The Allied Prisoner of War P.o.W Thread
Article about: Hello All As an aside to the Escape and Evasion part of my collection (http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/airbor...90/?highlight=) I have picked up a few Prisoner of War related items over the ye
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This is the Vmail he sent when he was liberated by Patton's 3rd Army at
Adolf Hitler · Birthplace
Braunau am Inn after being marched from Krems, Austria.
CLICK TO ENLARGE!
The Stell he mentions in the letter is his wife , My Aunt.
I hope you all enjoy these as much as I.
Semper Fi
Phil
Last edited by AZPhil; 02-05-2020 at 07:23 PM.
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Some amazing stories shared.
Here are a few contributions.
First up, grouping of 1st Lt. Wallace P Breckenfeld.
Lt Breckenfeld was a co-pilot (B-24's) with the 723 Bomb Squadron, 450th Bomb Group (15th AAF).
On March 12th, 1945, the 450th's target was the Florisdorf oil refinery in Vienna, Austria. The aircraft Breckenfeld was on sustained damage to two engines from flak. The aircraft was going down, and headed for Russian territory. The crew had to bail out, and Breckenfeld was the last to bail, at 7500ft. His parachute malfunctioned, and once it did deploy, he was below the rest of the crew who bailed.
Once on the ground, Breckenfeld and others in the crew were captured by Hungarian soldiers. The Hungarians brutally beat Breckenfeld and another crew member that evening. The following day, Breckenfeld would be turned over to the German's, and placed into a prison (unknown). Details beyond that are unknown, however obviously a little less than two months later was VE Day, so I imagine he was released around that time.
Photos of the group, which includes his late-war, small machine engraved Purple Heart, Wrap-brooch Air Medal, NOK Dog Tags, POW Medal, 3" Pilot wings, Wolf Brown Ribbon bar and a TR fork or spoon handle converted to a keepsake ring.
Below are the basic details from the archives (Enlistment/POW), snippets from MACR, including Breckenfeld's account of what occurred, the official narrative of the mission courtesy of Official Home of the 450th Bomb Group Memorial Association, and lastly, his Purple Heart Award card.
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A second POW grouping, this one belonging to Sgt. Russell J Boyko.
Details of the mission the day he was taken POW:
Service - 385th Bomb Group, 548th Bomb Squadron
POW Date - 8th of May, 1944
Aircraft - B17, Jeanie Ricky (42-31786)
Position - Waist Gunner
Target - Berlin
Ejection area - Bremen
The group is broken into two areas. First are the items I am presently in possession of. Second are items that remained with the family.
First part includes his service jacket, two service shirts (one of which he wore when taken POW), 3 overseas caps, summer khaki flight helmet (I accidentally put it on the head-form backwards - oof!), a single dog tag, a photo of Boyko, 3 SSI (one British made 8th AAF) and a pair of AAF marked PT Shorts.
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I don't have anything from the Allied side but I do have some of these in my lot.
Hope I'm not tainting this thread?
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