Victims of Luftwaffe

(Part 3)

by Virgil R. Marco Sr., 366BS Tail Gunner, 305BG

(Revised 9-25-01)

      Another victim of the Luftwaffe occurred on Monday, May 29, 1944. It was the Henry W. Wolcott B-24 Liberator, Nr. 42-40550SA "C for CHARLIE", crew.

      The Wolcott crew was from the 406 Bomb Sq., 801 Bomb Gp. and was stationed at Harrington, England. This Bomb Gp. was called the "Carpetbaggers". The crew for this mission was as follows:

 Lt. Henry W. Wolcott: Pilot

 Lt. Robert F. Auda: Copilot

 Lt. William G. Ryckman: Navigator

 Lt. Wallis O. Cozzens: Bombardier

 T/Sgt. Dervin D. Deihl: Engineer

 T/Sgt. Dale S. Loucks: Radio Operator

 S/Sgt. Frederick A. Tuttle: Gunner and Dispatcher

 S/Sgt. Richard G. Hawkins: Tail Gunner

 Lt. Carmen T. Vozzella:  (from the 859 Sq.) training Navigator on a

 "Check Out" mission)

       Their missions were sometimes to transport and drop 8 to 10 Canadian Frenchmen with their supplies behind German lines. Sometimes they just dropped supplies to the Resistance Forces. They flew at night in the light of the moon. Their planes consisted of older models of the B-24 without nose turret. The crew consisted of only eight men where the regular bomber crews consisted of 9 to 10 men. The supplies they dropped were in round containers in the bomb bay and were dropped after the French Canadians bailed out. Each mission was flown at tree top level. The closer the flak, the lower they flew to over come the radar and the fighters.

       The Wolcott crew had made 18 "Carpetbagger" missions at which they were told to fly at 7,000 feet. At that altitude, enemy fighters could eat them up and they did on the night of May 28, 1944.

       The target Sunday, May 28, 1944, was "Osric 53" in Belgium. A "Gee signal" was obtained at twenty miles. The aircraft, "C for CHARLIE", made three DR's, but there was no evidence of a reception at the target. The aircraft had just swung around to begin its homeward journey, when it was suddenly attacked by a night fighter and received three damaging bursts. This occurred at the checkpoint, Enghien. The fighter was shaken off, and the B-24, with another Gee fix obtained, turned north. Another sudden attack came from the side. Caliber .50 shells ripped through the right wing tanks, through the fuselage and navigator's compartment. Violent fires broke out and since the pilot could no longer maintain control of the airplane pushed the bail out alarm.

       When Lt. Wolcott was sure that everyone had bailed out, he jumped from the doomed airplane. At exactly 0230 hours, May 29, 1944 Lt. Wolcott landed in a Belgian wheat field, one and a half miles north of his crashed airplane. The crash site was near Aaigem between Erpe-Mere and Aalst.

       All that night he could see the red sky glow from the burning wreckage. Wolcott hid his chute and Mae West and immediately began walking. He continued in a southeastern direction until 0530 hours, when it began to get light.

       He then decided to approach a house and found an isolated one, surrounded by woods. The farmer in the house was Flemish, but he spoke French and quickly understood when Wolcott told him who he was. The farmer's name was Capiau. He took him in, gave him food and civilian clothes and provided him with a place to sleep for a few hours.

       A police officer by the name of Florant Creytens from Ninove then took Wolcott to the Stefaen Geens family home in the village of Denderhoutem, a few miles from where the plane crashed. He hid here until May 31st in a secret room.

       On May 31st Mr. Geens accompanied Wolcott on foot to Ninove, 5 miles away. They began their walk shortly after the noon hour with Craytens riding his bicycle ahead watching for any danger.

       The police officer, Creytens, then led Wolcott to the town of Ninove where they met Miss Simonne Kieckens, daughter of a Baker living with her parents on Blurchtstreet in Ninove. Her parents were unaware of her "Maquis" activities. Miss Kieckens spoke fluent German and traveled with Wolcott to the Van Dixhoorn family in Vollezele. Miss Kieckens then led Wolcott to Mr. Carlier, chief of the resistance in Anghien, 10 miles south of Ninove. Mr. Carlier escorted Wolcott to the Catholic University in Enghien where he was hidden in a priest's room. He remained here for four days. At the end of this time, Mr. Carlier returned and took Wolcott to his home where he received better clothes donated by different people.

       Wolcott was then sent to a farm near Anghien. At this farm he was greeted by eighteen Russians, who had escaped from forced service in the German army and also an American pilot. The day after Wolcott arrived at the farm the group left, having been warned that the Gestapo was only a mile away. The men traveled in three trucks to another, safer farmhouse, the Russians carrying with them all their German equipment, which provided good, cover for the trip.  

