Jun 27, 2024
10:37:55am
morningcalmcougar Playmaker
My Grandfather was a radio operator on B-24s out of Italy, got shot down on 3rd
mission. Flak took out one engine over the target, lost the 2nd engine on the same wing over Yugoslavia due to flak damages sustained on the bombing run and he bailed out with his crew. Got captured by a German patrol a few days later and spent around 8 months as a POW being marched hundreds of miles between the western and eastern fronts before being liberated by a column of advancing British armor. Neven talked about it until the late 80s when he finally decided to put those demons to rest. Went back to Germany before the Wall fell and visited a few of the camps he could get to where he was interned. My sister later served a mission in Leipzig and when she was done my parents and my grandma and grandpa went over to get her and he was able to go to the camps in old East Germany and in Poland where he was held as a prisoner. Even found the camp he spent his first night in. Buildings were all gone, just foundations left poking up above the ground. He was able to find the building and spot where his bunk was on his first night in the camp, a POW just 19 years old. He later wrote up a full memoir about his time in WWII and it is incredible what his generation endured and fought through for our freedoms. Words simply can't express....
morningcalmcougar
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morningcalmcougar
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Apr 24, 2011
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Jun 30, 2024
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jacobugath INSUFFERABLE KNOW IT ALL
Jun 26, 4:21pm

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