44th Bomb Group, 68th Bomb Squadron Mr. and Mrs. Jacob and Sylvia S. Witkin (parents), 2851 Baxter Ave., New York, N.Y. / 980 Simpson St., Bronx, N.Y. Born 9/2/21 MACR 9654, B-24J 42-50596, “Flak Magnet”, “WQ * O”, Pilot – 1 Lt. Edward C. Lehnhausen, 9 crewmen – no survivors Wellwood Cemetery, East Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section B, Block 45, Row 6, Grave 7R, Division North American Jews in World War II – 474
Wasserman, Gerald M., 2 Lt., 0-2060421, Navigator, Purple Heart, Four Missions United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 390th Bomb Group, 568th Bomb Squadron Mrs. Ruth W. Wasserman (wife), 1020 E. 7th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Mr. Samuel Wasserman (father), c/o Ferber, 732 N. 26th St., Allentown, Pa. MACR 9484, B-17G 43-38189, “Powerful Katrinka / Bugs Bunny”, “CC * M”, Pilot – 2 Lt. Donald T. Drugan, 9 crewmen – 4 survivors, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3131 Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo. – Section 84, Grave 235-239 (Buried 10/16/50) American Jews in World War II – 465
(See more about the Drugan crew below, specifically pertaining to the account of Lt. Harry W. Love’s survival…)
United States Army (Ground Forces)
Fiegelman, Joseph, PFC, 33603325, Purple Heart, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster United States Army, 90th Infantry Division, 358th Infantry Regiment Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Dora Fiegleman (parents), Lawrence and Louis (brothers), 520 S. Washington Ave., Scranton, Pa. Dalton Jewish Cemetery, Dalton, Pa. American Jews in World War II – 520
Gordon, Oscar, Pvt., 31406940, Purple Heart United States Army, 85th Infantry Division, 359th Infantry Regiment Mrs. Sarah Gordon (mother), Bridgeport, Ct. Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy – Plot D, Row 10, Grave 19 American Jews in World War II – 64
Marcus, Herbert, Pvt., 32802905, Purple Heart United States Army, 35th Infantry Division, 320th Infantry Regiment Mr. Abraham Marcus (father), 4701 12th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England – Plot F, Row 7, Grave 102 Casualty List 11/28/44 American Jews in World War II – 387
Canada
Hurwitz, Samuel Moses, Sgt., D/26248, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Medal Canada, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, Canadian Grenadier Guards, 22nd Armoured Regiment, No. 3 Squadron Captured 10/18/44; Died of wounds 10/20/44 Mr. and Mrs. Harry and Bella Hurwitz (parents); Archie, David, Esther, George, Harry, Ian, and Max (brothers and sisters), 6093 Park Ave., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Born Lachine, Quebec, Canada, 1/28/19 Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands – 9,F,1 The Jewish Chronicle 1/12/45, 6/29/45 Canadian Jews in World War II – Volume I – 46, 52 Canadian Jews in World War II – Volume II – 34
Sergeant Hurwitz was the subject of the lengthy story “Some Never Die”, published by the Canadian Grenadier Guards (cover shown below) which was later incorporated into the Sergeant’s biography in Part I of the 1947 publication Canadian Jews in World War II – Decorations. The image below, of the front cover of Some Never Die, is from Shelly Reuben’s November, 2013 essay “Big Footsteps – Sgt. Samuel Moses Hurwitz“, at patch.com, which was originally published in The Evening Sun of Norwich, New York. Ms. Reuben’s story includes six other photos of Sergeant Hurwitz as well as members of his family (unfortunately, none of these photos have captions). Her account, which includes recollections of the Sergeant’s life and last days from veterans who’d served with him in combat, is as detailed as it is deeply felt, for Sergeant Samuel Moses Hurwitz was her uncle: “Uncle Moe”.
This image of Sergeant Hurwitz, via Operation: PictureMe, is from his FindAGrave biographical profile…
…while this image Sgt. Hurwitz’s matzeva, also at FindAGrave, is from Astrid. The Hebrew inscription at the base of the stone can be translated as: “Here lies the young man Shmuel Moshe son of Khayim Avraham ha _____ [covered by flower] Hurwitz, may the Lord avenge his blood, from Montreal, Canada,[probably dates, partially obscured by flower].
Czechoslovakia
Lobel, Alois, Pvt., B/1196 (Died in France, at Dunkirk) Czechoslovakia, 1st Armoured Brigade Born Czechoslovakia, Rajec, okres Diein; 5/23/21 La Targette British Cemetery, Neuville-St, Vaast, Pas de Calais, France – M,13 (The above information about Pvt. Lobel was originally obtained via the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of the Czech Republic website. I don’t know if this information is still openly accessible.) Zide v Ceskoslovenskem Vojsku naZapade (Jews in the Czechoslovak Army in the West) – 246
England
Freedman, Israel, Pvt., 4038716 England, Pioneer Corps Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and Rachel Freedman (parents), 15 Mayland St., Stepney, London, E1, England Born 1914 East Ham (Marlow Road) Jewish Cemetery, Essex, England – Block U, Grave 21 The Jewish Chronicle 10/29/44 We Will Remember Them – Volume I – 086
This image of Pvt. Freedman’s matzeva is via Mike Ganly.
Poland
Kolsberg, Mieczyslaw, Cpl., Poland, Mazowieckie, Otwock, Otwock Hospital 9th Infantry Regiment Mr. Karol Kolsberg (father) Born 1904 Andriolli Street Cemetery, Otwock, Mazowieckie, Poland Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II – Volume I – 38
Soviet Union
Red Army U.S.S.R. (C.C.C.Р.) – Red Army [РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)]
Borshchevskiy, Mikhail Borisovich – Junior Lieutenant [Борщевский, Михаил Борисович – Младший Лейтенант] Machine Gun Platoon Commander [Командир Пулеметного Взвода] 93rd Rifle Division, 266th Rifle Regiment Born 1924; Kiev, Ukraine Mother: Olga Romanovna Golotgor Buried Moravian Banovina, Yugoslavia, 1 km west of Krusevac
Sherman, Aleksandr Abramovich – Junior Lieutenant [Шерман, Александр Абрамович – Младший Лейтенант] Machine Gun Platoon Commander [Командир Пулеметного Взвода] 9th Guards Mechanized Corps, 30th Guards Mechanized Brigade Born 1924; Belaya Tserkov, Ukraine Mother: Anna Sherman Buried in Hungary, southern outskirts of Beretyesamar
Diskant, Isaac, Pvt. (Died at Silute, Lithuania) 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division Mr. Moshe Diskant (father) Born 1922 Road to Victory – Jewish Soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Division – 293
Gruzd, David, Sgt. (Died at Silute, Lithuania) 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division Mr. Gutman Gruzd (father), Pvt. Chaim Gruzd (brother) Born 1915 Road to Victory – Jewish Soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Division – 294
Shamis, Monia, Lt. (Died at Priekule, Latvia) 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division Mr. Shmuel Shamis (father) Born 1912 Road to Victory – Jewish Soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Division – 304
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Wounded in Action
United States Army (Ground Forces)
Dienstman, Samuel, Pvt., 33778251, Purple Heart (Mediterranean Theater)
(Captured on January 27, 1944, and escaped)
Mr. Raphael and Anne Dienstman (parents); c/o Morris Dienstman, 404 W. Rittenhouse St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Pvt. Benjamin Dienstman and Morris Dienstman (brothers), 1533 Devereaux St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Born Pa., 1924 The Jewish Exponent 1/12/45 Philadelphia Inquirer 1/7/44 Philadelphia Record 1/7/44, 2/29/44 Philadelphia Bulletin 1/8/45 American Jews in World War Two – 517
Via FultonHistory, here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer’s January, 1944 article about Pvt. Dienstman’s capture and escape from German forces. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to identify his military unit.
Old Newspapers
This photograph of Samuel Dienstman appeared in The Philadelphia Bulletin on January 8, 1945.
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Prisoners of War
United States Army (Ground Forces)
Nadelman, Jack W., Sgt., 32822644, Purple Heart, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster United States Army, 30th Infantry Division, 119th Infantry Regiment (Also wounded ~ 9/22/44) POW at Stalag 6G (Bonn) Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Mary (Feber) Nadelman (parents), 58 E. 1st St., New York, N.Y. Born N.Y., 1/6/26 Casualty Lists 11/22/44, 4/1/45, 7/6/45 American Jews in World War II – 398
Peters, Abraham, Pvt., 42087543, Purple Heart United States Army, 30th Infantry Division, 119th Infantry Regiment POW at Stalag 2B (Hammerstein) Mrs. Doris F. Peters (wife), 1664 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, N.Y. Casualty Lists 6/6/45, 6/15/45 American Jews in World War II – 405
Strauss, Arthur, PFC, 32648586 United States Army, 1st Infantry Division, 18th Infantry Regiment POW at Stalag 2B (Hammerstein) Mrs. Klara Adler (sister), 140 Vermilyea Ave., New York, N.Y. Casualty List 6/18/45 American Jews in World War II – Not Listed
United States Army Air Force
The date of October 18, 1944 became notable for 2 Lt. Harry Wilson Love (0-777006) of the United States Army Air Force – mentioned above in regard to Lieutenant Gerald Wasserman – in three ways: It was his 21st birthday, fourth combat mission, and signified his survival under extraordinary circumstances:
A bombardier, Lt. Love was one of the four survivors of “Powerful Katrinka / Bugs Bunny” / “CC * M”, B-17G Flying Fortress 43-38189, piloted by 2 Lt. Donald T. Drugan. An aircraft of the 568th Bomb Squadron of the 8th Air Force’s 390th Bomb Group, the plane was struck by flak near Koblenz during the 390th’s mission to Kassel, and, exploding in mid-air, fell to earth in the vicinity of Leutersdorf. The incident is covered in Luftgaukommando Report KU 3131.
Born on October 18, 1923, he was the son of Samuel Edgar Wilson and Fannie (Genov) Love of 1717 Parkview Ave. (and 1590 E. 172nd St.?) in the Bronx,
Lt. Love was eventually interned at Stalag Luft III, Sagan, Germany. Though his name appeared in a Casualty List released on March 7, 1945, it was absent from the 1947 compilation American Jews in World War II. He passed away on March 27, 2016.
This image of Harry, from Ancestry.com (I don’t know if it’s still available there) shows him as an Aviation Cadet, immediately recognizable as such by the two-bladed propeller on his cap.
From MACR 9484:A/C #189 was hit by flak 6 miles South of Koblenz at 1245 hours. Hit was between #3 and #4 engines which set his right wing on fire. No. 4 engine was knocked out. A/C stayed level for 10 seconds, then made a slow right turn losing altitude, and trailed formation for about ½ mi.es. A/C then lost right wing, going into flat spin and disintegrating. One chute was observed, with possibly 4 delayed jumps.
From translated document in Luftgaukommando Report KU 3131: On 18 oct 1944, 1148 o’clock an American bomber was downed by Flak at Leutersdorf / 9 km northwest of Neuwied (71 PP 3). Type, factory No., and markings not to be confirmed because craft exploded in an altitude of 3000 m and the fragments are scattered around widely. Damage 99%. Crew bailed out and is fugitive. – (KU 3131). (Note… Thedigital version of KU 3131, accessible via NARA, is incomplete.)
These two Mapple Apps Apple Maps maps show the location of Powerful Katrinka’s loss. The upper map shows Neuwied in relation to Aachen, Cologne, Koblenz, and Frankfurt am Main…
…while this map shows Neuwiedand Leutersdorf, which lie on the east bank of the Rhine River.
In 1985, Harry Love’s account of his singular (emphatic understamtent) experience was published in Volume II of the 390th Bomb Group Anthology. His story follows…
Birthday “Blow Out” by Harry W. Love Bombardier, 568th Bomb Squadron
My story begins like so many other bomber crews… at 0400 hours 18 October 1944.
As per schedule, the crews are awakened; the quick wash-up; off to the mess hall for the usual chow-down; back to barracks for completion of dress, storing of personal papers and finally, off to the briefing room. As rhetoric will have it, this is basically the routine for any bomber crew in the 8th Air Force, flying out of England.
My story, however, departs from the traditional version espoused by so many others on 18 October 1944… It was my 21st birthday. My attitude, no different from any other 21 year old; I was happy, had a great crew and festivities were planned for that evening when we returned from the bombing mission.
At the briefing, we received our instructions. Our mission was to Koblenz, Germany. (Considerably less difficult or dangerous we thought than Berlin, Regensburg, Augsburg, or so many others.) During the briefing session, the members of the crew contemplated no unusually heavy problems. At the completion of the general briefing, the pilots, navigators and bombardiers parted ways for individual briefings. We then were driven to our assigned aircraft.
The plane we originally had been assigned to was the Silver Meteor. It was, however, taken out of service for this particular mission because of heavy damage it sustained two days prior, on a mission to Cologne. Therefore, we were reassigned to a brand new B-17G. It was a truly magnificent looking craft as we approached it that morning.
Inspection of armament loading procedures (which was my responsibility as Bombardier) was conducted and before too long, it was takeoff time. Reflecting back I feel a few words are deemed necessary regarding my Pilot, Donald Drugan. He was a masterful, highly prestigious, military man and competent in all aspects of his assigned field. Our Co-Pilot, John Mohn, was very astute, tolerant and somewhat more pacific than Donald Drugan. Our Navigator, Gerald Wasserman, a Brooklyn boy, was very dedicated to his job and an asset to our crew.
Take off was uneventful. The weather was clear (although dark at the time of departure). We found our assigned positions at the prescribed altitude. Not too long thereafter, the British Coast was behind us.
The order to “check your guns, and fire your guns” was given. The response traditionally heard was, “All guns firing properly and in order.”
We approached the coast of Europe at approximately 0830 hours. Our target Koblenz was still an hour and a half away. We encountered no enemy fighters en route, and the flak was light.
The bomb run over the target was considered very successful. Upon making our turn off the bomb run (after release of bombs), we then headed in a northwesterly direction to meet up with the balance of the Wing which could be seen some 15-20 miles away. At this time, it was quite apparent that we were some 5 or 6 minutes behind schedule in our rendezvous with the Wing for our trip back to England. This necessitated our lead crew to change course some degrees further to the north which brought us over a portion of the Ruhr Valley. On approaching this particular area, some 5 or 10 miles from our rendezvous, we began to pick up massive concentrations of flak fire. One of the first bursts came within 100 yards of the front of our plane. This was followed by 5 or 6 more immediately, thereafter, each one closer than the preceding one. It seemed that we were well tracked down below by the antiaircraft crews. At this time, I announced to the crew that the bursts were directly in line… the Pilot, in accord, confirmed my communication.
Some 2 or 3 seconds later, we received a hit in the nose of the plane directly above the chin turret leaving a hole some 15-20 inches in circumference. I immediately back tracked away from my chin gun position and took up a station to the right (which was the cheek gun). The cyclonic rush of air that came through was impossible to control. I recall vividly the Navigator stating over the intercom, “Nobody will know how close the Bombardier came to buying it… the bursts of flak came through within inches of his right leg.”
The antiaircraft gunners on the ground weren’t finished tracking our plane, for at that instant we received a direct hit in one engine (starboard side) with shocking impact. Massive vibrations developed and fumes and smoke filled the plane. The pilot, without hesitation, pulled out of formation, and attempted to put out the flames within that particular engine by sides-lipping the plane.
Upon looking at the right wing, it was obvious that the damage thereto, was extensive. The entire right wing was oscillating up and down some 20-30 degrees. On seeing this, I assisted the Navigator Gerald Wasserman in putting on his chest pack. As Bombardier, I always wore my backpack throughout the entire mission.
I called to the Pilot in the customary technique… “Bombardier to Pilot, do you have any instructions?” He replied, “Bombardier, I hear you.” Looking back at the wing again I could clearly see the oscillation increasing. The Engineer, Sgt. Parker, dropped down from his position to our station with the Navigator between us. I instructed the Engineer to open the escape hatch located directly in front of him. He complied immediately. I again called to the Pilot asking if there were any further instructions regarding possible bail out. The Pilot, once again replied, “Bombardier, I hear you,” but no instructions followed.
Looking out at the wing again (which was oscillating even more), it was obvious to me that the wing could not stay on much longer. At this point, firmly believing the alarm bell and intercom were no longer operating, I directed the Engineer to bail out. He (Parker) looked up to the Pilot for some expression of guidance…he did not receive any. He then looked back at me and the Navigator who was directly in front of me. At this critical point (with little or no time for conversation), a mandated determination had to be directed and carried out. The Engineer would have to bail out of the plane first, the Navigator second and then myself. I, in a loud tone (after removing my oxygen mask), ordered the Engineer to bail out… again he hesitated. I then began to physically push the Navigator in that direction stating, “We have to go, the wing is coming off.” The Navigator looked at me with quite an acceptable (and understandable) look of doubt, and shook his head. At that instance, the wing came off!
It is apparent that with one of the wings off of a B-17, it will not fly. Our plane began to plummet down in a spiraling, leafy fashion to earth. At this point, I would assume we were in the neighborhood of 20-22,000 feet. Quite instantaneously, all within the craft were seemingly welded to their specific positions. I was flung against the starboard cheek gun slamming my neck against it in a rigid fashion, unable to move a muscle due to the powerful centrifugal force exerted during the spiraling effect. At this moment, I vividly recall thinking of one thing, and one thing only… “What will Mom say or feel when she hears about me being killed in action?” There was no question or doubt in my mind that I was to meet “my maker” in a matter of moments. There was no possible chance for anyone to successfully escape this situation.
Approximately two or three seconds later, there erupted a tremendous, all-encompassing explosive force, I felt my entire body weight being lifted by an unknown force. I was literally catapulted through the air, head first and out the front plexiglass nose of the aircraft. The plane had exploded. The gas tanks (I am assuming), from the other wing or in the body of the craft, had been ignited by the flak we took. Luckily I did not black out. I was alert and fully cognizant of the entire situation. I knew instantly that I was free from the aircraft. I had the foresight, however, not to pull the rip cord immediately. As I began to fall to earth, I could clearly see burning debris from our aircraft. Far to the left, a chute opened; shortly thereafter on my right, another chute; and then a few seconds later, still another chute opened. This chute (the latter), perhaps opened too soon, and as fate would have it, part of the burning debris struck his chute as it opened. Which crew member it was, I could not identify. I held my rip cord with a firm grasp for what seemed to be hours, but I’m sure it was only a second or two before making a move. I saw clear areas around me. I then pulled the cord and to my utter surprise, I felt no jerk, as anticipated. My most prevalent thought at this time was, “The parachute must have been torn from my back when I was blown from the front of the plane.” I looked up and there it was … blossoming beautifully above me. Perhaps the reason for not feeling the impact of the chute opening, can be attributed to the mental trauma I had so recently experienced, i.e., being blown out of the aircraft. My thought at this time, “My God, I’m going to be safe. I’m floating down to earth.”
At this juncture, everything began to go black, or more accurately, red. I now realized I could not see. I placed my hands over my eyes, wiped them and realized I did not come away from this situation unscathed completely. I was bleeding profusely from head wounds received when I was blown through the front plexiglass of the craft. I also realized that my shoes that were tied to my parachute harness were not there. They had been snapped, or torn, off when I was blown out of the aircraft.
On descending, I could see a forest area and remembered some of the instructions we received concerning means of generating control over the parachute. I was able to tug at the harness, thus controlling the direction of the chute so that my landing would be between some very large fir trees. I landed on a 45-degree slope of a hill. Not being proficient in parachute landings, I came down extremely hard, striking both legs in a rather awkward position, that later would prove to give me untold pain and discomfort. The impact of landing so hard and abruptly, caused one of my legs to collapse on the base of my spine.
Reflecting back to military orders and instructions, concealment of the chute after landing was of the utmost concern. I picked the chute up as quick as I possibly could and dug and scratched a large hole in a leafy area where I buried it under branches, twigs, etc. I began moving in a westerly direction but soon, thereafter, collapsed. The injuries I had sustained were not as minor as I initially thought. Both of my ankles were swollen out of proportion, and the bleeding from my skull wounds were now in a hemorrhaging state. I took stock of what medications I had and treated myself with sulfur [sulfa] for my scalp wounds and bandaged them the best I could. I then constructed make-shift crutches and again attempted to move on. As my arduous journey continued, I further realized I was experiencing pain at the base of my neck. Later I found that my 2nd Lieutenant bar was bent completely in half. Something most assuredly had struck it with a great impacting force to have caused it to bend. The object which had struck the metal bar so precisely, had to have been metal; the 2nd Lieutenant bar undoubtedly saved my life. I sustained a massive hematoma on my neck where the bar had originally been affixed to my collar.
I placed the time of my landing at 1230 hours. I continued to move on through the afternoon. I traveled for several hours in a westerly direction as best I could, and rested part of the night in a thickly wooded area. I did not know for sure how many of the crew got out, but I had seen two chutes at a distance. Later I was informed that a fourth airman had in fact gotten out. There were only four survivors from our B-17G.
The following day, during the early hours after dawn, determined and still limping, I continued to move on. The wooded area that concealed me began to echo with a terrifying sound; that of track dogs. The area where I had descended was flooded with civilian and Wehrmacht troops.
I was finally detected and captured by the aforementioned group of people, at approximately 0900 hours on the 19th of October 1944. I was taken to a town (to the best of my recollection, Oberursel) where my imprisonment began.
Some weeks later, during which time I spent a week of interrogation procedures in Dusseldorf, I had the heartwarming pleasure of seeing three of the enlisted members of my crew. The Tail Gunner, Conwell, related to me that he was blown out of the tail section. Raymond Hutt was blown out of the Waist Gunner’s compartment and the Radio Operator, Ledford, was blown out of the top section of the craft’s radio compartment. I was further informed that the Ball Gunner, Stevens, had not emerged from the ball nor did he have his chest pack on at the time the wing disengaged itself from the aircraft. Out of a crew of nine, only four survived.
After spending about eight months in prison camps, Stalag Luft 3, Sagan and Moosburg, I was liberated by Patton’s Third Army on 29th April 1945 and returned home in May of that year.
October 18th, Nineteen Hundred Forty-Four, was my day of infamy, it too was my Birthday … my day of Rebirth.
This Is My Story.
Control Tower Log for 18 October 1944 shows one aircraft MIA
0715: All mission a/c off except 325-T – hydraulics out – ship stuck off edge of r/w and field will be u/s (Ed: unserviceable) for landing a/c until at least 1030 – possibly later.
0930: 831-C aborted with #3 feathered, prop run away. Will circle until 325 is cleared.
1130: 325 off r/w. Ship 007-M (Lewis) lost a piece of 325 plexiglass nose on t/o. No damage to 007.
1131: 831 C landed. (Ellis)
1542: All a/c returned except 189-M (Drugan)
J.H. Stafford 1 Lt. S.C.
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On August 9, 2002, Harry spoke about his wartime experiences, and other aspects of life, in an interview available at the New York State Military Museum.
When Harry passed away on March 27, 2016, he was the last survivor of the crew of Powerful Katrinka / Bugs Bunny. He is buried at New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.
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A photograph of Donald Drugan’s crew (contributed by FindAGrave contributor Patootie), taken during training in the United States, is shown below. The names of the crew members are listed beneath the image.
Rear (L – R)
Sgt. Jurl Thomas Parker (Flight Engineer – KIA) Tamaha, Ok. Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium – Plot D, Row 3, Grave 5
Sgt. Willis T. Ledford (Radio Operator – survived – Died July 3, 1996) Cleveland, Ga. Hoschton City Cemetery, Hoschton, Ga.
Sgt. Raymond LaVerne Hutt (Waist Gunner – survived – Died Nov. 19, 2008) Tecumseh, Ne. Tecumseh Cemetery, Tecumseh, Ne.
Sgt. Robert Stevens (Ball Turret Gunner – KIA) Long Beach, Ca. Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium – Plot A, Row 38, Grave 47
Kaiser (Waist Gunner – did not fly on mission of October 18)
Sgt. Cleon Conwell (Tail Gunner – survived – Died April 6, 2006) Monticello, In. Buffalo Cemetery, Buffalo, In.
Here are four pages from the Missing Air Crew Report (#9484) for Powerful Katrinka / Bugs Bunny comprising postwar reports about the plane’s loss by Lt. Love and Sgt. Conwell. Because of the nature of the plane’s loss – a mid-air explosion – there was little that could definitively be said about the five crewmen who were killed.
Here’s Harry Love’s account…
When my chute opened, after I was blown out, I saw 2 other parachutes floating down – actually there were 3 besides my own.
Pieces of the plane were falling all around my chute, truthfully there was nothing left of the plane to speak of.
The out look for the (5) members of my crew that are still listed as missing, seems very bad. I would say after 16 months that they were killed when the plane exploded.
If I can be of any further assistance, or any additional information is needed, please let me know. I’ll comply immediately.
Kindly acknowledge by mail, any thing concerning the members of my crew – or upon receiving these forms.
Sincerely, Harry W. Love, 2nd Lt.
And here’s Sgt. Conwell’s…
I am sorry to say that there is very little that I can tell to shed light on this mystery, because of my position as tail gunner I depended upon the intercom system to keep in touch with the rest of the crew. Therefore I could not see anything that happened in the forward part of the plane.
The Bombardier Love & Radioman Ledford came together by chance at the transit camp at Wetzlar Germany. But could not come to any conclusions about the rest of the men.
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Here’s the “header” page of Luftgaukommando Report KU 3131, which, typical of most such reports compiled by the Germans for American aircraft losses from early 1944 onwards, includes such data as general type of aircraft, location and time of the plane’s loss, information about the crew where known and established (such as surname and given name, rank, serial number, and status – prisoner, wounded, hospitalized, or killed), and the date upon which the document was completed. It can be seen that KU 3131 covers only the four survivors of Powerful Katrinka / Bugs Bunny.
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Also from Ancestry.com (don’t know if it’s still available there), here’s a close-up of Harry Love’s POW identification portrait (“mug-shot”, as it were) from his German Prisoner of War “Personalkarte”, which was probably taken within a few days of his capture.
And, from KU 3131, his dog-tag. Note that the tag has been stamped with the single letter “P”, which would ostensibly indicate that its bearer was of the Protestant religion. Though unfortunately I never had the opportunity to interview Harry Love about his experiences, it would have been interesting to have asked him if he ever pondered the implication of being captured by the Germans (let alone other aspects of being a Jewish soldier during WW II). I think his dog-tag indirectly answers that question, though such an answer brings forth another question: Harry certainly received his tog-tag months before his assignment to his own crew, as well as – in turn – his crew’s assignment to the 8th Air Force, and thus, service in the European Theater of War. So, did his choice of the abbreviation “P”, well in advance of the knowledge or certainty that he would be assigned to the European Theater of War, suggest a longstanding, unarticulated concern about the implications of being a Jewish prisoner of war?
Though Harry’s dog-tag would not suggest as much, his name still appeared in the National Jewish Welfare Board’s Bureau of War Records card index of American Jewish servicemen, part of the data from which formed the basis of the state-by-state compilation (Volume II) of American Jews in World War II. For other examples of NJWB Index Cards, see thethree such cards filed for Major Milton Joel.
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This image (WW II Army Air Force Photo 3200 / A45511) is captioned, “Lt. Maurice A. Bonomo, Bombardier, 333 W. 86th St., New York City, 18 daylight missions; holds Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters”. The picture gives an excellent representative view of the the bombardier’s position in a B-17 Flying Fortress (specifically, a B-17G Flying Fortress).
Lt. Bonomo, viewed as if looking forward from the navigator’s position, is facing the bombardier’s control panel. Above the control panel can be seen a nose-mounted “flexible” port M-2 Browning 50 Caliber machine gun, with its ammunition feed chute hanging to the right. (Another flexible M-2 Browning, out of view of the photograph, is mounted within the right side of the nose.) The remote control for the aircraft’s Bendix chin turret (housing two M-2 Brownings) is visible – in its stowed position – to the right of Lt. Bonomo. In front of Lt. Bonomo is the bombardier’s plexiglass nose “bubble”, which – despite variations in design among different versions of the B-17 – is so visually characteristic of the Flying Fortress.
Given that Lt. Bonomo is not (!) wearing his oxygen mask, and is directly touching the control panel without (!) gloves (neither of which would be advisable at altitude…) this is almost certainly a “posed” photograph, taken while the B-17 was on the ground.
Though the date of this photograph is unknown, what is known is that Lt. Bonomo, a member of the 401st Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, became a prisoner of war on July 20, 1944, during a mission to Leipzig, Germany. On that date, he was a member of 1 Lt. Arthur F. Hultin’s crew in B-17G 42-102509, which was lost due to anti-aircraft fire. Fortunately, all 10 crewmen survived as POWs. The plane’s loss is covered in MACR 7274 and Luftgaukommando Report KU 2560, the latter document being unusually detailed in its description of the plane.
Maurice (serial number 0-754720), the husband of Janet A. Bonomo, of 333 West 86th Street, in New York, was imprisoned in North Compound 2 of Stalag Luft I, in Barth, Germany.
His name appeared in Casualty Lists published on December 13, 1944, and (as a liberated POW) on June 15, 1945, and can be found on page 281 of American Jews in World War Two.
References
Books
Blue, Allan, The B-24 Liberator – A Pictorial History, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, N.Y., 1975
Davis, Larry, B-24 Liberator in Action (Aircraft No. 80), Squadron / Signal Publications, Inc., Carrollton, Tx., 1987
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Kulka, Erich, Zide Československém Vojsku na Západé, Naše Vojsko, Praha, Czechoslovakia, 1992
Leivers, Dorothy (Editing and Revisions), Road to Victory – Jewish Soldiers of the 16th Lithuanian Division, 1941-1945, Avotaynu, Bergenfield, N.J., 2009
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: II – Jewish Military Casualties in September 1939 Campaign – Jewish Military Casualties in The Polish Armed Forces in Exile, World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1995
Richard, Wilbert H.; Perry, Richard H.; Robinson, William J., The 390th Bomb Group Anthology – Volume II, 390th Memorial Museum Foundation, Inc., Tuscon, Az., 1985
Canadian Jews in World War II– Part I: Decorations, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1948.
Canadian Jews in World War II– Part II: Casualties, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1948
[Created “way back when” – in August of 2018 – this post – focusing on November 26, 1944 – has now been updated, with additional information primarily pertaining to the 8th Air Force’s mission to the Deurag-Neurag oil refinery at Misburg, Germany. New material comprises the following: 1) Crew lists for 8th Air Force B-24 losses, including airmen’s names, crew positions, serial numbers, home towns of residence, and indications about an airman’s ultimate fate (those who survived are denoted by aboldfacesurname), 2) Extracts from Luftgaukommando Reports pertaining to the location where an aircraft crashed, 3) Mapple Apps Apple Maps showing the locations of these crash sites, with the crash site denoted by a red oval, and – for reference – the target location at Misburg Nord denoted in blue, 4) For two lost B-24s – THE FIREBIRD and ARK ANGEL – images of pages from relevant Luftgaukommando Reports, from NARA, 5) Also from NARA, a few images of personal documents from B-24 crewmen who were casualties on the mission, 6) A few Army Air Force photographs from Fold3, 7) New images of B-24s Problem Child, and, ARK ANGEL. Plus, a small amount of commentary.
I’m aware, that in the world of 2021; an age dominated by the civilizationally corrosive oxymoron otherwise known as “social media” (Gee, thanks, Jack! Golly, thanks, Mark!), this post will appear to be extraordinarily long (hmmm… most of my posts are that way) but, well, so be it.
After all, the past is worthy of contemplation, and cannot be captured in a “Tweet”.
Then again, neither can nor should the present.
So, back to the post…!]
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There is more to “the news” than mere news.
Like a Matryoshka doll, the events of every age – whether of “man” in the abstract, or “men” as individuals – contain within themselves tales, within stories, within memories. Often, stories can be understood only long after they occurred: when participants and witnesses are few, or longer exist.
Such was the case on the 24th of February in the year 1945, when an obituary for Army Air Force aerial navigator 1 Lt. Norman F. Hirsch, killed in action over Germany on November 26, 1944, appeared in The New York Times.
As situated within a list of names of wounded servicemen from the New York Metropolitan area and northern New Jersey (the Times’ list having been derived from combined Army and Navy nationwide casualty lists comprising over 4,300 names), the reader could not – then – have known what occurred over Germany three months before: On November 26, during Eighth Air Force mission number 725, over 1,100 B-17s and B-24s, escorted by over 730 P-47s and P-51s, were dispatched to attack rail viaducts, marshaling yards and oil installations in western Germany, the latter target being the Deurag-Nerag Synthetic Oil Refinery, in Misburg, a district of Hannover.
Targets allocated to the heavy bombers on Mission 725 were as follows:
Oosterhout, Netherlands – Leaflet drop: 8 B-17s and 6 B-24s
That day, American bombers were intercepted by approximately 500 Luftwaffe fighters. The 8th Air Force lost over 30 B-17s and B-24s, and 9 fighters, in turn claiming the destruction of over 130 German aircraft.
While Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) record the loss of 9 fighters (among the 55th, 78th, 339th, 355th, and 364th Fighter Groups), 1 F-5E reconnaissance Lightning (43-28619, of the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group), and 14 B-17 Flying Fortresses (among the 91st, 303rd, 305th, 351st, 381st, 388th, 390th, 398th, and 487th Bomb Groups), strikingly, the loss of 21 B-24 Liberators occurred only among three Bomb Groups – the 389th “Sky Scorpions” (1 aircraft), 445th (5 aircraft), and 491st “Ringmasters”, which lost 15 Liberators. Additionally, the 8th AF Historical Society notes the loss – for which there are no MACRs – of an additional three B-24s (among the 445th, 453rd, and 491st Bomb Groups) respectively through crash-landing, crashing, and abandonment by the bomber’s crew over Belgium.
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The emblem of the Ringmasters, from the US Militaria forum. The three-banded horizontal green-white-green pattern reflects the 491st’s group markings as displayed on their B-24s’ outer tails and rudders, following the Bomb Group marking system of the 8th Air Force’s 2nd Air Division.
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This toll of men and planes represented one of the heaviest losses incurred by an Army Air Force Combat Group during the Second World War, with the worst such event – resulting in the loss of 26 Liberators – befalling the 445th Bomb Group during a mission to Kassel, Germany, on September 27, 1944. (The initial cause of the 445th’s losses of September 27 was an error in radar navigation in the 445th’s lead Liberator, B-24J 42-51541, RN * H, piloted by Captain John H. Chilton, with Major Don W. McCoy as command pilot; neither man survived.) Another such incident, perhaps less widely known, was the 483rd Bomb Group’s loss of 14 B-17s during a mission to Memmingen, Germany on July 18, 1944, which included seven B-17s of the 816th Bomb Squadron.
The commonality of these incidents was that they were situations in which the German air defense network was able to detect, recognize, and exploit the absence of American escort fighters, directing its fighters to strike the temporarily undefended American Bombardment Groups, overwhelming the bombers’ combined defensive firepower through a succession of coordinated, tightly concentrated, and close attacks by multiple aircraft.
Thus, the loss of the Ringmaster’s 15 Liberators within the space of fifteen minutes, on November 26, 1944.
As part of the 8th Air Force’s B-24-equipped 2nd Bombardment Wing, the Ringmasters were sequentially the “last” combat group (preceded by the 389th and 445th Bomb Groups) allocated to bomb the Deurag-Neurag oil refinery.
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This map gives a sense of the the location of Hannover relative to other cities in northern Germany, as well as the Netherlands, Belgium, and France…
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…while this map shows the locations of Hannover and Misburg Nord relative to one another.
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Before the Misburg mission. (Well, long before the Misburg mission.) This photo – presumably taken by the Royal Air Force – shows the Deurag-Nerag Synthetic Oil Refinery as it appeared in 1942. The channel running parallel to the bottom of the image is the Stichkanal Misburg. For the purposes of this post, I’ve digitally “rotated” the photo (you can view the original at Fold3) such that its orientation is consistent with the refinery’s actual geography: Thus, “up”, or the “top” of your screen, is north, and “down”, or the bottom of your screen, is south.
Caption: “Synthetic plant at Misburg, Germany with monthly pre-attack capacity of 25,000 tons looked like this in 1942.” Print received January 1945 from Pub. Sec., AC/AS Intel. Used in January, 1945 issue of Impact. (Photo 55774AC – A22022 (1942)
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By the time the Group approached the target, the horizontal distance between the Ringmasters and the two preceding Groups had notably increased, diminishing the potential effectiveness of escort fighter coverage for all three Groups, as well as placing the 491st in a relatively isolated position relative to the remainder of the 2nd Bomb Wing as a whole.
At 1226 hours, the 491st had just turned at the I.P. (the “Initial Point”, an identifiable land mark about 20 miles more of less from a target, from which location a Group’s bomb-run would typically commence); in this case the Lower Saxon town of Wittingen, approximately 46 miles northeast of Hannover. Just prior to reaching this location, a large number of Luftwaffe fighters – approximately 150 to 200 aircraft – was seen southeast of the 491st’s formation. As stated in Ringmasters, “They [Luftwaffe fighters] made no move toward the Liberators but were “just playing around in the clouds” as if daring the Mustangs and Thunderbolts to come over and mix it up. The chance seemed too good to miss and the entire close fighter escort, consisting of 197 P-51s and 48 P-47s, went storming after the Germans, estimated at from 150 to 200 strong. In a matter of minutes they were fully engaged, leaving the B-24s on their own. Area coverage fighters, as noted above, had already been diverted to meet an earlier appearance of the enemy.”
The Group’s Air Commander (and Commanding Officer of the 854th Bomb Squadron) Lt. Col. Parmele – about whom possibly more in a future post – was immediately faced with the decision of whether to: “…uncover his three squadrons in the face of imminent enemy attack or to preserve the Group formation and meet the enemy with a united front. Realizing that superior bombing results could only be achieved by uncovering, he unhesitatingly ordered this maneuver.” The 491st thus commenced its bomb run. Then, a mishap occurred in the lead B-24 of the “low” – 854th – Bomb Squadron (Lt. Haney’s plane, #735, 6X * Z –): Within the already crowded nose of the plane, the nose gunner accidentally tripped the bomb toggle switch, which caused the B-24 to release its bombs. The rest of the 854th Bomb Squadron immediately followed suit, that entire squadron’s bomb load falling into open fields 15 miles from Misburg.
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After “a” Misburg mission. (But which mission?!) Dated as having been received on October 6, 1944 from the BPR (Bureau of Public Relations?) this reconnaissance photo shows the level of destruction incurred from aerial bombardment. While damage is readily apparent across the facility, particularly among the storage tanks, it seems that other parts of the plant are still relatively intact. Also, note the degree to which bombs have impacted on nearby farmland.
Akin to the previous image, this image has been rotated to conform to geographic north. As such, the very long southwest to northeast oriented shadows, particularly those projecting from infrastructure near the Stichkanal, suggest that the image was taken very late in the afternoon. Well, an afternoon.
Caption: “HITLER’S OIL PLANT AT MISBURG HIT HARD – Gutted installations and burned out storage tanks set the stage at the German synthetic oil plant at Misburg, near Hannover, after U.S. Army 8th Air Force heavy bombers had attacked it several times in the past few months. It was last attacked on 12 September 1944.” Negative received 10/6/44 from BPR, to accompany Press Release: “HITLER’S OIL PLANT AT MISBURG (Photo +54123AC – A22017)
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The image below, from Ringmasters, is captioned “The COs – Golf, Miller, Parmele”, but doesn’t specify “who” commanded “what”. While I can’t identify “Golf” and am uncertain of “Miller’s” identity (could he be Group CO Colonel Frederic H. Miller, Jr.?), “Parmele” is definitely Lt. Col. Charles C. Parmele of the the 854th. (In 2007, Edward Kamarainen, one of the six survivors of 853rd Bomb Squadron’s DORTY TREEK, wrote and published (via lulu.com) This Is War and We Are Prisoners of the Enemy, in which he states that the commander of the 853rd was Lt. Col. Harry Stephy.)
The German air defense network recognized the status and disposition of the 2nd Bomb Wing’s three trailing B-24 Groups, particularly the sudden vulnerability of the 491st. Thus, flak stopped, a prelude to attack by Luftwaffe fighters. As noted by Sal Leotta, Dead-Reckoning navigator in Lt. Haney’s crew (in a description and tone consistent with the above quote pertaining to the Group’s fighter escort), “After passing the Dummer Lake area we received many reports of enemy fighters. The mission continued until about 20 minutes before the IP when a large force of enemy fighters was sighted. Our fighter escort peeled off to intercept and stave off any attack on the bombers. I recall the subsequent air battle drifting off in the distance. Looking back later, it became obvious that this engagement was a ruse to strip us of our fighter escort.”
The impression arising from these accounts is that the 491st was – in effect and reality – left on its own, the escort fighters having been drawn away off in the pursuit and attack of nearby concentrations of Luftwaffe interceptors. Doubtless events could genuinely and sincerely have been perceived as such by the crews of the Ringmasters. (This comes across in Edwin Kamarainen‘s book.) However, it could be ventured that – given the sheer number of aircraft (American (732) and German) operating in a geographically limited airspace; the near-inevitable fluidity and complexity of aerial combat; the simple unpredictability inherent to any military engagement – a difference in perspective and priority vis-a-vis bomber crews and fighter pilots might well have been, and be, sadly inevitable. So… If you’re interested in more information about the 8th Air Force fighter engagements of November 26, 1944, you can find 38 combat reports for this mission (and 790 reports for other dates) at WW II Aircraft Performance.
In any event… As described in the Group’s mission report, “At 1240 hours approximately 100 E/A attacked the formation just south of Hannover. The attack was made by FW 190s in line astern formation mostly from 6 o’clock high and pressing attack to within 100 yards — Peeling off and coming in again from any angle — This attack lasted until 12:55 hrs. The squadrons were in trail when the attack started and the last squadron [853rd] was attacked first — Then the middle [854th] and finally the lead [855th] — The attack on the lead squadron was not intense and no A/C were lost from the squadron.” Again, Sal Leotta: “In what appeared to be seconds, the sky filled with enemy fighters and the high squadron (853rd BS) was literally blown out of the skies. Without a pause, we (854th BS) were the next target. They came at us about 10 to 20 abreast firing their cannons. During the attack I felt useless with no gun to fire. All I could do was to call out the positions of incoming bandits. In retrospect, I am amazed at the intensity, speed and success of the attack. It may have felt like an eternity but it actually was very swift, a matter of a few minutes. It happened so quickly that there was not time to pray or be frightened.”
In an indirect and sad way, the nature of the tactic employed by Jagdgeschwader 301 against the 491st is verified by a review of Missing Air Crew Reports for Ringmaster B-24 losses that day: These documents reveal that a slight preponderance (well, in a general sense) of aircrew casualties occurred among those airmen whose crew positions were situated in the rear of their aircraft – tail, waist, and ball turret gunners, while those situated in the front – pilots, navigators, bombardiers, and flight engineers – seem to have had a somewhat better chance of survival. Of the 16 491st B-24s that were lost, there were no survivors on three planes (Problem Child, ARK ANGEL, and Blue Circle) while in the B-24s piloted by Lieutenants Ecklund (853rd) and Lanning (854th), all crewmen but one survived the mission. In no case did a shot-down Ringmaster crew survive intact, though all crew members in two of the five 445th Bomb Group’s losses (both of the 703rd Bomb Squadron) survived the mission.
The bombers were attacked by Jagdgeschwader 301, a Luftwaffe fighter wing based at Stendal (110 miles east of Hannover), at the time equipped with FW-190A-8 and A-9 fighters. After the Wing’s three Gruppen downed 15 Ringmaster and then 5 445th B-24s (389th Bomb Group B-24J 44-10579 Pugnacious Princess Pat was shot down by flak), P-51s of the 2nd Scouting Force, followed by P-51s of the 339th, 355th, and 361st Fighter Groups, responding to radio calls, came to the defense of the Liberators, pilots of the three Fighter Groups respectively claiming 28, 21, and 23 enemy planes, these 72 aerial victories comprising FW-190s from JG 301, and, fighters from other Luftwaffe fighter wings.
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Combat in real time: This image, probably captured by a B-24’s automatic downward-facing camera, has photographically “captured” an FW-190 flying over Hannover. Paralleling the two above images of the Deurag-Nerag Synthetic Oil Refinery, I’ve photoshopifically “rotated” this image such that geographic north is “up” towards the top of your screen. This orientation was determined by comparing the layout of streets and other features in the photo (the original image at Fold3 has a typical horizontal format) to Apple Map views of Hannover.
The FW-190, flying south-southeast, is situated almost exactly halfway between the two puffy clouds in the left half of the image.
Caption: “A Nazi FW-190 wings over the Misburg area as U.S. 8th Air Force heavies, high overhead drop their lethal load on the oil refinery there 26 Nov 44.” Passed for publication 22 December 1944. Negative received 12/29/44 from BPR. (Photo 55593AC – A22019)
This’ll make it easier to see the FW-190: It’s a cropped view of the above photo, with the FW-190 in the very center of the image. Nothing on camouflage and markings, but hey, it’s an interesting and relevant picture.
So, where exactly is – more accurately, where was – the plane in relation to Hannover? This 2021 view reveals that the plane’s location – shown by the redcircle – was directly over what appears to be the Stadtfriedhof (State Cemetery) Lindener Burg…
…as shown in the map below.
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The diagram below, from Ringmasters, illustrates the arrangement of the 491st’s formation as if viewed from above, with each aircraft identified by the pilot’s surname, the last three digits of its serial number, and its individual squadron code letter. (Edward Kamarainen noted that one 853rd Liberator – #341 (T8 * – W) – turned back because of radio failure.) Red boxes indicate aircraft shot down, with 1 Lt. Harold E. Lanning’s plane (blue box: Reluctant Dragon, 6X * I –, probably 42-95610) surviving the attack. Mortally damaged and with one waist gunner (S/Sgt. Lee A. Taylor) dead, its nine survivors safely parachuted near Brussels. Note that the lead (855th) squadron survived the mission intact.
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Lieutenant Hirsch was the navigator of an aircraft ironically named THE FIREBIRD (B-24J 42-110167; a camouflaged plane with squadron code T8 * – O), piloted by 1 Lt. Daniel C. Budd. There were two survivors from the plane’s crew of ten: right waist gunner S/Sgt. Frank Verbosky and left waist gunner S/Sgt. Thaddeus C. Jarosz, for whom postwar Casualty Questionnaires are conspicuously absent from the Missing Air Crew Report (MACR 10768) covering their plane’s loss.
Perhaps there was little for them to say.
Crash location as listed Luftgaukommando Report KU 3452: Bredenbeck near Bennigsen; 20 km northwest of Hildesheim.
Budd, Daniel C., 1 Lt. – (0-797459), Falls Church, Va. – Pilot Oury, Noel A., 2 Lt. – (0-1998532), Richmond, Va. – Co-Pilot Hirsch, Norman F., 1 Lt. – (0-709375), Brooklyn, N.Y. – Navigator Walker, Floyd A., Jr., 2 Lt. – (0-2058592), Des Moines, Ia. – Navigator (Nose) Phelps, William F., 1 Lt. – (0-706899), New London County, Ct. – Bombardier Brock, Vernon R., T/Sgt. – (36458670), Albion, Mi. – Flight Engineer Bemis, Elmer H., T/Sgt. – (31261913), Marlboro, Ma. – Radio Operator Verbovsky, Frank, S/Sgt. – (32911685), North Bergen, N.J. – Gunner (Right Waist) (Survived) Jarosz, Thaddeus C., S/Sgt. – (31362327), Laurence, Ma. – Gunner (Left Waist) (Survived) Crane, Thomas R., S/Sgt. – (32757283), Salem, N.J. – Gunner (Tail)
As reported in the Luftgaukommando Report, the bomber crashed 20 kilometers northwest of the town of Hildehseim, at “Bradenback near Bemimgsen”. (The correct spellings should be “Bredenbeck” and “Bennigsen”.) Curiously, MACR 10768 lists aircraft as being assigned to the 853rd BS, as does “Ringmasters”, but B-24BestWeb designates plane as belonging to the 852nd BS. (Perhaps the plane was assigned to 853rd BS prior to the mission of November 26.)
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Here are pages from Luftgaukommando Report KU 3452. The degree of destruction of the plane is indicated by the near-complete absence of technical information about the wreckage, with the exception of one entry about radio equipment. Apparently, there was very little left.
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Lt. Hirsch, serial 0-709375, received the Air Medal and Purple Heart, and is buried in Section 24 of Arlington National Cemetery, in a collective burial with Lt. Budd, co-pilot 2 Lt. Noel A. Oury, flight engineer T/Sgt. Vernon R. Brock, and radio operator T/Sgt. Elmer H. Bemis. They presumably had flown all their prior missions together, as mentioned in Ringmasters by 853rd Squadron bombardier Vince Cahill: “It was a quiet hut that night. Pilots Budd and Orley, Navigator Hirsh [sic] and Bombardier “Shorty” were gone. I wondered if we would ever be lucky enough to complete our 35 missions. This was Budd’s crew’s 26th mission, four more to go for 30 and a complete tour.”
