Fighter pilot - Levitt Clinton Beck

Just got in; Fighter Pilot by Lt Levitt Clinton Beck - 406th FG, 514 FS.

He was shot down on a mission just south west of Paris and spent the rest with the French resistance, trying to get back to friendly lines. The first few (!) pages are about his time in the AAF and his shoot down. (he doesn't mention his FG, but Thank You internet!) Practically the whole book is about his time with the French underground.

This book was apparently self published in 1946! After the French woman he stayed with returned his manuscript which he had written while with the underground and then buried in her back garden. The book is a hardback and in really good condition.

Funnily enough, I just checked and saw that a paperback edition is due out 28 Dec. 2007!!

Looking on the internet, I came across this picture of his downed P47 (42-8473). Taken by the guy who bought it for scrap after the war....

 

Lucky you, the book is hard to find. Beck's story is one my favourites and I wrote quite a few articles about him. The picture was posted by one of my friends from Forced Landing Association. By the way guess whose unit my signature P-47 is from? (Beck had an olive drap one which we painted too) .

 

Hmmmm, the 514th??? I though you might like this book, Skipper. When I thumped through it, I thought Hey Skipper would really enjoy this!

BTW, do you Michael LeBlanc from Canada? He is very knowledgeable about Comete and other escape lines. We met 15 years ago when we were researching the Halifax his uncle died in in 1944 and which was excavated last year.

Skipper,do you know if Lt Beck is still alive?

 

It is the 514th. Lt Beck was betrayed by a double agent. He went to a terrible ordeal. After severe interrogation at the infamous Fresnes prison, near Paris, he was accused of being a "Terror Flieger" and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in a cattle wagon train . He suffered such severe ill treatments there, that he died after a few months. The manuscript was found post mortem after the war by brick layers who were restauring the bar where he was hidden. The brave people who had hidden him sent the manuscript to Beck's 1944 address and his parents received it. They were the ones who published this book. The double agent, a Belgian, nicknamed "Capitaine Jacques" was arrested by the Americans and sent to the French Justice. He was sentenced to death and shot in 1949. His last words were "Heil Hitler" I don't know Michael Leblanc, but I'm always happy to meet new searchers.

 

Thanks Skipper, I had no idea! I assumed he had returned home after the war. More so because the book is published by C.L. Beck...Maybe his dad then....What a sad story.

A side-project of mine is trying to investigate and document cases in which Allied soldiers were killed by (German) civilians. I also helped an American researcher with her research on American soldiers sent to German concentration camps or slave labor camps. That was actually more widespread that I imagined to be. Not quite incidents as such....

Is there some kind of biography on Beck about the time after his capture?