| Notes |
- Tail Gunner Bails Out After
Flak Breaks His Plane in Two
Little Chute- Having a B-17
Little Chute- Having a B-17 bomber snapped in two by a direct flak hit on a mission over Hamburg, Germany, and riding the tail down almost to earth, was the hairraising experience of Sergeant Joseph Evers, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter F. Evers, who has arrived home to visit his parents after spending 11 months as a prisoner in Germany.
In relating the loss of the bomber, on which Sergeant Evers was a tail gunner, he stated that it was on his eleventh mission, a raid over Hamburg, Germany, that flak hit the ship at the waist, breaking it in two. The next thing Sergeant Evers knew was that he was on a spiral earthward, hanging on for dear life until the tail straightened out enough to enable him to bail out. He never knew what happened to the rest of the crew of nine.
Upon landing, he was met by a group of infuriated German civilians who beat him up before the home guards came up, and then members of the gestapo took command and he was marched to a camp where he was placed in solitary confinement overnight. and where he was questioned for information. He was finally sent to Frankfort, and later on to a prison camp known as Stalag 3, where there were approximately 10,000 prisoners.
Red Cross Helps
Only the help of the American Red Cross in aiding the prisoners with food saved many from starvation, as no other packages were received, although he had been sent dozens of them by his parents and relatives, while imprisoned, Evers said. Their only meal was potato soup, and meat was unheard of, until the prisoners were ordered to move in advance of the oncoming Russians, then stops were made at farms and a porker slaughtered now and then, which wasn't much for 1,300 men, he pointed out.
All parcels received were opened for inspection, even cigarets and canned mat, as the captors suspected secret information was being slipped through.
After being on a forced march ahead of the Russians, the prisoners were finally halted as they were being met by the British 2nd, who liberated them. The sergeant figured that the forded march, which started on Feb. 6, and ended on the day of liberation, May 2, covered over 600 miles on foot.
Upon being released Sergeant Evers and two other companions, anxious to get back, hitch-hiked to Brussels in two days, riding at times on empty food trucks returning from the front.
After leaving Le Havre, France, the trio stopped at Southhampton, England, for a 5-day rest, at which time Sergeant Evers was treated for fever, his first sickness since going overseas 15 months ago.
The 22-year old sergeant lost 30 pounds in his long confinement. He has been in service since February 1943, and overseas since March, 1944. Upon completion of his 60-day leave he will again return to active service.
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1923 - 2004 (81 years)
