JOHN KOEHNE -- MISSION COMPLETE

B-17 pilot, 1^st LT John Koehne, probably had a hunch the mission of April 2, 1944, would be different.  Over his combat missions to date, he had generally flown as co-pilot.  On this mission, a less experienced replacement pilot would co-pilot Ole Mose -- Koehne would pilot.

JOHN KOEHNE -- 2013 AT PENNYBYRN

Targeting a Nazi ball bearing plant and aircraft manufacturing facilities in Austria, over 500 heavy bombers rose at daybreak from the Southern tip of Italy.  According to briefing instructions, it was the 15^th Air Force’s largest mission to date.  Koehne knew from past experience, this would be a long, dangerous flight -- to bomb a fiercely defended target.  That the crews typically received double credit for missions of this sort was of little consolation.

LT JOHN KOEHNE & FAMILY 

Ole Mose was one of 19 heavy bombers that went down during ferocious aerial firefights over the target.  Many others went missing in action.

Late in the summer of 2013, from his home in Pennybyrn at Maryfield, 93-year old Koehne reminisced, “Over the target, four anti-aircraft shells exploded very close to us.  I realized we were in trouble, control cables were cut, one engine gone, and gaping holes appeared in the wings.”

We had to drop out of the formation and German fighter planes swarmed all over us.  I put it on auto pilot and went aft to inspect the ship, only to find it on fire.  I immediately ordered the crew to jump.  The entire crew made it out safely, but I had to go back to the cockpit to get my parachute.”

With his parachute on, Koehne could not clear the damaged bomb door.  “I jumped out with the parachute under my arms.  The main parachute would not open, but an auxiliary chute opened just seconds before I hit the ground!”

Due to his rapid, but unplanned descent, Koehne said, “I was the last man to jump, but the first one to hit the ground!” 

German soldiers picked up the downed airmen for interrogation and imprisonment.  Several crew members were wounded.  One died from his injuries within hours.  “He was bleeding heavily, I knew he was in bad shape.  Both Austrian farmers and German soldiers tried to care for him, but it was too late,” recalled Koehne.

Survivors of the Ole Mose crew spent the rest of the war as POWs.  After his discharge, Koehne joined the Air National Guard in St. Louis, his hometown.  Mostly through night classes, he earned a degree in economics and business administration from St. Louis University, graduating cum laude in 1955.

He became a contracting officer with McDonnell Aircraft.  His favorite McDonnell recollection was negotiating a billion dollar contract with Ross Perot.  After contractual work with the Navy in Washington, D.C., Koehne came to the Triad to work with AT & T.

He was caregiver for his wife for seven years, until she died in 1997.  They had five children.  At Immaculate Heart of Mary in High Point, he became president of the Young at Hearts group.  In 1999, he married Julia, also a Young at Heart member. 

Surely, the Young at Hearts aren’t into hazing, but Koehne has bungee jumping in his background – with filming by his wife as proof.  He explained, “It was free for me, because of my age.” 

Known as “Big Jim” in his younger days, Koehne was wheel-chair bound and in failing health at the time of our visit.  He was noticeably blessed with careful attention from his wife and other caring attendants.  Typical of so many of his generation, he was proud to have served his country and felt blessed to have lived 93 years. 

 

Koehne passed away on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 2013.  According to his obituary, he died with a cross around his neck, his wife holding one hand, his rosary in the other, and the American flag draped over his legs. 

 

An unusual looking mechanical device hung on a wall of the Koehne home.  The unusualness went away after a bit of Internet sleuthing about Ole Mose.

RECOVERED FRAGMENT OF B-17 "OLE MOSE"

Marty Upchurch, a nephew of Ole Mose’s lone fatality, is the Newsletter Editor of the 99^th Bomb Group Historical Society.   Upchurch has thoroughly researched and documented the B-17’s loss.  He has visited the crash site in Austria and talked with witnesses of the crash as well as with some who cared for his uncle before he died.

Upchurch also brought back miscellaneous pieces from the Ole Mose crash site.  They had been stored in an Austrian farmer’s barn for over 60 years.  One of those parts is an unusual looking mechanical device – it’s the one John Kuehne proudly displayed on the wall of his Pennybryn at Maryfield home.

After Koehne's death, she asked that I come by and pick up the large assortment of WW II caps he left -- most of which were new and had not been worn.  She wished them given to other WW II survivors -- that mission has been completed!

     

GLENWOOD HAD WW II GIRLS TOO

An iconic poster dominated the Greensboro community of Glenwood's landscape during WW II, entitled, GLENWOOD BOYS IN SERVICE.  This column offers equal opportunity recognition of a Glenwood girl.