Lt. Hirsch’s obituary, as published in The New York Times on February 24 (and in the Brooklyn Eagle on February 21, 1945), follows:
Killed While in Action In Battle of Germany
First Lieut. Norman F. Hirsch of the Army Air Forces was killed in action over Germany on Nov. 26, the War Department informed his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben [and Esther] Hirsch of 416 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, on Jan. 26, it was announced yesterday. Twenty-three years old, Lieutenant Hirsch held the Air Medal, was a Liberator navigator with the Eighth Army Air Force in England and had flown thirty-five missions.
Born in Elizabeth, N.J., Lieutenant Hirsch attended Brooklyn College and City College and was a senior in the latter institution when he enlisted in 1942. He began his air training in 1943 and received his wings in 1944.
His father is a lawyer. Besides his parents, he leaves a brother, Second Lieut. William J. Hirsch of the Fifteenth Army Air Force in Italy.
The New York Times 2/24/45 (obituary), Casualty List 3/14/45 Brooklyn Eagle 2/21/45 (obituary), 5/16/46, 5/17/46, 6/6/46, 6/10/46 American Jews in World War II – 345
Over a year later, the Brooklyn Eagle would carry two brief news items mentioning Lt. Hirsch, both mentioning a Jewish War Veterans Post named in his honor, which met at Congregation Ahavath Israel and Talmud Torah of East Midwood, at 2818 Avenue K in Brooklyn.
May 16, 1946
Three years ago a certain Brooklyn College student left behind classroom and books to enlist in the army and did not return. Tonight one of his former instructors, Prof. Louis A. Warsoff, will speak at an open meeting to be held by the Jewish War Veterans post named for the student, Norman F. Hirsch. Professor Warsoff will speak on “The World of Tomorrow” at the session of the Lt. Norman F. Hirsch Post, Congregation Ahavath Israel, 2818 Avenue K.
June 6, 1946
Annual memorial services will be held at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in Congregation Ahavath Israel, 2818 Avenue K. Participating will be members of Flatlands Post, American Legion, and Lt. Norman F. Hirsch Post, Jewish War Veterans.
Some other Jewish military casualties on Sunday, November 26, 1944 (10 Kislev 5705), include…
Killed in Action – .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –
United States Army Air Force
8th Air Force
445th Bomb Group, 701st Bomb Squadron
Bailey, Herbert Edward, 2 Lt., 0-712477, Navigator, Air Medal, Purple Heart Mr. and Mrs. Meyer E. [7/22/97-10/10/65] and Marion T. [1902-2/12/60] Bailey (parents), Alan P. Bailey (brother), 100 Laurel Road, New Haven, 13, Ct. Born Hartford, N.Y., 6/17/23 MACR 10754, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3366, Aircraft B-24H 42-94940 (The Green Hornet), Pilot 2 Lt. William K. Boykin, 9 crew – 3 survivors Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium – Plot D, Row 24, Grave 21 American Jews in World War II – 61
Statement in MACR: “Ship #940 was jumped by fighters after bombs away and started going down. Four (4) chutes were observed. Plane was not on fire and seemed under control.”
Crash location: In MACR: 15 miles southeast of Hannover In Luftgaukommando Report: Sorsun, 10 km southwest of Hildesheim
Boykin, William L., Jr., 2 Lt. – (0-772784), Philadelphia, Pa. – Pilot Tubergen, Gary V., Jr., 2 Lt. – (0-821812), Plymouth, Mi. – Co-Pilot Bailey, Herbert E., 2 Lt. – (0-712477), New Haven, Ct. – Navigator Price, Junius C., T/Sgt. – (34644499), Florence, S.C. – Flight Engineer (Survived) Welch, Donald N., T/Sgt. – (35549094), Lima, Oh. – Radio Operator (Survived) Gutowsky, Joe A., S/Sgt. – (36262079), Racine, Wi. – Gunner (Nose) McFadden, Walter C., S/Sgt. – (33679986), Grove City, Pa. – Gunner (Waist) (Survived) Crespolini, Americo A., S/Sgt. – (33609563), Old Forge, Pa. – Gunner (Waist) Craig, Otis D., S/Sgt. – (32956491), Wilmington, De. – Gunner (Tail)
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This is an image of Herbert Bailey before he became “Lieutenant” Bailey: It’s his graduation portrait from the Milford, Connecticut, (junior?) high school class yearbook of 1939, via Ancestry.com.
Here’s Lt. Bailey’s Officer’s Identification Card. Note that the card is designed to be twice folded, enabling it to fit inside a wallet.
While certainly hardly every Luftgaukommando Report includes this type of document, in terms of the materials that can be found in these Reports, Officer’s Identification Cards tend to be among the more common items. Note that information is limited to name, serial number, date of birth, height, weight, hair and eye color, and a set of fingerprints, and the card’s serial number – the latter not identical to the officer’s military serial number. No information is present concerning next of kin or place-of-residence.
Herbert Bailey’s Army and Navy Officer’s Club (of Beverly Hills, California) dated March 25, 1944.
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And, a newspaper clipping, undated. Crumpled and torn, but still intact.
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T/Sgt. Junius C. Price was one of the three survivors of The Green Hornet. This is his Individual Issue Record of flying equipment, which appears to have been assigned to him on May 27, 1944. Some of these items are described and illustrated in Gordon Rottman’s 1993 book (published by Osprey) US Army Air Force: 1.
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Sgt. Price’s Merit Award, dated May 20, 1944.
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And, his Class “A” Pass from Biggs Field, Texas, dated June 30 of that year.
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Levy, Robert D., 2 Lt., 0-825915, Co-Pilot Mrs. Gertrude Levy (mother), 4917 B Street, Philadelphia, Pa. MACR 11214, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3386, Aircraft B-24J 42-50467, Pilot 1 Lt. John D. Barringer, 9 crew – no survivors Possibly from Hamilton County, Tennessee Nashville National Cemetery, South Madison, Tn. – Section MM, Graves 64-64A-65; Buried 4/24/50 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Statement in MACR: “Ship #467 was jumped by fighters and two (2) chutes were seen coming out of the plane. This ship was under control at the time.”
Crash location: In MACR: 15 miles southeast of Hannover In Luftgaukommando Report: “Hammerswald” (probably Hämelerwald)near Peine / 6 km east of Lehrte
Barringer, John D., Jr., 1 Lt. – (0-763904), Nashville, Tn. – Pilot Levy, Robert D., 2 Lt. – (0-825915), Philadelphia, Pa. – Co-Pilot Juliano, Paul J., F/O – (T-126230), Niagara Falls, N.Y. – Navigator Brunswig, Norman F., 2 Lt. – (0-722691), Rock Island, Il. – Bombardier Black, Joseph F., S/Sgt. – (39414426), Fort Smith, Ar. – Flight Engineer Sullivan, Eugene J., S/Sgt. – (11069588), North Cambridge, Ma. – Radio Operator Lyons, Roland C., Jr., Sgt. – (33543987), Portsmouth, Va. – Gunner (Waist) Personette, Eldon R., Sgt. – (37568985), Minneapolis, Mn. – Gunner (Waist) Vance, William J., Jr., Sgt. – (34778642), Asheville, N.C. – Gunner (Tail)
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491st Bomb Group, 853rd Bomb Squadron
Negrin, Carl, Sgt., 32823090, Right Waist Gunner, Purple Heart MACR 10762, Aircraft B-24H 41-28884 (T8 * – X / Problem Child), Pilot 2 Lt. John P. Hite, 9 crew – no survivors Born 7/17/24, Rochester, N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Joseph [1895-?] and Esther [12/4/97-10/63] Negrin (parents) Mrs. Sarah M. Lindenfeld (sister), 509 Hegeman Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Mr. Michael Negrin (brother) [5/5/34-12/22/00] Labety and Zacharia Negrin (half-brothers) Place of Burial unknown American Jews in World War II – 398
Starr, Irving B., S/Sgt., 32995257, Nose Gunner, Air Medal, Purple Heart MACR 10764, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3385, Aircraft B-24J 44-40073 (T8 * – B / ARK ANGEL), Pilot 1 Lt. David N. Bennett, Jr.; 9 crew – no survivors Mrs. Dora E. Starr (mother), 54 Lott Ave., Brooklyn, 12, N.Y. Place of Burial unknown American Jews in World War II – 453
Statement in MACR: “Aircraft came up from High Squadron and joined Lead Squadron after attack by enemy aircraft. Martin turret was missing and there was large hole in right wing. Last seen at 1258 hrs losing altitude. No chutes were seen.”
Crash location: In Luftgaukommando Report: 1) 3 km south of Oerrie 2) 15 km northwest of Hildesheim Or, Between Jeinsen and Oerie, 5 km west of Sarstedt
Bennett, David N., Jr., 1 Lt. – (0-686214), Norwood, N.C. – Pilot Blount, Jessie F., 2 Lt. – (0-710548), Gainesville, Tx. – Co-Pilot Engel, George B., 2 Lt. – (0-723332), Pittsburgh, Pa. – Navigator Warford, Norman G., T/Sgt. – (35703424), Frankfort, Ky. – Flight Engineer Patrick, Peter, Jr., T/Sgt. – (33741746), East Point, Ky. – Radio Operator Starr, Irving B., S/Sgt. – (32995257), Brooklyn, N.Y. – Gunner (Nose) Hixson, Charles E., S/Sgt. – (34505462), Cleveland, Tn. – Gunner (Right Waist) McKee, Raymond O., S/Sgt. – (38199681), East Baton Rouge, La. – Gunner (Left Waist) Stovall, Henry P., S/Sgt. – (35869219), Beckley, W.V. – Gunner (Tail)
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Here’s Luftgaukommano Report KU 3385. It closely parallels that for THE FIREBIRD, in that virtually nothing remained of ARK ANGEL for evaluation and salvage.
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1 Lt. David N. Bennett, Jr. and his crew, in an image from Ringmasters. The crewmen are unidentified, but Lt. Bennett, co-pilot Lt. Jessie Blount, navigator Lt. George Engel, and flight engineer T/Sgt. Norman Warford, are probably standing at rear. (The crew did not fly with a bombardier during the Misburg mission.) This B-24 bears nose-art inspired by an Albert Vargas pin-up from Esquire.
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The Ark Angel, as depicted by artist Mark Rolfe, in Robert F. Dorr’s B-24 Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force…
An in-flight view of ARK ANGEL, also from the 491st Bomb Group website, now accessible via Archive.org’s “Wayback Machine”.(On this aircraft, oddly, the 491st Bomb Group identification letter – a white “Z” within a black circle, atop the outer right wing – has been painted in reverse.)
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The story of the ARK ANGEL presents a mystery…
As is typical for MACRs covering aircraft lost in the European and Mediterranean Theatres of War (those for aircraft and airmen known to have been accounted for and identified by German investigators, which entailed the compilation of Luftgaukommando Reports), ARK ANGEL’s MACR (10764) includes the English-language translation of the above-illustrated Luftgaukommando Report (KU 3385). This includes documentation for every airman determined or believed to have been aboard the plane.
As such (see above) KU 3385 lists the names of:
Blount, Jessie F., 2 Lt. Engel, George B., 2 Lt. Warford, Norman G., T/Sgt. Patrick, Peter, Jr., T/Sgt. Starr, Irving B., S/Sgt. McKee, Raymond O., S/Sgt.
While the names of…
Bennett, David N., Jr., 1 Lt. Hixson, Charles E., S/Sgt. Stovall, Henry P., S/Sgt.
…are absent.
But, one of the “Report of Capture of Member of Enemy Air Forces” forms in KU 3385 lists the name and serial number of a member of the United States Woman’s Army Corps: Her name: Ida Rosenfield, serial A-202639.
Here’s a translation of the above document, from MACR 10764.
According to records at Ancestry.com, she seems (?) to have been the daughter of Fred and Elizabeth (Di Pillo) Rosenfield (and sister of Estelle, Leon, Nathaniel, Pearl, and Theresa), who owned a store at 2875 Butler Ave., in the Bronx.
Who was Ida Rosenfield? How did German investigators discover her name? Was she the girlfriend or fiancée of a member of ARK ANGEL’s crew – perhaps S/Sgt. Starr, as he was from Brooklyn? Might he have carried her dog-tag as a sign of friendship, affection, or much more? I don’t know. The answer has assuredly been lost to time.
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Steinman, Elmer, S/Sgt., 32775794, Tail Gunner, Air Medal, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, 32 missions MACR 10763, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3390, Aircraft B-24H 41-29464 (The Unlimited), Pilot 1 Lt. Charles W. Stevens, 9 crew – 5 survivors Born 6/7/22, Bayonne, N.J. Mr. and Mrs. Abraham / Abram (Yudel) [8/8/86-11/8/62] and Anna / “Annie” (Kronitz) [11/18/86-2/28/79] Steinman (parents), 18 Linden Ave., Bayonne, N.J. Edith and Meyer (brother and sister) Mount Moriah Cemetery, Fairview, N.J. – Section D03, Section D; Buried 5/29/49 American Jews in World War II – 256
Crash location in Luftgaukommando Report: 1) Hannover / near Huepede 2) 3 km southwest of Pattensen
Stevens, Charles W., Jr., 1 Lt. – (0-811461), Charlotte, N.C. – Pilot (Survived) Thornburg, Brice E., 1 Lt. – (0-813609), Davidson, N.C. – Co-Pilot (Survived) McCarty, David W., 1 Lt. – (0-702065), New York, N.Y. – Navigator (Survived) Boyer, Joseph L., T/Sgt. – (37261239), Mullen, Ne. – Flight Engineer Dechaine, Joseph P., T/Sgt. – (31215932), Waterville, Me. – Radio Operator (Survived) Ryan, Troy L., S/Sgt. – (34622806), Balwyn, Ms. – Gunner (Nose) Shepherd, Elmore W., S/Sgt. – (32755264), Virgilina, Va. – Gunner (Right Waist) McJimsey, John D., Jr., S/Sgt. – (38387667), Bethany, La. – Gunner (Left Waist) (Survived) Steinman, Elmer, S/Sgt. – (32775794), Bayonne, N.J. – Gunner (Tail)
Infantry
Brodsky, Milton, Cpl., 32707024, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart United States Army, 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion, B Company Born 1916 Mrs. Norma Brodsky (wife), 495 Vermont St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Holland – Plot C, Row 6, Grave 12 Casualty List 4/3/45 American Jews in World War II – 284
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Feldblum, Charles V., Pvt., 31373724, Purple Heart (Germany) United States Army, 104th Infantry Division, 414th Infantry Regiment, C Company Born April 14, 1925 Mr. Harry J. Feldblum (father), #9 Pleasant St., Hillsboro, N.H. Beth Jacob Cemetery, Concord, N.H. American Jews in World War II – 224
Gollender, Warren, Pvt., 19132367, Purple Heart (Germany) United States Army Mr. and Mrs. Albert and Rae Gollender (parents), Morton (brother), 63-109 Saunders St., Forest Hills, N.Y. Mount Ararat Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section 25, Range I, Lot 22 (?); Buried 11/23/47 Casualty List 2/17/45 The New York Times (Obituary Section) 11/22/47 American Jews in World War II – 329
Greenblatt, Morris, PFC, 39715208, Purple Heart United States Army, 35th Infantry Division, 134th Infantry Regiment Born August 29, 1925 Mrs. Annie Greenblatt (mother), 1467 Canfield Ave., Los Angeles, Ca. Beth Olam Cemetery of Hollywood, Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles, Ca. – Section 14, Row J, Grave 41 Casualty List 2/14/45 American Jews in World War II – 45
Lewis, Leonard Sidney, PFC, 35927001, Purple Heart (France) United States Army Born 1919 Mr. and Mrs. Hyman and Sarah Lewis (parents), 290 Parkwood Drive, NE, Cleveland, Oh. Martin, Sam, Mrs. Lillian L. Jacober, Mrs. Dorothy Rothman, Mrs. Adele Bass, and Mrs. Shirley Friedlander (brothers and sisters) Mount Olive Cemetery, Cleveland, Oh. Cleveland Press & Plain Dealer, 1/7/45, 1/8/45, 9/10/48 American Jews in World War II – 493
Merrill, Edwin J., T/4, 35608805, Radio Operator, Purple Heart United States Army DNB (“…as a result of injuries incurred in a vehicle accident.”) Born April 11, 1924 Mr. Ralph Merrill (father), 1368 W. 64th St., Cleveland, Oh. Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. – Section 12, Grave 5906 Cleveland Press 1/12/45 American Jews in World War II – 495
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Sadowsky, Louis M. (Ari bar Moshe Yakov), Pvt., 33847832, Purple Heart (Germany) United States Army, 5th Armored Division, 47th Armored Infantry Battalion Born 6/20/14 Mrs. Marian Sadowsky (wife), 249 Atwood St., Pittsburgh, Pa. Beth Abraham Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Matzeva unveiled 9/18/49 Casualty List 3/11/45 Jewish Criterion 9/7/45 American Jewish Outlook 9/9/49, 9/16/49 American Jews in World War II – 548
A photo by FindAGrave contributor Bill Bodkin, of Pvt. Sadowsky’s matzeva, at Beth Abraham Cemetery…
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Weiler, Arthur, 1 Lt., 0-1054299, Purple Heart United States Army, 1st Infantry Division, 18th Infantry Regiment Mrs. Caroline H. Weiler (wife), 1506 West 4th St., Wilmington, De. Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium – Plot H, Row 6, Grave 49 Jewish Criterion 2/14/45 American Jews in World War II – 74
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England
Sonenthal, Alfred, WO, 1814140, Wireless Operator England, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, No. 131 Operational Training Unit Aircraft: Catalina IVA (PBY-5A) JX252, Pilot Sgt. John Rew, 9 crew – no survivors As described at Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives, “The crew was scheduled to land on the Lough Erne but due to a visibility reduced by foggy conditions, he misjudged Lake Navar with the Lough Erne. On approach, the seaplane hit a mountain and disintegrated. All nine crew members were killed.” (Data from BAAA.) Crashed near Ely Lodge, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland (For additional information, see JoeLoughlin.com)
Crew: (All Royal Air Force) Sgt. John Rew F/Sgt. Noel George Edward Ladbrook Sgt. Bernard Alfred Rosentreter Sgt. Alfred Sonenthal W/O Reginald William Shallis Sgt. David Henry Pidgeon Sgt. Kenneth Percy West Sgt. Edmond Thomas Crow Sgt. James Pringle Mrs. H. Sonenthal (mother), 37 Garden Road, Dunstable, Beds., England Enfield (Adath Yisroel) Cemetery, Middlesex, England – Section D, Row 1, Grave 30 The Jewish Chronicle 12/1/44 We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 – 228
In 2006, a memorial for the crew was visited by Joyce Hotson, fiancée of W/O Shallis, as reported in The Mirror (London). “CLOSURE: 62 YEARS LATER; EXCLUSIVE Joyce finally gets to grieve WWII airman who crashed on Ulster” (May 31, 2006)
A photo by FindAGrave contributor DerealJolo, of W/O Sonenthal’s matzeva, at Enfield Cemetery…
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France
Hertz, Andre (AC-21P-48961) (France, Haut-Rhin, Riesen) France, Armée de Terre, 152eme Regiment d’Infanterie Born 1/19/12 Benfeld, Bas-Rhin, France
Mochet, Marcel Louis, Soldat (AC 21 P 93870), Croix de Guerre (France, Territoire de Belfort, Bretagne / Montreaux-Chateau) France, 21eme Regiment d’Infanterie Coloniale Born France, Haute-Marne, Charmoy; 6/8/21 “On November 26, 1944, during a reconnaissance patrol on Montreux-Chateau, he was the first to search for a passage. He crossed a region flooded with water up to his belt. _____ on the opposite bank, where the enemy was not revealed, he went with a comrade to the first houses of the locality. He fell gloriously, avoiding by his sacrifice that his group would be caught in an ambush.” [Le 26 novembre 1944, lors d’une patrouille de reconnaissance sur Montreux-Chateau, s’est mis le premier à l’eau pour rechercher un passage. A traversé une région inondée avec de l’eau jusqu’à la ceinture. Parve-un sur la rive opposée où l’ennemi ne se dévoilait pas, s’est porté avec un camarade aux premières maisons de la localité. Est tombé glorieusement, évitant par son sacrifice que son groupe ne soit pris dans une embuscade.] Livre d’Or et de Sang – Les Juifs au Combat: Citations 1939-1945 de Bir-Hakeim au Rhin et Danube – 169 Information also at Memorial Gen Web
Mosseri, Nessim Lionel (AC 21 P 102408) (France, Haut-Rhin, Masevaux) France , 1ere Groupe de C.D.O.S Legers de France Born Sannen, Switzerland, 8/31/21
Slomsky, Armand, Second-Maitre, CC8 62 K 12505, Char (Fusilier), Croix de Guerre France, Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers Marins Born Moselle, France, 11/15/14 “Disappeared after having commanded his tank; burnt by the enemy’s fire to the last extremity.” [Disparu aprés avoir commandé jusqu’à la derniére extrémité son char mis en flammes par le feu d l’ennemi.] Livre d’Or et de Sang – Les Juifs au Combat: Citations 1939-1945 de Bir-Hakeim au Rhin et Danube – 169 Information also at Memorial Gen Web, and, 2ème Division Blindée de Leclerc
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Soviet Union
Red Army РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)
Amelkin, Ilya Samoylovich – Lieutenant [Амелькин, Илья Самойлович – Лейтенант] Infantry (Company Commander) 337th Rifle Division, 1127th Rifle Regiment Died of wounds Born 1919, in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) Mr. Solomon Mikhaylovich Amelkin (father) Buried Arad, Rumania
Abramovich, Pavel Fedorovich – Guards Senior Lieutenant [Абрамович, Павел Федорович – Гвардии Старший Лейтенант] Infantry (Rifle Company Commander) Lightly wounded in action 6/14/42 (Southern Front, 353rd Rifle Division, 1145th Rifle Regiment) Killed in action 11/26/44 (4th Guards Army, 41st Guards Rifle Division, 124th Guards Rifle Regiment) Born 1921, in Dnepopetrovsk Mrs. Mariya Moiseevna Abramovich (wife) Buried Lanchok, Hungary
Dumay, Isay Borisovich – Junior Lieutenant [Думай, Исай Борисович – Младший Лейтенант] Infantry (Mortar Platoon Commander) 113th Rifle Division, 1290th Rifle Regiment, Headquarters Died of wounds Born 1925, in Pervomansk, Odessa Oblast Mrs. Esfir Izrailovna Dumay (wife) Buried in Yugoslavia (Osevskaya region, Batinsky district)
Grishpun, Shaul Moiseevich – Guards Senior Lieutenant [Гришпун, Шаул Моисеевич – Гвардии Старший Лейтенант] Infantry (Rifle Platoon Commander) Wounded 8/25/41 (Southern Front) Killed in action 11/26/44 (3rd Ukrainian Front, 20th Guards Rifle Division, 6th Autonomous Army Penal Company) Born 1907, in Mogilev-Podolsk Mrs. Anna Adolfovna Grinshpun (wife) Buried in Hungary
Menster, Matvey Efimovich – Guards Lieutenant [Менстер, Матвей Ефимович – Гвардии Лейтенант] Infantry (Platoon Commander) 228th Rifle Division, 767th Rifle Regiment Died of wounds at Evacuation Hospital 3332 Born 1918 Mrs. P.P. Menster (wife) Buried Lithuania (Kaunas district, Upper Shantsy, military cemetery, Grave No. 24A)
Morchik, Ruvik Davidovich – Senior Lieutenant [Морчик, Рувик Давыдович – Старший Лейтенант] Infantry (Platoon Commander) 43rd Engineer-Sapper Brigade Killed in action / Died of wounds Born 1915, in Moscow Relative – Ekaterina Mikhaylovna Derevyankina Buried Hungary
Military Air Forces VVS [Военно-воздушные cилы России – ВВС]
Kleyman (Клейман), Mordko Volfovich (Мордко Вольфович), Technician-Lieutenant [Техник-Лейтенант] 13th Air Army, 203rd Autonomous Corrective Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment [203 ОКРАП [Отдельный Корректировочно-Разведывательный Авиационный Полк]] Two other crewmen – also killed – were… Pilot: Lieutenant Vasiliy Pavlovich Kuznetsov(Лейтенант Василий Павлович Кузнецов) Pilot-Observer: Junior Lieutenant Viktor Vasilevich Sovenko (Младшии Лейтенант Виктор Васильевич Совенко) Aircraft lost (in accident?) in vicinity of Kirimäe, Estonia Year and Place of Birth: 1920; city of Odessa Mr. Volf Mordko Kleyman (father), Vostochnaya Street, city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan Place of Burial: Estonia
This document is a “List of Irrecoverable Losses” for the 13th Air Army, dated 10 December 1944. Mordko Kleyman’s crew are listed as #4 (Kuznetsov), #5 (Kleyman), and #6 (Sovenko)…
Prisoners of War
United States Army Air Force
Aschendorf, Irving, F/O, T-127406, Navigator, Air Medal, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, 12 missions United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 390th Bomb Group, 568th Bomb Squadron MACR 11209, Luftgaukommando Reports KU 1160A and KU 3474, Aircraft B-17G 44-6491 (BI * Y / I’ll Be Around), Pilot 2 Lt. Gilbert A. Meyer, 10 crew – all survived Prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I (Barth, Germany), North Compound 3 Mrs. Joan E. Aschendorf (wife), 1916 Robinson Ave. (or) 1818 Kendall St., Apt. E, Portsmouth, Oh. Mrs. Francis (Marder) Aschendorf (mother), 1938 Green St., Philadelphia, Pa. Casualty List (Liberated POW) 6/11/45 The Story of the 390th Bombardment Group (H) – 448 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Some years ago, Mr. Aschendorf kindly shared with me memories of his experiences as a navigator and prisoner of war, as well as documents and photographs. Some of the latter are shown below…
Irving Aschendorf’s crew, during training in the United States. The plane is probably B-17G 42-102462, a Flying Fortress assigned throughout the war to various Army Air Force Base Units, which never left the continental United States and finally passed on to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, in December of 1945.
Unfortunately, the image does not carry any names (albeit Irving is designated by the “x”), but the men, based on the crew list in MACR 11209 (the plane was lost with a crew of 9, as opposed to the ten men in the photo!), probably were:
Front (L-R)
2 Lt. Gilbert A. Meyer, Pilot 2 Lt. Alfred W. Burkhart, Co-Pilot 2 Lt. Dan W. Finlayson, Bombardier
Rear (L-R)
S/Sgt. Dale T. Westell, Radio Operator S/Sgt. John L. Bartram, Flight Engineer Sgt. Raymond W. Maul, Gunner (Ball Turret) Sgt. Richard W. Kuerten, Gunner (Tail) Sgt. Aaron E. Mickelson, Gunner (Waist)
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Irving. The chalked “6364” might represent a crew number.
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From KU 3474, here’s the document’s header sheet, listing seven of I’ll be Around’s ten crew members.
Here’s the English-language translation of KU 3474’s “Report on Captured Aircraft”, covering equipment in I’ll Be Around. While the data in this report is typical of technical information about American aircraft appearing in Luftgaukommando Reports, some Luftgaukommando Reports are very perfunctory in this regard, while others are vastly more detailed.
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This is the English-language translation of the Luftgaukommando Report (KU 1160A) listing Irving’s possessions at the time of his capture. Note that the information stamped on Irving’s dog-tag (serial number, and symbols for blood-type and religion) has also been recorded.
Here’s the original document, with Irving’s dog-tag still attached.
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Irving’s German Prisoner of War Kriegsgefangenenkartel – Prisoner of War [information] card. Though the card has numerous data entry fields, information in this example is relatively limited. Significantly, however, it includes two images of Irving (front and profile) taken shortly after his capture – with his German POW number (“6375”) – and thumbprint.
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A front photo…
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…and an (almost) side photo. It looks as if Irving has a half-smile: Humor? Defiance? Irony?
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Kuptsow, Aaron, 2 Lt., 0-710276, Radar Navigator, Air Medal United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 398th Bomb Group, 600th Bomb Squadron MACR 11146, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3375, Aircraft B-17G 42-97740 (“N8 * Q”), Pilot Capt. Gene L. Douglas, 10 crew – all survived Solitary confinement at Oberursel between 11/28 and 12/24/44. “To this day [2000], I don’t know if the length of my stay in solitary was because he [interrogator] really wanted that information [about frequency of H2X radar navigation system] or if it was because I was Jewish.” POW at Stalag Luft I, Barth, Germany Born 1922 Mrs. Anita L. Kuptsow (wife) Mr. David Kuptsow (father), 3000 S. Sydenham St., Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 3/23/45 Philadelphia Record 3/9/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 3/12/45, 6/1/45 American Jews in World War II – 534
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Here the crew list in the header sheet for Luftgaukommando Report KU 3375.
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And, something odd. A map of Lager Nürnberg Buchenbühl [Nuremberg Buchenbühl Camp] (prison camp?), which somehow became part of KU 3375. Buildings outlined in dark blue are correlated to the map key “geschäftszimmer” – translating as “business room”. How, and why, this map was incorporated into KU 3375 (it certainly wasn’t carried aboard N8 * Q!) is a matter of conjecture.
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But, though the following paper may be surprising, there is no surprise as to why it’s found in KU 3385: This paper, text almost entirely in Yiddish, is a protective amulet or talisman which was carried by Lt. Kuptsow … perhaps on all his missions?
The “rear” of the paper (the “bottom” sheet, below) bears Aaron’s Hebrew name: אהרן בן דוד בן יהודת, which phonetically is pronounced “Aharon ben Dovid ben Yehúdes”, translating as “Aaron, son of David [his father] son of Yehuda“, Yehuda having been Aaron’s grandfather.
As to the front of the paper (the “top” sheet, above) which bears text arranged in boxes? An explanation follows, care of scholar and translator Avi Gold:
The contents are described in the following manner:
1. Above the large rectangle
2. Under the large rectangle
3. Three compartments on the right (a, b, c) with vertical writing
4. Three compartments on the left (a, b, c), also with vertical writing.
5. Three middle compartments (a, b, c) (with horizontal writing)
6. The one remaining thin compartment on the bottom with horizontal writing)
Hebrew Transcription
1. שמירה ; עזרי מעם ד’ עושה שמים וארץ
2. מהרב הצדיק המקובל ר’ משה טייטלבוים אב”ד אוהעל זצוק”ל ע”י נכדו הרה”צ ר’ משה ליפשיץ שליט”א
3a. ד’ ישמר צאתך ובואך
3b. ויעמד פנחס ויפלל ותעצר המגיפה
3c. ושם בת אשר שרח
4a. ד’ ישמרך מכל רע
4b. אבינו מלכנו מנע מגפה מנחלתך
4c. אימא דאברהם אמתלאי בת כרנבו
5a. בזה השער לא יבא צער, בזה הדלת לא יבא בהלת, בזה הפתח לא יבא רצח
5b. רבש”ע כשם שפסחת על בתי בני ישראל במצרים ולא נתת המשחית לבא אל בתיהם, כן תעצור המגפה מעלינו ומעל כל בני ישראל אמן.
5c. דא האט מען שוין געפאקט, געמוזעלט און געשרלכט
6. וישב אהרן אל משה אל פתח אהל מועד ומגפה נעצרה
English Translation
1. Protection (underlined); [under that word]My help is from God, Creator of Heaven and Earth
2. From the Righteous Mystical Rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Teitelboim, [otherwise known as the Yismach Moshe] Chief Judge of the Rabbinical Court of the town of Oyhel by his grandson, the Righteous Rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Lifshitz, Shlita[abbreviation meaning “May he live a long and good life, Amen”] [Thus, the talisman was presumably transcribed from a talisman authored by Rabbi Teitelboim, the original talisman dating to some time within the late 18th and early 19th centuries.]
3a. May God protect your going out and your coming in
3b. And Phineas stood and prayed, and the plague stopped [a verse from Psalms which refers to an event in the Torah, in the Book of Numbers, where Phineas is credited with stopping a plague which afflicted the Israelites in the desert] 3c. And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah[Serah, the daughter of Asher, appears in some midrashim as the female parallel to Elijah, and according to midrashic tradition she lived a very long life indeed: She was a young girl when Jacob and his family went down to Egypt, and she was an elderly woman when the Exodus took place centuries later! Several midrashim say that she was the one who helped Moses find the tomb of Joseph, because she remembered where his sarcophagus had been placed centuries earlier!]
4a. May God protect you from all evil
4b. O our Father, O our King, prevent plague from afflicting Your Land
4c. The mother of Abraham, Amtelai, daughter of Karnevo
5a. Through this gate, no sorrow will enter, through this door no terror will enter, through this entrance no murder will come. [In Hebrew, the three lines are meant to rhyme.]
5b. Master of the Universe, just as You protected the homes of the Israelites in Egypt and did not allow the destroyer to enter their homes, so too may the plague cease to afflict us and all of Bne Yisrael, Amen!
5c. Here one had already caught / packed(This is Yiddish, rather than Hebrew)
6. And Aaron returned to Moses to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and (the) plague ceased
According to Avi, “Interestingly enough, this protective amulet/talisman speaks of protection against a plague, and causing the plague to cease, and it even has a Pesach connection.”
Avi’s final comment, from early 2021:
May we all see better days soon, and may the plague of authoritarian politicians as well as the plague of the Chinese virus both cease soon!
P.S. Thanks very much, Avi!
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The experiences of Aaron Kuptsow – who was among the Jewish POWs segregated at Stalag Luft I in early 1945 – are recounted in detail at:
You can read Robert W. Martin’s interview of Aaron Kuptsow at the website of Clyde D. Willis, radio operator / gunner in the 451st Bomb Squadron, 322nd Bomb Group, 9th Air Force. (Clyde Willis was shot down and captured during the disastrous mission of the 450th and 452nd Bomb Squadrons to Ijmuiden, Holland, on May 17, 1943; he was one of the 26 survivors of that mission.)
It’s interesting none of these accounts make mention of the presence of this document, particularly in light speculation about the motivation for his month-long solitary confinement before being released to Stalag Luft I. The Library of Congress Veterans History project’s biographical profile of Aaron Kuptsow includes a half-hour duration audio interview.
Men who were Aaron’s barrack-mates after the segregation of the Jewish POWs at Stalag Luft I were:
Bauman, Mort (2 Lt. Morton Bauman, Bombardier; 506th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Edgar, Richard (2 Lt. Richard Edgar, Navigator; 861st Bomb Squadron, 493rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Davis, “Bwana” (2 Lt. David Davis, Navigator; 725th Bomb Squadron, 451st Bomb Group, 15th Air Force)
Eskenazi, “Esky” (1 Lt. Jack Eskenazi, Bombardier; 553rd Bomb Squadron, 386th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force)
Finklestein, “Fink” (1 Lt. Frederick G. Finkelstein, Co-Pilot; 331st Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Galfunt, “Hap” (2 Lt. Abraham Galfunt, Co-Pilot; 861st Bomb Squadron, 493rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Kattef, Max (2 Lt. Maxwell Samuel Kateff, Navigator; 863rd Bomb Squadron, 493rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Labowitz, Jack (2 Lt. Jack Oscar Labovitz, Pilot; 743rd Bomb Squadron, 455th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force)
Oppenheimer, “Oppy” (2 Lt. Alfred Martin Oppenheimer, Bombardier; 578th Bomb Squadron, 392nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Safer, Henry (1 Lt. Henry Safer, Bombardier; 429th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force)
Scheer, Harold (2 Lt. Harold Scheer, Navigator; 359th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
Stovroff, “Russian” (2 Lt. Irwin Joseph Stovroff, Bombardier; 506th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force)
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8th Air Force, 491st Bomb Group, 853rd Bomb Squadron
Pollak, Harry Hamilton, T/Sgt., 12093803, Radio Operator, Air Medal, 5 Oak Leaf Clusters MACR 10767, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3368, Aircraft B-24J 42-51530 (Idiot’s Delight), Pilot Capt. Wayne E. Stewart, 10 crew – 5 survivors Crashed at Annaturm-Deister, 5 kilometers north of Springe Prisoner of War at Stalag Luft IV (Gross-Tychow, Germany) Born New York, March 21, 1921; Mr. Sigmond Pollak (father), 278 Ackerman Ave., Clifton, N.J. Casualty List (Liberated POW) 6/7/45 Harry Pollak, who served in the States Department as an authority on international labor affairs, died on September, 27, 1980. His obituary can be found at the Washington Post. American Jews in World War II – 249
Crash location in Luftgaukommando Report: 1) Annaturm 2) Deister, 5 km north of Springe
Stewart, Wayne E., Capt. – (0-811152), Meadow, Ut. – Pilot Spady, Frank A., Jr., 1 Lt. – (0-815007), Chuckatuck, Va. – Co-Pilot (Survived) Johnson, Woodrow G., 1 Lt. – (0-702443), Iron River, Mi. – Navigator Reese, William L., 1 Lt. – (0-703016), Garfield Heights, Oh. – Navigator (Nose) Valachovic, George A., 1 Lt. – (0-886529), Johnstown, N.Y. – Bombardier (Survived) Anderson, Laverne G., T/Sgt. – (17154654), Littlefield, Ma. – Flight Engineer Pollack, Harry H., T/Sgt. – (12093803), Clifton, N.J. – Radio Operator (Survived) Corona, George H., S/Sgt. – (39122650), San Francisco, Ca. – Gunner (Right Waist) Mosley, Henry K., Jr., S/Sgt. – (15140725), Arcade, N.Y. – Gunner (Left Waist) (Survived) Reichenau, Walter W., S/Sgt. – (38366475), Fredericksburg, Tx. – Gunner (Tail) (Survived)
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Rosenfield, Samuel Stanley, S/Sgt., 12075010, Right Waist Gunner, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart MACR 10761, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3362, Aircraft B-24J 44-10534, Pilot 1 Lt. Charles J. Ecklund, 9 crew – 8 survivors Crashed at Rieste, District of Bersenbrueck Prisoner of War at Stalag Luft IV (Gross-Tychow, Germany) and Stalag Luft I (Barth, Germany) (North Compound 3) Mr. Frank M. Rosenfield (father), 2067 Mapes Ave., Bronx, N.Y. Casualty List (Liberated POW) 6/6/45 American Jews in World War II – 419
Crash location in Luftgaukommando Report: Rieste, County of Bersenbrueck
Ecklund, Charles J., 1 Lt. – (0-772320), Harveyville, Ks. – Pilot (Survived) Strohl, Marvin E., 2 Lt. – (0-720957), Detroit, Mi. – Co-Pilot (Survived) Vosiepka, George K., 2 Lt. – (0-2056649), Omaha, Ne. – Navigator (Survived) Simms, Horace R., Jr., 2 Lt. – (0-773343), Oakland, Ca. – Bombardier (Survived) Guerry, Edward C., T/Sgt. – (39281104), Imperial, Ca. – Flight Engineer (Survived) Heib, John N., T/Sgt. – (39203497), Seattle, Wa. – Radio Operator Rosenfield, Samuel S., S/Sgt. – (12075010), New York, N.Y. – Gunner (Right Waist) (Survived) Johns, Burton A., S/Sgt. – (39290817), Los Angeles, Ca. – Gunner (Left Waist) (Survived) Cole, Dennis C., S/Sgt. – (16115245), Westby, Wi. – Gunner (Tail) (Survived)
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445th Bomb Group, 703rd Bomb Squadron
Spiegel, Harvey, 2 Lt., 0-834053, Co-Pilot MACR 11217, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3387, Aircraft B-24J 42-50756 (RN * J), Pilot 2 Lt. Dance W. Snow, 9 crew – all survived Crashed at Fischbeck / Weser (1 kilometer north of Fischbeck, 6 kilometers northwest of Rinteln) Prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I (Barth, Germany), North Compound 3 Born April 7, 1924 Mrs. Janice Spiegel (wife), 1739 Dahill Road, Brooklyn, N.Y. Casualty List (Liberated POW) 6/20/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Statement in MACR: “No information has been received about ship # 756. The four (4) ships flying nearby all failed to return.”
Crash location: In MACR: 15 miles southeast of Hannover In Luftgaukommando Report: Fischbeck, 6 km northwest of Rinteln
From Luftgaukommando Report KU 3387, here’s co-pilot Harvey Spiegel’s wallet-size Identification Card, issued almost three months before the Misburg mission…
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…and, his New York state driver’s license.
United States Army
Cromnick, Harry, S/Sgt., 32167040 United States Army, 44th Infantry Division, 71st Infantry Regiment Prisoner of War at Stalag 3B (Furstenberg, Germany) Mr. Hyman Cromnick (father), Alex (brother), 120 West 54th St., Bayonne, N.J. Casualty List (List of Liberated POWs) 6/4/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Goldsmith, Clifford H., Pvt., 42050862 United States Army, 34th Infantry Division, 168th Infantry Regiment Prisoner of War at Stalag 7A (Moosburg, Germany) Mr. Fred Singer (brother-in-law), 680 West 204th St., New York, N.Y. Casualty List 4/1/45; List of Liberated POWs 6/21/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Greenberg, Sam, Pvt., 33699813 United States Army, 34th Infantry Division, 168th Infantry Regiment Prisoner of War at Stalag 7A (Moosburg, Germany); German POW # 142238 Mrs. Geraldine R. Greenberg (wife), 43 South Remington Road, Columbus, Oh. Mr. Paul Greenberg (father), 2328 Sherbrook St., Pittsburgh, Pa. Employee of Frank and Seder’s Department Store List of Liberated POWs 6/5/45 Pittsburgh Press 3/21/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Ratner, Alvin J., T/5, 32702618 United States Army, 44th Infantry Division, 71st Infantry Regiment Prisoner of War at Stalag 12A (Limburg an der Lahn, Germany) Mrs. Sarah Ratner (mother), 85-37 91st St., Woodhaven (Brooklyn?), N.Y. Lists of Liberated POWs 6/10/45, 6/14/45 Casualty List 4/19/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Wounded
Canada
Gilboord, Norman, Gunner, B/18743 Canada, Royal Canadian Artillery 310 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Canadian Jews in World War II– Part II: Casualties – 98
United States
Etkin, Morris S., Cpl., 33173559, Purple Heart (France) United States Army Wounded Born 1914 Mrs. Gussie R. Etkin (wife), 513 Reed St., Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 3/9/45 Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Record 2/28/45 American Jews in World War II – 519
Kaiser, Arthur, Pvt., 32000743, Purple Heart (France) United States Army Wounded Born 1913 Mrs. Fannie Kaiser (mother), 307 Fox Hill Place, Exeter, Pa. Mrs. Esther Burmil (sister), 207 Fox Hill Place, Pittston, Pa. Originally from New York, N.Y.; Worked at Lee Manufacturing Company, West Pittston, Pa. Wilkes-Barre Record 1/11/45 American Jews in World War II – 530
Another incident…
Witness to the loss of two B-17s
Tolochko, Joseph S., 2 Lt., 0-820102, Bomber Pilot, Air Medal, 6 Oak Leaf Clusters, 35 missions United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 398th Bomb Group, 600th Bomb Squadron Born in Pennsylvania Mr. and Mrs. M. Leon and Bess Tolochko (parents), Dorothy and Jacob (sister and brother), 5840 Phillips Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. Jewish Criterion (Pittsburgh) 2/9/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
On 11/26/44, witness to loss of two B-17s:
1) B-17G 43-37846 (“N8 * T”, “Phony Express”), Pilot 1 Lt. Kermit R. Pope, 10 crew – all survived ; MACR 11144, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3371
An image of the wreck of Phony Express (near Velswijk, in the Eastern Netherlands) via the American Air Museum in England, taken by the grandfather of American Air Museum Contributor Fer Radstake… The appearance of the bedraggled wreck (sans engines and armament, with a multitude of holes in the airframe) suggests that the plane had received ample attention from souvenir hunters.
2) B-17G 42-97740 (“N8 * Q”), Pilot Capt. Gene L. Douglas, 10 crew – all survived; MACR 11146, Luftgaukommando Report KU 3375
On 11/30/44, witness to loss of another B-17:
Aircraft 43-38463 (“N8 * X”), Pilot 1 Lt. Roger J. Weum, 10 crew – 7 survivors; MACR 11145
The February 9, 1945 issue of Pittsburgh’s Jewish Criterion, which – as was typical through the war – presented in every issue news about Jewish servicemen from Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
A news item about Lieutenant Tolochko, whose name never appeared in American Jews in World War II.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks to Avi Gold, for Hebrew and Yiddish scholarship and translation!
References
Books
Abelow, Samuel P., History of Brooklyn Jewry, Scheba Publishing Company, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1937
Caldwell, Don, and Muller, Richard, Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich, Frontline Books, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, 2014
Carter, Kit C., and Mueller, Robert, Combat Chronology – U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, 1941-1945, Center for Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1991
Chiche, F., Livre d’Or et de Sang – Les Juifs au Combat: Citations 1939-1945 de Bir-Hakeim au Rhin et Danube, Edition Brith Israel, Tunis, Tunisie, 1946
Dorr, Robert F., B-24 Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force (Osprey Combat Aircraft 15), (Mark Rolfe, Illustrator), Osprey Publishing, Inc., 1999
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom – Compiled by the Bureau of War Records of the National Jewish Welfare Board, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Forman, Wallace F., B-24 Nose Art Name Directory, Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers, North Branch, Mn., 1996
Freeman, Roger A., The Mighty Eighth – A History of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York,. N.Y., 1970
Freeman, Roger A., and Osborne, David, The B-17 Flying Fortress Story: Design – Production – History, Arms & Armour Press, London, England, 1998
Kamarainen, Edwin, This Is War and We Are Prisoners of the Enemy, lulu.com, June 5, 2007
Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
Rottman, Gordon, US Army Air Force: 1, Osprey Publishing Ltd., London, England, 1993 (with color plates by Francis Chinn)
Other Works
Binghamton Press, February 23, 1945, “Two Binghamton Lieutenants Win New Honors in Battles in Air: Harold Lanning Awarded DFC; Richard Bailey Hits Nazi Plane” (via FultonHistory.com)
Canadian Jews in World War II– Part II: Casualties, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1948
The Story of the 390th Bombardment Group (H) (Privately printed for the Men and Officers of the 390th Bombardment Group 1947), 1947
The 491st Bombardment Group (H) Inc., “Ringmasters”: History of the 491st Bombardment Group (H), Taylor Publishing Company, Dallas, Tx., 1992
USAAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, World War II, USAF Historical Study No. 85, Office of Air Force History, Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center – Air University, 1985
Sometimes, life can be an unintended circle: You return to the place from which you started or start from a place to which you’ll return. At least, for a while.
Such was the case of United States Army Staff Sergeant Walter Bonne, whose experience as a prisoner of war was reported by literary agent and “literatus” (that’s a term new to me!) Kurt Hellmer in the May 18, 1945 issue of Aufbau. While mainstream in literary style and stylistically akin to postwar accounts of captivity penned about or by many another American Ex-POW – at least, captured in the European Theater of War – S/Sgt. Bonne’s tale is at the same time unusual: Not only was he a Jew, but he was born in Germany, which in the hindsight of 2021 could be thought to have leant a very fraught dimension to his experiences. But…
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In June, 1943, Walter posed for this snapshot at Fort McClellan, Alabama (From the album of Linda Nachenberg.)
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As for Walter Bonne himself, born in Nurnberg on May 6, 1908, he was one of seven children born to Nathan and Bertha (Stern) Bonne, who passed away in 1933 and 1929, respectively, thus by fate essentially and really being spared the ordeal of surviving in and escaping from Nazi Germany. Mercifully and thankfully, five of Walter’s six siblings – Alfred, Bella Bernhardine, Felix, and Martin – also survived the war. However, his older brother Justin Jehuda, born in 1895, died during the influenza epidemic in February of 1919, due to wounds incurred during military service during the First World War.
Walter sailed from Rotterdam aboard the SS Statendam, arriving in Havana on October 1, 1938. He reached Miami the following December 6 via the Pan Am Sikorsky S-40 seaplane “Southern Clipper” (NC752V). In his Declaration of Intention, dated November 29, 1939, he listed his Race as Hebrew and Nationality as German, his last foreign residence as Havana, and, his Occupation as Merchant.
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From famgus.se, here’s an undated photo of the Southern Clipper, taken at Miami.
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Walter Bonne’s Draft Card, filed on October 26, 1940, lists his employer as the Greta Restaurant, at 112 Central Park South in Manhattan, consistent with his work in the hospitality business, as described in Aufbau. The “Name of Person Who Will Always Know Your Address” was his brother Martin, at 287 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn.
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From Apartments.com, here’s an undated – but I guess recent! – photo of 112 Central Park South, the building appearing in the center of the photo.
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According to NARA’s World War II Army Enlistment Records database, Walter enlisted in the Army on March 11, 1943, in Manhattan, his serial number being 32860314. Eventually, he was assigned to the 54th Armored Infantry Battalion of the 10th Armored Division. Captured during the Ardennes Offensive on December 17, 1944, he was first interned at Stalag 9B (Bad Orb), and then Stalag 9A (Ziegenhain), the latter probably commencing in February of 1945. Liberated from that POW camp on March 28, 1945, he was flown to Camp Lucky Strike, at Le Havre, France, on April 9. And from there, he returned to the United States.
Along with Kurt Hellmer’s Aufbau article of May 18, Staff Sergeant Bonne’s name appeared in that newspaper on April 27, while his name was published in an Official Casualty list – under the very apropos heading “Liberated Prisoners” – in The New York Times on May 5, 1945. There, rather than his brother Martin, his next of kin is listed as his wife Genia, who resided at 535 West 111th Street in Manhattan. His name never appeared in the book American Jews in World War Two. The absence of his name from this reference work is not unusual, since a soldier’s status as a returned POW – per se – was not specifically a criteria for inclusion in the book.
