Guest of the Germans

Air Classics, Jul 2001 by Schoonmaker, Eric M, Murphy, Emmett J, Watters, Darlyle M, Tischler, George

Running to catch my flight home from Miami last week, I picked up the April issue to read on the plane. During the flight, I was surprised and then captivated by General Richmond's story. Surprised because I had grown up hearing stories on the pilot and seeing pictures of him and his planes.

My father joined the 21st Fighter Squadron and became crew chief for the commanding officer, Captain Hennon. After Capt. Hermon was lost, my father became crew chief for the new CO of the rechristened 486th FS, one Major Luther Richmond. My father was still caring for Lt. Col. Richmond and his plane on the day the pilot was shot down. My father had a good rapport with Lt. Col. Richmond and was hit hard by the news of his loss (no one had seen him escape from the burning plane and everyone at Bodney believed him killed. It wasn't until Axis Sally's broadcast listing Lt. Col. Richmond among the prisoners that his crew knew differently).

The most memorable thing about the day Lt. Col. Richmond went down that my father spoke of for years was an occurrence that happened before takeoff. As my father finished strapping Lt. Col. Richmond in, he caught his ring and had it ripped from his finger. The ring and blood dropped into the cockpit as Lt. Col. Richmond closed the canopy. Somewhere in Germany, buried in a field or a garden, lies a hematite ring inscribed with the date 11-29-- 41, the ring my mother gave my father instead of a wedding band.

After 20 years in the Air Force, my father worked for Pratt & Whitney. It wasn't until after he retired from P&W that he ever wore another wedding ring.

Eric M. Schoonmaker

POB 6114

Wallingford, CT

06492

Referring to Maj. Gen. Luther Richmond's article in the April issue, I too was in Stalag Luft I from March 1944 until the end of the war in May 1945. I was a navigator in a B-17 with the 388th Bomb Group on my 25th mission returning from Berlin on 6 March 1944 when we were jumped by Fw 190s and shot down. Six of us got out of the plane but four were killed. It was messy. Overall, the mission cost us 69 bombers and eleven fighters. I understand that the Germans lost about 80 planes that day. For us, it was the worst loss of the war.

The book Soldiers of Misfortune by James D. Sanders, Mark A. Sauter, and R. Cort Kirkwood, describes the POW issue in Europe in great detail. It is really a chilling story pointing out that when the Russian Army pushed across Poland and East Germany it overran many prison camps containing Allied prisoners but when the war ended, they refused to allow any of our aircraft to fly to these camps and evacuate our men. The only exception was Stalag Luft I. As a result, some 23,500 American and 30,000 British POWs were not returned by the Russians. I understand our government has tried to get information about these men from the Russians and has never been successful. We can only speculate on their fate. Little or nothing has ever appeared in the press on the subject.

Emmett J. Murphy

2165 Ward Way

Woodside, CA

94062

I can't say I "enjoyed" the story "Guest of the Germans" but I can say it brought back memories.

I was a WWII glider pilot that was shot down on 19 September 1944 during the Holland invasion. I landed with a dead copilot and four wounded, including me. I ended up in Stalag Luft I in October in the old section with the German identity 6277.

I was invited to participate in a food combine with Tex Kolb, father of Linda Lesniewski, a contributor to your article. Such a great guy!

When the cattle arrived and were butchered, we obtained our share of the beef. It was too damn tough to eat but we did. It was almost too tough to digest!

The Germans had a fish weir out in the bay and our way to recover from an average 50-pound loss of body weight was to force the Germans to paddle out and empty the weir of flounder. We deep fried the fish and really feasted.

Many of us took on jobs for the good of the camp. I became the operator, mechanic, and only member of the motor pool of six or eight vehicles confiscated from German civilians.

I also had some booby trap training and was able to get into the aircraft factory at the airfield without getting killed and was able to put together a tool kit. This helped me keep the vehicles running for the two weeks until the Russians arrived.

My "home" was in Barracks No. 1 in the old section, west section. I flew out in the 13th B-17G on the first day they came in for us.

I got home so early that my paycheck for all that time was reduced by Federal Income Taxes - later not required, but also not refunded. I also did not get my promotion to captain that was way overdue. They ignored my mission report, did not grant my Purple Heart, and I had to pay a civilian dentist to fix my teeth.

On the happy side, I was home with Jean, my wife of 28 months, and was able to greet my friends as they drifted in from Europe.

Darlyle M. Watters

81st Tactical Glider Squadron

Flew D-Day mission 6 June 1944 and Holland invasion 19 September 1944

My dad, Herb Tischler, who was a "Guest of the Russians" during the war, took a good look at the Luftwaffe commander in General Richmond's article. The soldier appears to be in a Wehrmacht uniform and not a Luftwaffe uniform. He is also wearing the German equivalent of the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat. Herb believes that being wounded, some officers were transferred/loaned to the Luftwaffe to work at the camps.