How do I access debriefing records for an American POW?

Hello everyone,

Is it possible for me, a civilian, to view the transcript of an American soldier's debriefing by the army? We are trying to locate information about my friend's father, Omer Twitty. He was captured during the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, but managed to escape while being transported to a German POW camp, thanks to a brave British officer who over the course of the next few months saved Omer's life half a dozen times. We can't find any record in the papers left by my friend's father, but we have to think the name of that British officer is mentioned in his debriefing by the Army. We would love to get ahold of the British officer's family and let them know what a hero he was. We would also like to have the whole account of what happened to them, because what little we know is pretty harrowing.

I did a search at the NARA and didn't come up with anything for him. Is there someplace else we should be looking? Does the Freedom of Information Act even extend to debriefing records?

Thank you for any help you can give me with this.

 

Can't help with the debriefing records but if you posted a thread in the information request forum asking people to look at it from the British side you might get some help. Several of our regulars are very knowledgeable in that regard.

 

Dear lwd,

Thank you for the great suggestion -- I will try that!

 

The Army Air Forces created Escape and Evasion Reports for evadees. I don't know if ground forces used the same format.

NARA claims to have E&ER's online: http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?p=2751 , but the links within this article do not work.

The index to the reports are outlined here: https://catalog.archives.gov/#/id/609580?q=escape%20and%20evasion%20reports but the actual index is not online.

Contact NARA about this record set and see if they can help.

 

If you can't get to NARA (I think it's in Maryland) there are professionals who will research things for you there I beleive but they arent' cheap from what I've read. Still may be an avenue worth looking at.

 

mcoffee, thank you for the great info about the Escape and Evasion reports -- I hadn't heard of them -- and thank you for sending the links. I sent a message to the NARA asking about my soldier's records, but I will try to get somewhere using those links in the meantime.

lwd, good suggestion about hiring a researcher. I'm hoping to go to the NARA myself -- hopefully they can tell me before I make the trek if the records I'm looking for are there.

Please know how much I appreciate everyone's help with this!