Walter Bonne passed away on November 3, 200, while Genia (born Genia Eisenstaedter), born on November 3, 1917, died on May 24 of the same year.
Some twenty images of the Bonne family can be found at Geni.com, where the three photographs below (and the one above, of Walter as a soldier!) were found.
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Dated 1927 and taken in Nuremberg, this photo shows Martin (left) and Walter. The lady’s name is unknown. (From the album of Linda Nachenberg.)
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Walter, probably photographed in Gemany. (From the Bonne Family album, via Nurit Bertha Gillath)
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Passenger list for the SS Statendam, date October, 1938. Walter’s name is the third entry.
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Walter’s Declaration of Intention, of November, 1939.
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Walter’s Draft Card.
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And so, Kurt Hellmer’s article. The German text of the article follows these two images, and in turn is followed by an English-language translation.
Interestingly, the article does not address a central question about Walter Bonne’s experiences as a prisoner of war: Did he personally experience any repercussions from his captors upon capture and interrogation (even if his interrogation was only cursory) or later, given that he was a Jew, born in Germany? Since this topic is unmentioned, there are three possible answers: 1) This didn’t happen. 2) If he did experience any mistreatment, he didn’t wish to dwell upon the subject. 3) He didn’t deem the subject of sufficient importance for discussion with Kurt Hellmer. Well, some questions will have to remain unanswered.
In a larger sense, the article alludes to an event that received little serious focus until the 1990s, though it received nominal attention in the news media as early as the summer of 1945: The segregation of Jewish POWs at Stalag 9B, as a preliminary step towards the “transport” of 350 American POWS to the slave labor camp at Berga-am-Elster. Hellmer’s article states, “There were special barracks for Jewish prisoners of war, against which the Americans successfully protested.” Though S/Sgt. Bonne probably believed and hoped this was so, it was not: There was no collective protest, let alone a successful one, over the segregation of the Jewish POWs at Stalag 9B.
And so, on to Bonne’s story…
In Deutschland kriegsgefangen Die Erlebnisse des Sgt. Bonne – Von KURT HELLMER
Aufbau May 18, 1945
Die Nichteinhaltung den Genfer-Konvention durch die Deutschen ist heute eine notorische Tatsache. Schon seit langem haben wir hier an dieser Stelle auf diesen Skandal hingewiesen und ihm die korrekte Beachtung der Bestimmungen, wie sie von den amerikanischen Behörden durchgeführt werden, gegenübergestellt. Leider ist man heute jedoch nur allzu leicht geneigt, rasch abgestumpft zu werden und neuen Nachrichten über die Verletzung der Genfer-Konvention die nötige Aufmerksamkeit zu versagen. Das liegt an der Schnellebigkeit unserer Zeit; die Ereignisse überschlagen sich, die Eindrücke konkurrieren miteinander. Das Ende des Krieges in Europe scheint alles überholt zu haben. Was gestern noch die Gemüter erregt hat, ist heute schon so verblasst, als wäre es nie gesch_hen.
Diese Einstellung ist nicht ungefährlich. Denn wenn man die Entwicklung, die heute in der Welt von sich geht, beeinflussen, wenn man zu dem gewaltigen Aufbau Europas beitragen und wenn man den von den Deutschen in Europa Unterdrückten das bringen will, was sie von ihren Befreiern erwarten, nämlich Gerechtigkeit, dann muss man allen neuen Nachrichten aus Deutschland das richtige Gewicht geben. Dann, und nur dann, wind es möglich sein, gerecht zu handeln.
Die Erlebnisse des S/Sgt. Walter Bonne, eines in Nürnberg gebürtigen amerikanischen Soldaten, der jetzt aus deutscher Gefangenschaft nach New York zurückgekehrt ist, sprechen für sich. Man braucht sie nicht weiter zu kommentieren. Aber man muss immer wieder darauf hinweisen, mit welcher darauf hinweisen, mit welcher Bewusstheit die Deutschen die Genfer Konvention gebrochen haben. Man muss betonen, dass es sich hier nicht um sogenannte Einzelaktionen sogenannter unverantwortlicher Nazis handelt, sondern um die von der deutschen Wehrmacht planmässig durchgeführte Missachtung der in der Genfer Konvention enthaltenen Bestimmungen. Die deutsche Armee und ihr Generalstab können sich nicht darauf ausreden, dass die Nazis sie zu diesem Bruch veranlasst haben. Der Generalstab, der jetzt den Zusammenbruch Nazi-Deutschlands zu überleben scheint, ist dafür verantwortlich. Er gehört ebenso in die Reihe der Kriegsverbrecher wie die Nazis, die sich an deutschen und ausländischen Zivilisten vergangen haben.
In knappen Zügen sind das die Erlebnisse – von S/Sgt. Bonne und tausender anderer amerikanischer Kriegsgefangener in Deutschland:
Die Gefangennahme
Es war acht Uhr abends am Sonntag, den 17 Dezember 1944 als S/Sgt. Walter Bonne zusammen mit 60 seiner Kameraden im Keller eines Hauses in dem luxemburgischen Kurort Clervaux bei Bastogne von den Deutschen gefangen genommen wurde. Zwei Tage schon hatte schweres Artilleriefeuer getobt; am Sonntag morgen hatten die Deutschen die Amerikaner in dem Ort emgekreist. Ein Entkommen war nicht moglich: Widerstand gegen den zahlenmässig überlegenen Feind sinnlos.
Mit wurfbereiten Granaten in der Hand kamen einige Deutsche die Kellertreppe herunter und befahlen den Amerikanern, nach oben zu kommen. Die Deutschen “beschlagnahmten” nicht nun ihre Jeeps, sondern auch ihre Füllfederhalter, Zigaretten, Süssigkeiten, ihre Reisesäcke, Mäntel, Unterwäsche und Toiletteartikel. Dann pferchten sie die Gefangenen in ein Zimmer ein, das so klein war, dass sie die Nacht stehend verbringen mussten.…
Fünf Tagemärsche
Am Montag früh mussten die Gefangenen losmarschieren. Den ganzen Tag, ohne Unterbrechung. Spät abends wurden sie in einer Kegelbahn einquartiert, in der sie die Nacht sitzend zubringen mussten, da zum Liegen kein Platz war.
Am Dienstag kamen die Gefangenen spät abends in einem kleinen Ort in der Eiffel an. Die Deutschen hatten beschlossen, sie die Nacht — mitten im Dezember! — im Freien verbringen zu lassen. Die Gruppe, die inzwischen auf 1200 Gefangene angewachsen war, Offiziere und Mannschaften, protestierte. Man öffnete ihnen die Kirche und gab ihnen zu essen — zum ersten Male nach 72 Stunden schweren Marschierens! Jeder bekam ein Drittel Laib Brot, einen Löffel Rübenmarmelade und nichts zu trinken, nicht einmal Wasser.
Die Dorfbewohner sahen recht deprimiert drein und manche gaben den Amerikanern heimlich das “V”-Zeichen mit den Fingern. . . .
Inzwischen hatte es zu schneien begonnen und es wurde kälter und kälter. In der Kirche war es kalt und das Liegen auf dem Steinboden, noch dazu ohne Decke, kein Vergnügen.
Nach einem weiteren Tagesmarsch am Mittwoch wurden die Gefangenen wiederum in einer Kirche untergebracht. Diesmal erhielten sie eine Tasse Kaffee und nichts zu essen. Am Donnerstag wurde der Marsch fortgesetzt; spät nachts wurden die Gefangenen in einem Eisenbahnschuppen einquartiert, der so klein war, dass die 1200 Mann stehend schlafen mussten. Am nächsten Tag, dem fünften Tag seit den Gefangennahme, erreichten die Amerikaner Gerolstein am Nachmittag, wo jeder einen halben Laib trockenes Brot bekam. Für Getränke waren sie auf Bäche, Brunnen, Schnee und Eis angewiesen.
Im Güterzug
In Gerolstein wurden die Gefangenen in einen Güterzug verfrachtet, je 50 bis 60 Mann in einen Viehwagen mit Stroh und Pferdedreck auf dem Boden. Die Deutschen schlossen sie ein und machten die nächsten drei Nächte und vier Tage nicht wieder auf. Ihre Bedürfnisse mussten sie in ihre Helme verrichten und diese durch die kleinen Fenster ausleeren — dieselben Helme, in denen sie auf den Bahnhöfen Wasser fassen mussten.
Auf der Reise wurde der Zug von allierten Bombern beschossen, denn er war nicht als Kriegsgefangenen zug markiert. Ein Amerikaner wurde bei einem Fluchtversuch niedergeknallt; ein anderer so schwer verletzt, dass er 16 Stunden später, während der Fahrt, gestorben ist.
Ankunft in Bad Orb
Am vierten Tag um 4 Uhr früh erhielten die Gefangenen je ein Drittel Laib Brot und eine Büchse Corned Beef für 15 Mann. Am Nachmittag kamen sie in Bad Orb an und erhielten die erste warme Mahlzeit: einen Liter Suppe. Von nun an war ihr tägliches “Menü”: zum Frühstück schwarzer Tee ohne Zucker oder Milch, mittags ein Liter Rüben- oder Gemüsesuppe mit ein paar Gramm Hundeoder Pferdefleisch, und abends etwas Brot mit Margarine und wieder ein halber Liter von dem sogenannten Tee.
Das Lager war die vielen aus ihrer in Deutschland verbrachten Jugend bekannte “Wegscheide”. Hier gab es Sonderbaracken für jüdische Kriegsgefangene, gegen die die Amerikaner mit Erfolg protestierten. Die Baracken waren aus Holz und für je 140 Mann bestimmt. Jetzt waren je 250 in einer Baracke untergebracht und zwei mussten auf einer Matratze schlafen.
In Bad Orb blühte der tollste Tauschhandel. Für eine herrliche Armbanduhr, die $60 wert war, bekam man zwei Stück Brot und 20 Zigaretten. Ein erstklassiger Füllfederhalter brachte drei Zigaretten oder ein Drittel Laib Brot. Ein Päckchen Zigaretten kostete $40.
Stalag 9-A
Ungefähr einen Monat nach der Ankunft in Bad Orb wunden die amerikanischen Kriegsgefangenen in Güterwagen nach Stalag 9-A in Ziegenhain gebracht. Während der Nachtfahrt herrschte ein schneidender Schneesturm und vielen Soldaten erfroren die Füsse.
In Ziegenhain war die Situation etwas besser, denn die Deutschen hatten das Lager, in dem sich noch rund 20,000 Franzosen, Belgier, Russen und Engländer befanden, gründlicher organisiert. Ausserdem traf S/Sgt. Bonne dort 120 Palästinenser, darunter sehr viele in Deutschland Geborene, die in Griechenland gefangen genommen wurden und zuerst in einem Lager in Schlesien waren, bis die Deutschen sie von dort vor den Russen “in Sicherheit “ brachten. Ihr Führer war ein Sgt. Friedlein, der aus Köln stammte.
Die Verpflegung war ungefähr dieselbe wie in Bad Orb, aber nach einem Monat wurden die täglichen Rationen auf ein Siebentel Laib Brot, ¾ Liter Suppe und 1/4 Liter Tee gekürzt. Alle Gefangenen verloren an Gewicht und sahen wie Skelette aus; das Krankenhaus war überfüllt.
Einmal wurde Ziegenhain, das nicht als Kriegsgefangenenlager markiert war, von den Amerikaner bombardiert, wobei elf Franzosen getötet und 35 verwundet wurden. Ein anderes Mal zwangen die Deutschen die Amerikaner, eine bombardierte Eisenbahnstrecke drei Tage und drei Nächte lang zu reparieren.
Die Deutschen versuchten die Amerikaner auch propagandistisch zu beeinflussen und verteilten eine englische Uebersetzung von “Mein Kampf” und viele andere Bücher hauptsächlich antisemitischen Inhalts.
Theater! Theater!
Inzwischen ging der Krieg gut vorwärts. Der Rheinübergang hob die Stimmung der Gefangenen und jeder machte Prognosen über die voraussichtliche Dauer des Krieges. Die Gefangenen erhielten ihre Nachrichten nicht nur durch den amtlichen deutschen Heeresbericht, sondern vor allem von “Kommando-Arbeitern”, jenen Kriegsgefangenen, die zur Arbeit das Lager verliessen und die sie von Zivilisten erfuhren, die das BBC hörten.
Da wurden plötzlich Gerüchte über einen baldigen Abtransport der Gefangenen laut. Die Deutschen wollten die Gefangenen weiter ins Land schaffen, um ihre Befreiung durch die vorrückenden Alliierten zu verhindern. Am 27. März war die Front nur mehr 21 Meilen von Ziegenhain entfernt; am nächsten Morgen, um 5 Uhr sollten alle Gefangenen zu einem neuen Bestimmungsort abmarschieren.
Während der ganzen Nacht hielten die Gefangenen Versammlungen ab. Die phantastischsten Fluchtpläne und Vorschläge, wie man sich im Lager verstecken könnte, wurden gemacht und zum Teil auch ausgeführt. Der amerikanische Lagerführer gab jedoch den Befehl, alles solange als möglich hinauszuschieben – mit anderen Worten: am nächsten Morgen den Kranken und Schwachen zu spielen. Das war für die meisten Gefangenen ohnehin leicht genug.
Beim Appell traten die Amerikaner auf dem Fussballplatz an. Es begann zu regnen. Die Jungens wurden ohnmächtig, zwölf in einer Sekunde. Innerhalb einer halben Stunde lagen 3-400 Mann auf dem Boden, stöhnten, ächzten und vollbrachten eine so ausgezeichnete Vorstellung, dass die Deutschen sich entschliessen mussten, den Amerikanern die Rückkehr in ihre Baracken zu erlauben, bis sie für einen Transport mit Lastwagen oder Eisenbahn sorgen konnten.
Die Amerikaner hatten ihr erstes Ziel erreicht: einen Aufschub um 12-15 Stunden. Während die anderen Gefangenen aus dem Lager abmarschierten, lagen die Amerikaner in ihren Betten und sahen aus, als wären sie bereits gestorben. Die Deutschen hatten irgend einem Hauptquartier telefoniert; um 2 Uhr kam der Befehl, dass 250 Amerikaner ausmarschieren mussten und die übrigen 1000 im Lager warten konnten.
Die Befreiung
In der Zwischenzeit hatten sich jedoch viele der deutschen Wachen selbst aus dem Staub gemacht und so blieben auch die 250 Amerikaner in Ziegenhain. Die Amerikaner übernahmen das Lager und waren theoretisch frei. Es war Sederabend und die Juden unter ihnen veranstalteten einen Dankgottesdienst.
Aber noch waren die Alliierten nicht in Sicht. S/Sgt. Bonne setzte sich auf ein Fahrrad, fuhr zur Hauptstrasse und wartete, bis die ersten Alliierten kamen. Es waren amerikanische Tanks, die aber nicht nach Ziegenhain fuhren, sondern geradeaus weiter. Damit lag Ziegenhain im besetzten Gebiet.
Ziegenhain wurde nun ein deutsches Kriegsgefangenenlager. Tausend deutsche Soldaten wurden eingeliefert, und die bekamen von den Amerikanern nicht mehr zu essen als diese vorher von den Deutschen erhielten. Und auch sie mussten eine Nacht im Freien schlafen, genau wie ihre Kameraden es vorher mit den Amerikanern getan hatten.
Die Frauen von Allendorf
In den zwölf Tagen, in denen die bisherigen amerikanischen Kriegsgefangenen auf Ablösung warteten, kamen auch die vielen hundert Frauen, die im Juni 1944 von den Deutschen aus Ungarn nach Allendorf bei Marburg gebracht worden waren, nach Ziegenhain. (Mit der Veröffentlichung ihrer Namen haben wir im vorigen “Aufbau” begonnen!) Es waren nur Frauen zwischen 15 und 50 Jahren. Sie berichteten, dass sie zusammen mit Mädchen unter 15 Jahren und Flauen über 50 Jahren deportiert worden waren, aber bei ihrer Ankunft in Deutschland von den zu jungen und den zu alten getrennt wurden. Diese wurden als “arbeitsunfähig” bezeichnet und “vernichtet” — verbrannt. Die Ueberlebenden mussten in einer Munitionsfabrik arbeiten…
Happy End
Am 9, April wurden S/Sgt. Bonne und seine Kameraden nach Le Havre geflogen, wo alle in dem Riesenlager Lucky Strike neu eingekleidet wurden. Nach einem für alle GI’s obligaten Ausflug nach Paris wurden sie per Schiff nach Amerika zurückgebracht, wo sie einen 60tägigen Urlaub erhielten, nach dem sie neue Aufgaben zugewiesen bekommen — sofern sie nicht 85 Punkte erreichen und entlassen werden.
Für S/Sgt. Bonne, der bis zu seinem Einrücken in die Armee vor zwei Jahren in der Hotelbranche tätig war und der an den Kämpfen in der Normandie, in der Bretagne und in Luxemburg teilnahm, der über 30,000 deutsche Kriegsgefangene interviewte, der zeitweise zu den berühmten “Ghost Riders” von General Patton gehörte und der einmal von einer Landmine verwundet und mit dem Purple Heart ausgezeichnet wurde, war der schwärzeste Traum seines Lebens zu Ende.
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A Prisoner of War in Germany
The Adventures of Sgt. Bonne – by KURT HELLMER
Aufbau May 18, 1945
Non-compliance with the Geneva Convention by the Germans is today a notorious fact. For a long time now we have referred to this scandal on this point and compared it with the correct observance of the provisions, as they are carried out by the American authorities. Unfortunately, today one is now all to prone to be quickly jaded and to refuse to pay attention to news about the violation of the Geneva Convention. That’s because of the fast pace of our time; events turn over; impressions compete with each other. The end of the war in Europe seems to have overtaken everything. What excited people’s minds yesterday has already faded as if it had never happened.
This attitude is not safe. For if you influence the development that is taking place in the world today; if you contribute to the enormous reconstruction of Europe, and if you want to bring to the Germans what the oppressed of Europe expect from their liberators, namely justice, then you have to give all the new news from Germany the proper weight. Then, and only then, will it be possible to act righteously.
The experiences of S/Sgt. Walter Bonne, an American soldier born in Nuremberg, who has now returned to New York from German captivity, speak for themselves. You do not need to comment further. But one must always point out, point out with which, with what awareness the Germans have broken the Geneva Convention. It must be emphasized that these are not so-called individual actions of so-called irresponsible Nazis, but disregard of the provisions contained in the Geneva Convention as planned by the German Wehrmacht. The German army and its general staff cannot be persuaded that the Nazis have led them to this breach. The General Staff, which now seems to survive the collapse of Nazi Germany, is responsible. It belongs as much in the line of war criminals as the Nazis, who have passed onto German and foreign civilians.
In a nutshell these are the experiences – from S/Sgt. Bonne and thousands of other American prisoners of war in Germany:
The Capture
It was eight o’clock in the evening on Sunday, December 17, 1944, as S/Sgt. Walter Bonne, along with 60 of his comrades, was captured by the Germans in the basement of a house in the Luxembourg spa town of Clervaux near Bastogne. Heavy artillery fire had already raged two days; on Sunday morning, the Germans had encircled the Americans in the place. An escape was not possible: resistance against the numerically superior enemy meaningless.
With grenades in hand, some Germans came down the basement stairs and ordered the Americans to come upstairs. The Germans did not “confiscate” only their jeeps, but also their fountain pens, cigarettes, sweets, their travel bags, coats, underwear and toiletries. Then they put the prisoners in a room that was so small that they had to spend the night standing…
Five-Day March
The prisoners had to march on Monday morning. The whole day, without interruption. Late in the evening they were quartered in a bowling alley, where they had to spend the night sitting, as there was no room to lie down.
On Tuesday, the prisoners arrived late at night in a small town in the Eiffel. The Germans had decided to take them the night – in the middle of December! – to spend outdoors. The group, which had now grown to 1200 prisoners, officers and men, protested. They opened the church for them and gave them food – for the first time after 72 hours of heavy marching! Everyone got a third of a loaf of bread, a spoonful of beet jam and nothing to drink, not even water.
The villagers looked quite downcast and some secretly gave the Americans the “V” sign with their fingers.
It had begun to snow and it was getting colder and colder. It was cold in the church and lying on the stone floor, with no ceiling, no enjoyment.
After another day’s march on Wednesday, the prisoners were again housed in a church. This time they got a cup of coffee and nothing to eat. On Thursday, the march continued; late at night, the prisoners were quartered in a train shed so small that the 1,200 men had to sleep standing. The next day, the fifth day since capture, the Americans reached Gerolstein in the afternoon, where everyone got half a loaf of dry bread. For drinks they were dependent on streams, wells, snow and ice.
In the Freight Train
In Gerolstein, the prisoners were shipped into a freight train, 50 to 60 men each in a cattle car with straw and horse dung on the ground. The Germans locked them in and did not rejoin them for the next three nights and four days. They had to put their needs in their helmets and empty them through the small windows – the same helmets they had to hold water at the stations.
On the trip, the train was bombarded by allied bombers, because it was not marked as for prisoners of war. An American was crushed during an escape attempt; another injured so badly that he died 16 hours later, on the journey.
Arrival in Bad Orb
On the fourth day at 4 o’clock in the morning, the prisoners received one third of loaf of bread and one box of corned beef for fifteen men. In the afternoon they arrived in Bad Orb and received the first warm meal: a liter of soup. From now on their daily “menu” was: for breakfast black tea without sugar or milk, for lunch a liter of beet or vegetable soup with a few grams of dog or horsemeat, and in the evening some bread with margarine and again half a liter of the so-called tea.
The camp was known by many from their spent in Germany youth as “Wegscheide”.There were special barracks for Jewish prisoners of war, against which the Americans successfully protested. The barracks were made of wood and intended for each 140 men. Now 250 were each housed in a barrack and two had to sleep on a mattress.
In Bad Orb the greatest barter flourished. For a splendid wristwatch that was worth $60, you got two pieces of bread and twenty cigarettes. A first-class fountain pen brought three cigarettes or a third of loaf of bread. A packet of cigarettes cost $40.
Stalag 9-A
About a month after arriving in Bad Orb, American prisoners of war were brought in freight cars to Stalag 9-A in Ziegenhain. During the night driving there was a cutting blizzard and many soldiers froze their feet.
In Ziegenhain the situation was a little better, for the Germans had organized the camp, in which there were still around 20,000 French, Belgians, Russians and English, more thoroughly. In addition, S/Sgt. Bonne met with 120 Palestinians, including many born in Germany, who were captured in Greece and were first in a camp in Silesia until the Germans brought them from there before the Russians “to safety”. Their leader was a Sgt. Friedlein, who came from Cologne. [This man was probably Sergeant James Friedland, PAL/10165.]
The food was about the same as in Bad Orb, but after a month, the daily rations were cut to a seventh of loaf of bread, ¾ liter of soup and 1/4 liter of tea. All prisoners lost weight and looked like skeletons; the hospital was overcrowded.
Once, Ziegenhain, which was not marked as a POW camp, was bombed by the Americans, killing eleven Frenchmen and wounding 35. On another occasion, the Germans forced the Americans to repair a bombed railway line for three days and three nights.
The Germans also tried to influence the Americans propagandistically and distributed an English translation of “Mein Kampf” and many other books mainly of anti-Semitic content.
Theater! Theater!
Meanwhile the war went well. The crossing of the Rhine raised the mood of the prisoners and each made predictions about the probable duration of the war. The prisoners received their news not only through the official German army report, but above all from “commanders”, those prisoners of war who left the camp for work, and who learned about them from civilians who heard the BBC.
There were suddenly rumors of a speedy removal of the prisoners. The Germans wanted to bring the prisoners further into the country to prevent their liberation by the advancing Allies. On March 27, the front was only 21 miles from Ziegenhain; the next morning, at 5 o’clock, all the prisoners were to march off to a new destination.
Throughout the night, the prisoners held meetings. The most fantastic escape plans and suggestions on how to hide in the camp were made and partly executed. However, the American camp leader gave the order to postpone everything as long as possible – in other words, to play the sick and weak the next morning. That was easy enough for most prisoners anyway.
At the roll-call, the Americans appeared on the football field. It began to rain. The boys fainted, twelve in a second. Within half an hour, 3-400 men were lying on the ground groaning, groaning, and accomplished such an excellent performance that the Germans had to decide to allow the Americans to return to their barracks until they could arrange for transport by truck or train.
As the other prisoners marched out of the camp, the Americans lay in their beds looking as if they had already died. The Germans had phoned some headquarters; at 2 o’clock came the order that 250 Americans had to march out and the remaining 1000 could wait in the camp.
Liberation
In the meantime, however, many of the German guards had made themselves off as dust and so there were 250 Americans in Ziegenhain. The Americans took over the camp and were theoretically free. It was Seder evening and the Jews among them organized a thanksgiving service.
But still the Allies were not in sight. S/Sgt. Bonne sat on a bicycle, drove to the main road and waited until the first Allies came. They were American tanks, but they did not go to Ziegenhain, but straight on. So Ziegenhain was located in the occupied territory.
Ziegenhain was now a German prisoner of war camp. Thousands of German soldiers were taken in and they did not get to eat from the Americans any more than they had received from the Germans before. And they, too, had to sleep one night in the open, just as their comrades had previously done to the Americans.
The Women of Allendorf
During the twelve days, in which the American prisoners of war were waiting to be removed, hundreds of women who in June 1944 had been brought by the Germans from Hungary to Allendorf near Marburg, arrived in Ziegenhain. (We started with the publication of their names in the previous “Aufbau”!) They were only women between 15 and 50 years. They reported that they had been deported together with girls under the age of fifteen and fifty over 50 years, but were separated from the young and the old on arrival in Germany. These were called “incapacitated” and “destroyed” – burned. The survivors had to work in an ammunition factory…
Happy Ending
On April 9, S/Sgt. Bonne and his comrades flew to Le Havre, where everyone was newly dressed in the giant camp Lucky Strike. After an obligatory trip to Paris for all GIs, they were taken back to America by ship, where they received a 60-day holiday, after which they were given new assignments – unless they reached 85 points and were dismissed.
For S/Sgt. Bonne, who worked in the hotel industry two years ago until joining the army and who participated in the battles in Normandy, Brittany and Luxembourg, who interviewed over 30,000 German prisoners of war, who at one time belonged to the famous “Ghost Riders” of General Patton and was once wounded by a land mine and awarded the Purple Heart, the blackest dream of his life was over.
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The war is (long!) over: Walter and Genia in 1985.
Prisoners of War – Armies and Other Land Forces of The British Empire, 1939-1945 (“All Lists Corrected Generally Up to 30th March 1945″), J.B. Hayward & Son, in Association with The Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books, Polstead, Suffolk, England, 1990 (First published in 1945 by His Majesty’s Stationary Office)
Whether in war or peace, the nature of man has many facets, which, depending on the circumstance and time, can vary as much within the soul of one person as between different individuals: Courage. Fear. Deliberation. Rashness. Boldness. Hesitation. Judgement. Foolhardiness. Discernment. Obtuseness. Bravery. Cowardice. Cunning. Naivete. And so much more.
One way in which these aspects of the human character have been chronicled, whether in fiction, popular culture, or the “historical record”, is in accounts of the escape from captivity of prisoners of war. Whether described in official documents, letters and diaries, family stories, legends, passing anecdotes, or the unexpressed memories of men, there are innumerable such tales. One such account – of very many – from the Second World War, appeared as a three-part series in the New York-published German exile newspaper Aufbau – “Reconstruction” – on October 15, 22, and 29, 1943, under the simple and apropos title “Ich war ein Kriegsgefangener der Nazis” – “I Was a Prisoner of War of the Nazis”.
Written by an un-named Yishuv soldier who escaped from German captivity (the events of the story having transpired in German-occupied Greece) the series commences with the soldier’s interrogation by German officers, continues with fleeting recollections of his life as a POW (always with escape and defiance in mind), follows with accounts of thwarted escape attempts, and concludes with the soldier’s first encounter – while “on the run” after his eventual, successful escape – with Greek civilians.
In terms of the soldier’s escape attempts, the first attempt – well, contemplated escape attempt! – would have involved the author and his friend “Sch.” jumping from a moving freight car during a moonlit night. This plan was aborted at the last moment when rifle fire was heard and a guard entered the car, after which the author and Sch. seem to have been reproached other POWs for jeopardizing the well-being of their comrades. However, during the next train stop, a POW from the adjacent freight car did escape: That man momentarily distracted a guard with the light of a match, and then concealed himself by lying between the rails and allowing the cards to pass over him.
Subsequently, another escape was planned, again involving a night-time train jump by the author and Sch. This was aborted when Sch. pulled the author back into the train, after the author had been “noticed” (again?) … by other POWs?
The second escape attempt occurred as a group of POWs were marching through the pass of Thermopylae: The narrator and Sch. jumped into a nearby ditch during a moment when the column of POWs was temporarily unguarded. Their immediate escape occurred unnoticed, but the uncoordinated, spontaneous “escapes” of other POWs attracted the attention of a lieutenant and some guards. Before the arrival of these German soldiers, Sch. and the author managed – unnoticed – to rejoin the main column of POWs. The other “random” escapees were returned to the POW column to the accompaniment of rifle butts. Tellingly, two escapees never returned.
So, the third time was the charm.
After leaving Thermopylae the POWs were again loaded onto freight cars. At night, alone – Sch. having no further interest or motivation in escaping – the narrator jumped from a moving freight car as the train passed over a bridge. Pursued by rifle fire, he reached the bridge’s railing, and – taking very much of a leap of faith – fell into a stream or river, remaining underwater. Upon reaching the limit of his endurance, unable to hold his breath any longer, he rose to the surface of the water and saw that he had been left behind: The train has crossed the bridge, without him.
He was a free man.
The tale is well-written, compelling, and inspiring, yet also (deliberately?!) enigmatic, for absolutely nothing is revealed about the soldier’s experiences prior to his capture, let alone the events surrounding his post-escape evasion and eventual return to Allied forces – which together almost certainly encompassed a time period vastly longer than the brief duration of his actual captivity. Though I’m certain information about each and every aspect of his escape was recorded, corroborated, and archivally preserved by the British military (and probably still exists somewhere – where?! – within The National Archives (not theNational Archives!)) for security reasons, this information obviously could never have been released to the news media in wartime. This, the tale’s “truncated” nature and abrupt end, at least in a literary sense.
Despite the story’s gripping nature and its direct relevance to the nature of the Jewish military service during the Second World War (well, at least in the European Theater…), to the best of my knowledge nothing relating to the tale appeared in any other wartime Jewish periodical. This was probably attributable to lack of awareness on the part of publishers and editors of other English-language organs of the Jewish news media (whether in the United States, England, South Africa, the Yishuv, or elsewhere) to the very venue of the article’s publication – Aufbau, let alone the article having been published in German.
One of the most interesting aspects of the story is apparent from its first installment: The author’s identity is a mystery; neither his rank nor his name are given. His identity is only resolved – and at that, partially resolved – in the third and final part of the series. However, a general idea of his background can be gained from these clues: 1) Quoting from the introduction to the first installment: “The author of the following diary pages fled as a very young man from Nazi Germany to Palestine and became a member of kvutzah [kibbutz]”. 2) The soldier (and three fellow POWs, “S. and D. and R.”) hailed from the kvutzah of Ashdoth-Ya’akov, now known as Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov (Ihud); just south of Lake Tiberias. 3) He was born in Germany and graduated from high school there, his parents (…alas, alas…) remaining in that country as of the summer of 1941. 4) He was living in Haifa through 1938.
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This Mapple App Apple Map shows the location of Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov: Designated by the red pointer, it’s just south of Lake Tiberias.
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So, who was this anonymous author? If you scroll to the very end of this post, you’ll see that the series’ final installment (unlike the first and second installments) published on October 29, 1943, concludes with the initials: “F. J-n.” Though – perhaps deliberately? – not an exact match, I am confident that these initials refer to Private Y.M. El-Jo’an (serial number PAL/12083), who was reported in The Palestine Post of August 15, 1943, as having escaped from German captivity. The time-frame of Aufbau’s series fits the August 15 news item perfectly, strongly implying that El-Jo’an evaded (certainly with the assistance of Greek civilians?) for over a remarkable two years, given that the fall of mainland Greece to German forces occurred at the end of April, 1941.
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Here’s the Post’s front page for August 15, 1943, with the article highlighted…
…and, here’s the brief article itself:
PALESTINIAN P.O.W.’S ESCAPE
Three Palestinian soldiers, serving in the Royal Fusiliers, who were previously reported prisoners of war, are now officially announced to have escaped from enemy hands. They are:
Pal/23163, Spr. D. Chaver; Pal/23183, Spr. J. Menachem; Pal/23317, Spr. S. Dalah.
Another Palestinian soldier previously reported a prisoner of war, has now been recaptured from enemy hands, is Pal/12083 Pte. El-Jo’an, Y.M., P.C.
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So, assuming “F. J-n.” was in reality Private Y.M. El-Jo’an – as I’m confident he was – I have absolutely no idea of what became of him afterwards. Paralleling this, I have no information about Sappers Chaver, Menchem, or Dalah. Perhaps they, too, evaded or escaped from captivity in Greece. I’m certain their stories would be as compelling as that of Private El-Jo’an, if they could be found.
Of the forty-five Yishuv soldiers captured by the Germans who did not return from or eventually survive captivity, there were thirteen men who attempted to escape, but did not succeed. They were:
Disappeared after escaping
Private Menashe Durani: 9/5/41 – jumped from train
Escaped; apprehended 5/17/44, but shot shortly after recapture
Private Dov-Berl Eisenberg – died of wounds 6/28/44 Private Eliahu Krauze – died immediately
Of these thirteen soldiers, some of their stories are partially known; some are barely known; and some will never be known. (Well, among men.)
Very brief biographical profiles of these soldiers are presented below, based on information in both volumes of Henry Morris’ invaluable two-volume work We Will Remember Them, random issues of The Jewish Chronicle and The Palestine Post, plus, information available via the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and, Izkor, The Commemoration Site of The Fallen of the Defense and Security Forces of Israel, where their portraits were found.
Note that eight of the thirteen have no known graves.
And so, they are…
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
Arman, Aharon (אהרון ארמן), Sapper, PAL/23378, Royal Engineers 1039th Port Operating Company Stalag 344 Lamsdorf 1/26/45: Shot during escape attempt Born 1921 Mr. and Mrs. Nathan [Natan] and Miriam Arman (parents), Tel Aviv, Israel Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery, Poland – 2A,C,6 We Will Remember Them II – 42 German POW # 4784; Year of birth: CWGC 1926; izkor.gov.il: 1921
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Brajer, Michael Chaim [Chaim-Michail] (חיים-מיכאל ברייר), Cpl., PAL/23009, Royal Engineers 1039th Port Operating Company Stalag 8B Teschen 1/16/45 or 1/26/45: Killed while fleeing POW camp Born Kandesh, Hungary, 9/2/13 Mrs. Malja Brajer (wife), Tel Aviv, Israel Mr. Batseva [Bat-Sheva] Brajer (father) Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 4 The Jewish Chronicle 7/25/41 We Will Remember Them I – 239 German POW # 4334; POW List as “Breyer, Michail Chain”; LJC gives name as “M.C. Breyer”, and rank as “Sapper”; CWGC and Izkor.gov.il. dates differ.
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Durani, Menashe (מנשה דורני), Pvt., PAL/13216 603rd Palestinian Port Company Stalag 344 Lamsdorf 9/5/41: Jumped off train during transfer of POWs to Austria, and disappeared Born Peta Tikva, Israel, 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Yosef and Shvedia Durani (parents), Raanana, Israel Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 9 The Jewish Chronicle 7/25/41 German POW # 4869
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Eisenberg, Dov [Dov-Berl] (דב-ברל אייזנברג), Pvt., PAL/11797, Mentioned in Despatches Pioneer Corps POW in Poland 5/17/44: Escaped Died while POW 6/28/44 (murdered) “All the days of his captivity Dov did not fall in his spirit, he tried to escape from his captivity, and at the first opportunity he escaped with a friend and the two hid in secret. Squads of German soldiers set out in search of them and later captured them and led them back to the camp. On the way to the camp, they met a German officer who ordered them to come with him to look for another escaped prisoner. As they walked in front of the officer, [?] pulled out a gun and shot them in the back. Dov’s friend was killed on the spot and Dov was fatally wounded. A [?] asked the Germans to take him to Bloomsdorf Hospital, but they did not comply with his request and brought him to a military camp. On 6/28/44, Dov died of his wounds. He was laid to rest in the British Military Cemetery in Krakow, Poland.” Born Lodz, Poland, 2/24/21 Mr. and Mrs. Haim and Hava Eisenberg (parents) Crackow Rakowicki Cemetery, Crackow, Poland – 4,A,9 We Will Remember Them I – 242; We Will Remember Them II – 65 We Will Remember Them I as “Eisenberg, Dov”; CWGC as “Eisenberg, Berl”; Izkor.gov.il as “Dov-Berl Eisenberger”
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Elimelech, Abraham (אברהם אלימלך אל-מלך), Sapper, PAL/23170, Royal Engineers 1039th Port Operating Company POW in Greece 7/19/41: Wounded and killed while attempting to escape Born Komotini, Greece, 1915 Mr. Hajim [Haim] and Roza Elimelech (parents), Tel Aviv, Israel Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 4 The Jewish Chronicle 7/25/41 We Will Remember Them I – 242
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Gabriel, Norbert [Norbert-Nahum] (נוברט-נחום גבריאל), Pvt., PAL/11574 Palestine Regiment POW in Greece 11/1/41: Killed while attempting to escape Born Moglanice, Poland, 5/2/03 Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov and Ernestina Gabriel (parents) Phaleron War Cemetery, Greece – 12,B,11 The Palestine Post 8/19/41 We Will Remember Them I – 244 We Will Remember Them I as “Gavriel, Norbert”; CWGC as “Gabriel, Norbert”; Name not present in Prisoners of War – Allies and Other Forces of the British Empire
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Gelbart, Avraham [Avraham-Yitzhak] (אברהם-יצחק גלברט), Pvt., PAL/13746 Pioneer Corps POW in Greece 4/25/42: Died during escape attempt “Following his service, his unit was transferred to the Kalamata Peninsula in Greece, where he was taken prisoner. They were put on a train and on their way from Athens to Thessaloniki, when slowing down from journey in the mountains Abraham took advantage of the darkness and jumped out. After a few days of wandering in the mountains he arrived at one of the villages where he was warmly received by the residents and also given shelter in an attic room. Stayed with them for about two years, working as a shoemaker and liked all the people of the village. One day, after learning that a patrol of Italian and German soldiers was approaching the village for search purposes, Avraham fled to the forests and took an old shotgun with him. While in the woods a bullet was fired from his rifle and he was wounded in the leg. A few days later, he returned to the village, but in the meantime he lost a lot of blood and developed necrosis in his leg. He died, and was buried in the Christian cemetery in the village. It was written on the monument that he was not afraid of the Germans. In 1945, his body was in the main military cemetery near Athens where he was buried as an unknown soldier. In 1961, when it was clarified beyond any doubt that this was indeed Abraham’s grave; a ceremony was held there. A new monument was erected with a Star of David and an inscription in Hebrew, stating, among other things: “From the depths of the past, you have returned to the bosom of faith that has been restored.”” Born Germany, 5/8/12 Mrs. Penira Gelbart (wife), Herzlia, Israel Mr. and Mrs. Shlomo and Hana Gelbart (parents) Phaleron War Cemetery, Greece – 3,C,15 The Jewish Chronicle 10/19/45 We Will Remember Them I – 244 We Will Remember Them I as “Gelbart, Avraham”; CWGC as “Gelbart, Abraham”; Year of birth: CWCGC 1902; izkor.gov.il: 5/8/12
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Goldman, Itzchak [Icchaak] (יצחק גולדמן), Sgt., PAL/10889 Pioneer Corps POW in Greece 4/29/41: Killed while attempting to escape Born Yaroslavl, Poland Mr. Shmuel Goldman (father) Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 9 We Will Remember Them I – 244 We Will Remember Them I as “Goldman, Y”; CWGC as “Goldman, Icchaak”; Yad Vashem Studies XIV, p. 90
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Krauze, Eliahu (אליהו קראוזה), Pvt., PAL/11786, Mentioned in Despatches Pioneer Corps POW in Poland 5/17/44: Murdered “On the first day of his internment in the POW camp he began to look for a way to escape and return to the front. After three years in a POW camp in Buiten, Germany, he came to terms with a captive friend, Dov Eisenberg. On 5/17/44 they tried to escape but were immediately captured and returned to the camp. One of the Nazi sergeants ordered them to accompany him on the pretext of searching for a third captive who had disappeared and in the field shot them from behind. Dov was seriously injured and Eliyahu was killed on the spot. He was laid to rest in the British Military Cemetery in Krakow, Poland.” Born Lodz, Poland, 1920 Mr. and Mrs. Gronem [Gronam] and Frida Krauze (parents) Mr. Abram Feldman (uncle), Bnai Brak, Israel Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery, Poland – 4,A,5 We Will Remember Them I – 249
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Tzabari [Zabary], Saadia [Shlomo] (סעדיה צברי), Pvt., PAL/13145 Pioneer Corps POW in Greece 4/28/41: Jumped off train during transfer to Germany via Yugoslavia; spotted and killed by German guards Born Sanaa, Yemen, 1925 Mr. and Mrs. Seadya and Zehava Tzabari (parents) Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 9 We Will Remember Them I – 260 We Will Remember Them I as “Tzabari, Saadia”; CWGC as “Zabary, Saadia”
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Tzarfati [Zorfati], Shlomo (שלמה צרפתי), Cpl. PAL/23152, Royal Engineers 1039th Port Operating Company POW in Greece 10/1/41: Killed while attempting to escape Born Thessalonika, Greece, 1916 Mrs. Sarah Zorfati (wife), Tel Aviv, Israel Mr. and Mrs. Aron [Aharon] and Bienvenida [Benvenida] Zorfati (parents) Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 4 We Will Remember Them I – 260 We Will Remember Them I as “Tzarfati, Shlomo”; CWGC as “Zorfati, Shlomo”
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Weissberg [Waisberg], Jakub [Jacob] (יעקב ויסברג), Pvt., PAL/00890
Pioneer Corps
POW in Greece
10/30/42: Killed while attempting to escape
Born Poland, 1903
Mr. Adolf Weissberg (father)
Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 9 We Will Remember Them I – 261 We Will Remember Them I as “Weissberg, Y”; CWGC as “Waisberg, Jakub”
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Weissman, Aaron [Aron] (אהרון וייסמן), L/Cpl., PAL/23026, Royal Engineers
1039th Port Operating Company
Stalag 8B Teschen
8/19/41: Killed while attempting to escape
Born Bucharest, Rumania, 1/1/14
Mr. and Mrs. Itzhak David and Feige Weissman (parents), Tel-Aviv, Israel
Athens Memorial, Athens, Greece – Face 4 We Will Remember Them I – 274
German POW # 4875; POW List as “Weisman, A.”
So, here are all three parts of “F. J-n.” / Private Y.M. El-Jo’an’s story as published in Aufbau. Transcribed verbatim and presented in chronological order, each segment is followed by an English-language translation. Note that the first installment of the series is given a prominent “above the fold” presentation, but the last two parts are allocated to the newspaper’s last page.
Ich war ein Kriegsgefangener der Nazis October 15, 1943
Der Verfasser der folgenden Tagebuch blätter floh als ganz junger Mensch aus Hitler-Deutschland nach Palästina und wurde dort Mitglied einer Kwuzah. Bei Ausbruch des Krieges trat er als Freiwilliger in die britische Armee ein, in der er jetzt einen hohen Offiziersrang bekleidet. Während der Kämpfe in Griechenland geriet er in Nazi-Gefangenschaft, aus der er sich nach kurzer Zeit befreien konnte. Die Schilderung dieser Gefangenschaft und Flucht ist nicht allein als individuelles Schicksal interessant, sondern sie gibt auch Aufschluss über die Art, wie aus Deutschland stammende jüdische Soldaten der alliierten Armeen behandelt werden, wenn sie in Nazi-Gefangenschaft geraten.
Ende Mai war es, als man uns — endlich! — zum Verhör auf die Kommandantur brachte. In der Zwischenzeit hatte die Gestapo alle Dokumente, die sie über uns ehemalige deutsche Juden hatte, herbeigeschafft. Gemäss internationalen Recht sollte uns genau die gleiche Behandlung wie den britischen Gefangenen zuteil werden; dieses Recht wurde in der Weise umgangen, dass versucht wurde, uns nachzuweisen, dass wir uns in Deutschland vor der Flucht irgendwelcher Vergehen schuldig gemacht hatten. Einer der Gefangenen wurde unter Sonderarrest gesetzt, weil in den Gestapo-Akten verzeichnet war, dass er beim Verlassen Deutschlands die letzte Rate für eine gekaufte Schreibmaschine geblieben war. Dies ist ein Beispiel.
Mein Name wird aufgerufen. Ich trete in das Zimmer des Lagerkommandanten und salutiere. Er erwidert den Salut. Die strengen Blicke dreier deutscher Offiziere richten sich auf mich. Just in diesem Augenblick gewinne ich meine ganze Sicherheit wieder: Was kann mir schon Schlimmeres passieren, als dass man mich erschiesst! So muss man mit Deutschen reden.
‘‘Sie haben Eltern in Deutschland?” fragt der Kommandant scharf, ja drohend.
“Ja”, antworte ich ruhig.
“Sie haben ein deutsches Gymnasium absolviert?”
“Ja.”
“Sie kennen Deutschland?”
“Gewiss.”
“1938 hat der deutsche Konsul in Haifa Sie aufgefordert, sich zum Armeedienst zu stellen; wie kommt es, dass Sie als Freiwilliger in der britischen Armee gegen Deutschland gekämpft haben?”
“Weil Deutschland unser Feind ist; ich hasse meinen Feind!”
Wider Erwarten erhob sich der Offizier vom Stuhl, trat auf mich zu und klopfte mir auf die Schulter: “Sehr gut!”
Ich gestehe: aus mir sprach nicht allein verzweifelter Mut, sondern auch Erfahrung. Ich wusste bereits, dass diese Frage uns allen gestellt wird, und dass es das Beste sei, kurz angebunden und wahrhaft zu sein. Einige jüdische Soldaten aus Palästina hatten geantwortet, sie seien in die Armee eingetreten, weil sie arbeitslos waren. Sofort flogen sie zur Tür hinaus, wurden dort von der Wache mit Fusstritten behandelt und weiter befördert. Das gleiche passierte einem jüdischen Offizier, der in England der Armee beigetreten war. Er hatte die Frage mit “Konskription” beantwortet. Er flog alle Treppen hinunter und musste vom Platz getragen werden. Drei meiner Kameraden aus Ashdoth-Jaacov (Name einer Kwuzah in Palästina. D. Uebers.) S. und D. und R. gaben die gleiche Antwort wie ich und kamen glimpflich davon. Ich wurde also nicht hinausgeschmissen, sondern verlies erhobenen Hauptes das Kommandanturzimmer.
Vor dem Abtransport ins Reich
Wir hungerten sehr. Je zwölf von uns erhielten einen Laib Brot. Täglich wurden Tausend von uns aus dem Lager wegtransportiert. Unser Brigadier Plenigton liess uns, bevor man ihn wegtransportierte, den folgenden Befehl zugehen:
“Soldaten der britischen Armee, Australier und Neuseeländer! Euer Schicksal hat es gewollt, dass Ihr in Gefangenschaft geraten seid — für Kriegsdauer. Der Feind war uns an Zahl überlegen. Ihr werdet nun Deutschland mit eigenen Augen zu sehen bekommen. Vielleicht wird Euch vieles dort gefallen; doch hütet Euch vor jeder Beeinflussung. Es sind Gerüchte in Umlauf, dass am Ufer von Corinth unsere Unterseeboote warten, um flüchtige Gefangene aufzunehmen. Ich halte das für ausgeschlossen. Unser Schicksal ist besiegelt. Gefangenschaft.”
Die letzten Tausend zu denen auch ich gehörte, wurden am 9 Juni abtransportiert. Ich hatte wieder einen bösen Malaria-Anfall, und die Hitze war unerträglich. Nackt standen wir vor der Kommandantur. Unsere Kleider und Schuhe hatten wir zur Desinfektion abgeben müssen, jeder bekam einen Fetzen, wie ein Taschentuch gross, um seine Blösse zu bedeken. So schritten wir durch die Gässchen von Corinth zur See, um ein Reinigungsbad zu nehmen. Die Einwohner entsetzten sich, als sie diesen von bewaffneten Deutschen flankierten Zug der Nackten erblickten; sie stürmten, ständig sich bekreuzigend, in die Häuser. Wir aber vergassen, dass wir nackt waren: endlich aus der Baracke heraus und frei marschieren dürfen! Wir vergangen, dass wir bewacht wurden, stürzten in die Gemüsegärten, gruben mit den Fingern die Rüben und Gurken heraus und assen sie mit der Gartenerde. Endlich wieder sich den Magen füllen können, gleichgültig mit was! Schliesslich wurden wir von der aufgeregten Wache wieder zu einem Zug zusammengeprügelt und zum Strand gebracht. Dort wurden wir mit Karbol bespritzt, und die unbarmherzige Sonne briet unsere Haut. Doch als wir endlich in der See “frei” schwimmen durften, vergassen wir alle Not. Wir schrien vor Lust.
