We were all interrogated the following morning separately -- in fact, until we all departed I never saw anyone but Guards -- when we signaled we wanted to go to the bathroom; by flipping up a wooden arm in the hallway - I never passed anyone or saw anyone enroute [sic] to the commodes or the interrigation [sic] rooms -- I must pause here and tell you about the training we received at our Air base in Britian [sic] -- the RAF had allowed some of their intelligence officers to be captured by the Germans and after they were interrigated [sic] by the Germans' they were liberated and flown back to England to tell all of us about what to expect when we became POW's - There was nothing frightening about their presentation -- we were told that the German intelligentce [ t crossed out] service was thorough and that any mention about anyone in the military service in the United States in any newspaper or radio {that} was recorded forwarded to {Gemany} Germany for their information service -- so they would have a complete dossier on the American captives -- We were told they would have all the information on our barracks and military installations, at our base, in Sudbury, England -- We were told any information we gave would be verified by the other crewmembers in a clever use of words and intimidations -- there would be no {fo} physical force used on us but they could use fear and reprisal [?] in there [sic] questioning -- we were also told that if you remained there over 3 days they had something on you{r} or you had given them information which they needed to verify of clarify -

My first interrigator [sic] was a very "young" Lieutenant -- German Air Force - but as a military requirement of the German's - rank means everything -- so all interrogators would outrank the captive being interrogated - my interrogator was a 1st Lt and I was a 2nd Lt -- he handed me a form to complete, which covered our military complex in England -- at the top was a space for our Name, Rank and Serial Number but then it progressed to what our targets were for that day -- plans involved - etc -- also it asked the names of our Operations officers - etc -- According to the Geneva Convention and the articles ratified by the various countries -- Germany, USA,- England, France, etc -- I only put down my name, rank and Serial number and handed it back to him -- he admonished me for not completing the remainder of the form and I told him I was not required to do so, only filling in my identification and nothing more -- he {sad} said "he had the power to keep me there indefinitely" and I replied "I didn't think I was going anywhere anyway!!" -- he glared at me and left the room in a huff -- I stood there for quite some time alone, when finally another German officer entered -- a Major from the German Air Force -- and said that the Lieutenant who had questioned me said I refused to fill out the questionnaire and I told him I was only required to fill out my identification and nothing more -- he said we don't usually fill out these forms for lesser ranks but he would show me how unimportant it was by completing the form, hesitating at each answer to see my reaction -- we were told by the RAF briefing unit that they would seek confirmation of each question and answers from our facial expression and responses -- if we lied they would detect it from our expressions -- so they taught us to practice non-expressive eyes and facial responses, even though the replies were either right or wrong they would not reveal the truth -- after he completed the form, he threw it carelessly aside, as if it was valueless, and picked up a folder with my name on it -- he opened it and proceeded to give me a complete history on my entering the military service up to that date in time of interrogation -- He asked me why I was in B-17's when I was trained for P-38 fighters -- Our RAF briefers told us never to answer with "yes" or "no" for they encourage further questions -- always answer with "I'm sorry" which doesn't solicit a response of any sort -- The Major went on to tell me about my wife and her assignment in the Intelligence Section in Wash. D.C. - then on to tell me about the officers from our squadron that had been captured before - - when I did not respond to any of this he sat it aside and became friendly and personal about his background - He and his brother were educated in Boston before the war -- his brother remained and operated a filling station -- he returned to Germany and entered the war at its inception -- He then asked me which Canidate [sic] for the US Presidency, I preferred -- I told him Roosevelt and he countered with " -- we are hoping it will be Dewey, for your Roosevelt wants "unconditional surrender" whereas Dewey will give us any terms we want!!" -- He said "here we have two powerful nations fighting each other -- We are the military machine and you are the mass producers -- With our military genius and your production - together we could rule the world!!" -- He then showed me where his home was located in Germany -- The walls were covered with American Aerial maps -- He said his home was about 7000 population -- he showed me it's location -- he said there was a base ball [sic] diamond area across the tracks -- that separated the town from the field -- and the Germans had put our fighter planes on that ball field, as they could take off on the packed ground without using runways and could be hidden in the trees for camoflage [sic] -- He said our planes hit these aircraft with bombs but no bombs ever went over the railroad tracks -- so they repaired the dirt field and kept it operational -- The British came over and bombed the airfield but also pattern bombed the town out of existence -- that's why we don't like the British"!! -- I reminded him I had seen Coventry outside London pattern bombed by the Luftwaf [sic] - German Air Force -- so he dropped that subject -- he then looked up the battle plans the Allied force{d} had for the day I was shot down -- he gave me the figure of 1500 bombers in our formation -- which included medium bombers also -- and said the Germany [sic] Air Force and ground anti aircraft batteries had shout [sic] down 157 bombers on that day -- I told him that was less than 1% of the aircraft, so he dropped that subject and left the room -- I had no further interrogation and was returned to my room via the library -- I was allowed to select a book to read -- I chose the "Prisoner of Zenda" -- and they took me back to my cell -- my interrogators knew a lot more about my airbase in England than I did and frankly most of us could care less that our Munitions officer was Lt. Gillespie and the Operations officer was Capt Burke -- I was delighted to be finished with the interrogation, for it was a case of nerves and stage acting that prevailed -- I for one was deeply indebted to our RAF briefing for it set the stage and dictated our part in this event -

