Wellington HZ355 from 429 Squadron

"Republique Francaise". These were the cheap zinc coins used during the war. they existed with a lady on the back (Marrianne) or an axe (Vichy Francisque axe) . They existed in 1f and 2f versions. I posted pictures somewhere in the Militaria section.

 

Skipper,

Merci (?)

Thank you....

Jo Ann

 

She come up to the bean pile. And to this day I can’t explain this. She says “Hello American.” I hadn’t told anyone that I was an American. How did she know that? She said “Hello American.” She said “Don’t come out. I know you are there.” She said “I am the Teacher.” “And tonight you will be brought to my house.” “Where are you from in America?” You know, I figured that’s not very sensitive Military information, who cares where I’m from. Well anyway, I told her and she says “Well I was never there, I was only in New Orleans.” Okay. She says “Stay where you are and we’ll come back.” And that was that. She walked away. Well these guys arrived not too long after that and that was the cherries and a Dutch Army canteen with this awful coffee in it. And a, so I sat there, eating cherries, brushing and fighting earwigs and drinking this awful coffee. And anyway, after it got dark they came out and got me and they had an overcoat and this is June, very warm weather now. Well they gave me this Belgium Army overcoat. It wasn’t very conspicuous, because there was all kinds of Military overcoats and I know these, all the Belgium people. Anyway, they took me out from under the bean pile and they took me to this house. And when we got to this house. It turns out that the guy that lived in the house was a Doctor, a medical Doctor. Well I’m sitting there in a chair and my feet are beginning to hurt and I, there was a linoleum floor, so it felt cool against the bottom of my feet. Well of course it warmed up and I moved my feet to get another cool spot. And when I did, they saw these bloody footprints. And of course the woman, his wife, “Blessé, Blessé,” that’s the French word for wounded. And a, she was Walloon by the way, the wife. He was Flemish, she was Walloon. Anyway there’s a lot of that in Belgium. Eventually they will probably all be the same. Well any rate, this guy says “I am the Doctor.” Yes, fine, and of course then they spotted that. Well they put me up on the kitchen table and this guy started digging shrapnel out of me and that’s when I found out how many pieces I had in me. He says “I haven’t got it all.” So there’s still some in there. I’ve never had any problems with it. So anyhow, he a, I said “Where is the Teacher?” And everybody looked at me. Now there was about 4 or 5 people standing around me, you know. Most of them men, a couple of women. And everything went kinda quiet and then this Doctor says “What do you mean, the Teacher?” And I described this thing with this woman that came up to the bean pile. And he turns around to these people and spit out some very fast Flemish at them and they split. They were gone in a shot. And of course I, now his wife, she and I and the Doctor were the only ones left then. Everybody else is gone. You know it was about 5 or 6 of them at least, of these people. So he said “We don’t know who the Teacher is.” “She is not of our organization.” Now to this day, I don’t know who this Teacher is. No idea. And how did she know I was an American? Now true Americans were bombing in that area but maybe she made that assumption that I was an American because I was on the ground and I had got knocked down. And the Americans were a definite minority at that stage of the game. In fact the maximum effort from the 8th Air Force when I got knocked down was around 50 aircraft. The RAF was putting thousands in the air. So there was a terrible disparity between them. Later on that changed, but at that point it hadn’t yet. So again it’s a mystery. Well anyhow, I stayed overnight in the Doctor’s house and that’s when they took my uniform, my full battle dress. And what they did with that, that’s rather interesting. I saw these little broaches that they made. They took 3 coins, 2 French coins and a Belgium coin and they cut, now the French coin had a “R F” on them, Republique Francaise (French). The Belgium coin had an “A” on it for Albert, the King of the Belgium’s. So they would take and cut a little piece out of the French, the “F” out of this coin, an “R” out of this coin and they put them, the Belgium coin in the middle. Put the 3 of them together, solder them together on the back. RAF, a little broach. And then they took a little swatch of the RAF blue uniform and they would pin this and that became the broach. And I saw a bunch of those when I was jumping around Belgium. Yeah, I’d like to have one of those. Well anyway, they took my uniform that’s what they did with it. They cut it all up in these little square pieces and passed it out to everybody. And I stayed overnight, they gave me civilian clothes. And the next day, they gave me a bicycle. And I went with this guide, just he and I to this woods. And they told me that, of course he was in front, and I was behind him. And we each had a little bucket, little tiny bucket on the handle bars of the bike. Well what we were suppose to be doing was going into the woods to pick berries, because there was a big food problem in Belgium at that time. Germans were taking all the food to Germany and letting the people starve. And it got so bad that in Holland that the RAF and the Germans got together and made an agreement between. RAF would drop food to the Belgium’s, er the Dutch before they starved to death. Just before the end of the war. It was that bad.