Auf dem Rückwege marterte uns wieder der Gedanke: Gefangenschaft. Wir blickten sehnsüchtig zum Meer zurück, das uns mit den Ufern Erez Israels verbindet. Und morgen geht’s nach Deutschland. Bei mir stand der Entschluss fest: Ich werde fliehen. Ich habe meinem Mädel — im Lande dort — versprochen wiederzukommen, ich werde mein Versprechen halten!
Wir beschliessen die Flucht
Die letzte Nacht verbrachten wir im Hofe vor der Kommandantur. Von Corinth her knallten in regelmässigen Abständen Salven. Wer waren die Opfer? Aus unserer Mitte wurden die Kranken und Schwachen ausgesondert und weggebracht. Wir haben sie nie wieder gesehen. Wenige nur hatten sich krank gemeldet, jeder wollte bei den “Seinen” bleiben. Ich und Sch., ein Jugendlicher aus Kfar-Jehoschua, und die vier Brüder S. aus Petach-Tikvah beschlossen, zusammenzuhalten und nach Fluchtmöglichkeiten Ausschau zu halten. Unsere Wasser flaschen sollten immer gefüllt sein und unsere Eiserne Ration, bestehend aus drei Schachteln Biscuit und Kränzen getrockneter Feigen, durfte bis zur Flucht nicht angerührt werden. Mich quälte es, dass ich keine Chinin-Tabletten mehr hatte, denn jeden Tag konnte sich eine Malaria-Attacke einstellen. Das griechische Wörterbuch “Anu Nachsuy arzah” hegte ich wie ein Kind.
Bei Morgengrauen brachen wir auf: tausend Mann in Dreier-Reihen. Wir sangen: “Anu nachasor arzah — libnoth ulebaloth bah” (Wir werden ins Land zurückkehren, es aufzubauen und zu bewohnen). Unsere Stimmen waren die von Verhungernden, doch sie klangen trotzig, ja mutig. Die Häuser von Corinth antworteten uns im Widerhall, die Einwohner rissen Fenster und Türen auf, um uns ein “Victory” – Zeichen zuzuwinken. Wir marschierten wie Sieger, während die Nazi-Wache die Geschäftigkeit nervöser Büffel zeigte und zwangsweise zum Takt unseres Liedes marschieren musste. So sahen uns die Einwohner von Corinth zum letzten Male.
Ein kleines Automobil flog an uns vorbei. Es trug in gotischen Buchstaben die Aufschrift: “Deutsches Konsulat, Kalamata.” Ja, Kalamata war die Stadt, wo wir die britische Flotte vergeblich erwartet hatten — just in der Nacht, da wir palästinensischen Jungens die Deutschen aus dem Ort vertrieben hatten. Das hatte unser Los besiegelt. Oft seither träumte ich, dass vor Kalamata drei Panzerschiffe halten, um uns aufzunehmen.
Durch aufgerissene Strassen, an zerstörten Häusern und niedergebrannten Stadtvierteln vorbei, marschieren wir. Durch Wiesen, Felder und Gärten marschieren wir. “Nach Deutschland” — denken die meisten, ich und Sch. neben mir jedoch denken: in die Freiheit. Heute schon oder morgen wollen wir es versuchen. Unsere Blicke wärmen sich aneinander. Die anderen merken es uns an. Einer der vier Brüder S. flüstert mir zu: “Auch wir sind entschlossen. In Bulgarien oder Rumänien brennen wir durch und schlagen uns von dort nach Russland.” “Meine besten Wünsche”, antworte ich; ‘‘ich bin sicher, es wird euch gelingen. Wir aber machen es schon in Griechenland.”
Hakenkreuz über der Akropolis
In Isthmia am Isthmus werden wir verladen: je 50 Mann in einen Viehwagen. Griechische Frauen sind eifrig bemüht, uns frisches Wasser heranzubringen, unsere Flaschen zu füllen. Es wird aber nicht gewartet, bis alle versorgt sind, man stösst, quetscht uns in die Wagen. Die Hälfte kann sitzen, die andere Hälfte muss stehen. Wie der Zug sich in Bewegung setzt, werden die Türen zugemacht, ein Riegel wird draussen vorgeschoben, doch eine Türspalte bleibt offen, durch die etwas Licht und Luft eindringt. Diese Spalte muss fur uns breiter werden!
Nahe einer Schule halten war. Es ist Unterrichtspause. Die Kinder rufen uns mit hellen Stimmen Grusse zu, auch rufen sie: “Kerenda Mussolini!” Ja, das griechische Volk ist mit uns, das wird unsern Fluchtplan fördern. Man lässt uns aussteigen, wir werden in den Hof einer Kaserne gebracht. Wir merken jetzt: Wir sind in Athen. Wir sind an der gleichen Stelle, von der wir zum Kampf gegen die Deutschen ausgerückt waren. Jetzt aber weht von der Akropolis eine riesige Hakenkreuzfahne.
Wir haben seit einer Woche kaum etwas zu essen bekommen. Jetzt werden jedem Gefangenen ein Stückchen Käse und zwei Biscuits ausgehändigt, das soll für zwei Tage langen. Wann wird das ständige Hungergefühl, ein Ende haben?
Osterreichisch Artilleristen betreten den Hof, lassen sich mit uns in ein Gespräch ein: “Ja, wir können in Deutschland Fachleute gut gebrauchen”, sagt einer. “Ich bin Landwirt”, wehre ich ab. “Auch gut”, fährt er fort. “Auf meinem Hof arbeiten zwei Franzosen und ein Pole, es wird noch Platz sein für einen Engländer. Seien Sie froh, für Sie ist der Krieg zu Ende.”
Grüsse für zuhause
Die Kameraden wissen, was ich im Schilde führe. Sie schleichen sich einzeln zu mir und tragen mir Grüsse für Frau und Kinder auf. D. aus Petach Tickwah händigt mir zwei goldene Manschettenknöpfe ein: “Nutze sie auf deinem Wege auf die beste Art! Sag meiner Freundin, dass ich alles Schwere, was immer es sein mag, ertragen werde, denn ich gebe die Hoffnung nicht auf, sie wieder zu sehen.” Sch. vom Ohel-Theater in Tel-Aviv trägt mir einen Gruss an seine Frau und seinen “Dreikäsehoch” auf. “Du siehst ein bisschen verrückt aus”, witzelt er. “Ich habe meinem Mädel versprochen zurückzukommen; ich muss Wort halten”, murmele ich. “Wir sind verrückt, die wir uns wie Schafe zur Schlachtbank treiben lassen”, gibt er schliesslich zu.
Ein baumlanger Nazi donnert durch den Hof: “Sammeln! Und ohne jüdische Nervosität!”
Wie viele Juden hast du in deinem Deutschland schon gequält und getötet, du Nazihund! denke ich bei mir. Von da her kennst du die jüdische Nervosität. Ich habe sie nicht mehr, mich hat Palästina abgehärtet. Wenn wir uns einmal Auge in Auge gegenüberstehen werden, du Missgeburt, wirst du es sein, der von Nazi-Nervosität geschüttelt werden wird”.
Der erste Fluchtversuch
Wieder auf dem Bahnhof von Athen. Je 50 Mann weiden in einen Viehwagen gepresst. Ich und Sch. nehmen abermals den Platz an der Türspalte ein. Man überlässt ihn uns gern. Auf dem ersten und dem letzten Wagen des Zuges sind Maschinengewehre montiert, in jedem zweiten Wagen sitzt auf einer Kiste ein Nazi mit Gewehr und Revolver. “Wir versuchen es im ersten Tunnel”, flüstere ich Sch. zu. Während der Zug langsam durch die Vorstädte fährt, säumen die Bewohner, in der Mehrzahl Frauen, Mädchen und Kinder, das Geleise zu beiden Seiten, rufen uns ermutigende Wort zu, machen das Victory-Zeichen. Die verärgerten Nazis lassen die Maschinengewehre knallen, doch das schreckt die Athener nicht. Wir strecken unsere Arme durch die Türspalte, rufen und singen, vergessen für eine Weile unsern Hunger. Zur Strafe wird nun auch die schmale Türspalte geschlossen. Die Enge ist unerträglich, die Luft zum Ersticken. Viel später erst wird die Spalte wieder geöffnet, wir fahren an Flugfeldern vorbei; Flugzeuge brennen, Tanks liegen verendet auf den Wegen. Wege und Brücken sind stark bewacht. Man traut den Griechen nicht; das aber macht die Ausführung unseres Planes schwerer als wir es uns dachten. Die Nacht bricht an, es ist starkes Mondlicht. Das ist gut, denke ich mir; wenn der Mond auf der einen Seite scheint, springen wir auf der anderen Seite ab. Es ist abgemacht, dass ich als erster abspringe. Sch. wirft mir das Säckchen zu und springt nach mir. Verlieren wir uns, stosse ich drei Schakalrufe aus, Sch. antwortet mit dem gleichen Signal. Sind wir aber zu weit auseinandergekommen, so treffen wir uns am Morgen vor der Kirche des nächsten Dorfes.
(Wird fortgesetzt)
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I Was a Prisoner of War of The Nazis October 15, 1943
The author of the following diary pages fled as a very young man from Nazi Germany to Palestine and became a member of kvutzah [kibbutz]. When war broke out, he joined the British army as a volunteer, in which he now occupies a high officer’s rank. During the fighting in Greece he fell into Nazi captivity, from which he was able to free himself after a short time. The description of this captivity and escape is interesting not only as an individual fate, but it is also indicative of the way Jewish soldiers of the Allied armies coming from Germany are handled when they fall into Nazi captivity.
It was at the end of May, when we arrived – finally! – brought to the headquarters for interrogation. In the meantime the Gestapo had all the documents brought in, that they had about us former German Jews. According to international law, we should receive exactly the same treatment as the British prisoners; this law was bypassed in an attempt to prove to us that we were guilty of escaping any misdemeanor in Germany. One of the prisoners was placed under special arrest because it was listed in the Gestapo files, that the last payment remained on a typewriter purchased when leaving Germany. This is an example.
My name is called. I step into the room of the camp commandant and salute. He returns the salute. The strict glances of three German officers are directed at me. Just at that moment, I regain all my confidence: What possibly worse can happen to me, than being shot! So, you have to talk to Germans.
“Do you have parents in Germany?” asks the Commandant sharply, even threateningly.
“Yes,” I answer calmly.
“You graduated from a German high school?”
“Yes.”
“You know Germany?”
“Certainly.”
“In 1938 the German consul in Haifa asked you to join the army service; how is it that as a volunteer in the British army you fought against Germany?”
“Because Germany is our enemy; I hate my enemy!”
Contrary to expectations, the officer rose from his chair, came up to me and patted me on the shoulder: “Very good!”
I confess: that not only desperate courage but also experience spoke to me. I already knew, that this question is asked of all of us, and that it is best, to be short and to be true. Some Jewish soldiers from Palestine had replied, that they had joined the army, because they were unemployed. Immediately they flew out the door, were treated there with footsteps by the guard and further “promoted”. The same happened to a Jewish officer, who had joined the army in England. He had answered the question with “Conscription”. He flew down all the stairs and had to be carried off the square. Three of my comrades from Ashdoth-Ya’akov (name of a kvutzah in Palestine, D. Uebers.) S. and D. and R. gave the same answer as me and got off lightly. So I was not thrown out, but left the commandant’s room with head held high.
Before Transport to the Reich
We were very hungry. The twelve of us were given a loaf of bread. Every day, thousands of us were taken away from the camp. Our brigadier Plenigton sent us the following order, before being transported away:
“Soldiers of the British Army, Australians and New Zealanders! Your fate has willed it that you are in captivity – for the war period. The enemy was superior to us in numbers. You will now see Germany with your own eyes. Maybe you will like a lot there; but beware of any influence. There are rumors circulating that on the shores of Corinth our submarines are waiting to pick up fleeing prisoners. I think that is out of the question. Our fate is sealed. Captivity.”
The last thousand to which I belonged, were transported on 9 June [1941]. I had another bad attack of malaria, and the heat was unbearable. We stood in front of headquarters naked. We had to hand over our clothes and shoes for disinfection; everyone got a rag, like a large handkerchief, to cover his nakedness. So we walked through the streets of Corinth to the sea to take a cleaning. The inhabitants were horrified when they saw this train of naked men, flanked by armed Germans; they stormed into the houses, constantly crossing each other. But we forgot that we were naked: finally out of the barracks out and allowed to march freely! We passed that we were guarded, rushed into the vegetable gardens, dug out the turnips and cucumbers with the fingers, and ate them with the garden soil. Finally to be able to fill your stomach again, no matter what! Finally, we were beaten up again by the excited guards to a train and taken to the beach. There we were splashed with carbolic, and the merciless sun roasted our skin. But when we finally were allowed to swim “freely” in the sea, we forgot all hardship. We shouted for joy.
On the way back we were tortured again by the thought: imprisonment. We looked back longingly to the sea, which connects us to the banks of the Land of Israel. And tomorrow we go to Germany. The decision was made for me: I will flee. I promised my girl – back home – I will keep my promise!
We Decide to Escape
The last night we spent in the courtyard in front of headquarters. From Corinth burst salvos at regular intervals. Who were the victims? From our midst the sick and the weak were separated and taken away. We never saw them again. Few people had called in sick; everyone wanted to remain with “his”. I and Sh., a youth from Kfar-Yehoshua, and the four brothers S. from Petach-Tikvah decided to stick together and look for escape opportunities. Our water bottles should always be filled, and our iron ration, consisting of three boxes of biscuits and wreaths of dried figs, was not to be touched until the flight. It tormented me, that I did not have any quinine tablets any more, because every day a malaria attack could set in. The Greek dictionary “Anu Nachsuy arzah” I cherished as a child.
At dawn we started: a thousand men in rows of three. We sang: “Anu nachasor arzah – libnoth ulebaloth bah.” (We will return to the land to build and inhabit it.) Our voices were those of starving people, but they sounded defiant, even courageous. The houses of Corinth responded to us, the inhabitants broke open windows and doors, to wave a “Victory” sign to us. We marched as victors, while the Nazi guard showed the activity of nervous buffalo and was forced to march to the beat of our song. So we saw the people of Corinth for the last time.
A small automobile flew past us. It bore in Gothic letters the inscription: “German Consulate, Kalamata.” Yes, Kalamata was the city where we had waited in vain for the British fleet – just at night, when we Palestinian boys drove the Germans out of the village. That had sealed our lot. Many times since then I dreamed that three battleships are stopping before Kalamata to receive us.
We are marching through torn-up streets, past destroyed houses and burnt-down neighborhoods. Through meadows, fields and gardens we march. “To Germany” – think most, me and Sch. thinking next to me: into freedom. Today or tomorrow we want to try it. Our eyes warm each other. The others notice us. One of the four S. brothers whispers to me: “We are also determined. In Bulgaria or Romania, we burn through and beat ourselves from there to Russia.” “My best wishes,” I reply; ‘‘I am sure you will succeed. But we already do it in Greece.”
Swastika on the Acropolis
In Isthmia on the isthmus we are loaded: 50 men in each cattle car. Greek women are eager to bring us fresh water; to fill our bottles. But it is not waited until all are supplied; you push; squeezes us in the car. Half can sit; the other half must stand. As the train begins to move, the doors are closed, a bolt is pushed out, but a door gap remains open through which some light and air penetrate. This crack must be wider for us!
A school was holding [class] near us. It is class break. The children greet us with bright voices, they also shout: “Kerenda Mussolini!” Yes, the Greek people are with us, that will promote our escape plan. We are dropped off, we are brought into the yard of a barracks. We now note: we are in Athens. We are in the same place from which we were debarked to fight the Germans. But now blowing from the Acropolis a huge swastika flag.
We have hardly had anything to eat for a week. Now, each prisoner is given a piece of cheese and two biscuits, which will last for two days. When will the constant feeling of hunger come to an end?
Austrian artillerymen enter the yard; engage in a conversation with us: “Yes, we can make good use of experts in Germany,” says one. “I am a farmer”, I refuse. “Also good,” he continues. “On my farm there are working two Frenchmen and a Pole, there will still be room for an Englishman. Be glad, the war is over for you.”
Greetings for Home
The comrades know what I’m up to. They sneak up to me individually and give me greetings for wife and children. D. from Peta Tikva handed me two gold cufflinks: “Use them on your way in the best manner! Tell my girlfriend that I will endure all hardship, whatever it may be, because I will not give up hope to see her again.” Sch. from the Ohel Theater in Tel-Aviv gives me a greeting to his wife and his “Drei Käse Hoch”. “You look a bit crazy,” he jokes. “I promised my girl to come back; I have to keep my word,” I mutter. “We are crazy, we drive like sheep to the slaughter,” he finally admits.
A skinny Nazi thunders through the yard: “Gather! And without Jewish nervousness!”
“How many Jews have you already tormented and killed in your Germany, you Nazi dog!”, I think to myself. From there you know the Jewish nervousness. I no longer have it; Palestine hardened me. When we meet face to face, you freak, it will be you who will be shaken by Nazi nervousness.”
The First Escape Attempt
Back at the station of Athens. 50 men pressed in every cattle car. Sch and I take the place again at the the door crack. You leave it to us. Machine guns are mounted on the first and last cars of the train; in every second car sitting on a box a Nazi with rifle and revolver. “We try in the first tunnel,” I whisper to Sch. As the train slowly drives through the suburbs, the inhabitants, mostly women, girls and children, line the tracks on both sides, calling encouraging words, making the victory sign. The angry Nazis crack the machine guns, but that does not scare the Athenians. We stretch our arms through the crack in the door, shout and sing, forget our hunger for a while. As a punishment, the narrow doorway is now closed. The narrowness is unbearable; the air suffocating. Much later, the crack is opened again; we drive past airfields; burning aircraft; destroyed tanks lying on the roads. Paths and bridges are heavily guarded. One does not trust the Greeks; but that makes the execution of our plan harder than we thought it would be. The night is breaking, it’s strong moonlight. That’s good, I think; when the moon shines on one side, we jump on the other side. It’s settled that I’ll jump first. Sch. throws me the little bag and jumps after me. If we lose ourselves, I’ll make three jackal calls, Sch. responds with the same signal. But if we have come too far apart, we meet in the morning in front of the church of the next village.
(To be continued)
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Ich war ein Kriegsgefangener der Nazis October 22, 1943
In unserem Artikel in der vorigen Nummer wurde berichtet, wie ein in Deutschland geborener Palästinenser, der in der britischen Armee diente, von den Nazis gefangen genommen wird und nach Deutshland abtransportiert werden soll. Im ersten Artikel beschrieb er das Verhör vor Nazi- Offizieren, die Behandlung der Gefangenen, die Reise im Viehwagen durch Griechenland und seinen ersten missglückten Fluchtversuch.
II.
Einer schaffts
Bei der ersten Weg krümmung strecke ich die Hand heraus, um den Riegel zurückzuschieben und drücke dabei den Körper nach. Da schiesst man auch schon. Auf der nächsten Haltestelle betritt eine Wache unsern Wagen. Wer war es gewesen? Wir stellen uns alle schlafend; doch als die Wache den Wagen verlässt, setzt es Vorwürfe von allen Seiten: Um der Verrücktheit des Einen willen dürfen licht alle gefährdet werden! Jetzt dringt Geschrei aus dem benachbarten Wagen. Dort hat einer Magenkrämpfe. Seit Athen hat man uns keine Gelegenheit gegeben, unsere Bedürfnisse zu verrichten. Jetzt schreien auch andere. Hier eröffnet sich eine Möglichkeit…, denke ich mir. Endlich wird der Zug zum Halten gebracht, man erlaubt uns, in kleinen Gruppen auszusteigen. Nein, da ist keine Fluchtmöglichkeit. Doch ich sollte beschämt werden: Als der Zug sich schon weiter bewegte und die wenigen Gefangenen draussen brutal in die Wagen zurückgestossen wurden, fiel es einem ein, sich eine Zigarette anzuzünden. Er hielt das Streichholz so, dass es dem Nazi für eine Sekunde die Augen blendete. Diese Sekunde benützte er, um zu verschwinden. Wie aber verschwand er? Plötzlich war er selber wie ein Zündholz erloschen. Es war uns allen ein Rätsel. Später einmal traf ich ihn in Corditza, und da erzählte er mir, er sei einfach durch die Räder zwischen die Schienen geschlüpft, habe sich längelang ausgestreckt, bis der ganze Zug über ihn hinweggefahren war. Ja, so war er: ein geborener Palästinenser, ein “Sabre” (hartes, Palästina eigentümliches Kaktus-Gewächs; Bezeichnung für das unverwüstliche Landeskind).
Als der Zug den ersten Tunnel passierte, machte ich abermals einen Versuch herunterzuspringen; auch diesmal wurde ich bemerkt, Sch. zog mich in den Wagen zurück. Ich war sehr enttäuscht, denn bald kamen wir in das Flachland hinter Larissa, wo die Möglichkeit zu einer Flucht stark gemindert war. Müdigkeit übermannte mich nach all der Anspannung. Die meisten Insassen waren krank nach der ganztägigen Fahrt im überfüllten Viehwagen. An der Haltestelle Gradia stiegen wir aus: Wir durften marschieren. Wie das gut tat! Doch, ach, wie weh das tat, als wir viele, viele Stunden lang auf steinigen Wegen über das Massiv der Termopylen marschieren mussten. Eine wundervolle Landschaft! Auf jenem hohen Pass, den wir bald betreten werden, hat, 480 Jahre v. Chr. Leonidas mit dreihundert Spartanern Xerxes. Riesenheer aufgehalten. Man kann nur mit schmerzenden Augen in die Landschaft sehen, nur mit schmerzendem Kopf an ihre grosse Geschichte denken. Hätte man uns Palästinenser an dieser Stelle eingesetzt, wir hätten wie Leonidas gekämpft; jetzt führt man uns, stösst man uns mit Gewehrkolben durch den Termopylenpass in die Gefangenschaft nach Deutschland. Ja, man stösst uns; denn die Nazi- Wachmannschaft fühlt sich in dieser Einsamkeit, fern von einer Militärbasis, nicht ganz wohl. Rennen müssen wir, schnell, schnell!
Vor dem ersten Dorf jenseits des Passes kommen uns die Bauern entgegen und helfen uns die Packe tragen. Manche von uns haben nichts mehr von ihren Sachen, sie hatten in ihrer Müdigkeit alles auf dem Wege von sich geworfen. Wir dürfen rasten. Wenn wir uns hinlegen, zittern unsere Knie. Wir sind auf einer Bergspitze. Eine deutsche Aufschrift am Wege lautet: “Vorsicht! 18 Kilometer bergab.”
Zweiter Fluchtversuch
Ich gebrauche die Ausrede, dass ich ein Bedürfnis verrichten will, gehe seitwärts und beschliesse, den abschüssigen Hang hinunterzurollen. Sch. schleicht mir nach, will das gleiche tun. Schon aber steht ein deutscher Soldat an meiner Seite. Ich flüstere Sch. zu: “Ich versuche es bei der nächsten Krümmung des Weges, du hinter mir. Die erste Wache wird uns nicht mehr, die zweite noch nicht sehen.”
Wie gesagt, so getan. Ich springe, verschwinde in einem Graben; Sch. und einige andere folgten meinem Beispiel. Diese anderen verdarben uns den Brei. Denn durch sie, die spontan und ohne Ueberlegung und Vorsicht handelten, wurde die Aufmerksamkeit der Wache auf uns gelenkt. Ein Soldat schrie: “Herr Leutnant, es ist was passiert!’’ Der Leutnant und einige seiner Leute umzingelten mit gestreckter Waffe den Graben; bis aber die Aktion durchgeführt werden konnte, hatten die meisten von uns Zeit in die Reihen zurück zuschleichen. Die Nazis schössen in den Graben hinein, brachten einige Flüchtlinge mit Kolbenstössen zuruck. Zwei fehlten. Waren sie von den Kugeln getroffen worden?
Jetzt ist die Stimmimg unter den Kameraden einheitlich gegen uns. Man hetzt gegen uns, doch man verrät uns nicht der untersuchenden Wachmannschaft. Sch. flüstert mir zu, ich dürfe nicht mehr auf ihn rechnen, er sei mit seinen Nerven zu Ende. Schliesslich wolle er noch einmal sein Mädchen wiedersehen. Dann mache ich’s allein, erwiderte ich ihm; auch ich will meine Geliebte wiedersehen.
Wir marschieren, marschieren; es ist keine Kraft mehr in uns, automatisch tun die Beine ihren Dienst. Auch die Wachmannschaft ist vollkommen erschöpft. Wir haben die Thermopylen bereits hinter uns und bewegen uns auf Lamia zu. Auf dem Bahnhof angelangt, sinken wir wie leere Säcke zu Boden. Doch nein, auf müssen wir und schnell in die Wagen hinein je 50 in einen Viehwagen. Wir bilden alle einen einzigen verworrenen Knäuel. Ich habe mir meinen Platz an der Türspalte zu wahren gewusst.
Frei!
Jetzt fahren wir über eine Brücke. Ist das Wasser tief genug? Kann man springen? — geht es mir durch den Kopf. Ich warte nicht, bis ich mir selbst eine Antwort gegeben habe. Riegel weg, Tür auf und an das Geländer gesprungen! Die ersten Schüsse knallen. Ich schwinge mich über das Geländer und springe. Ja, das Wasser war tief genug. Ich bleibe unter der Fläche, solange mein Atem es verträgt, dann tauche ich auf: der Zug ist über die Brücke hinweg und fährt in seinem normalen Tempo weiter. Wahrscheinlich hat man mich nicht wieder auftauchen gesehen. Ich bin ein freier Mann!
Ich schwimme zum Ufer zurück, strecke mich hin und trockne in der Sonne. Ich sollte eigentlich ein Versteck suchen, doch ich bin zu müde dazu. Ich liege zwischen hohen Weiden, ich entwerfe einen Plan für weitere Handlungen. Ich bin jetzt meine eigene Armee und mein eigener Kommandant. Ich unterstehe keinem Gesetz ausser dem meines Gewissens; ich werde stehlen, wenn nötig rauben, um mich in der Freiheit zu behaupten. Mir ist gut. Nur tut mir Sch. leid. Er ist ein feiner Kerl.
Ich hole meine Eiserne Ration hervor; es ist alles durchnässt, die Feigen schmecken trotzdem gut. Die Nacht ist angebrochen, Schlaf will mich übermannen, ich kämpfe mit allen Kräften dagegen. Die Nacht ist die Wanderzeit für den Flüchtling. Bis zum Morgen muss ich aus der Zone von Lamia heraus sein. Ich wandere zurück zu den Thermopylen — quer durch Weingärten und Felder und längs enger Stege. Alles kann Gefahr bedeuten, jeden darfst du verdächtigen, sage ich mir. Irgendwo werde ich eindringen und mir zivile Kleider verschaffen, in meiner britischen Uniform darf ich nicht mehr gesehen werden. Nach mehreren Stunden Wanderung falle ich entkräftet hin. Mosquitos peinigen mich, doch ich habe nicht die Kraft, sie abzuwehren. Ich sinke in Schlaf.
(Schluss folgt)
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I Was a Prisoner of War of The Nazis October 22, 1943
In our article in the previous issue, it was reported how a German-born Palestinian serving in the British Army was captured by the Nazis and was to be transported to Germany. In the first article he described the interrogation before Nazi officers, the treatment of prisoners, the journey in the cattle car through Greece and his first unsuccessful escape attempt.
II.
One [Escape Attempt] Is Made
At the curve of the route, I stretch my hand out to push back the latch, while pushing the body forward. [There are already shots.] At the next stop, a guard enters our car. Who was it? We all go to sleep; but when the guard leaves the car, reproaches from all sides: For the sake of the madness of one, all will be endangered! Now shouting comes from the neighboring car. There are stomach cramps. Since Athens we have been given no opportunity to meet our needs. Now others are screaming too. This opens up a possibility…, I think. Finally the train is stopped, we are allowed to get off in small groups. No, there is no escape. But I should be ashamed: As the train moved on and the few prisoners outside were brutally pushed back into the cars, it occurred to one to light a cigarette. He held the match in such a way that it blinded the Nazi for a second. He used that second to disappear. But how did he disappear? Suddenly he was extinguished like a match. It was a mystery to all of us. Later, I met him in Corditza, and he told me that he had simply slipped through the wheels between the rails, stretching himself out for a long time, until the whole train had passed over him. Yes, that’s how he was: a born Palestinian, a “Sabra” (a tough, peculiar Palestinian cactus plant; a nickname for the indestructible child of the land).
As the train passed the first tunnel, I made another attempt to jump off; I was also noticed this time, Sch. pulled me back in the car. I was very disappointed, because soon we came to the plain behind Larissa, where the possibility of an escape was greatly reduced. Fatigue overwhelmed me after all the tension. Most of the inmates were ill after the full day’s journey in the crowded cattle car. At the Gradia station we got out: we were allowed to march. How that did good! But, alas, how much it hurt when we had to walk for many, many hours on rocky paths over the massif of Thermopylae. A wonderful landscape! On that high pass, which we will soon enter, 480 years before Christ Leonidas stopped Xerxes’ giant army with three hundred Spartans. One can only look with aching eyes into the landscape, only think of their great story with an aching head. If Palestinians had been used here, we would have fought like Leonidas; now they lead us, they push us with rifle butts through the pass of pass of Thermopylae into German captivity. Yes, they push us; because the Nazi guards do not feel well in this solitude, far from a military base. We have to race, fast, fast!
In front of the first village on the other side of the pass, the farmers meet us and help us carry packs. Some of us have nothing left of their belongings; they had thrown everything off in their fatigue. We are allowed to rest. When we lie down, our knees are shaking. We are on a mountaintop. A German inscription on the way reads: “Caution! 18 kilometers downhill.”
Second Escape Attempt
I use the excuse that I want to do something; go sideways and decide, to roll down the steep slope. Sch. sneaking after me, wants to do the same. But a German soldier already stands by my side. I whisper to Sch.: “I will try at the next bend of the path, you behind me. The first guard will not be with us any more, the second will not yet see us.”
As I said, so is done. I jump; disappear in a ditch; Sch. and some others followed my example. These others spoiled the porridge. Because by those, who acted spontaneously and without thought and caution, the attention of the guard was directed to us. A soldier shouted, “Lieutenant, something has happened!” The lieutenant and some of his men surrounded the ditch with their weapons outstretched, but until the action could be carried out, most of us had time to sneak back into the ranks. The Nazis shot into the ditch, bringing back some fugitives with piston-like thrusts. Two were missing. Were they struck by the bullets?
Now the voice among the comrades is uniformly against us. One agitates against us, but we are not betrayed to the investigating guards. Sch. whispered to me, I should not count on him anymore; he was over his nerves. He wanted to finally to see his girl again. Then I’ll do it alone, I told him; I too want to see my beloved again.
We march, march; there is no power left in us, the legs automatically do their job. The guards are also completely exhausted. We already have Thermopylae behind us and are moving towards Lamia. Arriving at the station, we sink to the ground like empty sacks. But no, we have to quickly get into the cars, 50 in each cattle car. We all form a single tangled ball. I’ve been able to save my place at the door crack.
Free!
Now we drive over a bridge. Is the water deep enough? Can you jump? – it goes through my head. I will not wait until I have given myself an answer. The latch is off; open the door and jump to the railing! The first shots crack. I swing myself over the railing and jump. Yes, the water was deep enough. I stay under the surface as long as my breath can withstand it, then I emerge: the train is across the bridge and continues at its normal pace. I guess they did not see me resurface. I am a free man!
I swim back to the shore, stretch myself and dry in the sun. I should be looking for a hiding place, but I’m too tired. I lie between high pastures; I design a plan for further action. I am now my own army and my own commander. I am not subject to any law except that of my conscience; I will steal, rob if necessary, to maintain myself in freedom. I am good. Now my Sch. Is suffering. He is a fine fellow.
I bring out my Iron Ration; everything is soaked, but the figs taste good anyway. The night has come, sleep wants to overwhelm me, I fight against it with all my strength. The night is the walking time for the fugitive. I have to be out of the zone of Lamia by morning. I walk back to Thermopylae – across vineyards and fields and along narrow walkways. Everything can be dangerous, you can suspect anyone, I tell myself. I will enter somewhere and get civilian clothes; I can not be seen anymore in my British uniform. After several hours of hiking, I fall over exhausted. Mosquitoes torment me, but I do not have the strength to fight them off. I sink into sleep.
(Conclusion follows)
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Ich war ein Kriegsgefangener der Nazis (Schluss)
Der Morgen danach October 29, 1943
Das Geräusch eines Motors weckt mich am Morgen. Das Klopfen eines Motors, der mit Ersatzmaterialien angetrieben wird. Ein deutscher Motor also. Und ich trage noch meine englische Uniform! Ich verkrieche mich, und obwohl ich am Verdursten bin, rühre ich mich nicht von der Stelle. Wieder sinke ich in Schlaf. Der Hall von Axtschlägen weckt mich. Ich richte mich auf, der Holzfäller erblickt mich, kommt unschlüssig auf mich zu. ‘‘Ich bin ein britischer Soldat, aus der Gefangenschaft entflohen”, sage ich in meinem Wörterbuch – Griechisch. Er hat mich verstanden, drückt mir fest die Hand, küsst mich. Er überlässt mir seinen Krug Wasser, etwas Wein und Brot; gibt mir zu verstehen, dass ich den Tag über hier bleiben müsse. Am Abend werde er kommen und mich holen.
Er kam mit seinem Esel. “Andaki”, flüstert er mir zu. Das heisst: “alles in Ordnung.” Er stülpt mir einen Riesen hut auf und wirft einen Shawl über meine Schulter, um die Uniform zu verdecken. Er geht voraus, ich in Sehweite hinter ihm. Wir machen einen Umweg durch das Dorf, gelangen durch Gärten und Hecken zu seinem Haus. Ein kleines Mädchen fasst meine Hand, ich spüre, wie ihr Herzchen in freudiger Erregung pocht. Es bringt mich ins Haus: Mutter und Kinder, sowie andere Familienmitglieder begrüssen mich herzlich. Er ist dunkel, der ganze grosse Raum wird von dem Lichtlein am Hausaltar schwach erhellt. Die Holzfällerfrau bringt einen alten schweien Stuhl heran, ladet mich zum Sitzen ein, und alle kauern auf der Diele um mich herum. Ein Mädchen zieht mir die Schuhe ab, wäscht und trocknet mir die Füsse. Ich bin verlegen, doch lasse ich es geschehen. Mir fällt ein: das war Tradition im alten Griechenland. Soll sich seither hier nichts geändert haben?
“Lechajim”
Der Bauer-Holzfäller tritt ein: freudig und stolz, dass ich mich in seinem Hause befinde. Er bringt Kuchen und Wein. Wir trinken. Mir fällt das nötige griechische Wort nicht ein, ich sage das hebräische “Lechajim” (Trinkgruss: “zum Leben”). Sie sprechen mir das Wort schlecht und recht nach, in der Meinung wohl, es sei der englische Trinkgruss. Die Bäuerin bringt Brot und warme Suppe. Obwohl die Suppe nur massig warm ist, brennt sie mir im Magen, der so lange schon nichts Warmes gespürt hat. Der Bauer schneidet das Brot, teilt jedem sein Stück zu: mir zuerst, dann der Bäuerin, dann den übrigen Familienmitgliedern. Nach dem Essen bringt er ein paar abgetragene Hosen und einen Rucksack. Er weist mir ein Holzgestell zum Schlafen an und verspricht mir, mich vor Morgengrauen zu wecken.
Als er mich weckt, springe ich erfrischt auf. Ich bin trunken vor Freude: ich bin ein freier Mann, habe Zivilkleider an, mich werden “sie” nicht kriegen. Die Bäuerin segnet mich, wünscht mir Schutz vor dem Antichrist, dem “Germanus”. Ich verneige mich tief und schreite los.
Ich schreite durch fruchtbares Gebirgsland. Bächlein rieseln. Alle 500 Schritte fülle ich meine Flasche neu. Ich bin wassertrunken, ich spiele mit Wasser. Ich erinnere mich, wie wir britische Soldaten in der lybischen Wüste nach Wasser vergebens lechzten. Ich esse von dem Brot und dem Käse, die mir von der Holz fäller-Familie als Wegzehrung mitgegeben worden waren. Ich brauche mir nicht mehr den Bissen von. Munde zu sparen. Arbeten werde ich — als Viehjunge oder un Stall, ich hab’s ja in Palastina gelernt – bis ich mich wieder zur Armee durchschlagen kann.
In Sicherheit
Durch Weingärten geht es. In einem sehe ich einen zerschmette_ten Junkers, einige Grabkreuze daneben: deutsche Namen und der Zusatz: “Gefallen für Grossdeutschland.” Mit “Deutschland erwache, Juda verrecke” hat es begonnen und mit “Gefallen” endet es.
Ich nähere mich einem Dorf. Dort sind Deutsche. Ich sehe Spuren von Autorädern, höre Hupen und Klingeln. Ich schlage einen aufwärts führenden Steg ein, verstecke mich nahe einem Brunnen mit Heiligenbild. Gegen meinen Willen schlafe ich ein. Als ich aufwache, kniet eine Frau vor dem Altar. Ich frage sie: “T’unoma hurian?” (Wie heisst das Dorf?) “Germanus messo?” (Sind Deutsche hier?) Sie erwidert mit einer Frage: “Ssiss stratiatus?” (Bist du Soldat?)
Als ich ihr sage, ich sei ein aus der Gefangenschaft entflohener britischer Soldat, eilt sie auf mich zu, drückt mir die Hände, weint, erzählt, ihr Mann und ihr Sohn seien in Albanien gefallen. Sie geht, kommt nach kurzer Zeit mit einem Esel zurück, gibt mir zu essen. Dann lässt sie mich aufsitzen und schreitet neben mir her. Aufwärts geht es. Sie lehnt entschieden ab, aufzusitzen und mich den Esel antreiben zu lassen. Sie bedeutet mir, ich brauche die Kraft gegen diesen verfluchten “Italius”. Ich blicke ins Dorf hinunter: im Zentrum flattert die Nazi-Fahne. Diesen Weg zurück werde ich nicht gehen – steht bei mir fest.
Immer aufwärts geht es durch Gärten und Tabakfelder. Plötzlich bietet sich ein schönes Bergdorf zwischen Obst- und Weingärten meinen Blicken dar. Die Frau weist auf eine Bergspitze, auf der ein Kloster — “Monastir” sagt sie — steht. Ich steige ab, atme froh die dünne Bergluft ein.
Einige Minuten später betreten meine Füsse den Boden des Bergdorfes “Ypati”. Gesegnet sei es.
F. J-n.
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I Was a Prisoner of War of The Nazis (Conclusion) October 29, 1943
The sound of an engine wakes me in the morning. The knocking of a motor, powered by substitute materials. So, a German engine. And I still wear my English uniform! I crawl, and although I’m dying of thirst, I do not move. Again I fall asleep. The echo of an ax-strike awakens me. I sit up, the wood cutter sees me, comes hesitantly toward me. ‘‘I am a British soldier, escaped from captivity,” I say in my dictionary – Greek. He has understood me, presses my hand firmly, kisses me. He leaves me his jug of water, some wine and bread; gives me to understand that I have to stay here all day. In the evening he will come and get me.
He came with his donkey. “Andaki,” he whispers to me. That means “all right.” He puts on a giant hat and throws a shawl over my shoulder to cover the uniform. He goes ahead, I in sight behind him. We make a detour through the village, passing through gardens and hedges to his house. A little girl holds my hand; I feel her heart beating in joyful excitement. He brings me into the house: Mother and children, as well as other family members greet me warmly. It is dark, the whole big room is dimly lit by the little light at the family altar. The wood cutter’s wife pulls up an old sweaty chair, invites me to sit, and everyone in the hallway is huddled around me. A girl takes off my shoes; washes and dries my feet. I am embarrassed, but I let it happen. I remember: that was a tradition in ancient Greece. Should anything not have changed here since then?
“Lechaim”
The farmer-wood cutter enters: happy and proud that I am in his house. He brings cake and wine. We drink. I do not remember the necessary Greek word; I say the Hebrew “Lechaim” (drinking greeting: “to life”). The word is spoken to me badly and right after, in the sentiment probably, it is the English drinking greeting. The farmer’s wife brings bread and warm soup. Although the soup is just moderately warm, it burns in my stomach, which has not felt anything warm for so long. The farmer cuts the bread, distributing to each his piece: me first, then the farmer’s wife, then the other family members. After dinner, he brings a pair of worn pants and a backpack. He instructs me to sleep on a wooden frame and promises to wake me up before dawn.
When he wakes me, I jump up refreshed. I am drunk with joy: I am a free man, have on civilian clothes, “they” will not get me. The farmer’s wife blesses me, wishing me protection from the Antichrist, the “Germanus”. I bow deeply and start walking.
I walk through fertile mountain land. Trickling brooks. Every 500 steps, I refill my bottle. I drink water; I’m drunk on water. I remember how, as thirsting British soldiers we craved in vain for water in the Libyan desert. I eat the bread and cheese that I got from the wood cutter’s family as a treat for the way. I do not need the bite of it. To save money. I will work – as a cattle boy or in a stable; I learned it in Palestine – until I can make my way back to the army.
In Safety
I go through vineyards. In one I see a smashed Junkers, some grave crosses next to it: German names and the addition: “Fallen for Grossdeutschland.” It started with “Germany awake, Judah perish” and ends with “Fallen”.
I’m approaching a village. There are Germans. I see traces of car wheels, hear horns and ringing. I strike an up-leading footbridge, hide myself near a fountain with a holy image. Against my will I fall asleep. When I wake up, a woman kneels before the altar. I ask her: “T’unoma hurian?” (What’s the name of the village?) “Germanus messo?” (Are Germans here?) She replies with a question: “Ssiss stratiatus?” (Are you a soldier?)
When I tell her that I am a British soldier escaped from imprisonment, she rushes towards me, shaking my hands, crying, telling me that her husband and son have died in Albania. She leaves, comes back after a short time with a donkey, gives me food. Then she lets me sit up and walks next to me. It goes uphill. She resolutely refuses to sit, and let me drive the donkey. It means to me, I need the strength against this accursed “Italius”. I look down into the village: in the center the Nazi flag flutters. I will not go back this way – I am sure.
It always goes uphill through gardens and tobacco fields. Suddenly, my view of a beautiful mountain village between orchards and vineyards. The woman points to a mountain top on which is a monastery – “Monastir” she says – stands. I climb off, breathe in the thin mountain air.
A few minutes later my feet enter the bottom of the mountain village “Ypati”. Blessed be it.
“Gelber 1984” – Gelber, Yoav, Jewish Palestinian Volunteering in the British Army During the Second World War – Volume IV – Jewish Volunteers in British Forces, World War II, Yav Izhak Ben-Zvi Publications, Jerusalem, Israel, 1984
“We Will Remember Them I” – Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, London, England, 1989 “We Will Remember Them II” – Morris, Henry, Edited by Hilary Halter, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 – An Addendum, AJEX, London, England, 1994
Prisoners of War – Armies and Other Land Forces of The British Empire, 1939-1945 (“All Lists Corrected Generally Up to 30th March 1945″), J.B. Hayward & Son, in Association with The Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books, Polstead, Suffolk, England, 1990 (First published in 1945 by His Majesty’s Stationary Office)
Among the ninety-odd obituaries for Jewish servicemen published in The New York Times during the Second World War, were three for Jewish soldiers born in Germany. Whether these servicemen were selected for news coverage specifically because of that ancestry – or – this number by chance approximated the relative proportion of German-born Jews in the American armed forces – or – whether the Times’ reporting about these men was influenced by other publications, such as Aufbau – or? – whether this was attributable to social connections with the families of these soldiers on the part of the Times’ staff (which was evidently the case for Army Air Force Captain William Hays Davidow) is unknown.
In any event, thus far in this project I’ve presented the story of T/4 Alexander H. Hersh, who was killed in action in the European Theater on January 21, 1945.
In the future, I hope to present information about Berlin-born 2 Lt. Alfred Kupferschmidt, who, as a member of the 116th Reconnaissance Squadron, 101st Cavalry Group, was killed by artillery fire on February 25, 1945, and reported upon in the Times the following May 6. Like many of the soldiers profiled in this series of posts, Kupferschmidt’s name never appeared in American Jews in World War II.
But, until then, here’s a “third” German-born Jewish soldier: Private First Class Harry Kaufman, 32817804. Born in Bielefeld in 1925, he was the son of Sally and Elsie Kaufman, his family residing at 3593 Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx. A member of the 254th Infantry Regiment of the 63rd Infantry Division, his name appeared in a Casualty List published on May 10, 1945. He was the subject of (brief) news stories in the Times on May 23, the Daily News on May 17, and Aufbau on May 4. His name appears on page 359 of American Jews in World War II. A recipient of the Purple Heart, he is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery at Saint Avold France, in Grave 32 Row 16, Plot D.
Here is his very brief obituary, as it appeared in the Times:
Refugee in U.S. in 1936 Is Casualty in Germany
Pfc. Harry Kaufman was killed in action in Germany on April 17, according to word received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Kaufman, of 3593 Bainbridge Avenue, the Bronx.
He came to this country in 1936 from Germany with his parents and tried to enlist in the armed forces in 1942, but was not accepted. He was a student at the Bronx High School of Science when drafted in February, 1943.
Private Kaufman was injured while a paratrooper. He later was transferred to the infantry.
Here’s Private Kaufman’s portrait, as published in the Times.
Here’sthe first page of Aufbau’s May 4 issue. The headlines are self-explanatory even if one doesn’t know German!
And, here’s the paper’s last page, on which appeared information about military awards, military accomplishments, and inevitably, casualties. The practice of publishing such news items specifically on te final page of every issue page was established in the newspaper as early as 1944. In this instance, the news article about Harry Kaufman appears in the upper left corner.
Once again, Harry Kaufman’s portrait. This is the same image which appeared in the Times, albeit the latter published only a cropped version of the photo. Here, Harry’s glider infantry shoulder patch is visible on his left shoulder, indicating that this picture was taken before his assignment to the 63rd Infantry Division.
Here’s a better view of the shoulder insignia of the glider infantry…
…and here’s the shoulder patch – an original from WW II – of the United States Army’s 63rd Infantry Division.
A transcript and translation of Aufbau’s very brief news item about Harry Kaufman’s death in battle….
Für die Freiheit gefallen Pfc. Harry Kaufman
ist am 18. April in Alter von 20 Jahren “irgendwo in Deutschland” gefallen. Er wurde in Bielefeld geboren und kam 1936 mit seinen Eltern nach New York. Ende Februar 1943 wurde er in die Armee eingezogen und im November 1944 nach Uebersee geschickt. Er gehörte der 7th Army an.
Fallen for Freedom Pfc. Harry Kaufman
fell “somewhere in Germany” on April 18th at the age of 20. He was born in Bielefeld and came to New York with his parents in 1936. At the end of February 1943 he was drafted into the army and sent overseas in November 1944. He was a member of the 7th Army.
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This Oogle map of the New York metropolitan area shows the location of the Kaufman family’s residence at 3593 Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx…
…and, here’s a larger scale Oogle map of the same area.
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Harry Kaufman’s matzeva at the Lorraine American Cemetery, photographed by FindAGrave researcher Thomas Welsch.
Some other Jewish military casualties on Tuesday, April 17, 1945 (Yom Shishi, 5 Iyar, 5705) include…
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
United States Army (Ground Forces)
Butler, Manfred, PFC, 42136245, BSM, Purple Heart (Italy) 10th Mountain Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment Born in Germany, in 1926 Mrs. Natalie J. Butler (mother), 863 Hunts Point Ave., New York, N.Y. Florence American Cemetery, Via Cassia, Italy – Plot F, Row 14, Grave 25 Aufbau 11/9/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Cohn, Irving, PFC, 32272686, BSM, Purple Heart (at Ie Shima, Okinawa) 77th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment, I Company Born 5/22/10 Mrs. Mary Cohn (mother), Evelyn (sister), 825 Gerard Ave., Bronx, N.Y. Mount Hebron Cemetery, Corona, N.Y. American Jews in World War II – 293
Goltman, David Monroe, PFC, 42126851, Purple Heart 97th Infantry Division, 303rd Infantry Regiment Born Brooklyn, N.Y, 1/24/26 Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Jeanette Goltman (parents), 1675 54th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Cemetery location unknown – buried 1/7/49 Casualty Lists 5/9/45, 6/8/45 The New York Times (Obituary Section) 1/6/49 American Jews in World War II – 329
Hayek, Teddy K., PFC, 32681062, Purple Heart 30th Infantry Division, 117th Infantry Regiment, Medical Corps Mr. Albert K. Hayek (brother), 239 West 103rd St., New York, N.Y. (also) 4 W. 109th St., New York, N.Y. Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section H, Grave 9586 Casualty Lists 5/14/45, 5/28/45 American Jews in World War II – 342
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Kiel, David (David Bar Yosef), PFC, 32863120, Purple Heart, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster 34th Infantry Division, 168th Infantry Regiment, K Company (Signal Corps) Wounded previously, approximately on 1/15/44 and 7/9/44 Mr. Joseph Kiel (father), PFC Bernard Kiel, and, Hyman Kiel (brothers), 37-07 61st St., Woodside, N.Y. Born New York, N.Y., 9/18/24 Mount Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, N.Y. – Society T.D. Young Men, Block 50, Reference 2, Section A-C, Line 7, Grave 39 Casualty Lists 2/15/44, 9/9/44, 5/12/45 Long Island Star Journal 6/13/45 American Jews in World War II – 361
A pensive mood: Private Kiel’s portrait, as it appeared in the Long Island Star Journal on June 13, 1945…
…which accompanied the following news item:
Killed in Italy
Private First Class David Kiel was killed in Italy, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kiel of 37-07 61st St., Woodside, have been informed by the War Department. He was extending a communications line to a forward position when he was fatally wounded by bomb fragments, his father and mother were told. He has been buried in Italy. His brother, Bernard, is a private first class in the Army in New Guinea. Another brother is a seaman, 2/C, at the Sampson Naval Training Center.