      At the next farmhouse, the group of Russians was split up, three of them remaining with the Americans. Wolcott and his fellow pilot, together with the three Russians, remained in the farmhouse for three weeks.

       After a week of unsuccessful searching for the "Carpetbagger" Crew by the Gestapo, a sad turn of events occurred. A Gestapo agent posing as an Australian airman walked the streets of Aaigem, Ressegem and Burst trying to find help from the Resistance. Help was given to the impostor but after a thorough interrogation in Aaigem he was found to be a Gestapo plant.

       The Resistance then took the impostor to the home of one of their members and imprisoned him in a dry-water well awaiting his execution. Before this could take place, the impostor, Martens, escaped. He tricked the family where he was imprisoned. He pleaded with them to let him go to the toilet. The father and his adult daughter fell for the request and helped him out of the dry water-well to use the toilet. The Resistance group arrived shortly and found that the impostor was no longer in the toilet and had escaped by climbing the back wall and disappeared.

       The impostor informed the Gestapo what happened at Aaigem and his bad treatment by the Resistance. The impostor then pointed out the various homes of the people who interrogated him as well as the family where he was placed in the dry water-well.

       On July 21, the day Belgium has celebrated it's independence since 1830, the Gestapo arrived at Aaigem, Ressegem and Burst and arrested 19 Patriots and interrogated them in the presence of the impostor, Martens. The Gestapo searched each home of the 19 Patriots for guns and documents of the Resistance as well as the clothing of the "C for Charlie" crew. They found nothing.

       The 19 Patriots were then taken to Oudenaarde and Gand for more interrogation and then to the prison of Gand, "Nieuwe Wandeling". After being tortured a few were set free and the rest were transferred to the concentration camp of Neuengamme in Germany. Only a few returned home after the war. A high price to pay for being a "Helper" suspect.

       One Sunday morning, 150 German soldiers surrounded the house where Wolcott was hiding. As a result of denunciation by a traitor, the Germans suspected the presence of a White Army man in the house. Warned in the nick of time, Wolcott hid in the attic in a secret hiding place under the floorboards. The Germans entered the house, searched it completely, and a couple of them even walked over the floor under which Wolcott was hiding. But they did not find Wolcott or his comrades. Finally, the Germans left, taking with them the farmer and all the food and money they could find. Wolcott later found out that after two weeks of questioning, the farmer was released. Shortly after the incident, the two Americans and three Russians went to another farmhouse in another town.

       They had been here only a few days when the Mayor of this town visited them, warned them that everyone in town knew of their presence and advised them to leave.

       The group split up at this point, Wolcott being escorted by a White Army man from the farmhouse to another. After a week of moving about, Wolcott finally came to a house on the outskirts of Brussels. Here he remained for five weeks.

       Then a treacherous escape organization, unsuspected by Wolcott's helpers, came forward with a plan to get him to Switzerland. Wolcott was thereupon taken to an apartment in Brussels, which later became known as the famous "Dog house", the place from which Allied Evaders were funneled into German hands. The notorious Belgian collaborator and member of the "Abwehr", Prosper DeZitter together with his mistress, Florentine Giralt, ran this operation.

       Wolcott remained in this apartment for three days. He was well treated, even lavishly treated. Then he was taken to a second house, where Secret Service interrogators, posing as members of an escape organization, asked him many questions. They brought out a questionnaire, which included questions about Wolcott's squadron, group and commanding officers. Wolcott filled in the questionnaire. The next day he was a prisoner in St. Gilles prison.

       Meanwhile on the early morning of May 29, 1944 Lt. Ryckman had landed in an open field at Burst, twisting his knee and spraining his back. After burying his chute and equipment, he painfully began walking in a northwest direction. As he was only a few miles from where his plane crashed he could see the burning wreckage lighting the sky. Ryckman went only a short distance, as his injuries gave him much pain.

       Walking to a grain field, he hid himself and spent the night and the following morning. At 1300 hours the next day he set out again, this time in a southwest direction. He passed through the small village of Ressegem near Burst without incident, although he was still dressed in his A-2 jacket and OD trousers.

       On the outskirts of the village, a patriotic Belgian father and daughter recognized that Ryckman needed help. The Mertens (father and daughter) brought him to their home where they fed and gave him a suit of civilian clothes. Then he was taken to the Castle Du Parc at Herzele where he met Lt. Cozzens. From the castle the two lieutenants were taken to a town where they remained in hiding for three weeks.

