(Revised 10-15-02)

 This is an 8th Air Force, World War II short story.  It takes place during the massive heavy bomber raids on Nazi occupied Europe in early 1944 and the Luftwaffe's desperate attempt to stop the bombers by making them pay dearly on every mission.  April 1944 was a bad month for many bomber crews.  Bad weather along with numerous air battles and heavy flak produced many bomber casualties.   Large numbers of airmen became POWs and many with the help of Patriots from the various occupied countries found ways to evade capture and in some instances were able to return safely to their units in England.

This story is about four B-24 Liberator bomber crews and one B-17 Flying Fortress crew. These bombers with their crews were shot down during the months of April and May 1944 creating this story of various adventures. 

Their stories tells of capture and or evasion with the help of patriots and resistance organizations and a sad story of a resistance leader's fate for aiding allied airmen and one of his countrymen.  An evading airman was always in danger of being shot along with his helpers.  A large reward was offered by the Nazi for information leading to the capture of all allied airmen.  The Air Force never gave medals for evading capture regardless of the bravery required and the hardships necessary to survive.  Only a select few were able to evade back to England.  Most had to wait for the victorious allied ground forces to liberate them.  The highly decorated 30th Infantry Division was one of the U.S. Army ground units that provided freedom for many airmen and their helpers.

By April 1944 the Joe Pavelka Crew had flown 24 missions when bad weather had engulfed the European Continent reducing the number of long flights inside Germany.   Milk runs across the channel were the order of the day.  With improved weather on the early morning of April 12, 1944, the 8^th Air Force sent the heavy bombers to the Schweinfurt area.  The Joe Pavelka Crew with the 445^th Bomb Group was part of the 2^nd Air Division that was headed to Zwickau, Germany.  While flying to Zwickau dense clouds began to fill the sky.  The B-24 bombers were producing heavy contrails.  This gave an advantage to the enemy fighters who could hide in the contrails before attacking.

Just before reaching the German border orders were issued to return to base, aborting the mission.   Soon after turning back Lt. Phil Solomon's voice was heard informing the crew on the intercom that bandits were attacking at one o'clock high.  Flak hit the far, left engine and black smoke started pouring out of it.  A hole about the size of a basketball opened up at the feet of S/Sgt. Wayne Luce, the waist gunner.  S/Sgt. Mike Ciano unzipped the windbreaker in the tail and yelled to Pete Clark, "we have to throw out S/Sgt. Luce. He has been hit badly in several places".  Suddenly another direct hit just ahead of where Pete and Mike were now standing ripping a hole in the floor.  S/Sgt. Clark and S/Sgt. Ciano lifted Luce up to the waist window and helped him leave the plane.  They both watched until his chute opened and they both looked at each other and smiled.

 The enemy attackers looked like a swarm of bees heading for the bomber formation.  Lt. Phil Solomon saw about 20 to 40 enemy FW-190s lining up to attack their group, flying two at a time with their 20mm cannons firing into the formations of B-24 bombers.  Someone on the intercom screamed out, "We've been hit" as the 20mm shells began popping inside the plane starting a fire in the hydraulic tank in the bomb bay.  About that time Chet screamed over the intercom, "there comes one, get him Clarkey".  After calling out the enemy fighter a 20mm shell exploded shattering the bubble on the top turret injuring Chet Hincewicz, the engineer gunner.  Chet was temporarily knocked out and Richard Hanson, the radio operator, came to his aid and then notified the pilot, Joe Pavelka what had happened.  Joe Pavelka gave Richard Hanson instructions to jettison the bombs.  Richard opened the bomb bay doors and jettison the bombs leaving the bomb bay doors open for their escape later.

When Chet, with blood streaming down his face from a head wound, regained his senses his first concern was about the other gunners.  Richard informed him that they had already bailed out. Chet's first thoughts were, "if we can extinguish the fires we can make it back to England".  He then grabbed the heavy fire extinguisher, lowered himself down in the bomb bay putting out the hydraulic fire and then aimed the extinguisher through a hole in the number two engine.  It appeared that he had put the fires out when he noticed a blue torch like flame burning through the left wall of the radio room about two to three feet ahead of the rear wall.  Chet knew the flame was also burning near the wing where the "100 octane" gasoline was stored.  The plane could explode anytime.  He notified the pilot that it was now necessary to leave the plane fast.  Chet tumbled out the bomb bay followed by Richard, the navigator, bombardier, copilot and Pilot. 

After the first attack with the damage done by enemy fighters, the ship began bouncing and losing altitude so they were forced to leave the formation from their "Tail-end Charley" position and they were now on their own like a sitting duck. 