POW WIDOW LOOKS OVER POSTER OF WW II
NEIGHBORS FROM GLENWOOD COMMUNITY

  

Helen Hayworth could have easily jumped to the conclusion she had picked the wrong G.I. for her beau.  Since platoon-sized groups of soldiers came and went from her Glenwood home for meals, parties, and fellowship, she had many to choose from. 

“Our house seemed to be a magnet for out-of-town soldiers.  My father would bring a carload of them home with him sometimes.  Many took their meals with us, but others  were happy just to sit around on the porch and talk,” Hayworth recalls. 

“They were all very nice.  The fact that my father was a Greensboro policeman may have had something to do with that.  My mother pampered them with food and attention.  She said, ‘I know someone would do the same for my boys.’  My brothers, Robert and Tommy served in World War II.”

While none of the soldiers who visited the Hayworth home passed Helen Hayworth’s  muster, one she met at a July 4^th parade did.  “He was from the north, but I really liked him.  He came back to Greensboro on several weekends to see me.  He promised to write after he went overseas. 

I was so terribly disappointed when I didn’t hear from him for months on end!”

The truth be known, Corporal Antonio (Tony) Sanginite, a Brooklyn, New York native, may have written his southern belle while in route overseas.  Unfortunately, outgoing mail went down with his ship.  It was torpedoed by Luftwaffe bombers three miles off the African Coast in November, 1942.  Hours later, it was torpedoed by a German submarine, after which the USS Leedstown (AP-73) went down in 10 minutes.

Sanginite swam ashore and fought as an infantryman.  His 39^th Infantry Regiment swept across North Africa until the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in February, 1943, where he was captured as a prisoner of war. 

Per Helen Hayworth, “Months after he promised to write, I finally heard from him – a solitary postcard notifying me he was a prisoner of war in Italy.  I couldn’t even write him back, there was no return address.” 

Meanwhile, Sanginite escaped from the POW Camp in Italy and rejoined U.S. forces, only to be captured again.  This time, he was imprisoned in Northern Germany.  This time, the war was over for him.

A SANGINITE GRANDSON SERVING AS ARMY OFFICER VISITED THE WW II GERMAN STALAG IN WHICH HIS GRANDFATHER WAS IMPRISONED AND BROUGHT THIS PAVER FROM THE RUINS FOR HIS GRANDMOTHER

For Helen Hayworth, it was another postcard – with no return address.

“Tony was liberated after VE-Day and came straight to Greensboro – he didn’t even go see his mother in New York.  When he knocked on the door of our house on Highland Avenue, I almost died! 

My sister had just married a returning veteran – they had a big church wedding.  I didn’t want a big wedding – I just wanted to marry Tony.  In less than a week, we had gone to York, South Carolina for our wedding.  It couldn’t have been better – the Justice of the Peace had a room all fixed up, a piano player, and everything!”

Tony Sanginite spent the rest of his life in Greensboro, working first as a mechanic and later with the post office.  Health ramifications, likely related to his POW experiences, took his life at the early age of 61.  The Sanginites have one daughter, Toni Price.

Helen Hayworth Sanginite is now 92.  She and Toni, along with Toni’s husband, Randy, remain active with the American Ex-Prisoner of War Association. 

The historic Glenwood Boys in Service poster, which hung for years in Glenwood’s Grove Street Café, was broken out at a recent AXPOW meeting.  Of the 200 photos, Sanginite knew most of them.  In some instances, “I don’t remember that boy’s name, but I remember where he lived.”

She has a cache of other memories as well, such as meeting Amelia Earhart, “I met Amelia through a friend, Jean Benson.  Jean lived out on High Point Road and flew her own plane.  Amelia visited her when she came to Greensboro.”

She also has memories of the Preddy brothers – preceding their World War II heroics.   “The Preddys were distant cousins.  When their family came to our home to visit, the Preddy boys tried their best to aggravate my sisters and me – they were very good at it.”

Sanginite attended McIver Elementary and Central Junior High Schools and graduated from Grimsley High School, class of 1941.

In addition to raising her daughter, she worked for Joseph Ruzicka Book Binders and Pilot Life Insurance Company.  An active member of the Greensboro’s First Moravian Church, she has taught Sunday School, sang in the choir and served as president of the Women’s Fellowship, “I always try to do what I’m asked.” 

She and her sister, Dorothy, served food at Potter’s House for over 20 years.

Should a poster of Glenwood girls who kept the World War II home fires burning be found, I expect Helen Hayworth Sanginite’s photo to be front and center.

  

   

         

SUITCASE HOLDS CACHE OF MEMORIES

The phrase, “Living out of a suitcase,” means more to 92-year old Jane Doner Fredrickson than to some. 

PRE-WWII SUITCASE AT LEAST 84 YEARS OLD
STILL HOLD TREASURE CACHE OF INFORMATION

 

Along with her mother and sister, Fredrickson lived out of a suitcase during almost three years of Japanese imprisonment during World War II, “That suitcase was given to me by my grandmother in 1933.  She impressed upon me how different it was from most suitcases, inasmuch as it had linings.”