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David’s matzeva at Mount Hebron Cemetery, photographed by FindAGrave researcher Ronzoni.
PFC David Kiel’s story continued, at least indirectly, at least for a time, at least (and at most) for a few years beyond 1945: In 1949, Jewish War Veterans Post named in his memory was established in Woodside. The following three news articles, from the (good ‘ole!) Daily News, and, Long Island Star Journal, report on this event:
JWV to Install Daily News (New York) March 13, 1949
Joseph Newman, commander, heads a staff of officers to be installed tonight by the David Kiel Jewish War Veterans Post of Woodside. The installation will be held in Paprin’s restaurant, 60-21 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, Queens.
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Long Island Star Journal March 1, 1949
Organizing New Jewish War Veterans Post in Woodside
Four Woodsiders go over plans for the David Kiel Jewish Veterans Post of Woodside institution ceremony, to be held March 13 in Paprin’s restaurant, Woodside. They are (seated, left to right) Raymond Newman of 59-16 Woodside Avenue, chairman, and Philip Paprin, the restaurant owner, and (standing, left to right) Henry Rosenblatt, Queens J.W.V. Musical Director, and, Rabbi Yehudah Pehkin of the Woodside Jewish Center. The program includes a dinner and installation of officers.
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DAVID KIEL POST TO SEAT OFFICERS Long Island Star Journal March 10, 1949
The David Kiel Jewish War Veterans Post will be formally instituted Sunday night in Paprin’s restaurant, 60-21 Roosevelt avenue, Woodside. Joseph Newman of 59-16 Woodside avenue, Woodside, commander, and other officers will be installed.
They include Bernard Kiel and Jordan Rolnick, vice-commanders; Arthur Schulman, quartermaster; Isadore Kamen, adjutant; Harold Morrison, officer-of-the-day; Dr. Arthur Gordon, surgeon; Milton Hong, chaplain; Wallace Green, officer of the guard; Joseph Zarchy, historian; Joseph Honig, patriotic instructor; Arthur Zarchy, service officer, and Stanley Ganz, Max Schaffer and William Bell, trustees.
Raymond Newman is the arrangements committee chairman. Dancing will follow the installation.
It would seem that by now, the year 2021, the David Kiel Jewish War Veterans Post no longer exists: Searching the very phrase “David Kiel Jewish War Veterans Post” in DuckDuckGo, and that o t h e r search engine – y’know, that one in Menlo Park? – yields parallel results: “No results found for “David Kiel Jewish War Veterans Post””, and, “It looks like there aren’t many great matches for your search,” respectively. This should not be too surprising, given the passage of time and the fragility of human memory, let alone the enormous sociological, demographic, and technological changes that have transpired in the United States, and the rapidly atrophying “West” in general, since the late 1940s.
If such forces have affected the Western world in general, so are they similarly affecting the Jews of the United States. As for the future of the Jews in the United States? About that I make no predictions, other than to say that while history never repeats itself congruently, there is a similarity in patterns of thought and behavior across time and space, for human nature remains unchanged. And so, the following two essays – by Joel Kotkin and Caroline Glick, despite all their likely ideological differences! – deserve equal contemplation.
Klein, Jerome R. (Yosef Bar Yakov Klein), Pvt., 13179290 Died Non-Battle Born 1924 Mr. and Mrs. Jacob E. (7/1/92-5/6/69) and Minnie (1/12/99-8/14/89) Klein (parents), Philadelphia, Pa. Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkintown, Pa. – Section 4, Lot 353, Grave 1; Date of burial unknown American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Here’s the Klein family plot at Montefiore Cemetery in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Jerome’s resting place is at the left.
Jerome Klein’s matzeva. Information concerning the specific military unit to which he was assigned is unavailable. Given that he’s categorized as having “Died Non-Battle”, I believe his military service was limited to the United States.
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Krieger, Morris J., PFC, 35517750, BSM, Purple Heart (at Mount Serra, Tuscany, Italy) 10th Mountain Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, F Company Born 1917 Mrs. Emilie Krieger (wife); Charles Krieger (son; YOB 1942), William J. Krieger (brother); Mrs. Sadie Thomas and Mrs. Mary Winston (sisters), 110 Hill St., Bay City, Mi. Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy – Plot B, Row 6, Grave 5 Cleveland Press & Plain Dealer – 5/23/45 American Jews in World War II – 492
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London, Maurice (Moshe Bar Benyamin), PFC, 33786461, Purple Heart (Germany) 283rd Field Artillery Regiment, A Battery Born 10/18/19, Philadelphia, Pa. Mrs. Norma London (wife); “Ganelle” / “Janella”?) (daughter), 3209 W. Dauphin St., Philadelphia, Pa. Benjamin London (father); Billie and Lena (sisters) Mount Sharon Cemetery, Springfield, Pa. – Section L, Lot 450, Grave 2; Buried 9/26/48 The Jewish Exponent 5/18/45, 6/8/45, 10/1/48 The Philadelphia Inquirer 5/12/45, 9/24/48 Philadelphia Record 5/12/45, 5/28/45 American Jews in World War II – 537
Private Maurice London’s matzeva. Examination of the upper part of the column reveals that a photographic portrait set in a ceramic mount may once have been attached to it, in the custom of many matzevot from the 20s through the 40s. That picture has been lost in the decades since the late 1940s.
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Paul, Solomon, PFC, 33053838, BSM, Purple Heart 77th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment Born 4/25/20 Mr. and Mrs. Louis and Rose Paul (parents), 2732 North Front St., Philadelphia, Pa. Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii – Plot E-170; Buried 1/3/49 Philadelphia Inquirer 6/11/45 Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Record – 6/12/45 American Jews in World War II – 452
Penso, Stanley, PFC, 42183678, Purple Heart (Germany) Born 1926 (?) Mrs. Ray Penso (mother), 1460 Grand Concourse, New York, N.Y. City College of New York Class of 1947 Cemetery location unknown Casualty List 5/19/45 American Jews in World War II – 404
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Sapperstein, Melvin S., Pvt., 36978192, Purple Heart 91st Infantry Division, 361st Infantry Regiment, I Company Born Detroit, Michigan, 8/7/20 Mrs. Theodora (Alpert) Sapperstein (wife), 2923 Monterey St., Detroit, Mi. Mr. Sol Sapperstein (father); Eileen (sister), 2923 Monterey, Detroit, Mi. Machpelah Cemetery, Ferndale, Mi. – Section 6, Lot 36, Grave 413D; Buried 11/28/48 Casualty List 5/22/45 The Jewish News (Detroit) 6/15/45, 11/26/48 Baltimore Jewish Times 4/27/45 American Jews in World War II – 195
Announcement of a memorial service for Private Sapperstein, published in The Jewish News on June 15, 1945.
Private Sapperstein’s matzeva, as photographed by FindAGrave contributor KChaffeeB. His name appears atop the stone in Hebrew characters, but the text cannot be resolved due to the angle of the image.
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Schwartzman, Henry, Pvt., 32899677, Silver Star, Purple Heart 14th Armored Division, 48thy Armored Tank Battalion Mrs. Sylvia Schwartzman (wife), 1559 40th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Tablets of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France Casualty List 5/31/45 American Jews in World War II – 436
Unger, Irwin M. (Ezriel Mordechai Ben Yehuda Tzvi), PFC, 42064656, Silver Star, Purple Heart (Germany) 8th Armored Division, 49th Armored Infantry Battalion, A Company Born 1926 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph (Juda) [1892-3/13/41] and Molly M. (Gottesman) [1897-2/17/77] Unger (parents), 133 Clarke Place, New York, N.Y. Baron Hirsch Cemetery, Staten Island, N.Y. – First Nadworner Sick Benevolent Association (matezva is missing) Casualty List 5/18/45 American Jews in World War II – 463
United States Army Air Force
First Lieutenant Nathaniel Norman Shane
– Murdered while Prisoner of War –
On the 17th of April, 1945, First Lieutenant Nathaniel Norman Shane (0-781687), a co-pilot in the 327th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, was one of three airmen – from a crew of eight – who were able to parachute from their B-17G Flying Fortress (43-39110, UX * E, otherwise known as Naughty Nancy), after their aircraft was struck by another 327th Bomb Squadron B-17G (44-8903, the un-nicknamed UX * G) in a mid-air collision during a mission to Dresden, Germany.
Missing Air Crew Report 14053, for Naughty Nancy, reveals that the plane’s other two survivors were the pilot, 1 Lt. John W. Paul., Jr., of Dundalk, Maryland, and tail gunner, S/Sgt. Peter B. Taylor, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Of the eight crew members aboard UX * G, covered in MACR 14052, there were two survivors: Pilot 1 Lt. Arthur H. Heuther, and co-pilot 2 Lt. Frank K. Jones.
Shane landed uninjured in the vicinity of the German town of Reinhardtsgrimma*, south of Dresden, and was soon captured by a member of the SS named “KIRSTEN”.
As angry civilians arrived on the scene, Shane was murdered: He was shot several times by Kirsten.
As documented in Shane’s Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) – in the context of the discovery and identification of Shane’s body in 1948 – “The [Parish] Preacher [“Hinke”, who reported the shooting] evidently seemed to know more than he was willing to talk about.”
A review of documents in Shane’s IDPF, and, NARA Records Group 153 (Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General), shows that the case was not investigated beyond the context of recovering Shane’s body. The limiting factor, of course, was the Cold War (the first Cold War?!): Correspondence in 2017 with the German Central Office of the National Judicial Authorities for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes revealed that the, “…events and persons described … are unknown or unidentifiable. This, et. al., is due to the fact that both Reinhardtsgrimma and Dippoldiswalde are located in Saxony and thus lay in the Soviet occupation zone or the GDR, for which the central office was not responsible due to the German division until 1989/90.”
As recorded in Shane’s IDPF, the last information about Kirsten – first name unknown – was that as of February, 1948, the former member of the SS was jailed in the town of Dippoldiswalde.
Beyond that, there is nothing.
Shane’s body was in time returned to the United States. He was buried at King Solomon Memorial Park, in Clifton, New Jersey (Section Lebanon, Block 66, Grave 43) on April 23, 1950.
Having flown 27 missions, Nathaniel Shane received the Purple Heart, Air Medal, and three Oak Leaf Clusters. Born on June 6, 1922, in Manhattan, he was married, his wife Beatrice residing at 1231 Boynton Avenue, in the Bronx. His parents, Harry A. and Sadie Shane, and his brother, Sidney, lived at 810 Hunts Point Avenue, (also) in the Bronx.
While Lt. Shane’s name appeared in a Casualty List published on May 22, 1945, his name – like the names of many American Jewish WW II military casualties – is absent from American Jews in World War II, as attested to by many prior posts at this blog.
Strangely, while the National WW II Memorial hosts an Honoree page for Lieutenant Shane created by his brother, with the statement, “AIR CORPS PILOT. HE WAS KILLED ON APRIL 17, 1945 IN A RAID OVER DRESDEN, GERMANY. RECEIVED THE HONORABLE SERVICE LAPEL BUTTON, EUROPEAN-AFRICAN-MIDDLE EASTERN CAMPAIGN MEDAL WITH 1 BRONZE STAR, AND THE WWII VICTORY MEDAL,” (accompanied by the above photo of the Lieutenant), Nathaniel Shane’s name is absent from that website’s National Archives Registry. (I’ve encountered this discrepancy with other record searches at the National WW II Memorial website.)
Akin to the post about Corporal Jack Bartman, I hope to create a separate post about Nathaniel Shane’s story in the future.
“…a former municipality in the district of Weisseritzkreis in Saxony in Germany located near Dresden. On 2 January 2008, it merged into the town Glashütte.
This Oogle map image shows Reinhardtsgrimma in relation to Dresden.
…and, Oogling on in, here’s a map of the town at a larger scale.
Soviet Union
Red Army U.S.S.R. (C.C.C.Р.), Red Army [РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)]
Altman, Boris Shlemovich – Guards Senior Sergeant [Альтман, Борис Шлемович – Гвардии Старший Сержант] 385th Guards Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment Telephone Operator [Телефонист] Born 1924; Tetievskiy Raion Beloshevskiy, David Borisovich – Junior Lieutenant [Белошевский, Давид Борисович – Младший Лейтенант] 6th Guards Tank Corps, 51st Guards Tank Brigade Tank Commander [Командир Танка] Born 1922; city of Serdobsk Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume I – 126
Dekhtyar Iosif Markovich – Lieutenant [Дехтяр, Иосиф Маркович – Лейтенант] Battery Commander – Self-Propelled Guns [Командир Батареи – Самоходной Установки] – SU-76[СУ-76] Armored and Mechanized Troops, 1221st Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 1st Belorussian Front Born 1919, city of Korosten, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine
Gimelfarb / Gimelford, Nikolay Naumovich – Guards Sergeant Major [Гимельфарб / Гимельфорд, Николай Наумович – Гвардии Старшина] Cannon Commander – Self-Propelled Gun [Командир Орудия – Самоходной Установки] – ISU-122[ИСУ-122] 367th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 31st Tank Corps Born 1925; city of Moscow
Greys, Grigoriy Danilovich – Guards Junior Lieutenant [Грейс, Григорий Данилович – Гвардии Младший Лейтенант] 54th Guards Tank Brigade Tank Commander [Командир Танка] Born 1911; Kushchenskiy Raion, Rostov Oblast Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume VIII – 206
Perelman, Lev Solomonovich – Private [Перельман, Лев Соломонович – Красноармеец] Machine-Gunner [Автоматчик] 240th Rifle Division Born 1923; city of Nezhin Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume VIII – 401
Sunik, Abram Shaevich – Junior Lieutenant [Суник, Абрам Шаевич – Младший Лейтенант] 175th Tank Brigade Tank Commander [Командир Танка] Born 1921; city of Tashkent Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume III – pp. 395, 423
Tsimkin / Tsinkin Aleksandr Yakovlevich, Guards Sergeant [Цимкин / Цинкин, Александр Яковлевич – Гвардии Сержант] Gun Charger (Заряжающий) 51st Guards Tank Brigade At Ette, Germany Born 1910; city of Mari, Turkmen SSR
England
“FROST, WITH A GESTURE STAYS THE WAVES THAT DANCE.”
Warrant Officer II Class John Gamble was one of the 37 members of the Jewish Brigade who were killed during the time in which the unit was engaged in combat with German forces. Biographical information, his portrait, and his story as presented in Jacob Lifshitz’s The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora – the latter transcribed as Hebrew, with English translation – are presented below…
Gamble, John Allan, WO 2C, 938393, Battery Sergeant-Major England, Royal Artillery 200th Field Regiment, Palestine Regiment, Jewish Brigade Group Mrs. Joan Gamble (wife), Kingsbury, Middlesex, England Mr. and Mrs. Graham and Caroline Susan Gamble (parents) Born 1918 Forli War Cemetery, Vecchiazzano, Forli, Italy – VI,C,23 We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I – 244 The Book of the Jewish Brigade – 249
סרגינט מיגיור גאמבל ג’ון אלאן ז”ל.
Sergeant Major John Allan Gamble of blessed memory.
נפצע ומת מפצעיו ביום 17 באפריל 1945 בתאונת-דרכים באיטליה.
He was injured in a car accident in Italy on April 17, 1945 and died of his injuries.
סוללת התותחנים שלו נסעה לחזית ,וג’ון ,שרכב על אופנוע ,שימש כמפקח-התנועה. מכוניות השיירה העלו גלי אבק גדולים לאורך הדרך ,שסינוורו את העינים והאופנוע שלו התנגש עם מכונית-משא גדולה והוא נפצע קשה בברכיו ובשוקיו ומת מפצעיו .נקבר בבית-הקברות הצבאי (Forli) בעיר פורלי.
His artillery battery drove to the front, and John, riding a motorcycle, served as traffic inspector. The convoy cars raised large waves of dust along the road, which dazzled his eyes and his motorcycle collided with a large truck and he was badly injured in his knees and calves and died of his wounds. He was buried in the military cemetery in the town of Forli.
בן כ”ז במותו .נוצרי יליד אנגליה .נתחנד בבית-ספר ברונט שבמאנספילד .ספורטאי נלהב ,ייצג את בית-ספרו בתחרויות קרירט וכדור רגל והיה חבר פעיל במשד כמה בקלוב חובבי הקריקמ בוודהאוז ;שחייו וצולל מובהק .עסק לפני התגייסותו בהנהלת-חשבונות .גשוי .התגייס לצבא עם פרוץ המלחמה וצורף לחיל התותחנים .עד שנת 1943 שימש כמדריך בשיעורי-תותחנות בדרום וולס ובאירלנד ,אחר כך נשלח לצפון-אפריקה ושירת במחנה השמיני .אתר עבר לאיטליה והצמיין באומץ-לב בפעולות בפיזה וזבה על בך באות-ההצטיינות “עלי אשל” ביום 24 באוגוסט 1944 .ושוב הצטיין באומץ-לב זוכה להיוכר בהודעה צבאית ביום 11 בינואר 1945 .כשהחי”ל נכנס לחזית ,צורף אלאן לחיל התותחנים שבחי”ל.
He was 27 years old at the time of his death. A Christian born in England. He became an enthusiastic athlete at the Brunt School in Mansfield. He joined the army when the war broke out and joined the artillery. Until 1943 he served as an artillery instructor in South Wales and Ireland, then was sent to North Africa and served in the camp “Ali Eshel” on August 24, 1944. And again he excelled in courage. He was recognized in a military announcement on January 11, 1945.
This phot of Warrant Officer II Class’ Gamble’s matzeva is by FindAGrave researcher bbmir (no longer active), who apparently took images of many tombstones at the Forli War Cemetery.
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Gordon, Stanley Edward, Lt., 331196 Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) Mr. A. Gordon (father), “Aloha”, King__on (?) Lane, Southwick, England (also) 86 Great Tischfield St., London, England Becklingen War Cemetery, Borkel, Kreis Becklingen, Germany – 3,B,16 Jewish Chronicle 5/18/45 We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I – 96
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“GRIEVOUSLY MOURNED BY LOVING PARENTS, SISTERS, BROTHERS AND RELATIVES.”
Rosen, Michael, Lance Bombardier, 1544792 Royal Artillery, 71st Anti-Tank Regiment Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Leah Rosen (parents), Sheffield, England Born 1920 Hanover War Cemetery, Germany – 7,F,12 We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I – 148
This image of Lance Bombardier Rosen’s matzeva is by FindAGrave researcher pfo. Akin to the photo of Warrant Officer II Class Gamble’s tombstone, this image reveals the powerfully simple standardized design of tombstones in Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries, where commemorative inscriptions always appear below the religious symbol engraved in the stone’s center.
France
Bouaziz, Isaac, at Meknes, Morocco France (Maroc), Armée de Terre, 16eme GA FTA Alger From Fez, Morocco Born 10/21/21 Died of illness (Maladie)
Golberg, Salomon, at Baden-Baden, Germany France, Armée de Terre, 19eme Bataillon de Chasseurs à Pied From Paris, France Born 2/16/24 Died of wounds (Des suites des Blessures)
Perez, Moise, at Kehl [sic], Germany France (Maroc), 101eme Genie Born Marrakech, Morocco, 1919 Killed in combat (Tue au combat)
Fajfer, Leon, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Karlshof (Operation Brand-Berlin)) Polish People’s Army, 7th Infantry Regiment Mr. Daniel Fajfer (father) Born 1919 JMCPAWW2 I – 19
Frenkiel, Maksymilian, Pvt. (Germany, Altreetz (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 5th Infantry Regiment Mr. Baruch Frenkiel (father) Born Kuchary, Poland, 1918 JMCPAWW2 I – 22
Gondowicz, Henryk, Pvt. (Operation Pomeranian Wall) Polish People’s Army JMCPAWW2 I – 25
Grynblat, Jakub, Sergeant Major (Germany, Altreetz (Operation Brand Berlin)) Polish People’s Army, 5th Infantry Regiment Mr. Chaim Grynblat (father) Born Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland; 1917 JMCPAWW2 I – 26
Klugman, Oskar, Pvt. (Poland-Germany, Oder River (Operation Brand Berlin)) Polish People’s Army, 2nd Light Artillery Regiment Mr. Henryk Klugman (father) Born Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland; 1917 JMCPAWW2 I – 37
Kniazanski, Maks, First Sergeant (Germany, Altwriezen (Operation Brand Berlin)) Polish People’s Army Born 1925 JMCPAWW2 I – 37
Lampert, Leon, Lance Corporal, 27094 (Rhede, Germany; Canadian Hospital No. 6 at Ootmarsum, Netherlands) 1 Polska Dywizja Pancerna, 10 Pulk Dragonow Poland, Polish Army West Born Czernin d. Pieszew, Poland; 2/4/19 Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Gelderland, Netherlands – Plot V, Row A, Grave 3; Initially buried in Cemetery “Kuiperberg”, Ootmarsum, Netherlands JMCPAWW2 II – 118
Landau, Antoni, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Neurüdnitz (Operation Brand Berlin)) Polish People’s Army, 6th Infantry Regiment Mr. Natan Landau (father) Born Tyczyn, Podkarpackie, Poland, 1905 JMCPAWW2 I – 43
Majner, Tadeusz, Cpl. (Germany, Brandenburg, Bad Freienwalde (Operation Brand Berlin)) Polish People’s Army, 4th Infantry Regiment Mr. Leon Majner (father) Born Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland; 1912 JMCPAWW2 I – 47
Nadryczny, Beniamin, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Bad Freienwalde (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 4th Infantry Regiment Mr. Shlomo Nadryczny (father) Born Tulicze (d. Kobryn), Poland, 1920 JMCPAWW2 I – 51
Panas, Wladyslaw, Pvt. (German-Polish border, Niesse (Operation Bautzen Elba)) Polish People’s Army, 37th Infantry Regiment Mr. Daniel Panas (father) Born 1908 JMCPAWW2 I – 53
Perelberg, Izaak, Cpl. (Germany, Brandenburg, Bad Freienwalde (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 1st Howitzer Regiment Mr. Ben-Zion Perelberg (father) Gorn Hrubieszow, Lubelskie, Poland; 1922 JMCPAWW2 I – 53
Rajchel, Jozef, Cpl. (Germany, Brandenburg, Neuwustrow (Operation Brand Berlin)) Lithuania, Polish People’s Army, 5th Infantry Regiment Mr. Izrael Rajchel (father) Born Braslaw (d. Vilna), Lithuania; 1915 JMCPAWW2 I – 56
Roza, Izrael, WO (Germany, Konigsreetz (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 4th Infantry Regiment Mr. Icek Roza (father) Born Lochow (d. Wegrow) [Mazowieckie?], Poland, 1916 JMCPAWW2 I – 59
Rozenbaum, Chaim, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Lodenau (Operation Bautzen Elba)) Polish People’s Army, 33rd Infantry Regiment Mr. Izrael Rozenbaum (father) Born 1924 JMCPAWW2 I – 58
Szafran, Chil, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Lodenau (Operation Bautzen Elba)) Polish People’s Army, 33rd Infantry Regiment Mr. Mojzesz Szafran (father) Born 1903 JMCPAWW2 I – 65
Szwarc, Roman, Cpl. (Germany, Klemzow (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 13th Infantry Regiment Mr. Jozef Szwarc (father) Born Wygnanka (d. Lublin), Poland, 1916 JMCPAWW2 I – 69
Trostenman, Zelik, Pvt. (Germany, Altreetz (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army, 5th Infantry Regiment Mr. Lejb Trostenman (father) Born Wolomin, Mazowieckie, Poland, 1908 JMCPAWW2 I – 71
Prisoners of War
United States Army
Glassoff, Isadore, Pvt., 31028697, Field Artillery, Purple Heart 6th Armored Division, 212th Field Artillery Battalion, Service Battery Born in Massachusetts, 9/14/14; Died 2/21/78 Prisoner of War; POW camp (if any…) unknown Mr. and Mrs. Hyman and Ida Glassoff (parents), Joseph (brother), 143 Cottage St., Everett, Ma. Casualty List (Liberated POW) 6/21/45 American Jews in World War II – 160
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United States Army Air Force
8th Air Force 78th Fighter Group 82nd Fighter Squadron
While a number of my prior posts have either focused on, profiled, or mentioned in passing Jewish aviators who served as fighter pilots in the WW I United States Army Air Service (like Jacques M. Swaab), United States Army Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and Royal Air Force, the 17th of April in 1945 was somewhat unusual in this respect. That day, two Jewish fighter pilots – assigned to the same Air Force – the England-based 8th Air Force; members of the same Fighter Group – the 78th; members of the same Fighter Squadron – the 82nd; flying the same type of aircraft – the P-51D Mustang; were lost during a bomber escort and strafing mission to the Dresden area. The Parallels continue. Both were immediately captured (one was injured) and both survived the war’s closing weeks (well, the war obviously continued in the Pacific Theater!) to eventually return to the United States.
On another, more abstract level, documentation about these two pilots has its own curious parallel: The Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) covering their loss in combat were filed sequentially, and their portraits can be found in the same official Army Air Force Photograph, image 72440AC (A12409).
Who were they? Second Lieutenant Alvin Mordecai Rosenberg (MACR 13940) and First Lieutenant Allen Abraham Rosenblum (MACR 13939).
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Lt. Rosenberg, 0-830084, parachuted from his P-51D 44-72357 (the probably un-nicknamed MX * D) at a point southwest of Adorf and north-northeast of Selb, Germany, due to an engine fire (and possible coolant leak) of unknown origin. Though nothing is known about his experiences as a POW, he would eventually return to his home state of New York. Born on January 6, 1924, he was the son of Raphael and Estelle, the family living at 2261 64th Street, in Brooklyn. He received the Air Medal, three Oak Leaf Clusters, and Purple Heart, though it’s not known if the latter award was specifically granted for the April 17 mission. His name appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle on July 25, 1941 (yes, 1941, not 1944), and in a War Department Casualty List of May 18, 1945. And, his name also appears on page 416 of American Jews in World War II.
Here’s a very high resolution scan of his portrait, from Army Air Force Photo 72440AC (A12409)…
…and, here’s a transcript of the Missing Aircrew Report pertaining to his loss:
S T A T E M E N T
I was flying Surtax Yellow leader when Surtax leader went down on an airdrome to destroy a jet that had just landed. My wingman couldn’t get his left combat tank off, so I didn’t take my flight down. Surtax spare, Lt. Rosenberg, was flying #5 in Yellow flight. He called that something had popped out the right side of his cowling. He had not been hit by flak. I told him to open his coolant and oil shutters wide, which he did, and to pick up a heading of 270 degrees, which he failed to do. He kept steering about 180 degrees and called in about 3 minutes later that he had returned his shutters to automatic because the plane seemed to be OK. I told him again to steer about 280 or 290 degrees, which he did, and told him to open his shutters again, which he did. By this time, I was flying fairly close formation with him, so I could observe the right side of his plane. A thin steady stream of white smoke was coming out of the exhaust stacks, which became increasingly worse after about 4 or 5 minutes. He said it was going to quit and wanted to know if we were in friendly territory. I told him to prime like mad, and the smoke stopped temporarily. I told him to try to keep it going for at least 7 minutes, because we were still in enemy territory. Every time the smoke started, I would yell at him to prime, and the smoke would stop. About 3 minutes from the time it got bad, however, the engine quit altogether and flames emanated from around the exhaust stacks. He immediately released the canopy and bailed successfully. The plane crashed and exploded, and he landed about 100 yards from a house. Two people came out to him, and he seemed to be OK, for he stood and waved to us. Lt. Childs, my element leader, buzzed them a couple of times, so his description of the people with Lt. Rosenberg follows. Lt. Rosenberg’s exact position is not known, but his approximate position is in the vicinity of Adorf, just south of Plauen.
IVAN H. KEATLEY 0-665815 Captain, Air Corps.
I was flying Surtax Yellow 3. After Lt. Rosenberg bailed out, I saw him land safely in an open field and saw him met by two German men. One appeared to have on an olive drab uniform, the other was wearing civilian clothes. As I passed over, he waved that he was OK. The second time I passed over he was standing in a small village, which I believe was Adorf.
JOHN C. CHILDS 0-2005853 1st Lt., Air Corps
I certify I have interrogated every pilot in the vicinity of Adorf, where Lt. Rosenberg became MIA, and that all available information is incorporated in the statements above.
ERWIN C. BOETTCHER Captain, Air Corps Intelligence Officer
Here’s by the map accompanying the MACR. Not too precise, but it does the job.
I’ve been unable to trace information about Lt. Rosenberg further.
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The day was rather more eventful for Lieutenant Rosenblum. During a strafing attack against the Kralupy Airdrome, north-northwest of Prague and just east of the Vltava River, where his formation position was that of “Surtax Red Leader”, his left drop tank (which he couldn’t jettison) and propeller struck the ground, even as his Mustang (P-51D 44-72367, the probably un-nicknamed “MX * C”) became the focus of German antiaircraft fire. After a brief farewell radio message, he attempted to belly-land his plane, but the aircraft tumbled, and – as anti-aircraft fire continued – it cartwheeled, tearing off the right wing. Though no sign of life was seen by an observing pilot (Lt. Klassen) once the hurtling Mustang stopped moving, Lt. Rosenblum emerged from the wreck quite alive, his only injury a broken arm. As revealed in an Atlanta Constitution article of October 30, 1945 (see below), he was interned at Stalag 18C, in Markt Pongau, Austria, and like Lt. Rosenberg, in time returned to the United States.
Serial number 0-678943, he completed 56 missions, and received the Air Medal and two Oak Leaf Clusters, at least based on information in American Jews in World War II, where his name appears on page 89. Given his injury and total number of missions flown, it seems that he should have received the Purple Heart and eleven Oak Leaf Clusters…
Lt. Rosenblum’s parents were Nathan (Nuchum) Beryl and Freda (Bain) Rosenblum, of 127 Peachtree Street, in Anderson, South Carolina, while his sister Sarah was married to Sergeant David D. Danneman (himself a POW, as described below), from 771 Washington Street, in Atlanta. Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on April 26, 1923, he passed away on October 12, 1986, and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery, in Lilburn, Georgia. Along with American Jews in World War II, his name appeared in an official Casualty List on May 17, 1945, the Southern Israelite on November 2, 1945, and the Atlanta Constitution on March 9, 1945. This latter article follows below…
Lt. Allen Rosenblum In Air Convoy to Berlin
Lt. Allen A. Rosenblum, whose sister, Mrs. David Danneman, lives at 771 Washington Street, S.W., was one of 900 fighter pilots convoying 1,000 Eighth Air Force Fortresses in a recent devastating attack on the heart of Berlin.
Flying a P-51 Mustang, Lt. Rosenblum was in the air more than five and a half hours on the Berlin mission. His group, which went down to strafe an airfield at Luneburg and trains in other parts of western Germany, left 15 Nazi planes burning on the field and damaged 11 others, in addition to several locomotives and oil cars which were destroyed.
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Here’s a very high resolution scan of Lt. Rosenblum’s portrait, from Army Air Force Photo 72440AC (A12409)…
…and, here’s a transcript of the Missing Aircrew Report pertaining to his loss:
STATEMENTSOFEYE–WITNESSES
We were flying in Surtax Red flight, led by Lt. Rosenblum, on a bomber escort to Dresden. After the target, we flew south into Czechoslovakia and hit the deck to strafe an airdrome north of Prague. Surtax Red leader tried to drop his tanks, but his left one would not come off. One the run toward the field, while on the deck, Lt. Schneider called him, but he never did get it off. As we neared the field, on the deck, flak began to come at us. I saw it was being concentrated on Red leader. We were line abreast and I saw Rosenblum’s prop and tank hit the ground before reaching the field as he was hugging the ground to get under the flak. We believe he also hit his prop again on the field. He then said, “I’ve got to belly in here, so long fellows.” We passed him just as he was bellying in and did not get another look at the aircraft.
EDWIN O. SCHNEIDER 0-713584 1st Lt., Air Corps.
HARRY L. ROE JR 0-830318 2nd Lt., Air Corps.
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I was Cargo (83rd Fighter Squadron) Yellow leader on bomber escort In the Dresden area when Nuthouse reported jets in the area. I took my Section south of target to investigate some Bogies which turned out to be Surtax White and Red flights. They were positioning themselves to strafe an airdrome, so I circled to observe results. As Surtax Red Flight went over the drome, I saw one aircraft lagging behind and going very slow, and at that time Surtax Red leader called and said, “I’ve got to belly in here, so long fellows.” He cleared the west edge of the airfield, but hit something with his left wing just as he bellied in, which spun the aircraft around and tore off his right wing as he cart-wheeled. From the time he reached the edge of the field until after the aircraft came to a stop, I observed hits on and all around his aircraft from small caliber arms. The aircraft did not burn, and no one got out as I circled.
PETER W. KLASSEN 0-708695 1st Lt., Air Corps
I certify that I have interrogated every pilot in the area of Kralupy Airdrome at the time Lt. Rosenblum became MIA. All available information is Incorporated in the statements of the above.
ERRIN C. BOETTCHER Captain, Air Corps Intelligence Officer.
Here’s by the map accompanying the MACR. Like that for Lt. Rosenberg, not too detailed, but close enough, considering the conditions (combat conditions, that is!) under which observations were made.
Given the nearly eight decades that have transpired since the events in question, I thought it would be interesting to identify the actual location and current appearance of the Krapuly Airfield. This was not difficult, for the website Vrtulníky v Česku (Helicopters in the Czech Republic) has substantial information (at “Kralupy nad Vltavou Kralup“) chronologically arranged, about the airfield’s history from 1913 through 1955, of course in Czech. This includes the statement;
“16.4.1945 nálet stíhačů od 78th FG a 339th FG, 8th USAAF z Velké Británie.
Jako první byly zničeny čtyři stroje He 177. Pozoroval jsem vzdušný kolotoč z výšiny nad Minicemi, nad kterými dokončovaly některé stroje otáčky a vracely se zpět ke kralupskému letišti. V krátké době zůstaly z pýchy německého letectva na zemi jen hořící trosky. Po osmi průletech spojeneckých stíhačů byl celý prostor letiště zničen. Proti útočícím Mustangům nezasáhli Němci ani ze země, ani ze vzduchu. Zdroj.
Přímý účastník útoku na kralupské letiště Leutenant J.W. Gokey od 503rd FS, 339th FG, 8th USAAF z Velké Británie vzpomíná: “V oblasti, kam jsem směřoval, jsem spatřil několik letadel 78th FG, útočících na letiště u Kralup. Zapojili jsme se také krátce do boje. Plocha byla špatně přístupná a již na ni hořelo 30 nebo 35 transportních Ju 52. Zaměřili jsme se na vybavení letiště a zničili několik baráků na severu hlavní dráhy. Pro nedostatek paliva jsme prostor brzy opustili. Ze země nešla žádná palba, ale viděl jsem dva palposty flaku, které pravděpodobně zničila již 78th FG ..”
Approximate translation?
On April 16, 1945 raid [by] fighters from the 78th FG and 339th FG, 8th USAAF from Great Britain.
The He 177 aircraft were the first to be destroyed. In a short time, out of the pride of the German Air Force, only burning debris remained on the ground. After eight flights by Allied fighters, the entire area of the airport was destroyed. The Germans did not intervene against the attacking Mustangs either from the ground or from the air.
A direct participant in the attack on Kralupy Airport, Lieutenant J.W. Gokey from the 503rd FS, 339th FG, 8th USAAF from Great Britain recalls: “In the area where I was heading, I saw several 78th FG aircraft attacking the airport near Kralupy. We also participated briefly. The area was difficult to access and 30 or 35 Ju-52 transports [had] already burned. We focused on airport equipment and destroyed several barracks in the north of the main runway. Two flak outposts were probably destroyed by the 78th FG.”
Interestingly, given that Kralupy nad Vltavou Kralup has no information about an attack against the Kralupy Airfield on April 17– and I don’t think the 78th Fighter Group would have conducted a strafing attack against the same distant enemy airfield on two consecutive days – I wonder if the above statement about a mission on April 16, actually refers to the 78th’s mission of April 17. (I think it may!) In any event, here are three images of an April strafing attack against the Kralupy airfield from the same web page. (The source of the photos is not listed.)
In the image below, a P-51 is visible banking to the left, in the upper right corner.
But, what about the airfield’s specific location? Kralupy nad Vltavou Kralup displays air photos of the area, taken in 1946 and 1953, which show the field in relation to nearby geographic features, as well as the wreckage of Luftwaffe aircraft (I think Siebel 204s) that after the war were dumped in nearby quarries, or, pushed into wooded areas bordering the field. This photo, taken in 1953, shows the locations of four of these aeronautical junk piles – denoted by red ovals – at the periphery of the field.
Using this information and these photos in conjunction with the map in MACR 13939, I’ve created the following series of Oogle maps which – as you move “down” this page – reveal, at successively larger scales and therefore in greater detail, contemporary views of the airfield’s location. In each case, the airfield site is denoted by a red circle.
First, the airfield in relation to the city of Prague: A teeny-tiny red circle on this small-scale map.
Oogling on in, the airfield in relation to Veltrusy, and, Karlupy nad Vltavou (“Kralupy on the Vltava River”).
Oogling even closer…
Here’s a 2021 Landsat view of the area above. You can see that much of the terrain once occupied by the airfield is now taken up by buildings.
A map view again, but closer…
…followed by another Landsat image at the same scale as above. Note that probably more than half of the area once occupied by the airfield is now taken up by industrial development.
Finally, in this 3-D Oogle image of the airfield site (looking west-northwest) the extent of postwar construction is very clear. Also noticeable at the lower center right is one of the forested areas that existed back in 1945. Perhaps some aircraft wrecks – even including the remnants of P-51D 44-72367? – still lie there, deeply buried, awaiting discovery?
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But, what of the two lost Mustangs? The fate of the P-51s is clearly described in the MACRs: Lieutenant Rosenberg’s plane crashed and exploded not far from where he landed by parachute, while Lieutenant Rosenblum’s aircraft broke apart when he crash-landed on the airfield. Given the time-frame of the planes’ losses, there are no Luftgaukommando Reports pertaining to them. End of that story.
As for the markings of the two aircraft, information comes from Garry Fry’s Eagles of Duxford, which lists the squadron codes assigned to the planes as MX * C for Lt. Rosenblum’s, and MX * D for Lt. Rosenberg’s. Though Eagles does not indicate if the planes carried nicknames or nose art, this possibility is not entirely precluded, for – given the fact that the pertinent MACRs don’t even record the P-51’s squadron codes in the first place! – if the planes had been nicknamed, this information may simply have never been preserved.
Regardless, the following two images, from Peter Randall’s Little Friends website, give a very good representation of the presumable appearance of the two fighters: Natural metal finish, red rudders, “swept” black and white checkerboard nose trimmed in red surrounding the front half of the aircraft’s nose, and squadron codes painted in black (or, insignia blue?) trimmed with red.
First, P-51D 44-63246: This particular image was, “Taken in Duxford, England by Maj. Atlee G. (Pappy) Manthos while operations officer with the 78th Fighter Group following the end of hostilities in Europe. The pilot of this 82nd FS P-51D was Lt. John C. Childs of Hot Springs, Arkansas.”
Second, P-51D 44-15745: “Lt. Walter E Bourque. Detroit, Mi. 82nd Fighter Squadron. P-51D 44-15745 MX-T.” This photo also appears as image UPL26433 via the American Air Museum in England.
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But then, there’s this… Lt. Rosenblum, seated in the cockpit of unidentified P-51D Rosey THE Riveter. Unfortunately (!), specific identification of this plane is impossible, since the plane’s individual aircraft code letter – painted on the aft fuselage – does not appear in the image. Otherwise, the shade of the Rosey THE Riveterlogo and MX squadron code letters – both dark, with lighter outline – appear to be identical. Interestingly, rather than a K-14 gyroscopic gunsight, the plane is equipped with a (N-9?) reflector gunsight.
Unfortunately, the source of this image – the very title of the book in which I discovered it – escapes me for the moment (!), but I think the picture appeared in a book about the history of the Jews in the South. In any event, the image is credited to Raymond and Sandra Lee Rosenblum. [Update 8/14/21: The image is from the 2002 book A Portion of the People – Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life, and is from the collection of Raymond and Sandra Lee Rosenblum.]
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But, there’s more, and even earlier, to Lt. Rosenblum’s story. April 17, 1945 was not the only day on which he did not – immediately – return to his base.
This P-47 43-25300 was successfully belly-landed on Sept. 18, 44… The pilot was 1 Lt. Allen A. Rosenblum, 82 F.S., who was not hurt and he returned to England and resumed his duties. The reason for the crash is that he ran out of gasoline on the way home.
Photographs of the wreck of MX * I can be viewed here, while a summary of the day’s events, from the 82nd Fighter Squadron History, follows:
2 October 1944
September 18. 17 Planes on fighter bomber mission of Flak positions in Holland. In Rotterdam 1530 hrs. Out Amsterdam 1709 hrs. Take off 1435 hrs. Down at 1740 hrs. Bombing poor to good results on flak positions and barges. 30 Plus trucks in convoy strafed on highway between Brest and Vianen, 18 destroyed and 11 damaged. Heavy accurate light and heavy flak from Rotterdam and flak barges west of the city. 2 Cat. AC and 1 Cat. A flak damage. Lt. R.C. Snyder MIA, hit by flak and bellied in SW of Rotterdam and heard to say he was O.K. after landing. [P-47D 42-75551, MX * M, MACR 9001] Pilots were Capt. May, Lts. Lamb, Bolgert, Coss, Shope, Rosenblum, Mattern, Nelson, Brown, Snyder, Boeckman, Croy, Sharp, Miller, Bosworth, Eggleston, and Keatley.
Hi, Rudy – I have a picture of my dad in a plane with the MX * I marking, but not certain that was his plane. I also have a photo of dad in a plane marked “Rosey the Riveter”. He was shot down twice, but I only have information on his second crash in Poland (see attached). It is possible that his first crash was in Belgium – he was able to make it back to Allied lines safely. After his second crash, he was a POW until the end of the war (2-3 weeks) – fortunate. Please let me know if you find out anything about the Belgium crash. Dad never spoke much about his war efforts – doing so gave him nightmares for weeks afterwards. I recently learned some of these details through contacts on the P-47 pilot website.
Many thanks
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4 November 2012
Hi, Rudy – Many thanks for the email. I think Dad’s earlier crash because of low fuel matches what I know of his war efforts. Here is a picture of Dad in his Rosey the Riveter (MX) aircraft. [See above.] Hope this helps.
……….
Forgot to mention that you words about my father are very kind. He would have been very pleased to have heard them. Dad almost never spoke about his time in the war. Doing so would cause him to have nightmares for weeks afterward. We would have called it PTSD. It is amazing to me to find that there are efforts of others honoring efforts of pilots like Dad. Many thanks.
____________________
Lieutenant Rosenblum’s brother-in-law, Sergeant David Daniel Danneman (34261537) served as a togglier in the 547th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group. His plane, B-17F 42-29870 (JD * U, otherwise known as BIG MOOSE) piloted by 1 Lt. Giles F. Kauffman, was shot down on October 14, 1943. Its loss is covered in MACR 1038 and Luftgaukommando Report KU 296 (which, being a very early “low numbered” Luftgaukommando Report, is missing from NARA Records Group 242), the entire crew of ten surviving.
Born on August 1, 1918 in Anderson County, South Carolina, he was the son of Aaron and Jenny (Jacobovitz) Danneman. His wife Sarah resided at 771 Washington Street in Atlanta, Georgia.
David Danneman passed away at the young age of 49 on December 25, 1967. His name appeared in a Casualty List released on June 15, 1945, and on page 87 of American Jews in World War II, where he is recorded as having received the Purple Heart. His commemorative page at the National World War II Memorial can be found here.
As mentioned above, on October 30, 1945, The Atlanta Constitution published a lengthy article (by Katherine Barnwell) about the experiences of Lt. Rosenblum and Sergeant Danneman, in the context of a postwar reunion of the two men. Like many newspaper articles of the era, the account, which includes an excellent photo of the brothers-in-law and Sergeant Danneman’s wife Sarah, is particularly valuable in presenting information unavailable in military records. A transcript follows:
Brothers-in-Law Meet Here; Held as POW 50 Miles Apart
STORY-BOOK-ENDING
It was a joyous reunion at 771 Washington street yesterday for two Atlanta brothers-in-law who met here for the first time in many months after being prisoners of war – 50 miles apart – in Germany.
It was an equally happy occasion for Mrs. Sarah Danneman, who was present at the meeting between her brother, Lt. Allen A. Rosenblum, and her husband, S/Sgt, David D. Danneman. Both men served in the Eighth Air Force in England, and both were shot down in missions over Nazi territory.
It was, in fact, a story-book ending for all concerned, as the smiles which all three wore yesterday amply proved. Danneman received his discharge about a week ago, and Rosenblum expects to become a civilian again around the first of December.
Danneman spent the longer period in a German prison – 19 months, though “it seemed much longer.” He was sent overseas in April, 1942, and received his training at an RAF school in Kirkham, England.
NOSE GUNNER ON “FORT”
A nose gunner on a Flying Fortress, he was shot down on his third mission, over Schweinfurt, Germany, Oct. 14, 1943. His plane was hit by antiaircraft flak, and he parachuted 28,000 feet to safety.
“That mission,” Danneman explained proudly, “caused the war to end six months earlier than it would have otherwise. Although we lost 60 bombers, we destroyed the largest ball bearing factory in Germany.”
Danneman was taken to Krems, Austria, where he was imprisoned at Stalag 17B. He remained there until April of this year when all prisoners there were forced marched to Braunau, Austria, Hitler’s birthplace. He was liberated by the Third Army last May 2.
Like other American prisoners in Germany, he received little food except “wormy soup, a few potatoes, and some black bread.” He himself received only one beating from guards, but he witnessed the torture of hundreds of Jewish prisoners who were “more dead than alive.”
HOMEMADE RADIOS
“We had hundreds of ‘bugs’ (homemade radios) in the camp,” Danneman said. “We would swap cigarettes sent us by the Red Cross to French workers for radio parts, so that we could keep up with the progress of the war.”
But Danneman did not know that his wife’s husband, Lt. Allen Rosenblum was overseas, much less that he was a prisoner only 50 miles away later in the war.
Rosenblum went overseas in July, 1944, and completed 56 missions before being shot down. He was attached to the 78th Fighter Group of the Eight Air Force and he was credited with destroying four German planes and damaging two others.
It was in April 1945, when he was strafing an air field in the Sudetenland that his plane was hit by antiaircraft fire. He made a crash landing in a clump of trees, and suffered head wounds and a broken arm.
Taken prisoner immediately, he was sent to Stalag 18-C in Austria. Although he was in prison only about three weeks before he was liberated, he lost 30 pounds during that time.
“BETTER OFF THAN MOST”
“But I was better off than most,” he admitted. “I saw guys by the road so hungry that they were eating leaves from the trees – and grass too.”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Danneman here in Atlanta did mot merely wait idly for the return of her husband and brother. Besides holding down a full-time job, she worked three nights a week as a nurse’s aid, and most other nights as a USO hostess. She amassed more than 2,000 hours in USO work.
Both Danneman and Rosenblum were much-decorated for their Army service. Rosenblum wears the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, wight eight oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart, Good Conduct medal, and the presidential unit citation. Danneman received the Purple Heart last Friday, and the Air Medal and Good Conduct medal are on the way.
“Good conduct was sort of forced on me,” Danneman laughed, “since German guards were watching me for nearly two years.”