From the waist section they saw enemy planes attacking on all sides. The Liberator Bomber vibrated as the gunners fired their guns in attempt to keep the enemy fighters from attacking.  Mike remembered looking out the left waist window and saw fire coming out of the far, left engine.  The waist section was dense with smoke from a fire in the bomb bay.  Mike suddenly realized the chips were down and was about to do what no gunner ever dreamed of doing, bailing out.  The crew in the waist moved about like one would in a fog.  While all this mess was taking place, Mike suddenly realized he didn't have his chute and he quickly moved to get it.  Mike was stricken with panic when he saw it starting to catch fire.  He quickly put it out and hooked it on his parachute harness.  Luckily, just the outer cords got singed.  Gunners never had their chutes on because they felt hampered.  The four, crewmembers in the rear of the plane were the first to bail out.

 Exhausted and off oxygen at 22,000 feet, Mike, Pete, and the ball turret gunner,"Doodlebug" Hansen decided to jump out the camera hatch instead of getting up and out the waist window.  As Mike was sitting with his legs hanging out and getting enough nerve to drop out, he suddenly heard a piercing sound and a sting across his forehead.  Before he had the time to investigate Sgt. Clark tapped him on the shoulder to drop down and out.  Mike gave a last look down and before he had the time to clear the ship he pulled the cord.  Looking up he saw the ship moving away and wondered what lay ahead at the moment. 

When he hit the sky he experienced a sensation that can only be describe as "unreal" because he was in a half daze "out of touch" because for the first time he experienced the feeling of being very much alone.  He could only describe it as "beautiful and scary" because of the absolute stillness and weird feeling of motionless never to come down.  Naturally all of this faded away when he passed through the clouds.  Mike quickly realized he was falling but the feeling was not apparent until he was eye level with trees and buildings.  Before he could blink his eyes he felt the ground quickly rushed up at him.  As soon as he hit the ground, a stinging pain ran from his ankles up to his head as he buckled up and passed out.

 When he opened his eyes he saw German soldiers looking down at him mumbling.  He looked beyond and saw people gawking at him.  He was then carried to what looked like an American type police wagon and driven to a school hall.  Mike was there overnight and then put on a bus that carried three of his crewmembers. They were the Bombardier, Lt. William T. Burtt, Ball Turret gunner, S/Sgt. Robert T. "Doodlebug" Hansen and Waist gunner S/Sgt. Wade R. Luce.  The guards kept them apart and silent.  Mike couldn't find out a thing.  They all appeared OK to him, but somewhat scared.  Sometime later they arrived at the walled-in hospital in Brussels where Mike was carried in.  It was the last time Mike saw his Bombardier.  S/Sgt. Hansen and Mike met up again at DuLag Luft, the interrogating center just outside of Frankfurt, Germany.  Mike remained in the hospital occupied solely by wounded German Luftwaffe personnel.  Every morning a "Luftwaffe", colonel doctor would enter the ward and a German nurse just ahead of him would shout "Actung".

 Pete Clark's chute brought him down safely in a large tree in a forest.  With much difficulty Pete managed to get lose from his chute and reach the ground safely.  The time of day was about an hour past noon.  "How long can I avoid capture," was the immediate thought in his mind. 

Meanwhile in another wooded area there were Lt. Joe Pavelka and his navigator, Lt. Philip Solomon.  They had parachuted safely and were hiding in another wooded section south of Liege when rescued by Belgium patriots just before German soldiers arrived to capture them.   The next day, April 13, another B-24 bomber commanded by Lt. Kendzora was shot down and three of the crew; Lt. James Goebel, Sgt. Charles Westerlund and Sgt. Robert Tucker parachuted near where Joe and Phil were hiding. The Lt. Kendzora crew was also from the 445^th Bomb Group and was helped by another Belgium family.

Chester "Chet" Hincewicz from the Joe Pavelka crew avoided capture by waiting until he was near the ground before pulling his ripcord.  Chet quickly received help from a Belgian patriot who gave him medical aid, civilian clothes and a fake Belgium ID card.  The name of his new friend was known only as "Jean".  After receiving his new identity Chet with his ability to speak a little French began traveling on his own.  He eventually arrived in Bastogne where he was liberated in September 1944.

In a letter to Richard Hanson in 1947, Chet wrote "that between our ground troop's constant shelling and our bomber's bombs exploding while in Bastogne my nerves were shot.  One night I slept in the home of a Red Cross woman in Namur close to a German flak gun blazing away all night.  I didn't hear any planes so I concluded that the German's nerves were as bad as mine were.  Another instance in Namur a German soldier tried to start a friendly conversation with me but naturally as a good Belgian I had to give him the cold shoulder.  I almost got shot when someone ratted on me in a little village in the Ardennes.  About forty enemy soldiers came after me; however, they made the mistake of giving me a fifty-foot handicap. The soldiers used up a lot of ammunition, firing at me during the first half mile, but as soon as I reached the woods, they could never find me.   It must have been a sight with my red blanket streaming behind like a Bullfighter's cape.  To top this off, I had to lie in the midst of an armored vehicle battle for a day and night.  At that moment I would have given anything to be in the air again.  After the Germans retreated, I ran through the lines to freedom of the advancing American ground forces.  You probably will find it hard to believe, but most of the time during that five months my food wasn't any better than yours."