The day wore on and I was glad for the book -- during the day the floor {squeeked} squeeked constantly and I surmised it was someone pacing back and forth in the cell next to mine -- so having nothing to do and plenty of time to do it in - I knocked on the wall and after a period of time the knock was returned -- so I scratched ^or scraped^ on the wall and spelled out "Hi" in morse code and he returning the greeting -- Morse Code was not my forte but if it goes slow enough I can figure it out -- my answering service next door was not exactly a whiz at it either but together we managed to learn about each other -- he was also a 2nd Lt, also a Co-pilot but was on a B-24 Liberator Bomber when he became a POW -- He was on a bombing mission over the Polesti [sic] Oil fields in Romania, when he was hit by anti aircraft fire and when their engines failed they were at low altitude and hadn't dropped their bombs yet so the pilot toggled the bombs on a small village main street then crashed on the outskirts of this small street -- needless to say the villagers beat them all to a pulp and he managed to survive and be rescued by a member of the military -- he had been in the cell, next to mine, for eleven days and they hadn't spoken to him once -- I couldn't believe a pilot could have been so stupid as to bomb a main street in town then crash land in sight of his bombing -- they were probably wondering what to do with him!! -- I told him that I was finished being interrogated and was told I would be leaving with our surviving crew members, in the morning -- When morning came, they brought me a razor blade that must have been used by everyone the past fifteen years -- it pulled out my whiskers before it cut them -- before I left my {roo} cell I told my "scratching" next door cell mate, I would leave my book behind the second commode in the restroom, if he'd care to read it -- he was eager to do something other than pace the floor -- When they came to get me to leave, they wanted the Library book back but I told them I returned it to the Library -- they didn't believe me and searched me and my room for the book -- they even emptied my straw mattress on the floor but didn't find the book -- after an hour or so they returned and told me I was to follow them and luckily it was to rejoin our crew and leave -- I did ask my "morse code" friend if he got the book and he did!! -

We were loaded on a troop train with many other POW's - One NCO was seated in each six man section to guard five POW's -- Our train traveled at night and our guard slept most of the time -- I took out his pistol and examined it out of curiosity but knew it would be useless to keep it or attempt an escape from a military troop train -- The next day the German Officer in charge of our compartment struck up a conversation with us -- he spoke flawless English -- and he told us he had been educated in Vienna, Austria and majored in Music -- he then told us of the many songs that were at one time popular in Germany, then retranslated into English -- he cited the Song - {Lily} "Lili Marlene" and much to our surprise, he sang it to us in a beautiful baritone voice -- he continued singing songs to us, while we were parked on a railroad siding, then had to leave us when the train reentered the main tracks again -- at one siding, I noticed a group of Russian women cleaning the ground areas around our train -- everyone disposed of their trash out the window of our compartment -- one woman indicated she would like a cigarette -- the Germans had given each of the officers a pack of "Old Gold" cigarettes and since I didn't smoke, I gave her the whole pack -- when she opened it to give ^some to her friends, it created a mob scene and the soldiers had to intervene -- when they wanted to know who gave the women the cigarettes, I told them I did -- they took my name but wouldn't give me any more cigarettes for the rest of the trip to Berlin -- I expected some reprocussions [sic] from the incident, for they beat the women involved, but that was the end of it -

We were sent to Stalag Luft III ^Sagan, Germany^ [present-day Poland] 92 miles south of Berlin -- it was supposidly [sic] the show POW camp for Berlin -- our Commadant [sic] was on speaking terms with {Goreing} Goering -- the third ranking position in the Third Reich, under Hitler and Goebells [sic] -- The highest ranking officer ^a General^ in our POW camp was on a hunting expedition with Goering, when war was declared, so they were close friends and Goering visited our General often and of course our treatment was better as a result -

We started our day at sunup - varied {with} with the season - and stood our roll calls -- "appalles [sic] as they were called -- It would take a good hour to finish roll call for the 7000 plus POW's -- after roll call we started our breakfast and our tea -- The Germans furnished us with a bread -- I mentioned it before -- made of saw dust and potatoes and could be stored in warehouses for years without a problem - it tasted like sour dough bread and was only really potable when toasted -- we had toast and ersatz (imatation) [sic] jam and margarine -- the tea we got out of a Red Cross food parcel from India and England -- We all shared a box -- eleven pounds -- from the Red Cross -- one box which was supposed to be for one person, was shared by four -- All cans were punctured, so they had to be eaten and would not save -- this was to prevent hoarding food that could be used for escape purposes -- many escapee when caught had food they had saved, so when each was returned back to the camp, our rations were further reduced, so needles to say we had organized escape committees to screen any potential escapees, to see that they realized all the consequences involved -- if the committee approved the plans, then we all saved food for them - they also supplied clothing and money that was acquired in barter with the guards and some civilian personnel in the camp --