Wounded in Action
United States Army (Ground Forces)
Abramson, Harry, Pvt., 33939323, Purple Heart (Italy, Bologna) Born 1919 Mrs. Eva Abramson (mother), 707 S. 4th St., Philadelphia, Pa. The Jewish Exponent 5/18/45 Philadelphia Record 5/10/45 American Jews in World War II – 508
Cooper, Sidney, Sgt., 13077767, Purple Heart (at Ie Shima, Okinawa) Born Philadelphia, Pa., 1/31/20 Mrs. Anne Cooper (wife); Gail Eileen and Marsha Sharon (daughters), 2500 N. Marston St. / 523 Snyder Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin and Florence Cooperman (parents), 2711 South 9th St., Philadelphia, Pa. The Jewish Exponent 6/8/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 5/29/45 American Jews in World War II – 516
Kaitz, Aaron A., Pvt., 33815875, Purple Heart (Germany) Born 1926 Mr. and Mrs. Abraham H. and Anna C. Kaitz (parents), 1316 South Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Jewish Exponent 5/18/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 5/9/45 American Jews in World War II – 530
United States Marine Corps
Polotnick, Harry, Sgt., 810771, Purple Heart 6th Marine Division, 29th Marine Regiment, 3rd Battalion, G Company Born 10/4/23; Died 3/27/91 Saint Louis, Mo. (next of kin unknown) American Jews in World War II – 215
Other Incidents…
…United States Army Air Force
Rescued with fellow crew members after ditching in the Pacific…
The pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress, who witnessed the loss of another B-17…
Rabinowitz, Eugene, 1 Lt., 0-831796 (Bomber Pilot) 8th Air Force, 305th Bomb Group, 366th Bomb Squadron In MACR 14172, witness to loss of B-17G 43-38085 (“KY * L”, “Towering Titan”), pilot by 2 Lt. Brainerd E. Harris, 8 crew – no survivors Probably from Brooklyn, N.Y. Opelika-Auburn News – 9/15/20 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Soviet Air Force Military Air Forces – VVS (Военно-воздушные cилы России – ВВС)
Missing during combat mission on April 17 – 18, 1945. Actual fate unknown.
Shapiro, Mikhail Solomonovich – Junior Sergeant [Шапиро, Михаил Соломонович – Младший Сержант] 1st Guards Aviation Corps, 16th Guards Bombardment Aviation Regiment (By June of 1945, at Military Post 15539 “V”) Aerial Gunner – Radio Operator [Воздушный Стрелок-Радист] Aircraft: Probably…Il-4 [Ил-4] Born 1926; city of Kiev Mr. Galina Mikhaylovna (Moiseevna?) Shapiro (mother), Labzik Street, Uichi Building, Block 36, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
References
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Freeman, Roger A., The Mighty Eighth – A History of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1970
Freeman, Roger A., Camouflage & Markings – United States Army Air Force, 1937-1945 [“North American P-51 & F-6 Mustang U.S.A.A.F., E.T.O. & M.T.O., 1942-1945”], Ducimus Books Limited, London, England, 1974
Fry, Garry L., Eagles of Duxford: The 78th Fighter Group in World War II, Phalanx Publishers, St. Paul, Mn., 1992
Lifshitz, Jacob (יעקב, ליפשיץ), The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah ((גולההקורותהחטיבההיהודיתהלוחמתוהמצילהאתספרהבריגדההיהודית)), Shim’oni (שמעוני), Tel-Aviv, 1950
Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume I [Surnames beginning with А (A), Б (B), В (V), Г (G), Д (D), Е (E), Ж (Zh), З (Z), И (I)], Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 1994
Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume III [Surnames beginning with О (O), П (P), Р (R), С (S)], Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 1996
Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume VIII [Surnames beginning with all letters of the alphabet], Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 2005
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 [“JMCPAWW2 I”], World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1994
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: II – Jewish Military Casualties in September 1939 Campaign – Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armed Forces in Exile Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945 [“JMCPAWW2 II”], World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1995
Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
Rosengarten, Theodore and Rosengarten, Dale, A Portion of the People – Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2002
No Author
Duxford Diary, 1942-1945, W. Heffer & Sons (printer), Cambridge, England, 1945
Less than one more before the end of the Second World War in Europe, the Palestine Post – today the Jerusalem Post – published news editor Ted R. Lurie’s account of his meeting with members of the Jewish Brigade. Though the location of his encounter with the Brigade’s members at the unit’s headquarters is not specified, it obviously occurred somewhere on the front lines in Italy.
Probably for security reasons, only three names are mentioned in the article: newly-married Signals Officer Robert Grossman whose wife then resided in Rome, and, two men who had just recently become casualties: “Zilberger” (actually, Zilberberg) – killed in action, and, Goldring – missing in action; both respectively mentioned in brief accounts of their final, and, last known, military actions.
For Zilberberg, Lurie’s report is entirely accurate.
For Goldring? Lurie’s report concludes on a highly inaccurate note. While Lurie wrote, “Another of the same fraternity, a man called Goldring, stayed behind to help a wounded soldier when the remainder of his patrol withdrew. The soldier died and his body was brought in next morning, but Goldring was not found so it was assumed that he had been taken prisoner. But not he; he lived in hiding in no-man’s land for two days, crawling around by night until he got back safely to carry on,” his final statement was completely incorrect. Uszer Goldring never returned from battle, and was never seen again.
In 2021, his fate is still unknown.
To shed further and more complete light on Zilberger and Goldring’s stories, I’ve included excerpts from Jacob Lifshitz’s chronicle of the Jewish Brigade (published in 1950), appropriately entitled The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah). These excerpts comprise the book’s original Hebrew text, followed by English-language translations, as well as portraits of the two soldiers. These accounts are representative of much of the content of Lifshitz’s book, which comprises biographical profiles and portraits of fallen members of the Brigade.
And so, Lurie’s article…
________________________________________
“I’m Killing Germans” Is Captain’s Message
By T.R. Lurie
Palestine Post War Correspondent
Palestine Post, April 13, 1945
JEWISH BRIGADE GROUP H.Q. – To kill Germans and still more Germans is the aim of every man-jack in the Jewish Brigade Group.
That is the first impression one gathers from talking to men in the line who have already been at grips with the enemy. These men have fired their tommies, and hurled their grenades and mortars and have fired their twenty-five pounders at some of Hitler’s picked troops. The forces attacking them are some of the best soldiers of the Wehrmacht – and our men have the satisfaction of knowing that their fire has not been ineffectual.
One tall ginger-haired captain who heard I was from Jerusalem asked me to telephone to his wife when I got back. “What message do you want to send her?” I asked.
“Just tell her I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do for so long. I’m killing Germans.” Then he went on to tell me that that was the best message of greetings he could send, as her parents had been murdered in Poland.
Ahead of Schedule
The only criticism one has been able to hear about the men of the Brigade – praise of course, has been hearty and well-earned, too – has been over-keenness. “In the Army,” a staff officer told me, it’s important to do things a hundred per cent, not 125 per cent.” But the men have succeeded in doing more than a good job. For example, they went into the line a month ahead of the date called for on their training schedule. They have replaced other units who were hardened and seasoned. And they take it all in their stride.
Seeing these lads in their dugouts or back of the line in their bivvies, one wonders of what stuff heroes are made. In one battalion I heard high praise of one of their officers for the courage he displayed one night under fire. He is not a company or a platoon commander, but the unit’s Signals Officer, and his job is to maintain contact between the units and with the various headquarters by telephone and wireless.
It sounds cushy enough, but he did not join up to sit back in a safe area and do a base job. So with the first chance he got, he went out with a patrol carrying his phone line as far forward as he could.
It was one of the stickiest night encounters so far, and the officer back at headquarters was not a little worried when for over two hours he had no contact with the patrol or the Signals Officer. Then with the earphones glued to his ear lobes he heard the faintest of voices calling his name.
Contact had been re-established, and the men were crawling back bringing their wounded with them, but knowing that they had given the enemy at least as much as they had taken. The name of the officer is Robert Grossman, and he was married in Rome a few weeks ago to a Palestinian A.T.S. serving there. On a blitz-trip back to Rome the other day I looked her up to tell her how her newly-wed husband was getting on. She asked me to take her regards to him when I went back north, and added: “Tell him to carry on ‘Hazak veamatz’ – “Be strong and of good courage.”
Medal for Barber
In the Second Battalion it was the man who was the soldiers’ Cantor and barber who was among the first to display outstanding valour. He was a stretcher-bearer and risked his life over and over again during a night skirmish doing his job.
The next morning his name was put up for a Military Medal. A couple of hours later he was shot dead by a sniper as he went into no-man’s land with a red Cross flag in his hand to bring back a wounded man.
His name is Zilberger.
Another of the same fraternity, a man called Goldring, stayed behind to help a wounded soldier when the remainder of his patrol withdrew. The soldier died and his body was brought in next morning, but Goldring was not found so it was assumed that he had been taken prisoner. But not he; he lived in hiding in no-man’s land for two days, crawling around by night until he got back safely to carry on.
________________________________________
From The Book of the Jewish Brigade, the story of “Zilberberg”: Private Moshek Josif Zilberberg.
Friday, April 20, 1945 / Yom Shishi, 7th Iyar, 5705
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
ביום 19 במארס 1945, ה’ בניסן תש”ה ערכה פלוגתו (פלוגה ג’ של הגדוד השני) התקפה גלויה על האויב במטרה להגיע עד התעלה, שמאחוריה נתבצרו הגרמנים. משה הוציא באלונקות את חבריו הפצועים משדה הקרב, פעם אחר פעם, מתוך סיכון-נפש תחת מטר כדורים והפצצות. עם תום המערכה נשאר מרצונו הטוב בשדה וחיכה לאחרוני השבים כדי להראות להם את המעבר הנוח והבטוח ביותר לשוב בו. באותו ערב אמר לחבר: ,,כנראה שאני מחוסן בפני כדירים, כי יצאתי היום שלם ממטר כדורים,,. המיגיור האנגלי, מפקד פלוגתו, הביע באותו ערב הערכה לאומץ-לבו של משה והמליץ להעניק לו אות-הצטיינות. למחרת היום, ב-20 במארס, כשחידשה פלוגתו את ההתקפה על האויב, חידש גם הוא את מעשי גבורתו ורץ גלוי לעיני האויב מפצוע לפצוע, כשדגל צלב האדום בידו. אחד החיילים נפצע ונאנק, ו על אף אזהרות חבריו שלא להסתכן, יצא להגיש לו עזרה. בו ברגע פגע בו כדור אויב והרגו במקום, ודגל הצלב האדום בידו. אחרי מותו נתכבד באות ההצטיינות הצבאי
נולד בשנת , עם פרוץ מלחמת-העולם הראשונה, בפלונסק שבפולניה להורים דתיים, קיבל חינוך דתי ולמד בישיבה, ויחד עם זה מעורה היה בתנועת-נוער ציונות מימי ילדותו. בגיל 18 היה בין מייסדי פלוגות ההכשרה בנאדבורנה (גליציה). בשנת 1935 עלה לארץ ועבד כפועל. כשפרצו המאורעות בארץ בשנת 1936 היה פעיל בשורות הבטחון. בשנים 1938-1939 עבד כנוטר. פעם בעמדו על משמרתו ביער להגן על אחת הנקודות עם עוד חבר מחברין, הותקפו על-ידי כנופיה ערבית והחבר נפל מת ומשה שנפצע קשה המשיך לירות עד שהדף את המתקיפים ואחר כך הרכיב את חברו על כתפיו והביאו אל המושבה. אותו פצע כמעט הטרידו מן העולם והרופאים אמרו נואש לחיין ,אך הוא חפץ חיים היה ובשארית כוחותיו נלחם במוות ויוכל לו. כאשר החלים ציינו כולם את הדבר כנס ופלא. לאחר שהבריא חזר לנוטרות. כשקמה תנועת הגיוס ל,,באפס,, התגייס ואמר לאשתו: ,,נולדתי בתקופת מלחמה ואני מוכרח להילחם,,. באוקטוכר 1944 עבר יחד עם גדודו לחי”ל.
ספר וחזן ונושא-אלונקות היה בחטיבה, ובכל המקצועות האלה נצטיין הן מבחינת הידיעה והן מבחינת המסירות. כספר היה חביב על כל החיילים והקצינים. בהיותו בעל קול ערב ומוכשר, היה עובר לפני התיבה כחזן קבוע בבית-הכנסת של הגדוד השני והיה מנעים את התפילות לפני קהל החיילים. כל אנשי הגדוד השני זטכרים לו לטוכה את התפילות, שעוך בימים הנוראים ובמועדיה לפי המנגינות המסורתיות. ביחוד נחקקה בזכרונם תפילת ,,כל נדרי,, בליל הכיפורים תש”ה במדבר המערבי בין בנגזי לדרנה תחת כיפת השמים, בשעת מסעם מתחותם הישנה אל-עבייר ליד בנגזי לבורג-אל-ערב, מקום רכוז החטיבה (לעיל פרק’ סעיף ב’). במשך שירותו בצבא שמר על קשרים עם המסורת ועם החיילים הדתיים. עם אירגונו של הגרעין הדתי להתישבות נצטרף אליו. כנושא-אלונקות בז היה לפגזי האויב וצעד בגלוי לחבוש פצועים נקובי-כדורים, זבידם ומחוסרי-הכרה, לחוקם ולעודדם. ולא חלילה מפני שמאס בחיים התנהג כך, להיפך, חפץ חיים היה, כאמור, אלא לנקום רצה מידי הגרמנום אם דם משפחתו ודם בית ישראל, שנשפך בפולנוה, כדכריו במכתבו לביתו מיום 10 במארס 1945: ,,ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה נלך קדימה עד נצחוננו הגמור על אויבינו,,. והיות והוא עצמו לא היה לוחם, רצה להציל לוחמום, שיוכלו הם להרוג ולהשמיד את צוררי היהודים, גם טוב-לבו הביאהו להקרבת עצמו.
לבו ניבא לו את מותו. בשעת ביקורו האחרון בביתו אמר לרעיתו: ,,הקריירה שלי כבר נגמרה,,. כן הביע את חרדתו לגורלו במכתביו האחרונים מקווי החזית. נזכרהו כאחד מבני-העם האלמונים והצנועים, שקידש במותו את גבורת ישראל.
On March 19, 1945, the fifth of Nisan 5705, his company (Company C of the Second Battalion) made an open attack on the enemy in order to reach the canal (Fosso Vetro), behind which the Germans were fortified. Moshe retrieved his wounded comrades from the battlefield on stretchers, time and time again, under mental danger beneath a barrage of bullets and bombs. At the end of the campaign he remained of his own free will in the field and waited for the last of the returnees, to show them the easiest and safe passage to return. That evening he said to a friend: “Apparently I am vaccinated against bullets, because I remained out of the “rain” for a whole day.” The English major, the commander of his company, that evening expressed appreciation for Moshe’s courage and recommended that he be awarded the Medal of Excellence. The next day, on March 20, when his company resumed its attack on the enemy, he also resumed his heroic deeds and ran openly in front of the enemy from wounded to wounded, with the Red Cross flag in his hand. One of the soldiers was wounded and groaned, and despite warnings from his comrades not to take the risk, went out to help him. At that moment an enemy bullet hit him and killed on the spot, with the Red Cross flag in his hand. After his death we will be honored with the Medal of Merit [Military Medal; M.M.]
Born in the same year, with the outbreak of World War I, in Płońsk, Poland, to religious parents, he received a religious education and studied in a yeshiva, and at the same time he was involved in the Zionist youth movement from his childhood. At the age of 18 he was one of the founders of the training companies in Nadborna (Galicia). In 1935 he immigrated to Israel and worked as a laborer. When the events in the country broke out in 1936, he was active in the security ranks. In the years 1938-1939 he worked as a notary. Once standing on his guard in the woods to defend one of the points with another friend of theirs, they were attacked by an Arab gang and the friend fell dead, and Moshe who was badly wounded continued to shoot until he repelled the attackers and then mounted his friend on his shoulders and brought him to the colony. The same wound was almost took him from the world and the doctors said his life was desperate, but he wanted to live and with the rest of his strength he fought death. When he recovered, everyone mentioned the conversation with wonder. After recovering he returned to Notre Dame. When the recruitment movement for “Buffs” arose, he enlisted and said to his wife: “I was born in a time of war and I have to fight.” In October 1944, he moved with his battalion to the army.
Sefer and Hazan and a member of stretcher-bearers in the division, and in all these professions he would excel both in terms of knowledge and dedication. As a sefer he was a favorite of all the soldiers and officers. Having a deep voice and being talented, he would pass in front of the ark as a regular cantor in the synagogue of the Second Battalion and would recite the prayers in front of the soldiers. All the members of the second battalion remember the prayers for him, which are sung during the days of awe and times according to the traditional melodies. In particular, the prayer “Kol Nidre” was engraved in their memory on the night of Yom Kippur 5755 in the western desert between Benghazi and Darna in the open air, during their journey from their old stretch of al-Abiyar near Benghazi to Burg-al-Arab. During his service in the army he maintained ties with tradition and with religious soldiers. With the organization of the religious nucleus for settlement, he will join it. As the subject of stretcher-bearers he was to the enemy shells and openly marched to carry the bullet-ridden and unconscious wounded; to arm and encourage them. And, not God forbid, because he was tired of life behaving like this, on the contrary, Hefetz Chaim was, as mentioned, but seeking revenge from the Germans for the blood of his family and the blood of Beit Yisrael, spilled in Poland, as he wrote in his letter to his home dated March 10, 1945: “On our enemies …” And since he himself was not a warrior, he wanted to save warriors, so that they could kill and destroy the oppressors of the Jews; even his kindness led him to sacrifice himself.
His heart foretold his death. During his last visit to his home, he told his wife: “My career is over”. He also expressed his anxiety about his fate in his recent letters from the front lines. He is remembered as one of the anonymous and humble people who consecrated the heroism of Israel in his death.
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A member of the 2nd Battalion of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, Private Moshek J. Zilberberg is buried at the Ravenna War Cemetery in Piangipane, Ravenna, Italy (Grave IV, A, 2). His name appeared (as “Moshe Silberberg”) in casualty lists published in the Palestine Post on April 2 and 13, 1945, and can be found on pages 178 and 263 of volume I of Henry Morris We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945.
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And, the story – at least, what was known as of 1950 – of “Goldring”: Private Uszer Goldring.
משמר בן 12 חיילים מפלוגתו (פלוגה א’ גדוד א’), בפיקוד הסרג’נט לייזר ז”ל, התקיף באותו ערב בית-עמדה אחד בשם “דמפסי” על-יד פוגאנאנא בעמק הסנין. מטר-אש קטלני מ”שמייסר” ומספר גדול של רימוני-יד ניתכו עליהם ממרחק קטן, ואחד הרימונים פגע בלייזר. הוא צעק: “נפצעתי, הגישו עזרה ראשונה”. וגולדרינג הושיטה לו מיד. לייזר פקד לסגת וממלא מקומו מילא את פקודתו. אך גולדרינג לא רצה להיפרד מלייזר ועמד לעורתו עד הרגע האחרון. דבר זה נתגלה בשעה שהמשמר נתרחק מן הבית בתשעים מטר. החיילים לחזור ולהביאם, אבל מחמת ריבוי הפצועים לא היו מוכשרים להליכה וחזרו לעמדתם. כעבור זמן-מה יצא משמר לוחם בן 15 אנשים בפיקודו של קצין לחפש את שני הנעדרים ולהביאם אתם. אבל אלה תעו בדרך והיו מוכרחים לחזור. עם אור הבוקר הוציאו נושאי אלונקות את לייזר מת, ואילו גולדרינג לא נמצא ועקבותיו לא נודעו עד היום. אולי בידי הגרמנים והם לקחוהר אתם? אנו קיווינו שנשבה ונשאר בחיים, אבל עד עתה לא נתקבלה כל ידיעה עליו.
בן 31 אב לשני ילדים. לא היה חייב גיוס לפי צו המוסדות. אבל מצפונו הניעו להתנדב בין הראשונים. השקיע מרץ רב בעסקנות הצבורית שבין החיילים. חיוד תמיד בפניו, שקט בתנועותיו וקסם באישיותו. כשפגע פגז באנשי מחלקתו בתוך הקווים, הגיש הוא את העזרה הראשונה והרגיע את הפצועים. ביחוד הצטיין ביחסו החברי בשעת פעולות של פאטרול. אז כל חיוך וכל מלה טובה מרגיעים והוא היה איש ההומור העדין והאופי החזק כאחד.
He was missing on the night of 17 Nissan, March 31, 1945.
A 12-man guard from his company (Company A, 1st Battalion), under the command of the late Sergeant Leiser [Sgt. Shuli Leiser, PAL/17637], attacked a post office “Dempsey” that evening called near Fuganana in the Senin Valley. A deadly barrage of fire from “Schmeisers” [MP-40 submachine guns] and a large number of hand grenades were fired at them from a short distance, and one of the grenades hit Leiser. He shouted: “I’ve been injured; first aid.” And Goldring gave it to him at once. Leiser ordered a retreat and his deputy fulfilled his order. But Goldring did not want to part with Leiser and stood alongside him until the last minute. This was discovered as the guard moved ninety feet away from the house. The soldiers returned to fetch them, but due to the large number of wounded, they were not able to walk and returned to their position. Some time later, a 15-man combat guard under the command of an officer set out to search for the two missing and return with them. But they got lost along the way and had to go back. At dawn the stretcher-bearers removed the dead Leiser, while Goldring was not found and his traces are not known to this day. Maybe [he was] in the hands of the Germans and they took him with them? We had hoped him to have [him] been captured and left alive, but so far no information has been received about him.
A 31 year old father of two children. Did not have to be recruited by order of the institutions. But his conscience motivated him to be among the first to volunteer. He invested a great deal of energy in public activity among the soldiers. A sharpness always in his face; quiet in his movements and charm in his personality. When a shell hit members of his platoon inside the lines, he rendered first aid and reassured the wounded. He especially excelled in his friendly attitude during patrol operations. So his every smile and every good word was soothing and he was a man of gentle humor and strong character alike.
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Sergeant Shuli Leiser, a member of the 1st Battalion of the Jewish Brigade, is – like Moshek Zilberberg – buried at the Ravenna War Cemetery in Piangipane, Ravenna, Italy (Grave IV, A, 8). His name appeared in a casualty list published in the Palestine Post (as S. Leiser) on April 27, 1945, and can be found on pages 118 and 250 of volume I ofWe Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 (as Shuli Leizer).
Born in 1910, Private Uszer Goldring has no known grave, his name being commemorated on Panel 13 of the Cassino Memorial at Frosinone, Italy. His name appeared (as “U. Goldyring”) in casualty lists published in the Palestine Post on April 13 and 27, 1945, in Haaretz on April 27, and on page 244 of We Will Remember Them (as “Asher Goldring”). His parents were David and Sara, while his wife Chana lived at Ra’anana.
Haaretz, April 27, 1945. Uszer Goldring’s name appears in a casualty list on the paper’s last page: page 8.
The casualty list, with Goldring’s name in the right column, bottom line (see “16323”).
Unlike casualty lists published in the Jewish press in England or the United States (say, for example, in The Jewish Chronicle or Jewish Exponent), or the general press (such as casualty lists published in The New York Times and other American newspapers, which were based on information provided by the War Department) Casualty Lists in both the Palestine Post and Haaretz in the wartime Yishuv never included next-of-kin or residential information.
What happened to Uszer Goldring?
On April 20, 1945, The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia) published an article by Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent Pat Frank entitled “Jewish Brigade Battles Germans in Hand-to-Hand Battle on Italian Front”. Frank’s article concludes with the following paragraph, which in light of Goldring’s biography as presented aboveobviously pertains to the missing medic: “As of several days ago, the Jewish Brigade had lost only one prisoner since they have been in action. He was a first-aid man who accompanied a patrol into the German lines, and remained when the patrol withdrew to care for a wounded comrade. When the Brigade advanced the next day, they found that the wounded man had died and the first-aid man had disappeared, and, presumably, been captured.”
Notably, Uszer Goldring was unwounded when last seen, and his body (if he had been killed) was not located after Allied troops advanced through the immediate area of battle, I think fully validating the supposition that he was indeed captured. Based on the identities of the German units encountered over time by the Brigade, Private Goldring may have been taken captive by the 4. Fallschirmjäger-Division(German 4th Parachute Division), a German division which may have been involved in the Pedescala Massacre at Veneto, Italy, from April 30 to May 2, 1945, during which 63 civilians were murdered.
Having been from the Yishuv and having served in a military unit affiliated with and under operational control of the British military, the most relevant source of information about Pvt. Goldring’s fate might be his Casualty File, which would be roughly analogous to an American WW II Individual Deceased Personnel File. That is, assuming that an investigation into his fate was conducted in the first place. (As to the location of any hypothetical Casualty File, I have no idea.) Regardless, such a document would probably reveal little beyond what has already been recounted in this post.
To the best of my knowledge, nothing further has been learned about Private Goldring’s fate in the seventy-six years since April of 1945.
It is my belief that he rests in an unknown grave, somewhere in Italy.
References
Lifshitz, Jacob (יעקב, ליפשיץ), The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] theDiaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah ((גולההקורותהחטיבההיהודיתהלוחמתוהמצילהאתספרהבריגדההיהודית)), Shim’oni (שמעוני), Tel-Aviv, 1950
Here’s the book’s cover art:
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Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
This is the 37th post in an ongoing series of of accounts concerning Jewish WW II military casualties from the New York metropolitan area, whose stories were covered by The New York Times in 1944 and 1945.Parallelingthe format of the 36 “prior” posts – encompassing Navy Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Stuart Adler through most recently (in January of 2020; was it that long ago?!) Army PFC Warren W. Jacobs – included are accounts of other Jewish military personnel who were casualties (killed, wounded, or prisoners of war) or who had vastly less dire but still notable experiences on the same “calendar” day.
The date of “today’s” post? Friday, the twentieth of April in the year 1945, when Captain Paul Kamen, PFC Donald R. Lindheim, and PFC Arthur N. Sloan, all of the United States Army ground forces, were killed in action in the European Theater of War.
Though obituaries of these three men appeared in the Times – on May 25, May 15, and June 5, 1945, respectively – the commonality of the “timing” of their fate, as Jewish soldiers, naturally remained entirely unaddressed by that newspaper. (In this, there is a parallel to the paper’s coverage of 2 Lt. Arthur M. Chasen and Sgt. Alfred R. Friedlander.) This was not surprising, for this was entirely consistent with the Times’ ethos concerning the identity, survival, and historical fate of the Jewish people in the Second World War (the religion of the Times, if any, being the “religion” of the Enlightenment) echoes of this ideology having steadily animated the newspaper’s reporting and editorial opinion about the nation-state of Israel. Yet…to be completely honest, in the particular contextof the Second World War, this perception (or more accurately, non-perception) of Jewish military service seems to have been prevalent in the American Jewish press as much as in the general press.
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But (but?!) … Before proceeding further…here’s something completely different. Well, kind of different. Well, just plain different.
Following the “example” (thus-far-only-one-example!) established by my blog post about HA1C Stuart E. Adler – pertaining to Jewish military casualties of March 15, 1945 – where is displayed the cover of the March, 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction – here’s parallel kind’a picture: The cover of the April 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, featuring William Timmins’ illustration of a scene from Isaac Asimov’s story “Dead Hand”, which tale would in a few short years become part of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. But, that’s the topic of another blog post…
After all, given that this post pertains to events in that very month and year, an actual physical artifact from that time – however topically unrelated – does lend a sort of temporal “atmosphere” to the names and stories appearing below.
After all, whether symbolically or in reality; whether as myth or legend; whether remembered or forgotten (and more often forgotten); the past still exists.
And now, back to the central topic at hand…
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As I climbed into the command car for the drive to my new CP, in Klein, I asked the inevitable question, “Who was it, Mike?”
“You won’t believe it, Colonel. It’s your chess-playing buddy.”
“Not Kamen!” I felt dizzy as the face of Dr. Paul Kamen, the battalion dentist, flashed before my eyes. “How did our medics get involved in a shootout?”
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A Dental Officer in the Army’s 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, Captain Paul Kamen (0-519788) was killed when his Battalion, advancing through Germany, was strafed by Me-262 jet fighters on April 20, 1945.
According to the Schlenoff-Kaminsky family tree at Ancestry.com, Paul Kamen and his twin brother Saul were born on January 24, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, to Dr. and Mrs. Max Abraham [12/15/89-12/4/55] and Devora “Vera” (Brovinsky) [7/16/83-9/25/74] Kaminsky. Paul and his wife Anne were married on June 12, 1940 in Manhattan.
His name appearing in a Casualty List published on May 16, 1945, Captain Kamen was the subject of news articles in the Times (May 25),the Long Island Daily Press (May 17), and the Long Island Star Journal (May 16 and November 29 of 1945, and November 17, 1948) His name also appeared in the “In Memoriam” section of the Times on January 24 of both 1946 and 1947, in commemoration of the 30th and 31st anniversaries of his 1916 birth.
Here is Capt. Kamen’s obituary as it appeared in the Times:
Dentist From Sunnyside Killed in Action in Reich
May 25, 1945
Capt. Paul Kamen of the Army, a dentist, formerly of Sunnyside, Queens, was killed in action in Germany on April 20, according to word received here. He was 29 years old.
Born in Brooklyn, he received a B.A. degree from New York University in 1937 and a D.D.S. from Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery in 1941.
He entered the Army in May, 1943, as a first lieutenant, went to England in February, 1944, and landed in France in July with the medical detachment of the 291st Engineers Battalion. He served his battalion as dental, public relations and orientation officer. His unit helped hold the enemy back in the Malmedy sector during the Ardennes break-through, winning the Presidential Unit Citation. It also threw one of the first bridges across the Rhine at Remagen.
Captain Kamen leaves a widow, Mrs. Anne Kamen; his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Max Kaminsky; a twin brother, Dr. Saul Kamen, and three sisters, Mrs. Anna Ratner, Mrs. Rebecca Jarmon and Mrs. Mina Gudeon.
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Here are two articles about Captain Kamen from the Long Island Star Journal.
This first article coincided with the May 16 appearance of Captain Kamen’s name in the Office of War Information’s Casualty List, the Star Journal’s article curiously having been published a week before the Times’ May 25 article.
Sunnyside Dentist Killed in Germany
May 16, 1945
Captain Paul Kamen, former Sunnyside dentist, was killed in action in Germany April 20, his twin brother, Dr. Saul Kamen of Forest Hills and Elmhurst, has been notified.
The 29-year-old officer, who practiced at 47-09 Skillman Avenue before joining the Army in May 1943, was a dentist with the 291st Combat Engineers, attached to the 1st Army. He also performed the duties of public relations and orientation officer for his unit, and held a Presidential Unit Citation for heroism in Belgium during the enemy breakthrough in December.
Born and educated in Brooklyn, Captain Kamen received his degree in dentistry from Columbia University in 1941. Formerly a member of the Queens District Dental Society, he entered the army as a first lieutenant and was promoted to captain three months after going overseas in February 1944.
In addition to Dr. Kamen, who lives at 118-16 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, and has an office at 63-52 Woodhaven Boulevard, Elmhurst, the Captain leaves his wife, Mrs. Anne Kamen of 104-21 68th Street, Forest Hills, and parents, Dr. and Mrs. Max Kaminsky of 234 Hewes Street, Brooklyn. Dr. Kamen is chairman of the Queens legislative Council.
Six months later, on November 29, the Star Journal carried a brief news item about a check made to the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief by Dr. Saul Kamen, Paul’s twin brother, and the donation of Captain Kamen’s uniforms to the Committee by Paul’s widow Anne. Note that Paul’s portrait in the Star Journal differs from the image in the Times.
Even in Death
War Hero Contributes to Relief of Victims
November 29, 1945
When Captain Paul Kamen of Elmhurst was killed in action in Germany last summer, a blank check was found among his personal effects.
The check was sent to Dr. Saul Kamen of 63-52 Woodhaven boulevard, Elmhurst, who felt his brother would have wanted the money to go to the Yugoslav people whose sacrifices in the war left them homeless and in rags.
In due time, a check for $10 arrived at the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, 235 East 11th street, Manhattan.
Today, Burgess Meredith, chairman of the winter clothing campaign of the committee, paid tribute to Captain Kamen and revealed that the captains’ widow had contributed his uniforms to the committee.
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Not forgotten: Captain Kamen’s memory has been commemorated by two Honoree Records at the National WW II Memorial: One created by his brother Saul, and the other created by his widow Anne. The latter includes even a third photographic portrait of the Captain (in a pensive mood?) shown below:
Captain Paul Kamen was buried at Montefiore Cemetery (Block 111, Row 001L, Grave 1, Plot 12) in Springfield Gardens, New York, probably in late 1948.
Insights into Captain Kamen’s military experiences can be found in Danny S. Parker’s 2013 Fatal Crossroads: The Untold Story of the Malmédy Massacre at the Battle of the Bulge, Janice Holt Giles’ 1970 The Damned Engineers, which chronicles the story of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, and above all Colonel David E. Pergrin and Eric M. Hammel’s 1989 First Across the Rhine – The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium, and Germany. (“Above all”, because Colonel Pergrin was commander of the Battalion!) All three excerpts pertain to the Malmedy Massacre – particularly the survival of Lieutenant Virgil Lary – while First Across the Rhine addresses the efforts of the 291st to aid Belgian civilians after Malmedy was inadvertently struck by bombs from American 9th Air Force B-26 bombers on December 23, 1944, and, concludes with an account of Captain Kamen’s death shortly before the war’s end.
Relevant excerpts these works follow below…
Fatal Crossroads
At about 9 p.m. they were all inside saying their prayers. “Someone rapped on my door,” she recalled. “We thought it was our turn to die.”
Her sister Marie was nearest to the entrance. “I’ll go and open it.” When she did, the silhouette of a big man stood there in the darkness of the doorway. “He was saying something, but we didn’t understand him.” Was he German? The girls looked at each other, but their father Louis, said to let him enter. Now, with the stranger inside, the kerosene lamp illuminated the room. They could see that he could hardly walk.
The man looked terrible – muddy and wet, limping on one foot and smudged and rank with cow dung. His boot was oozing red, and blood trailed onto the floor. He kept saying something over and over – “Sick! Sick!” – but no one could understand. There was small relief when they realized he was an American. But the Germans who had shot him must be close by. If they came…. The family sat him down near the warmth of the kitchen stove. With a loud groan, they got the bloody boot off. The American had been shot through the ankle. They washed his wounds. As they bandaged him up and put a splint on his ankle, Marie, her father, and her sisters discussed the situation. In the dimly lit farm- house was a refugee boy from Elsenborn who spoke a little English.
Through the youth, the Martin family learned that the man’s name was Lt. Virgil Lary from the U.S Army. All his comrades – more than a hundred – had just been shot down south of Malmedy. Marine gasped at his description. “How did you find the house?” Louis wanted to know. Lary told them that he had crawled there on his hands and knees. He had gone through a little village that they knew must have been Hedomont – and no one wanted to open the doors. Even with drawn curtains, Lary had followed the dim window beacon emanating from the Martins’ kerosene lamps. The Belgian family looked at each other: The Germans would see them too!
The girls gave the woeful-looking soldier some soup while the family talked. They couldn’t hazard keeping the American here; it was way too risky. The Germans would be here soon. Knowing the danger, her father Louis went down to Malmedy with a note composed by Lt. Lary, asking for help. He returned only an hour later. Sure enough, Martin had found the first aid station in Malmedy and tried to get Dr. Paul Kamen, a medic with the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion, to send an ambulance. But Kamen refused, explaining that driving through enemy territory was too dangerous. He did, however, send back some sulfa drugs and bandages. Although those were welcome when Louis returned, Lary was now in increasing pain and insisted on getting to an American hospital. The family was of the same opinion, but for a different reason: If the Germans came, they would all be shot. Still, even with an improvised crutch made from a broom, Lary clearly could not walk himself. But accompanying the American would be suicide if Louis ran into the Germans.
However, knowing the enemy might think differently of women helping a wounded man, Marthe and her neighbor, Marthe Marx, volunteered to escort the American to Malmedy. Doing so was terribly dangerous, but it was the best of a series of poor options. Eventually Louis Martin consented. After midnight they left, with the two young women holding Lary between them, each cradling a shoulder. “We could hear gunfire in the night,” she remembered, worrying that they might run into the Germans. If they did, that would be it. She reminded Marthe Marx to speak only German, and if they ran into them, “to shut up and let me do the talking.”
Marthe Martin tried not to think about the risk, but she urged her friend to go faster with the limping American. They kept moving – a three-kilometer march down a steep hill carrying an adult man between them. For over an hour Lary groaned in pain as they proceeded, and both girls ached terribly under his weight. Still, they eventually came to the school building in Malmedy used as the 44th Evacuation Hospital. There, a harried member of the Belgian Red Gross offered little help. “Sorry, we can’t take him,” the woman complained. “The whole unit is evacuating.” The Germans were coming. “For the love of God,” Marthe Martin said in exasperation. “Take this poor soldier to the Americans.” Okay, the woman agreed.
Marthe Martin and Marthe Marx uttered a quick goodbye to Virgil Lary. With that, both women hurried back up the steep hill to their home, expecting to run into the Germans at anytime. Shortly afterward Lt. Lary was taken to the command post of Lt. Col. David Pergrin and then to the 28th General Hospital in Liege. (pp. 217-218)
The Damned Engineers
Around 8:00 that evening, Warrant Officer Coye R. Self reached Malmedy with the ammunition, mines and demolitions Colonel Pergrin had ordered from Battalion earlier.
The supplies were quickly funneled out to the men on the various roadblocks. Especially strengthened was the area west of Malmedy where Sergeant McCarty now had two roadblocks on the main Stavelot road. He had one at the wooden bridge over the Warche River, and another at the big railroad viaduct. Mines and demolitions were sent and McCarty and Lieutenant Rhea set to work to wire the two bridges.
Pergrin was still, however, very short of machine guns. His officers kept asking for more and more machine guns for the roadblocks. He thought of Company A. They might be back home by now. He therefore radioed Battalion to send him the Company A machine guns and gunners. It was about 8:30 p.m. Battalion acknowledged and reported that Company A had not yet got in.
Between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. Captain Paul Kamen, the battalion dental officer, arrived in Malmedy with more medics and medical supplies. Pergrin was amazed to see him. When he had radioed Battalion, he had ordered the medical officer over. Kamen explained that the medical officer, Captain Walter Kaplita, had not been in Haute Bodeux when Pergrin’s radio message was received. Not wanting to delay, Kamen had reasoned that he knew more about administering drugs and deep dressings than the medics and that in a pinch he might even be able to perform simple surgery, so he had packed up and come ahead.
Artillery fire was now falling in Malmedy. “Any trouble getting here?” Pergrin asked.
“Well,” Kamen said, “the truck got shot up pretty bad, but we got through. We came through a heavy bombardment on the road from Stavelot.”
Pergrin went out to look at the panel truck Kamen had brought and could only shake his head. The body was literally riddled with holes. “How in the hell did you make it without somebody being killed?” he said.
Kamen did not know. He thought perhaps they had been driving too fast. Not a man had received so much as a scratch. Kamen plunged immediately into work dressing the wounds of survivors from the massacre who continued to be brought in. Although the flow of wounded survivors would cease, Kamen’s work would not. For ten days he would be a very busy dental officer doing a medical officer’s work. (pp. 194-195)
Around midnight the last of the survivors of the massacre the 291st would assist was brought into the aid station. He was Lieutenant Virgil T. Lary. He had fallen into the friendly hands of a farmer who was a Belgian patriot rather than a German sympathizer. He was given assistance and shelter. He wrote a note addressed to the hospital commandant in Malmedy and asked that an ambulance be sent for him. The farmer took it to Malmedy where he learned that the hospital was no longer there. He persisted in his search for help for Lary, however, until he located Company B’s command post and aid station, where he delivered the note. Captain Kamen told him that he had no ambulance and the station was full of other wounded men who needed the attention of himself and his medics. Kamen sent sulfa and bandaging for Lary and the farmer promised to bring him in.
Returning to his farm, when Lary’s wound was dressed the farmer found a stout stick and his daughter Marthe and her friend, Marthe Manx, assisted the wounded officer into the aid station. It was nearly midnight. Colonel Pergrin interrogated him shortly afterward. Lary was able to give the final confirmation, clearly, concisely and coherently of precisely how the massacre had occurred. Colonel Pergrin said, “Lary was in perfect control of himself, calm and collected. He related the entire sequence of events coherently and in good detail. There was no evidence of hysteria. Like a good officer, he made a good, clear report.”
Between 3:30 that afternoon and midnight, seventeen survivors in all had made their way to places where men of the 291st could help them. It is known that 43 survivors of both the brief skirmish and the massacre lived and reached safety. There are 72 names on the monument erected by the Belgians in honor of the men massacred at the crossroads. The official records, however, list 86 names. A bleak testimony to the savagery of Peiper’s troops. (pp. 201-202)
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Then they were assigned to the 99th Infantry Division for the reduction of the Ruhr. When that had been done, the 99th, and the 291st with it, were assigned to Patton’s Third Army and they all went speeding down into Bavaria. The primary objective was to liberate as many prisoner-of-war camps as possible and to prevent any movement of German High Command to the redoubts in the southern mountains.
They lost three men during this movement. Captain Paul Kamen, who had brought the medical supplies to Malmedy through Pieper’s artillery fire the night of December 17, was killed on the autobahn near Kissengen. The 291st convoy was strafed by a couple of Luftwaffe jet-propelled planes. Staff Sergeant Douglas Swift, also of the medical section, was killed at the same time. (pp. 374-375)
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First Across the Rhine
Shortly after midnight, a Belgian farmer named Martin was passed through one of our roadblocks to Dr. Paul Kamen’s aid station in Malmedy. Martin told Kamen that a wounded American officer was at his home, a farmhouse just south of town. Paul sent sulfa and bandages home with the farmer, and Martin returned at about 0100 hours, December 18, with Lieutenant Virgil Lary, commander of the massacred Battery B. As it turned out, Lary was the last of twenty-nine survivors we had taken in since 1530 hours, December 17. Though wounded, he was in good mental condition and quite able to relate a perfectly coherent story with many new details, including a complete description of the SS armored vehicles and a fairly accurate accounting of the German column’s strength. (p. 113)
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… No, Malmedy’s worst enemy after December 21, 1944, was the U.S. Army Air Forces.
On December 23, beneath cloudy skies, twenty-eight B-26 medium bombers of the U.S. 9th Air Force’s IX Bombardment Division got confused on their way to the German town of Zulpich, which was thirty-three air miles from Malmedy. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight pilots eventually realized they were off course and aborted their bombing runs. However, six of the medium bombers dropped a total of eighty-six five-hundred-pound general-purpose bombs on Malmedy.
All of the bombs detonated around and through the center of town. Though severely dazed and shocked, Captain Larry Moyer, Captain John Conlin, and I immediately went to work organizing rescue efforts by al of our available troops – including many we pulled off the defensive barrier.
The town center was devastated. Fires were raging among the many collapsed buildings, roads and streets were thoroughly blocked, and there was ample evidence – screams, mainly – that many civilians and soldiers were buried alive in the rubble.
Among the first help to arrive was an engineer fire brigade organized by three of the 291st engineers running our eater purification plant – Technician 5th Grade John Chapman, Private First Class Camillo Bosco, and Private First Class John Iles. The makeshift fire brigade came complete with a fire truck and hoses.
As our line engineers converged on the ravaged area, Larry Moyer and John Conlin quickly organized rescue teams to sift through the rubble in search of survivors. Bulldozers arriving on the scene were deployed to begin road-clearing operations under the direction of Lieutenants Frank Rhea, Wade Colbeck, Don Davis, Kohn Kirkpatrick, and Leroy Joehnck and Master Sergeant Ralph McCarty. This was especially ticklish work near the center of the bombed-out area, for the rubble blocking the streets was likely as not to contain buried survivors. At the far edges of the blasted area, Sergeant Charles Sweitzer’s demolitions team blew fire lanes to contain the further spread of the otherwise uncontrollable fires.
Within minutes of the detonation of the last bomb, Captain Paul Kamen’s makeshift battalion aid station was receiving the first of the many, many military and civilian casualties. Shortly, litter teams were organized by several of our squad leaders – Sergeants Sheldon Smith and Al Melton, and Corporal Black Mac MacDonald. Unfortunately, the shortage of medics left the onerous task of separating the dead from the wounded to these three stalwarts. Too soon, lines of dead civilians and soldiers were being deposited in an open temporary morgue in the schoolyard near the aid station. By the time the last living victim had been freed from the rubble, Paul Kamen – our dentist – and his medics had treated about a hundred civilians and fifty GIs. Among the injured troops was Technician 3rd Grade Mack Barbour, an irrepressible medic who went straight to work as soon as his wounds had been bound.
My troop leaders and troops were magnificent. As I walked through the rubble, finding very little that needed my attention, there rose in me a sense of pride even the events of the past week could not surpass. Their reaction to the unbelievably frightening disaster had been so quick, so thorough, so giving. Almost without let up, these combat-hardened young men worked straight into the night, gingerly sifting the rubble of countless buildings for some sign of even the most tenuously maintained spirit of life.
Locating the living – and the dead – in the rubble was more difficult than it sounds. The mighty detonations of the five-hundred-pound-bombs had ground many parts of many buildings to a fine, powdery gray dust which coated everything in sight. A living, unconscious body looked much the same as dead stone, and more than a few survivors were located only after they gave way beneath the boot-shod feet of would-be rescuers. There was no blood visible – only less-dry blood-charged patches of the ubiquitous gray dust. And throughout the effort, the strenuous breathing resulting from heavy, frantic physical effort carried great volumes of the noxious fine powder and cordite-tinged are into the noses, mouths, and lungs of the rescuers.
Many of the tableaux we uncovered were simply pitiful. Master Sergeant Ralph McCarty and Technician 5th Grade John Noland lifted some heavy rubble from the ruin of one house and found several live children arrayed around the cold, stiff bodies of their mother and father. Children and adults whose clothing had been reduced to gray, dusty rags wandered aimlessly through the area of the worst destruction, all no doubt driven temporarily over the edge by the shock and grief that had burst upon their comparatively orderly lives. (It is one thing to see a war going on, and quite another to have that war explode in your family’s sitting room.)
We eventually learned that the BBC had reported Malmedy as being in German hands, and we chalked the error up to that bad information. We had placed many huge marker panels on roofs throughout the town, but low clouds apparently obviated their being seen in time. However, a subsequent investigation revealed that it was a navigation error, pure and simple. I cannot imagine what would have befallen us had all or most of the B-26s dropped their bombs. (pp. 173-175)
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The Germans quit the Ruhr region altogether on Sunday, April 15, 1945, three days after we were rocked by the news of the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. By then, all of our prisoner-of-war camps were filled beyond capacity by fit German soldiers who were clearly placing their lives and futures ahead of any remaining loyalty to the Nazi regime. Only the most rabid Nazis were still putting up appreciable resistance.
As the Allied armies in the West converged along a narrowing front and the Ruhr became a backwater, I took the opportunity of our relative inactivity to institute a major program of rest and recreation for my men. Every man we could spare from routine road and bridge maintenance duties was given an opportunity to wash, shave, and trade in worn clothing and shoes. Everyone who wanted to go was sent on fishing expeditions in the clear streams and lake that dotted our operational zone. We played hard at a wide variety of sports. As the transportation system sorted itself out, long leaves in Paris and Brussels became available on a limited basis.
The moment things settled into a routine, Mill McKinsey was back with his “order” that I leave for my vacation on the Riviera. By then, even I felt the need to take a break, so I acceded and joined a fellow lieutenant colonel from the 1st Army Engineer section for the flight to Cannes. The week passed in a blur of unwarlike activity. On the way back to the Ruhr, the pilot of our C-47 transport plane dipped low over Remagen so I could see the 291st’s handiwork. It was satisfying to see that the treadway pontoon bridge was as busy with traffic as it had been on its first day of business.
I was met at the airfield at Scheinfeld by good old Mike Popp. As I greeted my driver, I was struck by the look of despair on his face. Instantly, the positive effects of a week away from the grind dissipated in a shudder of fear. I knew instinctively that someone close to me had died. As I climbed into the command car for the drive to my new CP, in Klein, I asked the inevitable question, “Who was it, Mike?”
“You won’t believe it, Colonel. It’s your chess-playing buddy.”
“Not Kamen!” I felt dizzy as the face of Dr. Paul Kamen, the battalion dentist, flashed before my eyes. “How did our medics get involved in a shootout?”
“We were in a convoy, keeping up with the 99th Division on the way south. On April 20, the Krauts dive-bombed our column near a place called Kitzigen, south of Frankfurt.”
I wanted more details; I wanted to know how Paul Kamen, the hero medico of Malmedy, had died. Mike took a deep breath and laid it out. “We were in a motorcade, meeting no resistance, when we heard the Kraut jets coming down on us. All the trucks stopped and everyone hit the ditch. It was routine stuff, Colonel. We’d done it a hundred times since we crossed into Germany. Anyway, I was at the front of the column and the medical section was all the way in the rear. According to the guys who were back there, the medics never got out of their trucks. The jets hit them too fast. Doctor Kamen’s truck took a direct hit. He was killed instantly. They also got Doug Swift. We got Doug out, but he died in the hospital. Mack Barbour was with him when he died.”
I was dumbfounded, too overcome by grief to speak, so we finished the dive to the CP in silence. When we got there, Lieutenant Don Gerrity came out to greet me with what he hoped would be better news. “Five men from the H&S Company were wounded in the jet attack, Colonel, but,” and he held up his hand before I went crazy, “they’ve all been returned to duty. Nothing serious.” After Don told me who the wounded men were, I asked where I could find Technician 3rd Grade Mack Barbour. Don said that he would get Mack for me.
As soon as Mack walked into the CP, I asked how Paul Kamen had died. “He went right away, sir, as soon as the bomb got the weapons carrier. We were stopped before the bomb hit, but we didn’t have a chance to get out. I wasn’t touched. I checked his vital signs right away, but he was gone. Sir, there wasn’t a mark on him. It could have been the concussion or it could be his heart stopped from the shock of the explosion. We got him to the evac hospital and the doctors confirmed that he was gone.