LEZAH ANDERSON ARNEY, ANN FREDRICKSON WILLIAMS,
JANE FREDRICKSON, & TONI SANGINITE PRICE.
ARNEY, WILLIAMS & PRICE ARE CHILDREN OF WW II POWS
FREDRICKSON WAS A CIVILIAN WW II POW

Jane Doner Fredrickson than to some.  Along with her mother and sister, she lived out of a suitcase during almost three years of Japanese imprisonment during World War II, “That suitcase was given to me by my grandmother in 1933.  She impressed upon me how different it was from most suitcases, inasmuch as it had linings.”

Fredrickson was born on the Island of Cebu in the Philippines to school-teaching parents.  Her father taught several years before associating with a coconut plantation on the Island of Mindanao – her mother continued to teach in Cebu.  Jane Fredrickson attended the all-girls Santa Teresa Academy.  She was the only American in her school. 

All was well with the Doners.

Then came the war.

 “My father couldn’t get back to Cebu, so when evacuation was ordered on Christmas Day, 1941, my mother, sister and I left for the hills along with other American and British civilians,” Fredrickson reflected recently.  “I volunteered to work on the waterfront, but when the Japanese started bombing the docks, my supervisor, an Army colonel, said he needed a man who could jump on a truck and carry a gun.  At that time, I wished I had been a boy!

About 15 families stayed in two houses on a sugar plantation for a few days, but when we heard Manila had fallen we moved further into the hills.  We lived in bamboo huts with nipa thatch roofs until May 1, 1942 when we surrendered to the Japanese.

Imprisoned on Cebu, we were first kept in a house, then a jail, and eventually moved to an abandoned junior college building, formerly used as a barracks by Japanese troops.  The building and grounds were indescribably filthy!

In October, we were moved to Club Filipino, a wooden building with thatched roof.    In December, 1942 we went aboard a Japanese ship – five days later we reached Manila and were taken to Santo Tomas.  We remained there until liberated by American troops almost three years later.”

A few housekeeping items are in order here:  Manila’s University of Santo Tomas was taken over by the Japanese and used as their largest internment center.  Upward to 3700 Americans were imprisoned at Santo Tomas, more than at any other location. 

Jane Fredrickson’s father, Landis Doner, survived the Mindanao Death March after his capture.  In January, 1944 he was moved to Santo Tomas – the family was together again, but not under the most favorable of circumstances. 

During the battle to retake the Philippines, Allied Forces bombed Japanese facilities in Manila and Santo Tomas was shelled by the Japanese. 

The rest of the world learned about Santo Tomas in the March 5, 1945 issue of Life Magazine.  According to Life, “The liberated Americans were sick, hungry and subdued.”  Jane Fredrickson this as a vast understatement.

She would know.  Should she forget, there are the three versions of her diary for reference.  She has the rough draft, written on scraps of paper as inconsequential as Japanese cigarette pack wrappers.  Later came a hand-written transcription and finally, a typed version.

WW II PRISONER OF WAR KEPT DAY BY DAY JOURNAL OF CAPTIVITY

“The Japanese guards routinely confiscated and destroyed personal diaries.  I was caught writing in my diary, but they let me continue when told I was doing school work.”

Fredrickson had entrusted a Filipino friend with her Cebu diary, “Wrapped in oilcloth, he buried it under his bamboo house.  After the war, we made contact and he shipped the diary to me.  In the meantime, he and his wife had a daughter – they named her Jane!”

During her imprisonment, Fredrickson found out just how wise her grandmother had been, “I kept writing every day, the linings in the suitcase made wonderful hiding places.”

WRITER MOST APPRECIATIVE OF GREAT AMERICAN
SHARING HER TREASURED MEMORABILIA

After the war, Jane Doner Fredrickson graduated from Penn State University, where she met and later married Robert A. Fredrickson, a World War II cryptographer.  The family moved to Greensboro in 1949.  He taught history and music at Greensboro/Grimsley High School for 35 years.  She taught Spanish and English at four Greensboro Middle Schools.  Robert Fredrickson died March 13, 2015 at 91.

The Fredricksons had two children, Ann Fredrickson Williams and Craig Fredrickson, as well as four grandchildren.

In 1992, Jane Fredrickson received a letter from Santa Teresa Academy, “They invited our senior class back for our official graduation – 50 years later.  I was honored to be the keynote speaker.”

She is an optimist, as her mother must have been – Millicent Doner wrote to her hometown newspaper as Santo Tomas was being liberated, “We are fashionably thin due to slow starvation.  We’ve had narrow escapes and shells are flying over our heads as I write, but no one is afraid – our Boys (American GIs) are here now!” 