Unfortunately, this is the end of my Interview with my Uncle. I have to wait on the other one that is coming. (It's like the end of the season, a cliff-hanger!)

I have some notes to add here that I took during my conversation with my Uncle on Monday.

Skipper, do you see in there what I was able to figure out on my own?

Jo Ann

 

I just found out that my Uncle is listed in Footprints in the Sands of Time by Oliver Clutton-Brock.

 

JoAnn thanks for the continued sharing on your uncle...........things are dropping into place through your research and along with Skippers

big thumbs up ! E ~

 

more details about the coffee: this was made from endives. It is called Chicory "chicorée" in Northern France. This Ersatz coffee was discovere din Belgium in 1850. It became poular again during WWI and WWII. believe it or not, some people who grew up drinking this, actually learned to like it and stil buy it nowadays. I wouldn't drink it if they paid me, but it would be interesting for you to buy some for your uncle, so he could verify this is the one. The other alternative coffee was made with acorns

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicory

 

Welcome JoAnn

Rest assured with the information you have posted and the expert resources that reside within this forum, you should have a near complete chronology.

Yes, they are that good.

 

Okay another twist here and another direction of help!

I received an email this morning from contacts with the son, Robert Dexters, of Gisbert DEXTERS (the man that found my Uncle in the haystack) and Robert is also the nephew of Dr. Albert DEXTERS (The Doctor that removed the Shrapnel). Robert has been trying for years to locate my Uncle (since 1970).

Okay back up a bit here, My Uncle never knew what their names were, only The Doctor and the man that found him. When I went through the box of stuff that was my Grandmother's, I found a letter from the Military Intelligence Service dated 1946 asking about these people, DEXTERS and JENSSEN from Eisden. That is how I found the names and have been putting together the information. When I spoke to my Uncle he had never seen this letter. It was mailed to New York in 1946 to my Grandmother's home and my Uncle was still stationed in England. My Uncle and I think my Grandmother just put away all these things and never told him about it because of what he went through during the war. He had a tough time after for a while.

This is the tough part....I found out that the letter was never answered. My Uncle never saw it. These people never got recognition for their services during the war and assisting my Uncle. The people in the Comete Line were acknowledged but somehow the other line (Limburg Resistance Line) never got the information from the Liberation Report and the Escape and Evasion Report. So I am guessing that is why that letter was sent in 1946.

So now I am trying to figure out how to answer a letter from 1946. I called my Uncle today and informed him. He is very upset and wants to do whatever he can to make sure that this is corrected immediately.

Jo Ann

 

I sent an email to the U.S. Air Force Historical Society. Hopefully will get an answer soon.

People are working on it in Eisden, Belgium at their Historical Society.

 

Hi:

Sorry to have come late to this fascinating thread.

Sadly, the only thing I can offer at this point is to confirm what Erich has posted previously, namely that the Luftwaffe night fighter claims book by Foreman may not be reliable.

Over on a German-language board, the allegation from those "in the know" is that it may in large part have been based on a privately-gathered list of claims which was liberally "salted" with dummy data, so the authors might be able track back anyone who, against their wishes, published the results.

Theo Boiten posted in that thread that he found it not usable in his research.

I'm doing some translations for Theo - will see if he's willing to offer an opinion on the claims issue.

 

Hi Jo Ann and welcome

I am looking forward to when your story is combined with the forum wizards.