“Master Sergeant Swift had abdominal wounds, but it looked like he was going to make it. I thought he’d make it, but he died during the same evening.” (pp. 304-306) (Born on March 1, 1911, S/Sgt. Douglas C. Swift, 38396893, of Seminole County, Ok., is buried at the Fairview Cemetery, in Shawnee, Ok. His tombstone incorrectly lists the date of his death as 4/30/45.)
The title being self-explanatory to the documentary’s nature, the film – based onColonel Pergrin and Eric Hammel’s First Across the Rhine – is excellent, incorporating both American and German archival footage, still photos and maps (well, images of maps). The video is of very good quality, while the audio narration is refreshingly not obscured by too-loud background theme music. As a nice and fittingly symbolic gesture – particularly in the context of the timing of its early 1990s production, when most WW II veterans were in their sixties and seventies and approaching or in retirement – it begins and concludes with the depiction of a veteran of the 291st (played by John Flynn) reviewing his wartime and memorabilia and reminiscing about his service in the 291st.
The film is hosted at Daniel Kneeland’s YouTube channel, but, you’ll have to log in to YouTube to view it, for it comes with the warning: “This video is age-restricted and only available on YouTube.” Gadzooks. Seriously? Why? Well, probably due to the inclusion of camera footage of the recovery and identification of soldiers murdered by the S.S. during the Malmedy Massacre (I’ve not seen these sequences before), film which even by the standards of cinema of WW II combat – and the aftermath of combat – is at once utterly graphic, appalling, and infuriating.
You can view the video at the link below, after – uhhh – logging in to YouTube.
In this context, the documentary includes brief interviews with two survivors of that atrocity (James Mattera at both 21:53-22:11 and 22:45-23:12, and, Bill Merriken at 22:12-22:44), and towards the end, film of the Malmedy Massacre trial. This sequence includes (from 48:31 to 49:22) of film of Lieutenant Virgil P. Lary, Jr.
One of the several still images incorporated into the film appears from 43:46 to 44:09 – and shows Colonel Pergrin and his staff toasting the 291st’s defense efforts at Malmedy. As stated in the narration, “In the center was Colonel Pergrin, on the right Captain [Lawrence] Moyer and on the left Lieutenants [Thomas] Stack, Fitzpatrick, and Lieutenant Don[ald] Davis. Lieutenants Scoback and Ray, Captain Kamen the medic, and Captain Lloyd Sheetz, the liaison officer.”
Screen captures of the photo are shown below. Despite the narration, I’m uncertain of “who is who”, albeit Captain Kamen is standing second from left at the bottom of the three images, looking directly at the unknown photographer.
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Paul Kamen is among the many American Jewish WW II military casualties whose named are absent from the 1947 book American Jews in World War II.
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The year 2001, fifty-six years after Captain Paul Kamen was killed in action in Germany, marked the release of Steven Spielberg (especially see this…) and Tom Hanks’ production of the television miniseries Band of Brothers, which presented a dramatized account of the history of E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, inspired by Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose’s book of the same name.
(Digressing and getting very “off topic”: I’ve never viewed, and have never been interested in viewing, Band of Brothers. I did watch Saving Private Ryan, and found the film to be disquieting (albeit this feeling didn’t actually arise from its graphic nature as such) and above all, well – how can I put it?? – contrived, with sentimentality splashed on as if with a heavy trowel. Then again, I’ve never been impressed with Spielberg’s oeuvre, which excels as much in shallowness, a kind of forced, disingenuous, and calculated optimism, and an avoidance of historical reality, as it does simple cinematography – I’ll give him credit there. Okayyy, enough with the film criticism for now! Back to the post-at-hand…)
As I discovered while creating this post, the music for the series was written by the late composer Michael Arnold Kamen, Captain Paul Kamen’s nephew. As stated in the booklet accompanying the CD release of the music soundtrack, “This music was written as a requiem for Captain Paul Kamen, my father’s twin, who was killed at Remagen, 3 days before the end of the war. Rest in peace.” Well, while completely and oddly incorrect – the war in Europe ended on May 8, almost three weeks after Captain Kamen’s death, and the Captain was not killed at Remagen – the feeling and motivation are nonetheless quite real.
Born in 1948, Michael Kamen passed away in 2003 at the age of fifty-five, after an enormously prolific and successful musical career, as evidenced by the plethora of information about his life and body of work.
Musician. Classically trained at New York’s Julliard School where he studied oboe, he gained fame as a Grammy winning and Oscar nominated composer. His first Grammy came in 1992 for the theme to “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” followed by a Grammy in 1996 for “An American Symphony” which he derived from his work on the musical drama “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. His most recent Grammy came in 2001 which he shared with Metallica for the song “The Call of Ktulu” for conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He was nominated for Oscars for his work with Bryan Adams on “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” from Robin Hood” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” from “Don Juan DeMarco”. During his career he also collaborated with such artists as Sting, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton. He also provided the music for the “Lethal Weapon” and “Die Hard” movies. In 1997 he established the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to raise money to make musical instruments available to the nation’s children.
In all this, it would seem that past and future – whether by chance or inevitability – intersected with one another. Or, in the words of William Faulkner in Requiem for a Nun, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
His obituary appearing in the Times on May 15, 1945, PFC Donald Robert Lindheim (39054015) of the 2nd Ranger Battalion received the Purple Heart.
Born on June 2, 1914 in New York City, he was married to Mrs. Mary (Tuthill) Lindheim, of 247 (347?) Union St., in San Francisco. His parents were Attorney and Mrs. Norvin Rudolf [1880-1928] and Irma (Levy) [1886-1978] Lindheim; his siblings Norvin Rudolf, Jr. [1/23/08-4/6/39], Richard W., Stephen W., and Mrs. Hortense L. Wheatley, the family residing at the Peter Stuyvesant Hotel in Manhattan (about which, see more below). He was a graduate of Cornell University.
PFC Lindheim is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery, in Margraten, Holland (Plot J, Row 4, Grave 4). His name appeared in a Casualty List issued on May 15, 1945, as well as the New York Sun (April 8, 1939), Daily News (New York Daily News, that is) on May 18, 1945, and Jewish Chronicle (London) on June 1, 1945. His name can be found on page 48 of American Jews in World War II.
Ranger Who Lost His Life In Germany on April 20
May 15, 1945
Pfc. Donald R. Lindheim of the Second Ranger Battalion of the Army was killed in action in Germany on April 20, the War Department has informed his family, it was announced yesterday. He was 30 years old. Private Lindheim was a son of Mrs. Irma L. Lindheim of the Peter Stuyvesant Hotel [The Peter Stuyvesant Hotel, at 257 Central Park West, was sold on April 17, 1967, becoming the Peter Stuyvesant Apartments, the name then being changed to the Orwell House. Resident shareholders finally changed the name to “257 Central Park West” by the early 2000s, the building’s present title.], who is a former president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, and of the late Norvin Lindheim, a lawyer.
Born here, Private Lindheim attended the Tome School in Maryland and Cornell University. He studied and worked in collective agriculture in Palestine and at the time of an Arab uprising there acted as bodyguard to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization. He was studying for a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of California when he enlisted.
Besides his mother Private Lindheim leaves a widow, Mrs. Mary Tuthill Lindheim of Tucson, Ariz.; two brothers, Lieut. Richard Lindheim of the Army Signal Corps, now in Burma, and Stephen Lindheim, in special Government service, and a sister, Mrs. John Wheatley of Yonkers, N.Y.
Here’s PFC Lindheim’s obituary, as it appeared in the Daily News; not that much different from as reported in the Times.
Daily News (New York)
May 18, 1945
A member of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, PFC Donald R. Lindheim, 30, son of Mrs. Irma L. Lindheim of the Peter Stuyvesant Hotel, was killed in action in Germany on April 20.
Lineheim once acted as bodyguard to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, at the time of an Arab uprising in Palestine. His mother is a former president of Hadassah, women’s Zionist organization. He was studying for a doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of California when he enlisted. Surviving also are Lindheim’s widow, Mrs. Mary Tuthill Lindheim of Tuscon, Ariz.; two brothers and a sister.
Here’s a view of 257 Central Park West, from Wikipedia (“The profile from the 86th Street transverse at Central Park.”)
Another view of the building. (“Hotel Peter Stuyvesant, ca. 1938.”)
The third April 20, 1945 casualty whose obituary appeared in the Times was PFC Arthur Neurad Sloan (42038875), a medic in the Medical Detachment of the 260th Infantry Regiment of the 65th Infantry Division, who died of wounds on April 21. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.
The son of Dr. Alfred V. and Mrs. Jeanette Salomon and brother of S/Sgt. Alfred V. Sloan, Jr., of 41 West 96th Street in Manhattan, he is buried at Linden Hill Cemetery in Maspeth, N.Y.
PFC Sloan’s name appeared in Casualty Lists on May 14 and May 18, 1945, and in the Times’ Obituary section on July 16, 1948. His name can be found on page 447 of American Jews in World War II.
Youth Fatally Wounded While Helping Comrade
June 5, 1945
Pfc. Arthur N. Sloan, an Army medical aid man, son of Dr. and Mrs. Alfred V. Salomon of 41 West Ninety-Sixth Street, died on April 21 of wounds he suffered the previous day while attending a wounded comrade near Regensburg, according to word received here. He was 19 years old.
Born in this city he was graduated from Columbia Grammar School in 1943 and entered the pre-medical course of Washington Square College of New York University. He entered the Army in September, 1943, and went overseas in January, 1945. He saw active service with the Third Army in the Saar and later in Bavaria and Czechoslovakia.
Besides his parents he leaves a brother, S/Sgt. Alfred V. Sloan Jr. of the Army Air Forces.
Here’s an Oogle Street view of 41 West 96th Street in Manhattan.
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Some other Jewish military casualties on Friday, April 20, 1945 (Yom Shishi, 7th Iyar, 5705) include…
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
תהא נפשו צרורה בצרור החיים
United States Army
Killed in Action / Died of Wounds
Adler, Samuel Ludwig, S/Sgt., 36774182, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart (Germany – died of wounds) 65th Infantry Division, 259th Infantry Regiment,K Company Born Hungary, 10/4/10 Mrs. Goldie G. Adler (wife), 4748 N. Whipple St., Chicago, Il. Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France – Plot F, Row 11, Grave 26 Chicago Daily Tribune 7/29/45
American Jews in World War II – 92
This image of S/Sgt. Adler is via FindAGrave contributor PJHorn.
Cite Veterans of Far Flung Battle Zones Bronze Star Citations Tell of Bravery
Chicago Daily Tribune July 29, 1945
The 65th Infantry Division in Austria recently honored the memory of Staff Sgt. Samuel L. Adler who gave his life wiping out a German machine gun nest. Son of Mrs. Lenas Geydushek, 4626 Monticello Ave., he was awarded the bronze star posthumously.
Adler’s act of heroism took place in the city of Neumarket [sic], Germany, last April. Leading his squad in clearing houses in Nermarket, he was pinned down by intense fire from an enemy machine gun nest to his front. He inched his way forward to discover the enemy’s position and when within 25 yards of his objective was fatally wounded by machine gun fire.
“For heroic achievement in connection with military operations against an enemy of the United States at Neumarkt, Germany, on 20 April 1945. Sergeant ADLER, a Company “K” squad leader, leading his squad in clearing houses in Neumarkt, was pinned down by intense fire from an enemy machine-gun nest to his front. Leaving his men under cover, Sergeant ADLER inched his way toward the enemy gun. Discovering their position, he informed his scout, and began an advance to wipe out the nest. When within twenty-five yards of his objective, he was fatally wounded by machine-gun fire. Sergeant ADLER gave his life protecting his comrades, and by his heroic devotion to duty enabled his squad to annihilate the enemy machine gun nest, thus contributing greatly to company’s advance”
Details: General Orders No. 23, Headquarters 65th Infantry Division (16 May 1945).
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Chelimsky, Joseph L., Sgt., 32999069, Bronze Star Medal, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart 77th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment Born 1916 Mrs. Virginia Chelimsky (wife), 11 Maple St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Ms. Zita Fox (?) Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii – Plot N, Row 1, Grave 385 American Jews in World War II – 288
Coldwater, Ralph, Pvt., 39931847, Purple Heart (Okinawa) 96th Infantry Division, 382nd Infantry Regiment Born in Montana, 3/29/20 Mr. and Mrs. Lipman [2/16/88-2/16/77] and Henrietta [8/12/84-5/1/39] Coldwater (parents), Capt. Elliott Coldwater (brother) 303 East Park Ave., Anaconda, Montana B’Nai Israel Cemetery, Butte, Mt. Casualty List 6/10/45 American Jews in World War II – 219
This image of Pvt. Coldwater’s Matzeva, by Suzanne Andrews, appears at his FindAGrave biographical profile.
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David, Allan Lippett, 2 Lt., 0-1183680, Purple Heart (Philippines, Negros Island) 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion Born 1924 Mr. Sigmund W. David (father); Martha L. David and Elinor S. David (sisters), 167 Maple St., Glencoe, Il. Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines – Plot N, Row 7, Grave 167 Chicago Tribune 5/17/45
Chicago Jewish Chronicle 6/1/45 American Jews in World War II – 96
Goldberg, Jack, PFC, 33935228, Silver Star, Purple Heart (died of wounds) 10th Mountain Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, D Company Miss Jean Goldberg (sister), 3834 Wyalusing Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy – Plot F, Row 2, Grave 14 The Jewish Exponent 6/8/45 Philadelphia Bulletin 6/2/45 Philadelphia Inquirer 6/1/45 Philadelphia Record 6/2/45 American Jews in World War II – 524
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Markson, Harry F., Pvt., 12238636, Purple Heart, shot by a sniper at Monte Maygori, Italy 10th Mountain Division, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, G Company Born Elmira, N.Y., 1926 Attorney Harry Markson (father) and Mrs. Mildred (Falk) [1892-1986] Markson (mother), 10 7th St., Buffalo, N.Y. Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Italy – Plot C, Row 4, Grave 23 Casualty List 6/18/45 Buffalo Courier-Express 6/19/45, 9/27/45, 11/9/45 American Jews in World War II – 388
Company G was given the mission of capturing the town of Tomba and clearing the ridge beyond to protect the battalion advance on their right. The company moved out at 0645, 3rd Platoon leading. Small arms fire held up the 3rd Platoon, and the 2nd Platoon passed through and took the right part of town.
The 1st Platoon, meanwhile, pushed up and took the section of town left of the road. Machine guns and mortars gave excellent overhead fire on the ridge from positions where they were receiving heavy artillery and mortar fire from the enemy.
After part of the town was taken, one squad of the 1st Platoon moved over onto the forward slope. They promptly received machine gun and sniper fire.
Pfc. HARRY F. MARKSON was killed by a sniper.
The following two photographs are via FindAGrave contributor Keith Redmond. The first image, a formal portrait taken in 1930, shows ten-year-old Harry with his mother Mildred, then thirty-eight years old.
As reported in the Buffalo Courier-Express…
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Nathan, Marcus, Pvt., 33176598, Medical Corps, Purple Heart 77th Infantry Division, 302nd Medical Battalion Born7/3/07 Mrs. Anna S. Nathan (wife) [1/11/96-12/20/83] Mr. and Mrs. Harry [6/16/81-9/1/41] and Henrietta (Pincus) [2/23/80-3/7/51] Nathan (parents), 2738 N. 15th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Anita, Harold H., Sidney, and Victor (sister and brothers) Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, Ca. – Section N, Grave 1774 The Jewish Exponent 6/8/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 5/30/45 American Jews in World War II – 541
Pearl, Joseph, 1 Lt., 0-1301870, Purple Heart 3rd Infantry Division, 15th Infantry Regiment, Communications Born in Soviet Union, 1921 Mr. Jack Pearl (brother), 76-36 113th St., Forest Hills, N.Y. Mr. Louis Pearl (father), 2100 Westbury Ct., Brooklyn, N.Y. Employee of Richmond Lighting Company, Brooklyn Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France – Plot E, Row 35, Grave 23 Long Island Star Journal 5/18/45 American Jews in World War II – 403
Ruffine, Barney S., PFC, 12030943, Field Artillery, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart (Philippines) 37th Infantry Division, 140th Field Artillery Battalion Mr. Louis Ruffine (father), 118-02 Liberty Ave., Richmond Hill, N.Y. / 118-14 83rd Ave., Kew Gardens, N.Y. Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines – Plot A, Row 14, Grave 207 The New York Times (Obituary Section) 4/28/46 American Jews in World War II – 424
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Schorr, Morris (Moshe Bar Shlomo), Pvt., 33329311, Purple Heart 45th Infantry Division, 180th Infantry Regiment Born 1919 Mrs. Esther Schorr (mother), Martin, William, and Mrs. Vera Malkin (brothers and sister), 2610 S. Warnock St., Philadelphia, Pa. Mount Sharon Cemetery, Springfield, Pa. – Section I; Buried 12/12/48 Casualty List 5/23/45 The Jewish Exponent 6/1/45, 12/10/48 Philadelphia Inquirer 12/9/48 American Jews in World War II – 550
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Sclarenco, Stanley I., Pvt., 33940640 (at Treuf, Germany) 65th Infantry Division, 260th Infantry Regiment Born 9/9/22 Mr. and Mrs. Morris [died 7/26/26] and Dora [1894-1989] Sclarenco (parents), Michael Louis [3/31/45-1/22/48] (brother) and Ruth Sclarenco (sister) 2057 N. 8th St., Philadelphia, Pa. Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Collingdale, Pa. – Section 15; Buried 12/19/48 The Jewish Exponent 12/24/48 Philadelphia Inquirer 12/17/48 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
Wounded in Action
Jaret, Nathan M., Capt., 0-534241, Medical Corps, in Germany Born 1914 Mrs. Elsie (Kramer) Jaret (wife), 79-19 68th Ave., Middle Village, N.Y. Mr. Alex Jaret (father), 67-32 75th St., Middle Village, N.Y. Medical degree from Royal College of Edinburgh, 1939 Casualty List 5/11/45 Long Island Star Journal 5/10/45 American Jews in World War II – 352
Shulman, Melvin, Pvt., at Ie Shima (Wounded previously, ~ 9/1/44) Born 1925 Mr. and Mrs. Maurice and Helen Shulman (parents), 751 Avenue D, Rochester, N.Y. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 6/10/45 War Department Releases 11/1/44, 6/14/45 American Jews in World War II – 441
Yesner, Theodore D., PFC, 33795935, at Okinawa Born in Pennsylvania, 1908 Mrs. Fae Yesner (wife), 1304 Rockland St., Philadelphia, Pa. The Jewish Exponent 5/25/45 Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Record 5/17/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
United States Navy (attached to United States Marine Corps)
Rutberg, Leon Aaron(Ari Leev bar Yosef), ChPhM (Chief Pharmacist’s Mate) 4121204, Purple Heart 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Air Group 25, Medical Flight Section Born Philadelphia, Pa., 10/23/10 Mrs. Lillian (Kraus) Rutberg (wife); Carole and J. Gary (children), 1216 N. Sweetzer St., Los Angeles, Ca.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Rebecca “Beckie” (Ginsberg) Rutberg (parents), Esther, Jacob (“Jack”), and Kate (sisters and brother), Philadelphia, Pa. Har Zion Cemetery, Collingdale, Pa. – Section J, Lot 134, Grave 4; Buried 2/7/49 Name never appeared in The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia) American Jews in World War II – 52
This portrait of ChPhM Rutberg accompanies his biographical profile – movingly written by his daughter, Carole Silverman – at the website of the American World War II Orphans Network.
United States Army Air Force
15th Air Force
Killed in Action
Mogel, Edward R., Sgt., 11120668, Purple Heart 301st Bomb Group, 353rd Bomb Squadron Born 7/7/23 Mrs. Mary Mogel (mother); Harriet M. Finn (sister), 90 Rosseter St., Dorchester, Ma. Edward and Meredith Finn (nephew and niece in law) No Missing Air Crew Report, Aircraft: B-17G, no other information known Meretz Cemetery Association, Quincy, Ma. Casualty List 5/11/45 American Jews in World War II – 172
Akin to many Second World War Army Air Force casualties, no Missing Air Crew Report is associated with the death of Sergeant Edward Mogel. However, given his rank of Sergeant and award of the Purple Heart medal, it can be reliably assumed that he was an aerial gunner, radio operator, or photographer, and was killed on a combat mission in which his B-17 was not actually lost in combat. The specifics are almost certainly present in the historical records of the 353rd Bomb Squadron or his IDPF, but I don’t have access to those records.
Weinstein, David, S/Sgt., 12084596, Tail Gunner, Air Medal, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart 97th Bomb Group, 342nd Bomb Squadron Born 8/14/23 Mr. Abraham Weinstein (father), 1315 Merriam Ave., Bronx, N.Y. Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section H, Grave 9794; Buried 11/15/49 Casualty List 5/23/45 American Jews in World War II – 468
This picture of S/Sgt. Weinstein’s matzeva is by FindAGrave contributor Glenn.
S/Sgt. Weinstein was one of the eleven crew members aboard B-17G 44-6328, an un-nicknamed aircraft which was lost during a mission to the Fortezza Marshalling Yards (northeast of Bolzano) in Italy.
In an incident akin to the downing of the 711th Bomb Squadron’s (447th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force) B-17G TNT KATIE on March 15, 1945, the fuselage of the 342nd Bomb Squadron plane received a direct hit by flak (probably 88mm; possibly 105.cm, or 12.8 cm) in the nose. Alas, sadly unlikeTNT KATIE, from which three crewmen were miraculously able to parachute to safety, none of 6328’s crew survived.
As recounted by tail gunner S/Sgt. John D. Jeter (one of three witnesses to the plane’s loss, the others having been bombardier 2 Lt. Jack M. Johnson and T/Sgt. Ted S. Kelting) in Missing Air Crew Report 13818, an anti-aircraft shell exploded in the nose of the plane near the navigator’s astrodome, demolishing the aircraft’s nose as far back as the flight deck, yet leaving the lower nose and chin turret intact. The plane continued in level flight for five more seconds, and then, nosing over, dove to earth from an altitude of 27,000 feet, crashing near Fortezza.
S/Sgt. Jeter noted that #6328 dropped its bombs prematurely, with its bomb-bay doors remaining partially open afterwards. No crewmen or parachutes were seen to emerge from the plane.
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Here are a series of Apple Map and Air Photo views of Fortezza and its surroundings – at larger and larger scales as you move “down” the blog post – from DuckDuckGo.
This view shows the location of Fortezza (at the end of the red pointer) in the Italian Tyrol. North of the red-marked international border is Austria.
Moving in, here’s a map showing Fortezza in relation to surrounding towns. The relatively small number of inhabited localities is explained by the area’s topography, which is apparent in the air photo image below…
…which reveals the mountainous nature of the terrain.
Zooming in closer, one sees that Fortezza lies on the Iscaro River. The city is south of the Brenner Pass, which itself was the target of many 15th Air Force bombardment missions.
Zooming in further, you can see the rail line running through the city.
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The bomber’s crew comprised:
Pilot: Sullivan, Earle L., 2 Lt. Co-Pilot: Townsend, Gordon K., Jr., 2 Lt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Navigator: Wilcox, John E., 2 Lt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Togglier: Conner, Victor G., Sgt. Flight Engineer: Tichy, Robert G., T/Sgt. Radio Operator: McKinney, James Edward “Snookie”, S/Sgt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Gunner (Ball Turret): Porter, James D., S/Sgt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Gunner (Right Waist): Tomaszycki, Alfonse J., S/Sgt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Gunner (Left Waist): Bonner, Thomas W., S/Sgt. (Name does not appear in NARA Records at WW II Memorial Database) Gunner (Tail): Weinstein, David, S/Sgt. Photographer: Dudek, Chester A., Sgt.
The following image, at the FindAGrave biographical profile of radio operator S/Sgt. James E. McKinney (contributed by S/Sgt. McKinnney’s cousin NancyG) shows a group of ten men – one of whom (third from right, rear row; the only crew member actually identified in the photo) is S/Sgt. McKinney, and nine other aviators, the latter very likely McKinney’s fellow crew members and thus … the Earle Sullivan crew. Given the arrangement of the men in the photo – four officers in front and six NCO’s standing in back – the four in front would likely include Sullivan, Townsend, and Wilcox. Besides S/Sgt. McKinney, the other five in the rear would include Bonner, Porter, Tichy, Tomaszycki, and Weinstein. Dudek is probably not in the photo. According to NancyG, the specific B-17G plane in the background – Wichita Belle – served as the backdrop for other crew images.
According to the account at FindAGrave, the burial locations of the bomber’s crew were only definitively identified by the summer of 1949, with the crew being returned to the United States for burial by the end of that year.
This image, by FindAGrave contributor Bobby Hunt, shows the collective grave marker at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery for S/Sgt. McKinney and five of his ten fellow crew members. As indicted above, akin to David Weinstein, Sullivan, Townsend, Conner, and Dudek are buried in private cemeteries.
Killed on Active Service
As evidenced by this series of posts – pertaining to Jewish WW II military casualties reported upon in the New York Times – military service by its very nature involves a level of danger and risk in situations unrelated to engagement with enemy forces and actual combat. Such was tragically evidenced on April 20, 1945, in the crash of B-17G Flying Fortress 44-6441 (Mary Rose) of the 301st Bomb Group near Caserta, Italy, while piloted by 1 Lt. Robert L. Francis. None of the plane’s twenty-one crew and passengers survived.
Though I don’t have the Accident Report, according to Jing Zhou’s website B-17 Bomb Flying Fortress (which carries a list of the plane’s crew and passengers, and includes a photo of the wreck), the bomber’s loss may have been attributable to bad weather, as “The report clarifies how the aircraft hit the side of the hill after the pilot aborted the landing in poor visibility.” Though not specifically delineated in Missing Air Crew Report 15496, given the marking on the plane’s tail (circle 4), the plane may have been assigned to the 419th Bomb Squadron.
Among the plane’s passengers were Captain Howard A. Leeser, Captain Seymour S. Weisberger, and T/5 Lisa Zucker.
Leeser, Howard A., Capt., 0-432475 Born Missouri, 1/28/18 Mr. and Mrs. Arthur [3/7/83-6/28/25] and Flossie (Marks) [5/2/90-1/20/63] Leeser (parents), Tulsa, Ok. Kane, Pa. New Mount Sinai Cemetery, Afton, Mo. – Dora Weigel Plot, Lot 153, Section I, Grave 9; Buried 12/48 American Jews in World War II – 505
Weisberger, Seymour S., Capt., 0-1579282 15th Air Force, 5th Photo Reconnaissance Group Born 9/2/17 Mr. and Mrs. Harry and Belle Weisberger (parents), 575 Westlake Ave., Barberton, Oh. Rose Hill Cemetery, Akron, Oh. The Akron Beacon Journal 5/1/45
American Jews in World War II – 503
This image of Captain Weisberger, provided by 57th Bomb Wing Researcher Patti Johnson is from the Akron Beacon Journal of May 1, 1945, and appears at Captain Weisberger’s FindAGrave profile.
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Zucker, Lisa, T/5, A-200820 15th Air Force, 6720th Headquarters Platoon Born 4/19/13 Mr. Michael Zucker (brother), 6718 7th Ave., Los Angeles, Ca. Bronx County, N.Y. Hillside Memorial Park, Los Angeles, Ca. – Valley of Remembrance, Plot 4-313-5 The Knickerbocker News (Albany, N.Y.) 1/30/43 Los Angeles Times 5/4/44, 3/9/49, 3/14/49 American Jews in World War II – not listed(error … see correction below!)
Like Captain Kamen, T/5 Lisa Zucker is an example of the many Jewish WW II military casualties whose names never appeared in American Jews in World War II. Ironically; fortunately, information and photographs about her existed well before the sad event of April 20, 1945, in the form of newspaper articles in The Knickerbocker News (of Albany, New York) of January 30, 1943, and TheLos Angeles Times of May 4, 1944. These news items are shown below, the former accessed via Thomas M. Tryniski’s FultonHistory website.
[Correction, December, 2024!… T/5 Zucker’s name appears on page 57 of American Jews in World War II, appropriately under the state of California. Thanks to Rabbi Joseph Topek of Stony Brook University, who informed me of the discrepancy in this post!]
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New York State Digital libraryNew York State Digital library
Albany WAACs Don’t Lack for Dates or Hospitality
First in a Series
The little WAAC who was none too sure of herself gives you an idea of how Albany’s ladies in khaki get along for entertainment.
Preparing to go on duty, she was standing in front of a mirror fluffing her hair. On average, how often do WAACs gave dates?
“Well, I only have about a couple a week,” she said, “bit a lot of the girls have three or four. I guess I have some things to learn.”
Almost always WAAC dates are with soldiers or sailors stationed in Albany and what with propinquity playing the part it does in human affairs, quite a few couples have started “going steady”. This is pretty largely to the credit of the United Service Organizations for many romances in Albany have started at USO dances at the Albany Yacht Club.
Albany WAACs, however are not wholly dependent upon men for entertainment. Groups of them go to the picture shows (22 cents admission if they are in uniform), swim or use the gym at the Jewish Community Center and YMCA or bowl (one alley gives them a cut rate one night a week).
There are two lounges available to the girls. One is a portion of the lobby of the hotel in which they live and the other is in a State St. store.
The latter is operated jointly by the Albany County Home Bureau and the USO and is equipped with a ping-pong table, a radio, record-player, smoking stands and desks for letter writing. It also has a gas range.
“The other night,” Second Officer Marjorie Hunt said, “about 15 girls brought food and prepared their own supper. It is nice to have a place where you can be that free to do as you please.”
Albany churches have “outdone themselves” in inviting WAACs to church supper and entertainments, Second Officer Hunt said. “Some of them have taken the girls bowling, and, in general, have made it pleasant for them,” she said. “The City Club, the Albany Institute of History and Art and the Albany Public Library also have been cooperative.
“Over the holidays,” Second Officer Hunt said, “a lot of the girls were invited to homes of Albany people. Between holidays there usually isn’t so much of that.”
If male civilians can arrange to meet a WAAC, they need not quail at the thought of dating a girl in uniform when they are not. The WAACs don’t have to wear their uniforms when off duty – and most of them can have dates almost any night.
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Here is a photo of PFC Zucker from the Los Angeles Times of May 4, 1944.
HONORS IN ITALY – Wac. Pfc. Lisa Zucker, Los Angeles, attached to 15th Air Force in Italy, stands at attention as Maj. F.H. Cratheron awards good conduct ribbon.
Another Incident: An aviator who parachuted and returned to duty
Berman, Jacob, 2 Lt., 0-2056684, Bombardier, Purple Heart 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, 373rd Bomb Squadron Parachuted 15 miles north of Kunming, China; Returned to duty; Hospitalized (Lightly injured in bailout) Born 1924 Mr. Nathan Berman (father), 3210 Fillmore Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. MACR 14467, Aircraft B-24M 44-50283, Pilot 2 Lt. Wayne V. Jorgensen, 9 crew – 8 survivors The Aluminum Trail – 404 American Jews in World War II – 275
Statement in Missing Air Crew Report: “Plane No, 44-50283 took off on a shipping strike from Lulian, China, at 1831 hours, 19 April 1945. On return from mission all crew members bailed out fifteen (15) miles north of Kunming, China due to fuel shortage at about 0348 hours, 20 April 1945. 2 Lt. William B. Ealey, 0-553955 [radar officer], was killed in the bailout and Sgt. [Stephen] Blacet [Gunner] is missing. [Returned to duty May 15 – lightly injured in bailout] All other crew members are hospitalized at 95th Station Hospital, APO 627. Extent of injuries unknown.”
Other crew members: Pilot: Jorgensen, Wayne V., 2 Lt. Co-Pilot: Emery. Frederick V., 2 Lt. Navigator: Bittle, Claude E., 2 Lt. Flight Engineer: Hoyler, Edward W., Sgt. – Lightly injured in bailout Radio Operator: Wheeler, Woodrow, T/Sgt. Gunner: Ratzin, Thomas, Sgt.
Soviet Union
Red Army U.S.S.R. (C.C.C.Р.), Red Army [РККА (Рабоче-крестьянская Красная армия)]
Agranovich, Zelik Isaevich – Senior Sergeant (Агранович, Зелик Исаевич – Старший Сержант) Deputy Battalion Commander – Political Section (Заместитель Политчасти Командира Батальона) 68th Autonomous Tank Brigade Born 1912; City of Nizhneudinsk, Irkutsk Oblast Buried: Fraternal Cemetery, Laisov Village, Brandenburg, Germany – Row 2, Grave 5
Bloomenkrants, Isaak Iosifovich – Major (Блюменкраиц, Исаак Иосифович – Майор) Political Agitator (Агитатор) 1107th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 3rd Tank Corps, 2nd Tank Army Died of wounds Born 1915; City of Minsk, Minsk Oblast, Belorussian SSR Place of burial: Unknown
Entin, Iosif Yakovlevich – Guards Lieutenant (Энтин, Иосиф Яковлевич – Гвардии Лейтенант) Tank Commander (Командир Танка) 1st Belorussian Front, 11th Autonomous Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, 90th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment Born 1914; Pochenskiy Raion, Bryansk Oblast Buried: Brandenburg, Germany Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 (Книги Памяти евреев-воинов, павших в боях с нацизхмом в1941-1945 гг) Volume IV, p. 533; Volume V, p. 160
Glikman, Leonid Mikhaylovich – Guards Junior Technician-Lieutenant (Гликман, Леонид Михайлович – Гвардии Младший Техник-Лейтенант) Tank Technician (Техник Танковый) 57th Guards Tank Brigade Born 1919; Odessa Buried: Poland
Kantarovich, Roman Iosifovich – Guards Lieutenant (Кантарович, Роман Иосифович – Гвардии Лейтенант) Armor (Specific crew position or assignment unknown) (“Танковый”) Place of burial: Unknown MemorialBookofJewishSoldiersWhoDiedinBattlesAgainstNazism – 1941-1945 (Книги Памяти евреев-воинов, павших в боях с нацизхмом в1941-1945 гг) Volume V, p. 700
Malamud / Malomud, Iosif Shulimovich, – Junior Lieutenant (Маламуд / Маломуд, Иосиф Шульимович – Младший Лейтенант) Rifle Platoon Commander (Командир Стрелкового Взвода) 250th Rifle Regiment, 82nd Rifle Division, 47th Army Born: 1913, Vinnitskaya Oblast Wife: Nina Zalmanov / Zimkovna Malamud / Molomud First place of burial: Nider-Nayendorf, Brandeburg, Germany
Neer, Vevik Manikovich – Junior Lieutenant (Неер, Вевик Маникович – Младший Лейтенант) Self-Propelled Gun Commander (Командир Самоходной Установии) 1203rd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment Born 1912; Odessa Buried: City of Bernau (southeast, “elevation 89”), Brandenburg, Germany
Peysakhov, Mordukh Khaymovich – Senior Sergeant (Пейсахов, Мордух Хаймович – Старший Сержант) Chief – “Walkie Talkies” (Начальник Рации) 2nd Ukranian Front, 84th Tank Regiment Born 1906; Shumyachskiy Raion, Smolensk Oblast Buried: Moravia, Czechoslovakia MemorialBookofJewishSoldiersWhoDiedinBattlesAgainstNazism – 1941-1945(Книги Памяти евреев-воинов, павших в боях с нацизхмом в1941-1945 гг), VolumeV, p. 160; VolumeVI, p. 183
Rozenflan, Pavel Filippovich – Guards Junior Sergeant (Розенфлан, Павел Филиппович – Гвардии Младший Сержант) Gun Commander (Командир Орудия) 53rd Guards Tank Brigade Killed at city of Baruth, Brandenburg, Germany Born 1925; City of Dnepopetrovsk Buried: Germany, city of Baruth, northern outskirts
Veytman, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich – Senior Sergeant (Вейтман, Александр Александрович – Старший Сержант) Gun Commander (Командир Орудия) 3rd Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, 4th Guards Tank Corps Died of wounds at 165th Medical-Sanitary Battalion Born 1903 Buried: Germany, city of Muskau, Collective Grave
France
Killed in Action
Franck, Marcel Frederic Jean Baptiste (AC-21P-187386) Armée de Terre, Direction Générale des Etudes et de la Recherche Died at Flossenburg Concentration Camp Born 8/27/07, Tourcoing, Nord, France
Touati, Albert Abraham (AC-21P-157194), at Hesselbronn, Germany (from Algeria), Armée de Terre, 41eme Groupe Colonial de Force Terrestre Antiaériennes (41st Colonial Anti-Aircraft Group) Died of wounds Born 2/16/23, Sidi bel Abbes, Algerie
Baugarten, Jan, Cpl. (Germany, Saxony, Nieksy (Operation Bautzen Elba) 1st Tank Brigade Born Piadyki (d. Kolomyja) [Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine?], Poland, 1906 Mr. Jozef Baugarten (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 82
Bilski, Wiktor, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Odernitz) 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade Born Poland, Grodno; 1902 Mr. Leon Bilski (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 82
Bocian, Berek, 2 Lt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Potsdam, Berlin (Operation Brand-Berlin)) 11th Infantry Regiment Born Sochaczew, Mazowieckie, Poland, 1921 Mr. Hercz Bocian (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 9
Borzwejg, Saul, Cpl. (Germany, Saxony, Nieksy (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade Born Poland, Mazowieckie, Warsaw; 1910 Mr. Pesach Borwejg (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 10
Cogiel, Arik (Germany, Brandenburg, Paulinnau (Operation Brand-Berlin)) 12th Infantry Regiment Born Buknic, Poland, 1920 Mr. August Cogiel (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 14
Cudny, Henryk, 2 Lt. (Germany, Saxony, Rietschen (Operation Bautzen-Elba)) 12th Infantry Regiment Born Poland, Mazowieckie, Warsaw; 1921 Mr. Jan Cudny (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 14
Drupiewski, Adam, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Wriezen (Operation Brand Berlin)) Intelligence Company Born USilver StarR, Woronez (Voronezh?); 1922 Mr. Beniamin Drupiewski (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 17
Finkielsztein, Nuta, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Daubitz) 37th Infantry Regiment Born Sarnaki (d. Losice) [Mazowieckie?], Poland, 1913 Mr. Abraham Finkielsztein (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 20
Fuss, Herman, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Tuchen (Operation Brand-Berlin)) 8th Infantry Regiment Born Chyrow, Poland, 1911 Mr. Jakub Fuss (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 22
Gleich, Michal, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Milkel (Operation Bautzen-Elba)) 17th Infantry Regiment Born Kijow, Opolskie, Poland, 1915 Zgorzelec Military Cemetery, Zgorzelec, Poland Mr. Jozef Gleich (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 24
Goldfeder, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Bautzen (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 16th Tank Brigade Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 86
Grubman, Chaim, Capt. (Poland, Jaroslaw) 2nd Reserve Regiment Born Ukraine, Khmelnytsky, Kamieniec Podolski; 1908 Mr. Szmuel Grubman (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 26
Hartfelder, Zygmunt, 2 Lt. (Germany, Saxony, Sdier (Operation Bautzen-Elba)) 17th Infantry Regiment Born Jaroslaw, Poland, 1923 Mr. Jan Hartfelder (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 28
Holc, Mieczyslaw, Pvt. (Germany, Saxony, Odernitz (Operation Bautzen-Elba)) 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade Born 1924 Mr. Aleksander Holc (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 30
Hupert, Hugo, Cpl. (Germany, Saxony, Odernitz (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade Born 1908 Mr. Markus Hupert (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 88
Kasper, Eliasz, Pvt. (Germany, Brandenburg, Wriezen (Operation Brand Berlin)) 12th Infantry Regiment Born Cznowicze (d. Nieswicz), Poland, 1902 Mr. Daniel Kasper (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 89
Kuperman, Zygfryd, First Sergeant (Germany, Torgelow) 3rd Infantry Regiment Born Bielsko-Biala, Slaskie, Poland, 1915 Mr. Henryk Kuperman (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 42
Landau, Hirsz, First Sergeant (Germany, Friedrichsthal (Operation Brand Berlin)) 1st Light Artillery Regiment Born Poland, Malopolskie, Krakow, 1914 Mr. Jakub Landau (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 43
Lubiczew, Salomon, Pvt. 11th Infantry Regiment Born Szabelnia, Poland, 1924 Mr. Jakub Lubiczew (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 92
Matela, Zygmunt, Sgt. (Germany, Saxony, Nieksy (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade Mr. Jakow Matela (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 48 Nikonczuk, Michal, Cpl. (Germany, Dannenberg) 5th Infantry Regiment Born Holowin, Poland, 1918 Mr. Dawid Nikonczuk (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 52
Okret, Oskar, Capt. (Operation Brand Berlin) 5th Infantry Division Born Poland, Lodzkie, Lodz; 1908 Mr. Pawel Okret (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 52
Pilac, Leon, Pvt. (Field Hospital 8 (Operation Brand Berlin)) Poland, Polish People’s Army Born Russia; 1911 Mr. Adam Pilac (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 54
Polakow, Siemion, Sgt. (Germany, Torgelow (Operation Brand Berlin)) 1st Communications Battalion Born Odessa Oblast, Odessa; 1924 Mr. Nisym Polakow (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 55
Rotberg, Jozef, Cpl. (Germany, Brandenburg, Danewitz (Operation Brand Berlin)) 7th Infantry Regiment Born Ukraine, Lwow, Olesko; 1912 Mr. Salomon Rotberg (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 58
Rozental, Aleksander, Pvt. 3rd Infantry Regiment Born Poland, Mazowieckie, Warsaw; 1916 Mr. Pawel Rozental (father) Missing in Action; No Known Grave Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 96
Slupski, Mieczyslaw, Lt. (Germany, Saxony, Bautzen (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 26th Infantry Regiment Born Poniatowka (d. Grodno) [Lubelskie?], Poland, 2/16/23 Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 62
Sosnowicz, Chaim, First Sergeant (Germany, Saxony, Nieksy (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 4th Tank Brigade Mr. Abram Sosnowicz (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 63
Szafran, Chaim, First Sergeant (Operation Bautzen Elba) 4th Tank Brigade Mr. Abram Szafran (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 64
Wajs, Jan, Pvt. (Germany, Torgelow (Operation Brand Berlin)) 3rd Infantry Regiment Born Nowomiejska, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Poland, 1920 Mr. Szymon Wajs (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 72
Weintraub, Bronislaw, 2 Lt. (Germany, Saxony, Rietschen (Operation Brand Berlin)) 13th Infantry Regiment Born Poland, Malopolskie, Krakow, 10/12/02 Mr. Julian Weintraub (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 73
Werdach, Zygmunt, First Sergeant (Germany, Saxony, Nieksy (Operation Bautzen Elba)) 4th Tank Brigade Mr. Julian Werdach (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 73
Wiertel, Leon, WO (Operation Brand Berlin) 9th Infantry Regiment Born Poland, Stanislawow; 1911 Mr. Marek Wiertel (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 74
Ziubisz, Beniamin (Poland, Warsaw) Poland, Polish People’s Army Born Poland, Rowne; 1904 Mr. Szymon Ziubisz (father) Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Army in World War II (Volume I) – 77
England
Killed in Action
Goldberg, David, Rifleman, 6855382, Killed by artillery at Traghetto, Italy King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 1st Battalion Mr. S. Goldberg (brother), 87 Duelston Road, London, E5, England Argenta Gap War Cemetery, Argenta, Ferrara, Italy – II,A,15 The Jewish Chronicle 6/8/45 We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 – 92
Czechoslovakia
Killed in Action
Frischling, Chaim, Pvt. 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, 1st Communication Battalion Died of wounds (battle at Sueany) 4/23/4, at Vrútky (hospital), Zilina, Slovakia Born Frystat, Czechoslovakia; 12/14/17 Jewish Cemetery, Vrutky, Zilina, Slovakia
Hamburg, Ludovit, Pvt. 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps, 4th Infantry Brigade Born Czechoslovakia, Dravce, Levoea; 10/11/19
United States Army
Another Incident: Award of Bronze Star Medal
Spanover, Abraham, S/Sgt., 32494837, Bronze Star Medal (For actions at Treuf, Germany) United States Army Born 1921 Mr. Isie Spanover (?), Sgt. Max Spanover (brother), 1135 E. 51st St., Brooklyn, N.Y. Brooklyn Eagle 7/15/45 American Jews in World War II – Not listed
OVER THERE
Brooklyn Eagle July 15, 1945
For Administrating first aid to wounded comrades while under fire, Staff Sergeant Abraham Spanover, of 1135 51st St., has received the Bronze Star Medal.
An infantryman, Sergeant Spanover performed his heroic act April 20, near Treuf, Germany.
“After being surprised by three enemy tanks, which killed and wounded several members of his squad, Sergeant Spanover ordered his squad to withdraw while he stayed behind to care for the wounded,” his citation says.
“For two hours he crawled over flat, open terrain which was subject to heavy enemy fire, administering first aid to the wounded. Despite the constant enemy fire, he carried on until aid men arrived to evacuate the wounded.”
References
Books
Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947
Grimm, Jacob L., Heroes of the 483rd: Crew Histories of a Much-Decorated B-17 Bomber Group During World War II, Georgia (?), 483rd Bombardment Group Association, 1997.
Meirtchak, Benjamin, Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II: I – Jewish Soldiers and Officers of the Polish People’s Army Killed and Missing in Action 1943-1945, World Federation of Jewish Fighters Partisans and Camp Inmates: Association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1994
Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989
Parker, Danny S., Fatal Crossroads: The Untold Story of the Malmédy Massacre at the Battle of the Bulge, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Ma., 2013
Pergrin, Colonel David E., and Hammel, Eric M., First Across the Rhine – The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium, and Germany, Ballantine Books, New York, N.Y., 1989
Quinn, Chick Marrs, The Aluminum Trail –China-Burma-India World War II 1942-1945 – How & Where They Died, Chick Marrs Quinn, 1989
Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume IV [Surnames beginning with Т (T), Ф (F), Х (Kh), Ц (Ts), Ч (Ch), Ш (Sh), Щ (Shch), Э (E), Ю (Yoo), and Я (Ya)], Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 1997
Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume V [Surnames beginning with А (A), Б (B), В (V), Г (G), Д (D), Е (E), Ж (Zh), З (Z), И (I), К (K)], Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 1998
Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume VI [Surnames beginning with Л (L), М (M), Н (N), О (O), П (P), Р (R), С (S), Т (T), У (U), Ф (F), Х (Kh), Ц (Ts), Ч (Ch), Ш (Sh), Щ (Shch), Э (E), Ю (Yoo), Я (Ya)], Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 1999
Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume IX [Surnames beginning with all letters of the alphabet], Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russian Federation, 2006
United States National Archives (College Park, Maryland)
Records Group 153: Case File 16-293-16
Records Group 92: Missing Air Crew Report 13817
Other References
French WW II Casualties – Soldiers who died during the Second World War – “Database of soldiers who died during the Second World War, conscripts and active soldiers, regular and resistant soldiers (Militaires décédés au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (Base de données des militaires décédés au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, conscrits et militaires d’active, soldats réguliers et résistants), at Memoire des Hommes), at sga.defense.gouv.fr
Chief Pharmacists’s Mate Leon Aaron Rutberg
American World War II Orphan’s Network – Biography by Carole Rutberg Silverman
[This post, originally created on January 24, 2021, has been updated: New stuff here includes: 1) A photo and map of the area encompassing the Dutch cities of Meppel and Hoogeveen, and, the nearby Dwingelderveld National Park and Holtingerveld Nature Reserve (both northwest of Hoogeveen) and boswachterij Ruinen (forest district of Ruinen) – all in the province of Drenthe. I think (I cannot prove, but I think…) that one of these three areas is the likely locality where Major Milton Joel and the “flying wolf” crashed when shot down by pursuing Me-109Gs of III./JG 1; 2) Aerial images of the Dwingelderveld National Park and Holtingerveld Nature Reserve; 3) A little more information about the first American Jewish aviator captured by the Germans in WW II, 2 Lt. Irving Biers; and, 4) Mention of Pilot Officer Julius V. Silverston (79220), probably the first Jewish Commonwealth aviator to have been taken captive by the Germans during that war.]
Part IX: The Major, Still Missing
The Missing, Mentioned
On Monday, the 29th of November, 1943, the 8th Air Force lost seven P-38 Lightnings during a bomber escort mission to Bremen, Germany.
The pilots of these aircraft and the serial numbers of their planes (all P-38Hs) were:
77th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group
2 Lt. John Sherman Hascall – 42-67016, “LC * O“
38th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group
2 Lt. Albert Anthony Albino – 42-67051, “Spirit of Aberdeen“ 2 Lt. John Joseph Carroll – 42-67090, “FOB Detroit“ 2 Lt. James Michael Garvin – 42-67046 Major Milton Joel – 42-67020, “GA * A“, “flying wolf“
338th Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group
2 Lt. Fleming William Suiter – 42-67069
343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group
2 Lt. James William Gilbride – 42-67097
Of these seven men, only two would return at the war’s end, both of whom survived as prisoners of war in Stalag Luft I, at Barth, Germany: Lieutenants Carroll and Suiter. Of the five who did not survive, four – Albino, Garvin, Gilbride, and Hascall (Gilbride and Hascall not survived parachuting from their planes) – would eventually be found, to eventually be buried in the United States, or in the case of Hascall, at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, in Margraten, Holland. You can read more about these men at this post, which covers the Army’s postwar effort to ascertain their fates, which in the case of Albino took over three decades: His remains were only recovered conclusively identified, and buried in 1978.