Unfortunately, six of the Joe Pavelka crew was not so lucky. The Germans were waiting to capture them as they landed.  Sgt. Richard Hanson parachuted into a small Belgian farm community.  The Belgian patriots quickly put Richard on a bicycle and escorted him about 300 yards up to a farmhouse where he received food and civilian clothes with a red necktie.  Was the red necktie a signal to the Police that he was an American flyer?  The patriots were very anxious for Richard to leave as the Germans were searching the area.  Richard was given a bike with instructions to follow a teenage boy.  He rode for an hour until he reached the edge of the town of Huy where they were stopped to show identification.  Unable to show a valid I.D., Richard was arrested and delivered to the Police headquarters for interrogation. After the interrogation he was put into a cell in the basement.  Soon the Copilot, Lt. Albert Gilsdorf was put into the cell with Richard.  Albert was still wearing his flight gear.  That night they were delivered by truck to Brussels where they were put in St. Gilles prison and in separate small cells. Richard never saw Albert Gilsdorf again. Richard was placed in a cell with four other allied airmen caught in civilian clothes.  After two or three days the bombardier, Lt. William T. Burtt, was put into Richard's cell for three days.   Lt. Burtt was removed from Richard's cell never to be seen by Richard again. 

Richard spent six miserable weeks in St. Gilles prison being interrogated by the Gestapo before being sent to a POW camp, Stalag Luft IV in northwest Poland.

 His diet at St. Gilles prison consisted of coffee, carrots, potatoes and sour bread, and four times a week he was treated to watery, tasteless, soup.  He slept on straw sacks crawling with lice.  Once a week he was allowed to bathe, but was strictly limited to five minutes in the bath.  Richard along with the other five, crewmembers caught spent the rest of the war in POW camps.  They were Lt. Albert P. Gilsdorf, Lt. William T. Burtt, Sgt. Robert T (Doodlebug). Hansen, Sgt. Wade R. Luce and Sgt. Mike Ciano.  Mike was wounded in the leg and needed prompt medical attention when his parachute brought him safely to the ground.  He was treated for his shrapnel wounds in his right leg at a Luftwaffe Hospital in Brussels, Belgium.  Mike spent the remainder of the war at Stalag 17 in Krems, Austria.  Today he stills carries the small bits of shrapnel in his leg that the German Doctor was unable to remove.

While the Joe Pavelka crew was bailing out, another plane in the 445^th Bomb Group was experiencing the same fate. This was the Sam Schleichkorn crew.  During their air battle with the Luftwaffe, the starboard waist gunner and Bob Augustus, the ball turret gunner damaged or destroyed two fighters.  Being in the ball turret and unable to see what was happening, Bob was unaware that his plane had suffered several hits.  When the intercom and the power went out, Bob decided it was time to leave the turret.  He manually returned the turret to a position where he could crawl back into the plane.  When he opened the turret door he was greeted with a wall of flames.  The plane was on fire, and it appeared that everyone had left.  Bob managed to get up in to the waist area only to discover that the radio deck, where he had left his chute, was in flames.  Somehow, despite the flames, his chute was all right.

After recovering his chute, he went over to the starboard gun and fired one last burst at the fighters lined up on a B-24 next to his plane.  As Bob turned to go out the escape hatch, he saw the tail gunner, Sgt. Marty Clabaugh, stumble out of the tail turret, completely on fire.  Bob started to go to him when he realized he was beyond help, and the plane was going into a dive.  Bob attached his chest chute to his parachute harness and dove out the hatch.

 Bob waited to open his chute until he felt he had cleared the immediate combat area.  As he drifted down he could see that he was going to land in the middle of a herd of cows.  Since he had no training in the proper way to maneuver a chute, he was reluctant to try.  Somehow he missed landing on any of the cows, however he made a direct hit on a "cow chip".   Leaving his shoes behind in the plane in his haste to escape the flames, Bob severely damaged his right ankle upon landing.  Gathering his chute from among the cows he hopped and ran to the woods nearby and buried his chute under some leaves.

Going further into the woods Bob found a suitable place to hide, catch his breath, and examine his situation.  He found that beside the damaged ankles he also had burns on his face and hands.  It was at this point that he heard someone running nearby.  He looked around and saw another guy from his bomb group going in a big hurry.  Bob yelled and the downed airman came over to his hiding place.  The downed airman's name was Peter M. Clark from the Joe Pavelka crew.  He told Bob that everyone called him Pete. 