Our rooms were small and held from eight to ten ^officer POW's -- Our beds were stacked two or three high and we had one long eating table with benches and one wood stove for heating and cooking -- The beds had wooden slats to keep you from falling through to the lower beds and we were issued two horse hair blankets and a pillow with a straw mattress -- speaking of mattress's - I had a legacy from my interrogation cell in Weise [sic] -- I got "scabbies" [sic] from that pillow or mattress -- the remedy was to shave my head and use a sulfur and glycerine solution daily for weeks on end -- the cold got to my bald head and I had to wear a stocking cap, even to bed, to keep my head warm -- those bed slats I mentioned served another mission -- The grate of our stove was lifted out at night and a crew entered the tunnel being dug under the barracks - those bed slats had to be used to shore up the sandy soil to prevent it's collapse - when it came my turn to give up my bed {slatts} slats, it required using one of the horse hair blankets as a hammock nailed to the sides to support my weight -- I remember that I was losing weight rapidly and had little real strength, so when I was given the ten nails necessary to hold the blankets into place, I was able to only pound in seven and that was the end of my strength -- I sat on the floor and actually laughed, it struck me so funny, that I didn't have the energy to pound ten nails into place!! -- The tunnel construction also required all of us to sew in extra pockets to hold sand and dirt that had been removed from the previous nights work on the tunnel -- We would walk around the parade grounds each morning letting out a little sand and {g}durt to mix in the graveled [sic] parade|ground as there was no means of getting rid of it in the barracks area -- We also had a radio carved into the interior of our bunk bed frames and each night we listened to the BBC (British broad- casting system) {each night} -- another bed frame contained a wireless set for transmissions but we used it sparingly, as we had to use the electricity from the Germans and it caused the lights to flicker and when that happened, the Germans routed us out of the barracks and we had to spend hours on the parade grounds, until they finished searching our various barracks -- {whlle} while we were on these long periods on the parade grounds we prepared our tea, using small bunsen burners that we made from various styled cans -- they {we} were so efficient we could cook on a handful of paper or wood, so we also left our barracks to cook our meals or heat our tea -- incidently [sic], neither the radio or wireless was ever discovered while at Sagan -

On one of my many trips, on the parade ground, I noticed a lot of dandelions - - back home my Mother used them in salads, so I took a large washbasin and collected it full, to eat -- everyone always was curious, when food was involved, so they saw our group eating this salad -- we all shared -- so after that there wasn't a dandelion left on the parade grounds -- I also discovered a lot of snails in the wooded area, where I went on a wood walk, so I gathered 52 of them in my wood sack and we split{t} them into two groups and the first day we boiled them before eating them -- they were horrible and slimy -- you could squish them out of their shells and eat them -- we did eat them -- but the following day we fried them in mutton tallow -- {or} our candles -- and they tasted just like fried shrimp and delicious -- that was the last time I found a snail to eat -- another time, the Commadants [sic] dog disappeared and we all shared in dog meat soup -- the Commadant [sic] searched the entire com- pound for that dog but didn't even recover it's collar -- don't know if that was eaten or not!! -

Our food supplies were always low and each day main {mell} meal was an event - we cut cards to determine the order we could choose ^for the {desert} dessert or some other specialty -- in preparing the dishes, for each day, {or} our room chef (?) would put them on our trays or dishes and there probably wasn't a grain difference in weight but to our eyes some looked much larger than others, so we relished using the cards to select at random -- property was sacrament and no one would dare steal -- we had quite an honor Code and protective of all our rooms property and personnel --

As the days got colder, we lost most of our body fat and my hips became nothing but bones, so I had to sacrifice my sweaters warmth to make a doughnut shaped pad under my hip in order to sleep at night -- laying on my back created snores and loud disapproval, so I fashioned the doughnut, so I could sleep at night without a lot of pain and noise -

Everyone attended all events en force -- We had little theatre productions -- put on by the POW's -- and we had church services and lectures -- it was strange to see the POW's knitting or sewing up their holes ^in clothing^ during these outings - I learned to knit, so I could patch up the holes in my sweater -- a funny letter to one of the POW's was posted on the bulletin board -- The mother had sent him a sweater for Christmas and he mentioned, to her, it shrunk when he washed it -- so she wrote back and admonished him that sweater had to be "dry cleaned - not washed"!! -- We all laughed at that remark -- Many letters were shared because many of us never received any letters while in prison camp -- In fact, I received all my letters after the war was over, when the sacks of mail piled in the prison camps were found later -- for morale reasons, they were not given out to many POW's, by the Germans; for their own nefarious reasons -- I for one did not receive the information about losing my first wife, until I arrived in the USA -- I was listed as Missing in Action and the telegram sent back to my parents ^and wife^ said the following personnel died on the aircraft - listed the four killed by the civilians and said the fate of the other crewmembers is unknown, as the bomber blew up" --