       Lt. Cozzens parachuted near Aaigem and walked to a tavern where he found help by Mrs. Bertha Henderickx who took him to the Countess Du Parc's castle. While in Aaigem, collaborators apparently noticed both Ryckman and Cozzens in civilian clothes with their (US) GI shoes.

       Because the castle was not a safe place, Ryckman and Cozzens were moved to Herzele where they hid until June 17, 1944. It is rumored that Ryckmand and Cozzens attended the funeral of their tail gunner, Richard Hawkins, at Aaigem. Several people claim they saw them there in their civilian clothes and (US) GI shoes.

       Lt. Ryckman and Lt. Cozzens were then shuttled to a farmhouse, spending eight days there and moving on to another house where they spent seven days. After one night at a third house, they rode the train into Brussels. Their destination was a very prosperous apartment in the city. Here they remained from the fifth to the fifteenth of July.

       A plan was brought forward involving escape into Switzerland and accordingly Ryckman and Cozzens were moved to another apartment, which was the "Dog house" of the Lt. Wolcott's story.

       On July 18th the two lieutenants, Ryckman and Cozzens were taken by automobile by their false "benefactors" to another apartment in Brussels where they were met by five men in civilian clothes, whom they took to be members of the underground. Over a bottle of cognac, the five men asked Cozzens and Ryckman many questions.

       Finally they brought out a mimeographed form. The two lieutenants filled in their names, ranks and serial numbers, and handed the forms back. The man became angry and insisted that the rest of the form be filled in. Ryckman and Cozzens answered the question on religion and the question on names of their crewmembers. The men asked for the name of their base. Ryckman replied "England". The men asked for the name of their Commanding Officer. Ryckman replied "Wolcott". The questioners attempted to get further information, but Ryckman and Cozzens remained close mouthed.

       Then they were taken to another house in Brussels. They walked to a third floor apartment where the first sight was a large picture of Hitler on the wall. Their escorts clicked their heels and saluted the man at the desk. He was a Gestapo Officer. The suspicions which Cozzens and Ryckman had begun to have were confirmed. They were in the hands of the Gestapo!

       The Americans were again questioned. When they refused to give any information, they were removed at once to St. Gilles prison with fellow prisoners Lt.'s Wolcott and Auda.

       They were in prison for five and half weeks before their first interrogation. Their diet during this time consisted of coffee, carrots, potatoes and sour bread. Four times a week they were treated to watery, tasteless soup. They slept on the floor, cushioned on straw sacks crawling with lice. Four or five men were crowded into a dirty cell. Once a week the men were allowed to bathe, but they were strictly limited to five minutes in the bath. Once when Cozzens was slow in leaving the bath, he was slapped across the face by one of the guards.

       At last the two lieutenants were called in for interrogation. At 0800 hours one morning they were brought to Luftwaffe Headquarters. They were not interrogated until 2130 hours that night, and though out the day they were given neither food nor water. At first the questions were of purely military character, having to do with flak and fighter aircraft encountered. Then the questioner asked for the names and addresses of the Belgian patriots who had helped them to evade. Ryckman and Cozzens refused to answer. When they persisted in their silence, the questioner became infuriated and ordered them confined to dark cells.

       It was August 26, 1944 that they were subjected this manifestation of the Nazi mind. Ryckman remembered the date well because it was his father's birthday. Each dark cell was six feet long and four feet deep. The only ventilation was three small holes in the door. The Germans did not permit blankets in their dark cells, so the men slept, uncovered on the cold cement floor. In a corner of the cell was a bucket, which served as sanitation. Ryckman and Cozzens were confined in the dark cells for five days, during which time they were given no water. One day they asked a guard for a bit of water. He laughed at them. They had only bitter coffee to drink, and they had to save part of it for cleaning out their eating platters. But it was so dark, they never knew whether the platter was really clean or not.

       On the evening of September 1 the men were removed from their dark cell and again interrogated. There were only a few questions asked this time, mostly about the crew's duty, positions in the aircraft. Ryckman and Cozzens were then returned to regular cells.

       After bailing out and landing at various places, four of the "Carpetbagger" crew (Vozzella, Loucks, Deihl and Tuttle) took refuge in a nearby forest at Herzele, a few miles from the crash site. A local Resistance organization found them and brought them to St.-Lievens-Esse where they were hidden on the farm of Roger Schollaert who spoke English with an American accent.