Bob and Pete discussed their situation and decided to wait until near sundown before heading to France.  While they were waiting the sound of people laughing and singing was gradually coming closer. As the sounds came closer, they looked up from their hiding place and saw in the distance a group of young people carrying baskets, having a great time. 

They noticed that as the young people moved along they would occasionally drop something out of their baskets.  When they were out of sight and the area appeared safe to move around, Bob and Pete left their hiding place to go and see what the young people had dropped.  They found sandwiches wrapped in brown paper. They picked up a couple of the sandwiches and went back to their hiding place to have their first food in Belgium.  The local patriots apparently knew they were hiding in the woods and would need food and this was their way of helping without alerting the enemy.

Bob and Pete then went down to the edge of the woods where they saw a farmer plowing his field.  As he approached their hiding place, Bob and Pete stepped out of the woods and asked him their location.  Bob was afraid his combination of high school French and English did not work as the farmer waved his arms about and shouted what sounded like "les allemands" and turned around and went away.  It wasn't until weeks later that Bob and Pete found he was telling them that Germans were in the area.

As the daylight began to fade into darkness, they headed out of the woods in a southwest direction.  They soon came upon a paved two-lane road heading in the same general direction.  Bob and Pete decided to walk on the road since it was easier, and they could always jump into the woods if necessary.

As Bob and Pete continued walking, the woods started to thin out and were replaced by farmland.  When the darkness of the night began turn to daylight, they went off the road and found a haystack into which they crawled to get some sleep.

 Later in the morning Bob and Pete left the haystack and walked across the field to the farmhouse, knocking on the door.  When the farmer answered the door, he knew that they were American airmen by their uniforms.  He invited them in to meet his family and to sit down and eat.  His wife found some civilian clothes for them to wear and a pair of shoes for Bob.  After eating they gave the two Americans a road map and pointed out that they were south of Liege.  The wife gave Bob something for his burns and a piece of cloth to wrap around his swollen ankle.  The farmer and his wife appeared nervous and anxious for the Americans to leave.  Bob and Pete took the road map and hit the road for France.

Bob and Pete felt safe in their farm clothes and decided to walk on the road during the day.  The next afternoon after they walked through a small town, a boy on a bike went by whistling the French national anthem and dropped a bag of food for them. They held on to the food until they came to a small stream where they stopped and ate their lunch and drank some water.  It was almost sundown so they decided to stay there until morning.

The next morning they started out and two days later they found themselves nearing the border.  It was here that they had their first encounter with the Germans.  As they were walking through a small town near the border, they turned a corner and almost ran into a group of German soldiers marching through the town in the middle of the street.  They quickly stepped aside avoiding a collision.  Pete and Bob were both smoking cigars that Pete had brought with him from England.  By the time the Germans marched by they had chewed the cigars down to the last two inches.  Walking to the end of town and out into a field overlooking the woods they had a good laugh and a sigh of relief.  By now they were hungry, so they headed for a house at the edge of the woods.

 It was at this house that they made a bad mistake.  They failed to see the telephone lines into the house.  Only German collaborators were allowed telephones.  Bob knocked on the door and a well-dressed, middle-aged woman answered the door.  Bob explained, in his French-English that they were hungry and would like some food.  She instructed them in English, to wait and she would bring some food.  Bob had a funny feeling about her when noticing the wires and told Pete he felt they should get the hell out of there.  They ran into the woods in a due west direction.  Maybe it was imagination, but they both swear they heard dogs.  After they had run for a long time they suddenly came out onto a field overlooking a river.  On a path running beside the river was a girl leading a herd of cows.  She looked up as they ran down the hill and motioned for them to get among the cows.  As they edged their way in among the cows she continued to move them along towards a town at a bend in the river.  When they reached the town she took them to a house where they were given a glass of wine and told to wait.  In a few minutes a woman appeared and told them not to worry they were among friends.

They had dinner and some wine before climbing into the most comfortable bed ever created according to Bob.  The next morning after breakfast, they met two men who told them it was too dangerous for them to stay there and they would be moved that night.  Two different men came that night and took Bob and Pete to a loft where they were placed under armed guard.  The men told them they were the French Maquis of Revin, and they could not help them until their identity was confirmed.  The next morning the Americans were taken out to the yard and their pictures were taken.

The following made this story possible: Michael Moores LeBlanc who is researching the various Escape Lines in Europe during World War II; Rene Londoz who was a member of the Belgium Secret Army helping over50 allied airmen escape through the various Belgium escape lines; Robert Augustus' story "Attacked by Bandits"; The French story "Le Maquis de Revin by G. Charot,"Mission Marathon" by Colonel Remy. Information given me by Richard Hanson, Mike Ciano, Philip Solomon, Chester Hincewicz, Bill Lincoln, Mickey Goldfeder, Joe Rhodes, Charles Walker of the 2nd Air Division Association and A. P. Wiley's story "War At Ground Level".

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