A note to the form members:

Some years back, there was a "made for television" movie that closely resembles Jo Ann's documentation.

US Airmen were captured and sent to a concentration camp. One of the US Airmen (who spoke German) informed a visiting Luftwaffe officer of their status as airmen. An argument ensued between the Luftwaffe officer and an SS officer. Shortly afterward, the Airmen were transferred into the custody of the Luftwaffe.

Has anyone seen this movie?

 

Alan this film is called "shot from the Sky" and is the story of Roy Allen. Roy was among the 168 Buchenwald airmen from the August 1944 convoy. This however the story of the men who were there from August until October 1944, not the Spring of 1944.

mhuxt. Welcome for your input that confirms ou thought. Kollack will still be my first choice, with an option for Baake. Theos' input would be very welcome to confirm or infirm this. I have stopped referring to Foreman's book too. Btw: I know Theo both via Erich and via Luftarchiv and I can't wait for his new book.

 

Jo Ann, I would really recommend you to get in touch with Belgian officials rather than Amercan ones. The decision for recognition would be made by Belgian authorties. I hope it's not too late.

 

Hi Skipper

Thanx

Alan

 

Skipper,

Contacts from Eisden are trying to get information from Ophoven on the Wellington HZ355 crash sight and where Pilot Ellison is possibly buried. (My Uncle thinks that they never found the Pilot, Ellison. He told me that he believes that he is still listed as MIA/KIA.)

I should be finding out today from Eisden on what I can do here. I'm a bit frustrated and I have no patience I want it corrected now. The information that I have sent them, they said is very helpful so I know that they are working on it, on their end.


Jo Ann

 

Jo Ann

This thread documents the recovery of missing ETO WWII aircraft and their crews. This effort is the result of a German National that has been doing this good deed for several years.

http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/26151-recovery-missing-eto-wwii-aircraft-crews.html

Alan

 

Alan,

Thank you. I will read the thread! I will try and go back and see where but....I found a website that had pictures of the excavations of WW2 aircraft. Very interesting.


I got a response this morning from the U.S. Air Force Historical Society and on my way to contact other places....on a roll! They also have information on my Uncle and will be sending it to me!

 

This is excellent news! You obviously have a winner here. I hope the leads will work out. You must be thrilled to get the aditionnal information too.

 

Skipper,

Every morning is like Christmas morning for me...emails and new information!

I'm just in awe!

Just think it all started here

I will keep you posted!

Jo Ann

 

Spoke to my Uncle...details!

On the flight in to Dusseldorf, they never made it and the bomb was still on board the aircraft when it crashed.

Luftwaffe Officer in Fresnes:

He didn't know the ranking of the German Officer's at that time. Said it was a Bluish-gray uniform with Silver epilates, woven cord. He was a big guy and spoke very good English. My Uncle was in the Prison about 14 weeks. The Luftwaffe Officer asked my uncle if he was a Military man. My Uncle said yes, RAF. The Luftwaffe Officer said, "You shouldn't be here." "Well we will see about this." They talked about the war a bit. My Uncle said to him "You can't possibly win the war, you have the whole world against you." My Uncle said that the Officer looked around and leaned in and said, "Well yes, thinking people in Germany think that way also." You and I are little people, we can't make these decisions." 2 or 3 days later he left Fresnes to Dulag Luft in Frankfurt. So the visit took place around the 20th of October, 1943. He knows that he left the day after the bombing in Schwinesfurt in October 1943. (He thinks the bombing was October 22, 1943 so that would make him leaving there on October 23, 1943. I need to check this. (Where the Luftwaffe put up 1100 fighters.) On his way into the Dulag Luft, many American Airmen were picked up at every stop. The other men in Fresnes with him, Whitney, Ford and Sharp had already left Fresnes. His cellmate was Bill Russell (?) from Texas he thinks, pilot of B-17 with Whitney, Ford and Sharp.) Russell left with him out of Fresnes. (He said Russell was shot down on his first flight he believes.) I need to check this also.

My Uncle would like to find out more about the Luftwaffe Officer. Very curious about him. Only met him that one time.