       The local Resistance decided to move each airman separately. Fred Tuttle was transported to Brussels where he was hidden in De Meersman's fish market for a month. Then he traveled south near the French border to the forest "Camp Acremont" operated by the Belgium underground to hide Allied Airmen. At "Camp Acremont" among a number of allied airmen he met a B-17 pilot, Capt. Bill Lincoln. They left "Camp Acremont" along with Bill Lincoln's bombardier, Mickey Goldfeder, prior to liberation and met up with the 5th Armored Division who provided them with transportation to Paris about September 2, 1944.

       Dale Loucks traveled with the Resistance Group to Brussels where he was hidden in an upstairs bedroom of Mr. & Mrs. Gaston Waroquier. On the second night in Brussells the Gestapo searched the house and arrested him. Dale Loucks was taken to the Gestapo Headquarters in Louiza-Laan in Brussells. He showed his dog tags to prove that he was an American flyer. However, the Gestapo threatened him by pointing out that he was in civilian clothes and therefore a terrorist. The Gestapo then sent him to the St. Gilles prison in Brussells where he again endured more Gestapo interrogation.

       He was unaware that Wolcott, Auda, Ryckman and Cozzens were also in the same prison. He was loaded on the "Ghost Train" along with many other allied airmen on September 1 to be transported to a POW Camp. He could here the voices of his crewmembers but because of the crowed conditions he was unable to make contact with them.

       At this time there is no record of Dervin Deihl's and Carmen Vozzella's evasion story after leaving the farm at St.-Lievens-Esse.

       The next day on September 2, forty-two Allied Airmen, including Wolcott, Ryckman, Cozzens and Auda, were taken from the prison and locked into the baggage car of a train. The men realized at once that they were being transported to a Prisoner Of War camp in Germany. The talk was that British Armor was beginning move into Brussels. The train, now known as the "Nazi Ghost Train" left Brussels at 0800 hours and by the evening had covered a zigzag distance of only thirty kilometers. The night was passed on a siding and in the morning the train began rolling back toward Brussels.

       The German garrison troops on the train began to get panicky. They located a truckload of cognac and looted it. The train with its drunken German guards and its carload of prisoners, made several attempts to break through the ring of British tanks now encircling the city, and each time it was forced back. White Army snipers began to subject the train to their fire.

       The Germans made a last attempt to break through the British line. The train rolled slowly until was three kilometers outside Brussels. Through a small window the prisoners in the baggage car could see Verey Pistol Signals. The train stopped. The tracks had been blown up. Then the train went into reverse, causing the baggage car to become derailed. Fortunately, none of the prisoners was injured. The guards, completely frightened and demoralized abandoned the train. Sporadic shooting broke out in the woods beside the track and the prisoner had to keep low in the baggage car.

       At 0400 hours, the men decided to make a break. Using a pocket- knife, they picked the lock. The prisoners slipped out of the car three and four at a time.

       Wolcott, Ryckman, Auda and Cozzens walked down a road next to a canal until they came to a large warehouse with a fence around it. Suddenly, they saw a flashlight through the darkness. Desperately, they looked around for means of escape. The fence around the warehouse was too high to scale, so they ran to the canal and jumped into a barge, which had fortunately been tied up, at the precise point in the canal. Seconds later, twelve Germans passed by on the road. The Americans, had they been so inclined, could have reached up and practically touch them.

       The Captain of the barge was a patriotic Hollander. When he discovered the men, he told them that open fighting had broken out in the streets of Brussels and that it would be safest for them to remain hidden in his barge for the time being.

       They remained over night in the cabin of the barge. The next morning, the Captain's son came rushing shouting, "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy." The British had completed the liberation of Brussels.

       The four lieutenants left the barge and walked into the center of town. They were taken in charge by ANG Officer and put up in a hotel. The next day they caught a ride with a British supply truck going to France. Reaching Armiens, they met a RAF Officer who told them of an airfield offering shuttle service to England. They made their way to the airfield and before long boarded a C-47, heading for England. It was the sixth of September and for the first time in many months, Wolcott, Ryckman, Auda and Cozzens felt free again. Dale Loucks was united with Fred Tuttle in Paris the first part of September 1944.

       Unfortunately, Richard G. Hawkins was killed in action but the remaining survivors. Lt.Vozell, Sgt.'s Deihl and Tuttle were hidden by "Silent Heroes", patriotic Belgians, and finally survived in the "Marathon Camps" in the Belgian Ardennes where they stayed until liberation of Belgium by the Allies in early September 1944.

       Richard Hawkins is buried at the Belgian-American War Cemetery of Neuville-en-Condroz, (plot D, Row 6, Grave 47).

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; Dirk Vijverman, a member of the Patriotic Association of Haaltert, 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”.

<-- Part 2