"FOR YOU DER VAR ISS OVER"

Walt was shot down over Central Germany 29 Oct. 1944 while flying a P-51 on an interdiction mission to Worms, Germany. He was captured on Nov 4th at Karlsruhe, Germany where he spent a couple of days resting up in the local jail. His vacation ended when a Wermacht soldier put his rifle between his shoulder blades and left it there during the train ride to Frankfort, Germany. The railroad station was a shambles and irate, rock throwing Germans wanted to take their grievances out on Walt, but his escort led him safely past the mob and Walt arrived in one piece at the Dulag Luft interrogation center at Wetzlar, Germany. His interrogator was most interested in learning how Walt got to Karlsruhe, and when and where he was shot down. Walt didn't tell him a thing, and his interrogator finally decided that Walt was a grosse dumbkopf and gave up in disgust.

STALAG LUFT 3

About twenty US captive dumbkopfs were moved by train to Stalag Luft III at Sagan in Upper Silesia. The camp housed about 10,000 US and RAF airmen in 5 compounds. Walt was assigned to West Compound, Barracks 169 , Room 3 , which he shared with 11 other unfortunates. The people whose names he can recall include Red Elliot, Barwick O. Barfield, John Allen, Bernie Bernheim, Little Joe Marinello, ? Frey, ? Cizek . Stalag Luft 3 prisoners were well organized and kept informed by a clandestine radio which received BBC broadcasts. The camps were riddled with tunnels and all prisoners were kept busy prosecuting the war on the Sagan battlefield. In December the sound of cannon fire announced the arrival of the Russian Army at the Oder River, about 20 miles East of the camp.

THE MARCH

27 Jan 1945 - At 8:30PM West Camp was alerted for a forced march evacuation. The West compound followed the South Camp out and actually got underway after midnight in the snow and against a strong headwind. Walt arrived at Friewaldau around noon, got a short rest and then continued on until midnight when he and another prisoner found a barn full of hay and sacked out. Next AM they were marched to Muskau and were bedded down in a pottery factory. Walt was in good enough shape to leave next day with the South Camp for Spremberg where all were loaded into boxcars and eventually arrived at Stalag 7A, Moosburg, Germany.

LIBERATION

29 April 1945-Around noontime tanks from General Patton's 3rd Army entered the camp after a brief firefight. A couple of days later an ambulance from Walt's fighter squadron arrived to pick him up and return him to his Fighter Squadron which had moved to Augsburg. On May 6th the Fighter Group C-47 transported the ex-pow's to Paris in time for VE celebrations which were underway in anticipation of the official declaration on 7 May. From there Walt returned to the United States by way of Camp Lucky Strike at Le Havre, France.