The fifth “MIA” – Major Joel – though definitely killed in action, has never been found. His probable fate is the subject of this post.
But, first … (!) … to continue with a feature of the prior posts in this story, here is an Oogle Map showing the general area where the 55th Fighter Group’s encounter with the Luftwaffe took place: the northern part of the Netherlands. The map shows the following: 1) The 55th Fighter Group’s intended and probable course into Germany (ironically, the 55th never actually reached Germany!), 2) The crash locations, as much as they can be pinpointed on this ultra-small-scale digital map, of all the above-listed pilots, except for a) Lt. Garvin (more about him below), and b) Major Joel. 2) The crash locations of three Me-109G-6s of the Seventh Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 1, lost (directly or indirectly) as a result of III./JG 1’s engagement with the 55th Fighter Group’s Lightnings on November 29, 3) The serial numbers of the lost P-38s and the three above-mentioned Me-109G-6s. Information about the three 7./JG 1 losses, and the crash locations of Lieutenants Carroll and Gilbride comes from Part 2 of Teunis Schuurman’s WW II – Research by PATS blog.]
As before, maps symbols and colors indicate the following:
Bright blue lineextending west to east across the Netherlands to a point near the Dutch-German border indicates the approximate or intended course of the 55th Fighter Group for a rendezvous with 8th Air Force bombers.
Black triangle shows the approximate area where the Luftwaffe initially assumed it would intercept the 55th Fighter Group’s P-38s, as explained in the book Jagdgeschwader 1 und 11: Einsatz in der Reichsverteidigung von 1939 bis 1945 (Jagdgeschwader 1 and 11: Used in the Defense of the Reich from 1939 to 1945).
Blue ovals with names adjacent indicate the last reported or assumed location of P-38 losses, based on information in Missing Air Crew Reports.
Red ovals with names adjacent indicate the actual locations where the P-38s were lost. Notice that there’s no blue oval for Lt. Hascall, because his P-38 was last sighted over the North Sea, at a point “west” of (to the left of) this map view, and Lieutenant Garvin, Major Joel’s wingman, because he definitely crashed at Hondschoote, France (again, well “off the map”). More information will be presented about Lt. Garvin’s fate in subsequent posts.
The location of Major Joel’s loss remains unknown. Some sources suggest the crash location was Marken Island in the Markermeer, indicated by a yellow oval.
In subsequent posts, I’ll discuss why I believe this location is incorrect.
Black ovals with names adjacentindicate the loss locations of three Me-109G-6s of 7/JG 1. (More about this below.)
The events of VIII Fighter Command Mission FO-192, the 55th Fighter Group’s bomber escort mission to Bremen are discussed in detail in the posts listed above, so here is a summary of the events of that day:
The 55th Fighter Group departs for Germany…
The 55th Fighter Group, comprised of three squadrons (38th, 338th, and 343rd) totaling forty-two planes, accompanied by ten Lightnings from the 20th Fighter Group, departs Nuthampstead, England, to escort B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on a mission to Bremen, Germany. The 38th Fighter Squadron, led by Major Joel, leads, followed by the 338th and lastly 343rd Fighter Squadrons.
The 38th and 338th Fighter Squadrons are depleted by over half their strength…
Though the force begins the mission with a total of fifty-two fighters, the strength of both the 38th and 338th Squadrons is soon depleted as aircraft from both squadrons (and at least two fighters from the 343rd) return to England. The 38th is diminished to a strength nine planes, the 338th to eight, and the 343rd at least to twelve.
The three squadrons enter Dutch airspace, intending to meet and escort the bomber force into Northern Germany. Major Joel, now in command of eight P-38s, starts to reform his Squadron into two flights of four aircraft.
The Luftwaffe intercepts the 38th and 338th Fighter Squadrons…
Here, events take a turn for the worse: The Luftwaffe intercepts the 38th and 338th Fighter Squadrons, the former bearing the brunt of the attack.
At a location probably over the Dutch city of Borger (about halfway between the cities of Assen and Emmen) the 38th and 338th Fighter Squadrons are intercepted by Me-109G-6 fighter of III./JG 1, a Luftwaffe Gruppen (Group) / Jagdgeschwader (Fighter Wing) based at Volkel. The attack commences at approximately 1415 local time. The 38th is attacked from a higher altitude, both out of the east – “out of the sun” – and from the rear.
The 38th Fighter Squadron confronts the attack…
Major Joel orders a right “break” into the German attack. A moment later, 1 Lt. Wilton E. Wyche calls a left break as more German fighters approaching from behind. Whatever semblance of a formation that had been formed a moment before is mostly disrupted: Major Joel and his wingman, Lt. James M. Garvin are separated, and Lt. Wyche spins out of the formation, recovering below.
From the moment of the German attack, Major Joel, Capt. Jerry Ayers, and possibly other pilots make repeated calls for help from the 338th and 343rd Fighter Squadrons.
Major Joel and Lt. John J. Carroll “form-up” as element leader and wingman. They are followed and given cover by Captain Jerry Ayers, who is forced to break away after he himself comes under attack, during which Ayers shoots down the leader of a pair of Me-109s attacking Major Joel and Lt. Carroll.
Major Joel and Lieutenant Carroll fly in a westerly direction…
Major Joel and Lt. Carroll fly west. They cover each other from attack by German fighter by going into a defensive aerial maneuver known as the Thach Weave.
After their first “weave” pass-by, Lt. Carroll witnesses a P-38, aflame in one engine, trailing smoke and with part of its tail shot away, fall to earth. In a letter published in Double Nickel, Double Trouble in 1993, he surmises that plane’s pilot to have been either Lt. Albino or Lt. Garvin. He is proven to have been correct: The pilot was Lt. Albino in the Spirit of Aberdeen. With tremendous forces, the aircraft crashes into railroad tracks at the train station in Hoogeveen, Holland, to such a depth that it is only, finally excavated in 1978.
At the crest of their third “weave” pass-by, Lt. Carroll witnesses – at a point where Major Joel’s P-38 should appear in mid-air – a Lightning “seemingly to disintegrate”.
A moment later, Lt. Carroll comes under attack. His right engine burning and his instrument panel damaged, the plane is still controllable. He rolls over and goes into a vertical dive to escape pursuing Me-109s. Recovering below, he sets course for England using his magnetic compass. But, the damage is too severe: he is forced to parachute from his plane, FOB Detroit, south of Meppel, and is captured very soon after landing.
Meanwhile, in the 343rd Fighter Squadron…
From the vantage point of the 343rd Fighter Squadron, Captain Rufus C. Franklin, Jr., (temporarily assigned from the 79th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group) notes that many enemy planes are seen to be approaching from a lower altitude in the “target area”. Group Commander Colonel Frank B. James starts a turn to meet the German planes, but then, the group (the nature of the “group” is unspecified) instead goes into a Lufbery Circle.
Captain Franklin and his Wingman, Lt. James M. Gilbride, occasionally “break out” from the “group” to see if another attack is imminent, with the “group” continuing in the Lufbery.
After two full 360-degree turns, the “group” heads back to England. Colonel James, no longer leading, returns to England alone.
As the “group” heads west, and later reported later by Captain Franklin and Lt. Erickson, Major Joel and Capt. Jerry Ayers are heard radioing for help.
When Captain Franklin and Lt. Gilbride are almost at the point of independently going back to help the beleaguered pilots of the 38th Fighter Squadron, the “group” of P-38s starts another turn, as if heading back to go to the aid of the 38th Fighter Squadron. But, the turn continues: The group again heads away from its brother squadron, the 38th’s engagement with the Me-109Gs of III./JG 1 still visible in the distance.
Capt. Franklin and Lt. Gilbride leave the 343rd and go to the aid of the 38th Fighter Squadron. “I could see the fight behind us as the Group made the turn and I broke out – Lt. Gilbride and I went back to help.” Their action saves the lives of three 38th Fighter Squadron pilots, and almost (but alas, not) a fourth.
After a flight of several minutes, element leader Captain Franklin and his wingman Lt. Gilbride reach the remnants of the 38th Fighter Squadron. They see five P-38s, each with one to three Me-109s on its tail. Just before they enter the gaggle of planes they witness a P-38 roll over and go down, its left engine burning, leaving a very heavy trail of black smoke, with an Me-109 directly behind. They have just witnessed the fall of Lt. Albino in the Spirit of Aberdeen, or, Lt. Carroll diving away in FOB Detroit.
The surprised German pilots roll and climb away from the two P-38s. Then, the four surviving 38th Fighter Squadron Lightnings head back to England, while Capt. Franklin and Lt. Gilbride make a 180-degree turn to join them.
Lieutenant Garvin vanishes…
One of the 38th Fighter Squadron P-38s “runs away” from the little group, its pilot then unidentified. He will turn out to have been Lt. Garvin, Major Joel’s wingman.
Lieutenant Gilbride is shot down…
The remaining five P-38s are closely followed by several pilots of III./JG 1, who at first attempt to lure the Lightnings into turning back and attacking. The American pilots refuse to take the “bait”, until the Me-109s finally pull up abreast of Captain Franklin, and Lieutenants Erickson and Gilbride, who “break” into the Messerschmitts. Captain Franklin loses an engine, but maintains control of his plane and stays with the other P-38s. After the P-38s have completed their turn, Lt. Gilbride vanishes somewhere over the area between Meppel and Hoogeveen. Uninjured, he escapes from his Lightning, but is killed when his parachute fails.
During the brief engagement, Captain Thomas E. Beaird, Jr., and Lt. Robert E. Erickson fire at and observe hits on two of the pursuing Me-109s, with the implication and possibility (albeit without any confirmation) that the German pilots were injured or killed by strikes on or near their canopies, their planes thus having been destroyed. However, under the circumstances, the eventual results of these two attacks cannot be confirmed, and neither pilot is credited with an aerial victory.
Captain Franklin and the three surviving 38th Fighter Squadron P-38s are pursued by Me-109s to the Dutch Coast.
Able to restart his engine and still pursued by Me-109s, Captain Franklin is rejoined by Lt. Erickson, the pair remaining abreast with the enemy planes following. The German fighters remain behind the P-38s until just beyond the Dutch coast. Then, they leave.
The four P-38s – Captains Franklin, Ayers, and Beaird, and Lt. Erickson – return to Nuthampstead.
The mission is over.
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So, what of Major Joel?
Major Joel remains the only Lightning pilot still missing from the mission of November 29, 1943. He has not been seen since – first – Captain Jerry Ayers attempted to provide him cover from the attacking Me-109s of III./JG 1, and – second – when Lt. John Carroll fleetingly witnessed what was presumably the “flying wolf’s” destruction (shortly after Lt. Albino was shot down) after he and the Major had, unknowingly, at the time, flown over the northern part of the city of Hoogeveen.
Currently, four websites – “ZZ Air War”, “Back to Normandy”, the “Dutch Air War Study Group 1939-1945”, and Joe Baugher’s USAF Serials – have information pertaining to the probable crash location of Major Joel’s P-38. The first three are centered on the Ijsselmeer, in the northern and central section of the former Zuiderzee, and the latter on the Markermeer, in the southern section of what had been the Zuiderzee.
ZZ Air War has the following comment concerning Major Joel’s P-38: “Post war a P-38 Lightning wreck was recovered in the Lake near the Northeast-Polder dyke Aircraft was not identified and no human remains were found, but it could have been Major Joel’s aircraft, based on elimination, the crash position of the other P-38s in the area (Meppel) and the description of the dogfight.”
Back to Normandy parallels the above: “At the date of 29-11-1943, time: 1400, the aircraft type P-38 has been lost. The location of the plane was found at: Ijsselmeer. The unit of crew and plane is: 55FG/38FS. First flyer rank: Maj., name: M. Joel. The plane belonged to the Allied forces.”
The record for P-38H 42-67020 at the Dutch Air War Studygroup (Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945) based on Verliesregister 1939-1945 (page 86), and a Casualty Report in SGLO Bulletin 218/16-17 states: “Damaged in combat with German fighters. Crashed Ijsselmeer.”
The main “take-away” of these three records is that this unidentified P-38 is considered to have been Major Joel’s plane through a process of elimination, the crash site locations of all other P-38s lost on November 29, 1943 having already been established.
The ijsselmeer is shown in the Oogle map below:
Joe Baugher’s website has a record stating that Major Joel’s Lightning fell at “Ijsselmeer Marken near Island” in the Markermeer, which is in the southern part of what was the Zuiderzee. The Major’s loss is attributed to Obergefreiter Wilhelm Krauter of7./JG 1, possibly based on details about Krauter at the Kracker Luftwaffe Archive, where among his seven listed victories is recorded, “His 2nd [victory], a P-38 S of Ijsselmeer on 29 November, 1943.” As explained elsewhere, I don’t believe this is correct. Krauter probably pursued, fired at, and thus mistakenly believed he shot down Lt. James Garvin as the latter flew west-southwest towards France. As explained below, the “flying wolf” was almost certainly nowhere near Marken Island when it was shot down.
In any event, the most definitive way to verify the identity of the Marken Island Lightning (if that aircraft actually was a P-38) would be via ordnance or engine serial numbers, this be dependent on accessing these components in the first place. The question being, does anything, anywhere, in any condition, still exist of the wreckage of that supposed Lighting after nearly eight decades? Well… Probably not.
Marken Island is shown in the Oogle map below:
What do German records state? (Well, do they even state anything at all?)
The Luftgaukommando Reports listed in the Memorandum of May 2, 1949, pertaining to the search for Lt. Albino (the Memorandum is part of Major Joel’s Individual Deceased Personnel File) are the following:
Lt. Carroll: J 302: No location given Lt. Garvin: J 338 /AV 513/44: Handschoote – Pas de Calais Lt. Gilbride: AV 414/44: Meppel – Hoogeveen Raiload, near Koekange Lt. Hascall: J 304 / AV 414/44: Wanneparveen (Oberuezel) Lt. Suiter: J 305: No location given Lightning Plane: J 307: Holland (pilot’s name not listed)
Oddly, only the Luftgaukommando Reports for Lieutenants Gilbride and Hascall appear in NARA’s chronological list of Luftgaukommando Reports. The list of these documents, part of Records Group 242, is chronologically arranged and spans late 1942 through March of 1945. A section of the list, encompassing reports filed for American planes lost from November 28 through November 30, appears below.
As you can see, Luftgaukommando Reports J 302, J 305, J 307, and J 338 are entirely absent (? – !) from the list, and, there’s absolutely no information about 8th Air Force P-47 losses that day. Another inconsistency: Luftgaukommando Report AV 414/44 and 424/44 is listed for Gilbride and Hascall, but AV 424/44 is not mentioned in the 1949 Memorandum.
So, here’s the NARA list:
To verify if a Luftgaukommando Report was even filed for Major Joel in the first place, the answers might – at first – be assumed be found among the Luftgaukommando Reports in NARA’s Records Group 242.
But, there are two problems with that. One big, and the other bigger.
The big problem? NARA’s holdings of Luftgaukommando Reports are incomplete. From my research at NARA, I recall that most / all the “low-numbered” J reports, from the supposed “J-1” through roughly J-500-ish range are missing. Perhaps these documents were lost or destroyed during the war, or if they survived, never became part of NARA’s holdings.
The bigger problem? NARA is presently closed to researchers. (Oh, well.)
Another explanation: Major Joel crashed in neither the Ijsselmeer nor the Markermeer, but upon the mainland of Holland, where plane and pilot remain today, at a point unknown.
By following and considering the course of the 55th Fighter Group’s engagement with III./JG 1, a different explanation emerges to explain why Major Joel has never been found.
First, from the perspectives of both the 38th Fighter Squadron, and Captain Franklin and Lt. Gilbride of the 343rd Fighter Squadron, the air battle eventually proceeded in a generally westerly direction, passing west from Borger to Hoogeveen and Meppel, with Captains Franklin, Ayers, Beaird, and Lt. Erickson eventually heading back to England by flying west over the Ijsselmeer.
Second, among the six P-38s that were shot down, four were lost, sequentially, one after another, along the same westward direction. The “timing” of the losses of the other two P-38s – flown Lt. Hascall and Lt. Suiter – is unknown.
The four P-38s were shot down in the order listed below:
1st: Lt. Albino (In the northern part of the city of Hoogeveen.)
2nd: Major Joel (Disintegrated and / or vanished in mid-air.)
3rd: Lt. Carroll (Near the farm community of Zwartewatersklooster, just outside of Zwartsluis.)
4th: Lt. Gilbride (In Koekange near the Emsweg; formerly the municipality of De Wijk. The aircraft crashed in the Oosterboer – location Binnenweg.)
The three III./JG 1 Me-109Gs lost in the engagement with the P-38s, those of Oberfeldwebel Hermann Brackhagen, Oberleutnant Heinrich Klöpper, and Oberfahnrich Manfred Spork – whether from combat or bad weather – all crashed further west than Carroll and Gilbride: in an area about 4 miles west-southwest of Meppel, between the Zwarte Meer and the Weeribben-Wieden National Park.
The crash locations of these American and German aircraft are shown below:
Third, John Carroll’s postwar account of the battle in Double Nickel, Double Trouble was remarkably accurate despite the passage of fifty years. His recollection of the loss of Lt. Albino, one engine aflame and falling to earth, matched accounts of Lt. Albino’s loss as viewed by civilians in Hoogeveen. And so, given that John Carroll’s recollection of Lt. Albino’s loss was valid, then just as much for his last sight of the “flying wolf”: “At the crest of my turn I glanced across the projected pattern and observed what should be Joel’s A/C seemingly to disintegrate.”
But, what could possibly have caused an aircraft as large as a P-38, a twin-engine aircraft with a wingspan of over fifty feet and a length of nearly forty, to disintegrate in mid-air? I think the answer is simple, and lies in the very armament of the G-6/U4 version of the Messerschmitt Me-109.
As presented in the Wikipedia entry covering “Messerschmitt Bf 109 variants“, “The G-6/U4 variant was armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon mounted as a Motorkanone firing through the propeller hub instead of the 20 mm MG 151/20.” The MK 108 cannon fired a 330 gram (total weight) high-explosive shell “(a “self-destroying tracer (“M-Shell” or “Mine-Shell”)” of such great power that four or five hits could destroy a B-17 [Flying Fortress] or B-24 [Liberator], while one shell alone could, in theory, destroy a fighter plane. (The information about the M-Shell comes from Wikipedia and Luft46 entries for the MK 108 /Rheinmetall Borsig MK 108 30mm cannon. The original reference is unknown.)
And then, “flying wolf”, whether intact or otherwise, fell to earth from an altitude of approximately thirty thousand feet. But, where did it land?
The fact that the plane was downed after Lt. Albino’s loss; while the Major and Lt. Carroll were in the midst of their third Thach Weave, and just before Lt. Carroll came under attack and dove vertically to escape his pursuers, places the general location of Major Joel’s loss somewhere between the locations where the Spirit of Aberdeen and FOB Detroit crashed.
So, correlating time and space yields a location somewhere between the Hoogeveen railroad station (Albino) and Zwartewatersklooster, southwest of Meppel (Carroll).
But, why was nothing ever reported by Dutch civilians or the German military?
Air photos and map views reveal that most of the land surrounding Hoogeveen and Meppel is used for agricultural purposes, and thus devoid of native tree growth and, with (I think?) relatively flat topography. If the “flying wolf” or any aircraft had fallen upon this sort of terrain, certainly its wreckage would have been recognized. If not immediately, then very soon after.
But, this area of Holland is characterized not only by agricultural use, and, cities and smaller towns. Near Hoogeveen and Meppel are the Dwingelderveld National Park and Holtingerveld Nature Reserve (both northwest of Hoogeveen) and the boswachterij Ruinen (forest district of Ruinen) – all in the province of Drenthe – and to the west of Meppel lies the Werribben-Wieden National Park, in the province of Overijssel.
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This Apple Map image from Duck-Duck-Go shows Meppel (bottom left) and Hoogeveen (lower right), with the Holtingerveld Nature Reserve and Dwingelderveld National Park at left and right in the upper center, respectively, with the boswachterij Ruinen just west of Hoogeveen. Note that the nature reserve and national park appear as darker shades of green, agricultural land in medium and lighter shades of green, and Meppel and Hoogeveen in kind-of-gray(ish).
Here’s a street view of the above map. Parks and nature reserves appear in medium green, while agricultural land land is in pale greenish-tan.
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This Oogle Earth image shows the Holtingerveld Nature Reserve…
Here’s the same Ooglicious image, without the distraction of labels.
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…and this Oogle Earth image shows the Dwingelderveld National Park.
Here’s the same Ooglish Earthish image, again sans labels.
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Though the exact heading that Major Joel and Lt. Carroll had taken will forever remain unknown, I believe – I can’t prove, but I think – the most likely scenario was that the Major’s P-38 was shot down over the boswachterij Ruinen (forest district of Ruinen), which (?) takes its name from a village by that name situated northwest of Hoogeveen.
(Albeit it’s also possible that Major Joel crashed into either the Dwingelderveld National Park or Holtingerveld Nature Reserve.)
In any case, Map Carta, Oogle Earth, and other imagery reveal the boswachterij Ruinen to be (from what I can tell!) a mixture of forest and heathlands.
Here’s a closer Oogle Earth view of the boswachterij Ruinen, with geographic features labeled:
The same view as above, sans labels:
From the YouTube channel of Ria Kroes, this video (from 2012) gives an informative view of scenery and nature in the boswachterij Ruinen. It’s as nicely symbolic as it is ironic that the video concludes with a view of the sky…
Description: “Verre reizen zijn mooi, maar ook in eigen land is veel meer te beleven dan wel eens gedacht wordt. Op zomaar een zaterdag wandelden we in de zon en tussen de vogelgeluiden door de boswachterij ruinen in echten, drenthe. We volgden dit keer een deel van het familiepad en de groene route.”
English translation: Title: Silence and birds in the boswachterij ruinen. Description: Long journeys are beautiful, but there is much more to experience in your own country than is sometimes thought. On just any Saturday we walked in the sun between bird songs through the forest district of Ruinen in Echten – Drenthe. [Echten, Hoogeveen, Assen, and Borger are all located in the province of Drenthe.] This time we followed part of the family path and the green route.”
From Map Carta, this image shows the boswachterij ruinen in relation to Hoogeveen. Immediately obvious is the size of the area, approximately the same as that of Hoogeveen itself.
Summarizing, these are the two scenarios for Major Joel’s disappearance:
1) The “flying wolf” actually did crash in the east-central part of the Ijsselmeer, or, on Marken Island.
2) The aircraft crashed somewhere in an uninhabited in the vicinity of Hoogeveen, the most likely locality – given the loss of Lt. Albino moments before and Lt. Carroll shortly after – in the boswachterij Ruinen. If this is so, perhaps the “flying wolf” impacted as deeply as Lt. Albino’s Spirit of Aberdeen (which even in 1943 was already at a depth of six meters), albeit in forest, heath, or swamp. As described at natuurgebieden/ruinen, “Tot ruim zeventig jaar geleden was de omgeving van Ruinen ‘woest en ledig’. Onontgonnen en vaak ontoegankelijk land met veen, zand en uitgestrekte heidevelden.” Or: “Until more than seventy years ago, the area around Ruinen was ‘wild and empty’. Undeveloped and often inaccessible land with peat, sand and extensive heathlands.”
And so, akin to the proverbial question, “If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound?”: “If a P-38 falls from an overcast sky and there is no-one to witness its plunge to earth, where has it fallen? Has it fallen?”
One last question…Did Major Joel escape from the “flying wolf” and parachute to earth?
I don’t believe so. I’ve come across no indications that Major Joel was taken prisoner.
Major Joel’s IDPF has no documents pertaining to this possibility except for the query in his father’s letter of October 3, 1946. He was never reported as having been interned in any POW camp. There are no Case Files in Records of the Judge Advocate General’s Office (National Archives Records Group 153) about him. There is no record of him in the Luftgaukommando Report name index, or, the chronological loss list of Luftgaukommando Reports. The only other possibility in terms of Luftgaukommando Reports would be a J-Report in the low 300-range for any hypothetical unknown flier – an “unbekannter Flieger” – but as mentioned above, J-Reports in that numerical range don’t even exist in NARA’s holdings.
Paralleling that scenario, there was by this time – late 1943 – nothing altogether unprecedented in the capture and internment as POWs of Jewish aviators from the United States Army Air Force, let alone the French Armée de l’Air or British Commonwealth Air Forces, by the German military. (As for the fate of Jewish POWs from the armed forces of Poland or the Soviet Union, let alone the Axis treatment of Soviet POWs “in general”? Well, in comparison with German treatment of POWS of the Western Allies, Germany’s war in the “East” was enormously different in ideology, intent, and scope than that waged against the “West”.)
Specifically, the first Jewish aviator captured by the Germans in the Second World War was Lieutenant Jean Israël, an observer in GR II / 33 Savoie of the Armée de l’Air. A crewman in a Potez 637-A3piloted by Adjutant Guerin, his aircraft was shot down on May 22, 1940, with the all three crewmen parachuting to safety. Born in 1913, Israëlspent five years as a POW in Oflag IVD (Elsterhorst), postwar becoming a Colonel in the French Air Force and a chief pilot of Air Algérie. He was specifically mentioned by Antoine de Saint Exupery in the bookFlight to Arras. You can view the cover of a paperback edition here.
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Prior to November 29, 1943, about 140 American and over 30 Commonwealth Jewish aviators had been captured by the Germans, most having been imprisoned at Stalag Luft I, Stalag Luft III, or Stalag XVIIB. (Many more would follow.)
In the British Commonwealth Air Forces, Pilot Officer Julius V. Silverston (79220), an air gunner in No. 61 Squadron Royal Air Force, was captured during a night mission to Stettin on the evening of September 5-6, 1940, and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III. His entire crew of four, in Hampden I P4350 (piloted by F/ Lt. J.D. Haskins) survived with him. Mentioned in The Jewish Chronicle on September 27 of that year, his father was Bertram Silverstone, of Manor Road, in Edgbaston, Birmingham. I believe he was the first Jewish Commonwealth aviator to have been taken captive by the Germans during WW II.
In terms of the United States Army Air Force, the first Jewish aviator to have been captured by the Germans was 2 Lt. Irving Biers, a co-pilot in the 83rd Bomb Squadron of the 12th (“Earthquakers”) Bomb Group, taken prisoner in North Africa on September 1, 1942. In the image below, published in Life Magazine on May 31, 1943, Lt. Biers is second from right at the bottom of the photo, wearing both moustache and gloves.
The caption beneath the photo reads:
“Captured American fliers pose for a snapshot in a prison camp somewhere in Gemany. Second Lieut. A.L. Graham Jr. of the Air Forces, who was shot down over Europe on Nov. 9, 1942, sent this picture to his mother, Mrs. Pearl Graham of Floyd, Va., stitched to the inside of a letter. Graham sits third from left with his back against a building. His letter, dated January 19, follows: ‘Dear Mother, Just a few lines to let you know I am well and getting along fine. Attached to this letter is a picture of a group of us Americans taken outside of our barracks. I am learning to ice skate on an ice-skating rink we have fixed up inside our compound. Ice skating, attending a few lectures, and sleeping, just about dominated our time here in camp. Mama, is my allotment still coming in every month? If so, how much do I have in the bank now? You can send a food parcel every three weeks; send such things as oatmeal, cocoa, chocolate bars, tinned meat and stuff to make puddings. In clothing parcel send me a pair of pants, shirt, socks, undershirts and shorts, toothpaste and brush. Contact the post office and they will give you information on sending parcels. Love, A.L. Graham Jr, 2nd Lt. U.S.A.A.F.’ As officer-prisoners, Lieut. Graham and companions cannot be required to work under international law.”
(2 Lt. Andrew L. Graham, Jr. (0-726152) was the bombardier of B-17F 41-24491 of the 423rd Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group.)
The image below shows biographical entries for Lt. Biers and his pilot, Captain Hubert P. Croteau, in Arnold A. Wright’s 1993 book Behind The Wire – Stalag Luft III South Compound. This creation of this massive book is a story unto itself, for it is a transcription of over 2,190 biographical entries of POWs compiled by 2 Lt. Ewell Ross McCright during his imprisonment in Stalag Luft III. McCright’s endeavor – suggested to him by Lt. Col. Albert P. Clark, Jr. – was of great help in compiling and preserving military records, and simultaneously, of psychological and spiritual benefit in providing him with a long-term project combining intense intellectual focus and physical activity, an endeavor which revived his wounded spirit after the trauma of being shot down and losing of all but two of his nine fellow crew members.
The biographical entries in the Wright / McCright book, while succinct, comprise information of both military and genealogical nature, oftimes with brief comments about the circumstances of the POW’s capture, injuries, mistreatment upon capture (if that occurred), and statements about other POWs, casualties, or war crimes. The vast majority of the entries conclude with a line pertaining to the POW’s marital status (of course, the majority of these men were single), military awards, date of birth, and finally, a single letter indicating the man’s religion, indicated by the letters “P”, “C”, and, “H” or “J”. Like some other Jewish POWs listed in this book, Lt. Biers (who disposed of his dog-tags after landing by parachute in the Egyptian desert, as recorded at Roland Rakow’s Story – An Update), reported his religion as “P”.
You can read more about the loss of the Croteau crew, covered in MACR 16228, at Camp 59 Survivors.
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And, the cover of Arnold Wright’s book…
(2 Lt. McCright (0-727112) was the bombardier of B-17F 41-24567 (“PU * J” / “Beats Me“) of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, lost on January 23, 1943. The plane’s pilot was 1 Lt. Joseph E. Haas. The plane’s loss is covered in MACR 15571.)
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Prior to November 29, the highest ranking Jewish aviator captured by the Germans was Captain Leon B. Margolian of the 65th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group, who was shot down near Marble Arch, Libya, during a dogfight with Me-109s on December 10, 1942.
Captain Leon B. Margolian in his POW identification photograph. (c/o Leon B. Margolian)
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On November 29, 1943, two American Jewish aviators (2 Lt. Morton David Breslau of the 548th Bomb Squadron, 385th Bomb Group, from B-17 Gremlin’s Buggy / GX * H, (B-17F 42-30204, piloted by 1 Lt. Richard Yoder; MACR 1581), and 2 Lt. Charles K. Hecht, Jr., of the 358th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, who piloted Thunderbolt YF * U (P-47D 42-8631; MACR 1284) would be captured as well. The photo below shows Lieutenant Hecht seated in a razorback Thunderbolt at Steeple Morden. (c/o Charles K. Hecht, Jr.)
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The primary difference between Major Joel and these men would have been his rank, level of command, and therefore his awareness of information associated with this position and its responsibilities. Certainly German military intelligence would by late 1943 have been aware through publicly available information – no more and no less than for any other American or British Commonwealth aviator – of his civilian and military biography, a topic that has been covered in many popular accounts of the experiences of USAAF aviators captured by the Germans.
On the other hand, an entirely hypothetical scenario – in which Major Joel had been captured but did not survive – would not necessarily have precluded his name from actually appearing in a Luftgaukommando Report. Based on an examination of many (many) Luftgaukommando Reports, and the Missing Air Crew Reports (well, except for post-war “fill in” MACRs), in instances where war crimes were committed against captured American airmen by German civilians or military personnel, the names of those airmen still appear (with some exceptions…) in relevant Luftgaukommando reports. Albeit, in such cases there is little to no (or euphemistic, at best…) information about their actual fates.
But again, there is no evidence that Major Joel survived to be captured. There is nothing indicating that he fell – fell allegorically; fell symbolically; fell literally – into German captivity.
He fell instead I believe, with his aircraft, entirely unseen by men.
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A Star of Silver
By mid-1944, Major Joel had received the Silver Star, the citation for which follows: “For gallantry in action, while leading a Squadron of P-38 aircraft as support for bombers on a mission over Germany, 29 November 1943. Before reaching the point of rendezvous, seven planes of his unit were forced to turn back due to mechanical failures, thus reducing the strength of his unit to nine planes. While reorganizing his unit, it was attacked by a superior number of hostile fighters. Major Joel quickly reformed his Squadron and engaged the enemy in a violent aerial battle. Because of a fast diminishing fuel supply, the group leader gave the signal to withdraw. As the group headed for base, the enemy continued to press vicious assaults on the tail aircraft. With disregard for his own safety, Major Joel attacked the enemy head-on, thus giving the other members of his unit time to withdraw. When last seen he was still engaged in combat with the enemy. The gallantry, aggressive fighting spirit and devotion to duty displayed by Major Joel reflect highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.”
Well, the text of the citation is inspiring.
For a wife and parents whose husband and son was then “Missing In Action”, the award doubtless provided some measure of compensation, however small, when weighed amidst the impact of their loss – as shown in Joseph Joel’s letter of October 3, 1946. But, it is my belief that – however well-written; however well-intended – the account presented in the citation, while not entirely false, is hardly entirely true.
The central problem with the citation arises from the statement about the 55th Fighter Group’s “fast diminishing fuel supply”, in light of the actions of Captain Rufus Franklin and Lieutenant James Gilbride. Rather than return to Nuthampstead in the (relative) safety of the 343rd (and 338th?) Squadron, the pair – alone; knowingly; intentionally, at Captain Franklin’s initiative – left the 343rd Fighter Squadron, flew east as an isolated pair for several minutes, and broke up III./JG 1’s attack upon the P-38s of Ayers, Beaird, and Erickson, and Garvin. During their return to England these pilots (excepting Garvin, who left the group, and Gilbride, who was shot down) flew west at maximum speed in an effort to escape the pursuing Me-109s.
It’s difficult to believe they would – and could – possibly have attempted any of these actions, given the speed, distance, and fuel consumption involved, had their fuel supply already been “fast-diminishing” before they left the main body of the 55th Fighter Group.
And… As mentioned by Captain Franklin – both Major Joel and Captain Ayers had been making radio calls for help from the 338th and 343rd throughout the German attack, until Capt. Franklin’s “arrival” with Lt. Gilbride.
And also… In Captain Franklin’s statements in the relevant Missing Air Crew Reports, there is absolutely no mention of a lack of fuel.
And as well… The citation gives the impression that Major Joel deliberately remained behind as the 55th Fighter Group headed towards England, flying directly into the face of the enemy to give the “group” time to escape. Well, certainly he, Lt. Garvin, and other pilots attempted to break into the attacking Me-109s, but this took place in the midst of reforming the greatly outnumbered 38th, rather than with the intention of making a proverbial “last stand”.
Perhaps the intent of the citation had far (far) more to do with symbolism than reality. Maybe it was a way to bestow a last honor on a pilot, officer, and military leader who General Kepner respected; to provide a measure of solace to that pilot’s anxious wife and parents; perhaps it was intended (and in this, it would have been but one example of many) as a symbol of inspiration and recognition of fighting spirit by the VIII Fighter Command during a time of great challenge and growth.
So, here’s a copy of Major Joel’s Silver Star citation, as part of the text of the War Department’s April 1948 letter to his father.
And, here’s a news item about the Major’s Silver Star award (as reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch?).
Missing Pilot Wins Silver Star Medal
For courageous and inspiring conduct in air combat over Europe, the Army today announced the award of the Silver Star medal to Maj. William Joel, of 153 S. Rodeo Dr., Beverly Hills.
Major Joel, who is reported missing in action, was cited for “gallantry, aggressive fighting spirit and devotion to duty” in protecting a depleted squadron of P-38 fighters savagely attacked over Germany Nov. 29 last year, according to Associated Press dispatches. “Because of a fast diminishing fuel supply,” the citation continued, “the group leader gave the signal to withdraw.
As the group headed for base, the enemy continued to press vicious assaults on the tail aircraft and with disregard for his own safety, he attacked the enemy head on. When last seen Major Joel was still engaged in combat.
(Meantime, I’m working on posts covering a variety of subjects, which – ! – I hope to eventually complete…)
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One wonders what happened to the 2,700-odd Jewish servicemen after the evening of March 28, 1945 (15 Nisan 5705).
Certainly, the overwhelming majority survived the war and returned to the United States after Japan’s surrender.
Some – with a probability verging on certainty – did not.
Case in point, the image below: An Honor Roll, created by Chaplain Cedarbaum, bearing the names of sixty-five Jewish airmen who were casualties while serving in the 20th Air Force. Based on this and other information, he planned to eventually create a book about Jewish aviators who served in the 20th Air Force as crewmen in B-29 Superfortress bombers. His plans never came to fruition, at least as he expected…
…The above photograph was received by Noah and Sadie G. Finkelstein, whose son, 2 Lt. Joseph Harold Finkelstein, a Co-Pilot in the 6th Bomb Squadron of the 29th Bomb Group, was killed during a mission to Tachiarai Airfield, Kyushu, Japan, on May 5, 1945. (1) (His name appears under the heading “314th Wing.”) The image inspired them to create their Memorial Album covering Jewish airmen who were casualties – killed or missing – in the 20th Air Force. As recorded by Noah in the book’s forward, “I decided to attempt to obtain biographies of all those whose names appeared on the plaque, and to publish an album to their memories.”
So far as I know, Noah and Sadie’s book is almost unique, for it is one of the very few monographs giving detailed biographies of American Jewish military casualties – in the context of a specific time frame, activity, and theater of war – that appeared during the twentieth century.
Some Jewish periodicals, such as the South African Jewish Times, and, the Jewish Criterion (Pittsburgh, Pa.) allocated special sections at the war’s end for comprehensive photographic and biographical coverage of Jewish military casualties, but this material was never translated into books. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Volume Two of the 1947 publication American Jews in World War II, by I. Kaufman, presents state-by-state lists of the names of American Jewish servicemen who received awards for military service, or, who were casualties (wounded, injured, or killed; the book does not specifically identify men who were POWs). The entries in this volume are limited to a man’s name, rank, city of residence, and military awards, being derived from information recorded on National Jewish Welfare Board – Bureau of War Records Master Index Cards.
Cover page of the Finkelstein’s Memorial Album, “Dedicated to the Boys of the 20th Air Force”.
A stylized aircraft flies towards a burning sun: A brief introductory poem by Sadie Finkelstein on page 4. Sadie composed other poetry for her book. This comprised three other four-line poems with allegoric illustrations (the one shown above is from page 16), and, two full-length poems in Yiddish. The latter include English translations by Paul Monroe, and, Ruth Kaswan.
Notice that this powerful image – probably in pen and ink – is signed by “M.D.”, who also created the preceding illustration. Unfortunately, “M.D.’s” full name is not given in the text.
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Unknown at the time to Chaplain Cedarbaum, among the sixty-five men whose names appear on the plaque, seven would survive as Prisoners of War (POWs). Their names, dates of capture, and crew positions follow:
Einstein, Alvin J., S/Sgt. – June 22, 1945 – Gunner (Central) Ginsberg, Abraham Saul, Sgt. – May 29, 1945 – Gunner (Right) Greenwald, Mortimer L., Sgt. – August 2, 1945 – Gunner Leavitt, Harold F., S/Sgt. – May 26, 1945 – Radar Operator Moritz, Wallace, 2 Lt. – May 29, 1945 – Navigator Siegel, LeRoy, Sgt. – April 7, 1945 – Gunner Unterman, Melvin, Capt. – May 26, 1945 – Bombardier
Among those who did not survive, the majority were never found, due to the combination of physical circumstances and / or locations in which their aircraft were lost. Their names of most are commemorated at the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Of the sixty five, the Finkelsteins’ book presents biographies and photographs for twenty-four. They are:
Bauch, Selig H., Sgt. – Radar Operator Berkowitz, Martin, S/Sgt. – Radio Operator Binger, Marvin Louis, Sgt. – Gunner (Right) Broome, Richard Jerome, Sgt. – Flight Engineer Cohen, Abe, PFC (Not actually an air crewman; died while trying to rescue a comrade from a burning building.) Cohen, Monroe Melvin, F/O – Navigator Feinberg, Robert Alvin, 2 Lt. – Radar Operator Finkelstein, Joseph Harold, 2 Lt. (Their son) Co-Pilot Greenspan, Marvin Jerome, Cpl. – Gunner (Right) (Shot down over Japan on 4/15/45 (his first mission); captured immediately; murdered shortly after under direction and instigation of Second Lieutenant Ippei Tamura.) Harris, Benjamin L., 2 Lt. – Flight Engineer Hoenig, Sidney, F/O – Bombardier Klein, Donald Philip, S/Sgt. – Radar Operator Kronick, Archer S. (Asher Simcha bar Yoel), Sgt. – Gunner (Central) Levinson, Gerald M., 2 Lt. – Flight Engineer Levy, Jules, 2 Lt. – Navigator Orkin, Milton, 2 Lt. – Navigator Porjesz, Kurt, S/Sgt. – Radio Operator Powsner, Maurice J., F/O – Bombardier Schneider, Leon, 2 Lt. – Bombardier Sheshansky, Harold, S/Sgt. – Gunner (Central) Siegel, Norman Sydney, 2 Lt. – Navigator Stein, Monroe, 1 Lt. – Bombardier / Navigator Tomberg, Leon,1 Lt. – Bombardier Weiner, Herbert Coften, 2 Lt. (Actually, a casualty in Australia with the 5th Air Force)
The sixty-five names alluded to above represent a portion of Jewish servicemen who were casualties in the 20th Air Force. The total number stands substantially higher and includes six other POWs. The names and dates of capture of the latter are:
Levine, Joseph, 1 Lt. – December 14, 1944 – Bombardier Levine, Stanley H., 2 Lt. – August 8, 1945 – Flight Engineer Newman, Irving Sidney, 2 Lt. – August 20, 1944 – Navigator Paul, Chester E., 1 Lt. – December 14, 1944 – Co-Pilot Presender, Robert Eugene, 1 Lt. – March 2, 1945 – Navigator Sellz, Norman, S/Sgt. – April 7, 1945 – Radar Operator (Sole survivor of his crew)
Many more names could be presented, but this list will suffice, for now.
Perhaps better to let one man symbolically speak for all – for those few who returned; for the many who did not: Irving S. Newman, at a reunion of the 468th Bomb Group in September of 1995.
From Dorchester, Massachusetts, Irving was a navigator, and one of three survivors (along with the flight engineer and radar operator) of Calamity Sue, a 468th Bomb Group B-29 piloted by Captain Ornell J. Stauffer. Calamity Sue was lost on a mission to Yawata, Japan, on August 20, 1944 (the crew’s second combat mission) when a nearby B-29, the Gertrude C, was deliberately rammed by a Japanese fighter, debris from the disintegrating B-29 striking and mortally damaging Stauffer’s aircraft.
A portrait of the Stauffer crew, from Irving Newman’s collection, is show below. The photograph was taken at Smoky Hill Army Air Field (later Schilling Air Force Base), Salina, Kansas, in February of 1944. The men stand before “Eager Beaver”, a B-17F Flying Fortress. (Photo c/o Irving Newman)
They men in the image are:
Rear row, left to right:
Pilot – Captain Ornell J. Stauffer (KIA) Co-Pilot – Lieutenant Jimmie Wine (bailed out, later killed) Navigator – Second Lieutenant Irving S. Newman (survived – POW) Bombardier – Second Lieutenant Ben R. Bloom (KIA) Flight Engineer – Second Lieutenant Austin C. Shott (survived – POW)
Front row, left to right:
S/Sgt. James A. O’Brien – Gunner (Left Blister) (KIA) T/Sgt. Walter A. Dansby – Radio Operator (Survived – POW) S/Sgt. Clinton A. Martin – Gunner (Central Fire Control) (KIA) Sgt. Raymond J. Keelan – Radar Operator (KIA) S/Sgt. Michael J. Karlovich – Gunner (Right Blister) (KIA) T/Sgt. Robert W. Bonner – Gunner (Tail) (KIA)
Missing Air Crew Report 9685, covering the loss of Captain Stauffer’s B-29 (42-6368 – Calamity Sue), includes the following postwar statement by T/Sgt. Dansby:
“I will tell the story as far as I how it, however, I don’t know much. We were flying at 26,000 ft. and suddenly something hit us. I was knocked out of my seat on my back. I met Capt. Dean, a pilot on TDY. He tells me the following: We were in the No. 4 spot in a four plane formation and a Jap fighter approached us. He misjudged our speed and before he could pull away he rammed our formation leader, Lt. Col. Clinkscales. The wreckage from the plane hit the plane I was in and knocked off our tail assembly. That was the Capts.’ story. After having been hit, we went into a spin. The co-pilot [Wine] let the landing gear down and he and the engineer [Shott] opened the nose wheel door. The engineer bailed out at once at I would guess 20,000 ft. The navigator [Newman] who was squatting between the pilot [Stauffer] & co-pilot with his maps had to run back & put his parachute on. He bailed out about 14,000 ft. and after I got back on my feet I bailed out at about 3,000 ft. Although I was last out, I saw the navigator coming down after I hit the ground. I finally met up with him and they captured us about ten minutes later. After staying in solitary confinement for 4 months I was sent to a prison camp. Later I met up with the rest of the men who was shot down the same day. Col. Carmichael, Richard, was among the men who were brought in later, but, except for the three of my crew who I knew bailed out, I never saw any of the remaining eight of the crew. I heard a report after the war was over that six parachutes were seen to come from my plane – but none of them ever showed up at the prison, which was named Omori Prison between Tokyo & Yokohama, camp where I was. It seems that this camp was the staging area for B-29 airmen. Except for a few scattered around in China & other parts of Japan B-29 prisoners were brought to this camp. At war’s end there was almost 150 B-29 men in this camp, but none of our missing crewmen ever showed up.”
Like many veterans of the Second World War, Irving wrote an account of his experiences. Intended for his family, and in a symbolic sense simply for the historical record – to make a historical record of the past for its own sake – Irving actually began this process very soon after being liberated from captivity in Omori, Japan, in 1945. As he recounted, “This book was started in September of 1945, aboard the USS Yarmouth. She was a little out of her accustomed territory. Boston to Nova Scotia was her regular run, but here she was come to take me home from my Pacific war. I wrote laboriously, telling who, what, when and where, but never why; that always escaped me.”
The book is arranged chronologically and encompasses such topics as Irving’s pre-war life in the Boston area, his training as a bombardier, and navigator; his relationships with other airmen, particularly his crew members and fellow POWs; being Jewish in the military in the 1940s (though not a central thrust of the book); the loss of Calamity Sue, his capture, and the realities of interrogation by the Japanese; life as a prisoner of war.
Given the immediacy of its composition, the book is a work of great clarity, detail, directness, and near-complete frankness. As Irving himself implied, there is genuinely and intentionally very little “why” in the book in the way of discussion of deeper religious or philosophical issues.
Which, perhaps, when pondering the names above – why some men returned,; why some did not – is just as well.
We all have to answer such questions in our own way.
Here is a brief answer from Irving, speaking for his father, Harry Newman:
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(1) Their B-29, serial 42-93953 and commanded by 1 Lt. Ralph E. Miller, was shot down by Petty Officer Toru Kurita of the 343rd Kokutai, who was flying a N1K2-J Shiden Kai fighter plane. The crew consisted of:
Pilot: 1 Lt. Ralph E. Miller (Eaton Rapids, Mi.)
Co-Pilot: 2 Lt. Joseph H. Finkelstein (Los Angeles, Ca.)
Navigator: 2 Lt. Charles C. Winder (Salt Lake City, Ut.)
Bombardier: 1 Lt. Clyde M. Roush (Neosho Rapids, Ks.) Flight Engineer: T/Sgt. William H. Chapman (Calhoun, Ga.) Radar Operator: 2 Lt. Jack M. Berry (Atlanta, Ga.)
Radio Operator: Sgt. Jack V. Dengler (Danville, Il. / Salt Lake City, Ut.)
Gunner (Central): Sgt. Albert R. Howard (Cullman, Ak.) Gunner (Left): Pvt. Merlin R. Calvin (Saint Louis, Mo.)
Gunner (Right): Cpl. Clark B. Bassett, Jr. (Son of Clark B. and Bonnie W. Bassett, of 202 Niagara St., North Tonawanda, N.Y.) Gunner (Tail): Cpl. Irving A. Corliss (Somersworth, N.H.)
“No eventual”, because five men did survive the aircraft’s shoot-down, by parachuting. They were 2 Lt. Berry, Sgt. Dengler, Cpl. Corliss, and Pvt. Calvin. All captured uninjured, they were murdered – while prisoners of war – on June 20, 1945. The fifth crewman, Cpl. Clark B. Bassett, Jr., severely wounded and unconscious, was parachuted from the plane by those men, and died of his wounds not long after landing. He is the only member of this crew who has a place of burial. (Acacia Cemetery, North Tonawanda, N.Y.)
New York State Digital library
Corporal Clark B. Bassett, Jr., from the North Tonawanda Evening News of December 27, 1948.
The plane’s other crewmen – Miller, Finkelstein, Winder, Roush, Chapman, and Howard – were presumably still aboard the aircraft when it crashed at sea, at a place still – and probably forever – unknown.
Rear row: Roush, Winder, 1 Lt. Paul E. Remmetter (Killed in Action April 16, 1945; replaced by Lt. Miller), Finkelstein, Berry Front row: Howard?, Dengler, Chapman or Corliss, Bassett
Rear row, left to right: Roush, Winder, Remmetter, Finkelstein, Berry Front row, left to right: Howard, Dengler, Chapman, Bassett, Corliss, Calvin