POW WIFE KEPT PACKAGES IN THE MAIL

Virginia Causey was a senior at Greensboro High School in 1940 when her mother died.  Her father moved to Raleigh, but she lived with an aunt and uncle until she graduated.  She worked with Blue Bell/Globe Manufacturing Company, and later transferred with the company to New York City.

Then came December 7, 1941. 

Virginia Causey’s brother would eventually join the Navy.  Her sister, Mary, would marry a soldier.  Virginia Cudworth was already in love with a Greensboro City employee, Jim Cudworth.

 

“Marriage came up early in our three-year courtship.  We knew we were meant for each other, but also knew he would be leaving for the service.  Both his brothers joined the Marine Corps.  Jim and I thought we should wait until after the war to marry,” she recalls.

Jim Cudworth enlisted in the Army Air Forces as an Aviation Cadet in 1942 and was commissioned as a B-17 bombardier in January, 1943.  On March 9, 1943 the waiting to marry ended.  Virginia Causey left Greensboro for Ephrata, Washington – it was her first train ride.  Six days later, she became Mrs. Jim Cudworth.

1943 NEWLY-WEDS VIRGINIA & LT JIM CUDWORTH

A honeymoon furlough was scheduled for June, 1943.  On May 20, the new couple received a wire – all furloughs were canceled.

Jim Cudworth and his B-17 crew were off to England for duty with the 8^th Air Force.  He promised his new bride he would be home for Christmas.  Virginia Cudworth added, “I should have asked him WHICH Christmas he was talking about!”

BOMBARDIER JIM CUDWORTH UPPER LEFT 

Cudworth’s B-17 was one of 30 U.S. aircraft shot down over Bremen, Germany on October 8, 1943.  He was on his 10^th mission.  Wounded in the eye by enemy anti-aircraft fire and captured, Cudworth spent the rest of the war as a POW.  After the war, he elected not to have the flak removed for fear his vision would be lost.

CUDWORTH CREW SHORT SNORTER SIGNED BY CREW MEMBERS

After a week in a German interrogation center, Cudworth was imprisoned in Stalag Luft III, made infamous by the Great Escape.  He wrote his wife, “I am allowed a ten pound package and $50 in cash each 60 days – please send dried fruit and oatmeal.  Give the $50 to the Red Cross, they are doing a great job for us.”

POW CUDWORTH WROTE WIFE TO SUPPORT THE RED CROSS

Virginia Cudworth recalls, “I sent him packages every two months, although I knew he wasn’t getting all of them.”  She kept a record of each package.  One list reads: “Shorts, socks, tooth powder and paste, candies, playing cards, Gillette blades, saccharin, gums, coffee and soap.”

“It didn’t bother me that he wasn’t receiving all of them.  I just hoped and prayed that some of them would reach him, especially the package he requested with dried dates, peaches, apples, books, and Lucky Strikes.  I caught streetcars, but nearly walked my legs off, finding everything he needed – there were no stores that carried everything like we have now.”

Notwithstanding that Cudworth was a prisoner of war, the Army Air Forces saw to it that he was awarded his first Air Medal.  Accepting the award at Basic Training Command #10 in Greensboro, NC was Mrs. Virginia Cudworth.

MRS. JIM CUDWORTH RECEIVING POW HUSBAND'S AIR MEDAL AWARD

At a later date, she was picked up at her home by Army personnel and taken to Drill Field #5, BTC #10, where she reviewed the troops and accepted her husband’s cluster device, representing a subsequent Air Medal.

Cudworth was eventually moved by railcar and force-marches – under frigid and inhumane conditions -- to severely overcrowded Stalag VII-A, near Moosburg.  “When liberated by General George S. Patton, our troops brought in the largest American flag I had ever seen.  I stood so close to Patton that our arms brushed each other,” Cudworth told his wife.

Post-war, the Cudworth family resumed a more normal life.  He returned to his job with the City of Greensboro.  She worked with A. M. Pullen & Co.  They were members of Muir’s Chapel Methodist Church and among the early volunteers to serve at Potter’s House.  They raised two sons, James Richard “Dick” Cudworth and Garry Wayne Cudworth.

The Cudworths’ interest in assisting other former prisoners of war led them to form the Greensboro Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War Association (AXPOW).  Jim served several terms as Greensboro Commander, and three years as State Commander.

Jim Cudworth retired from the City of Greensboro after 35 years of service.  He died September 16, 2008 at 87 – he and Virginia, now 94, were married 65 years. 

Virginia Cudworth remains active in the Greensboro Chapter, American Ex-Prisoner of War Association.  She deflects all credit for supporting her POW husband, “My mother-in-law did more, she wrote each of her three sons a letter every Thursday they were away in the war.”

   

   

B-17 NAVIGATOR NEVER FELT HE WAS FLYING ALONE

B-17 pathfinder navigator, 1^st Lieutenant Joseph L. “Joe” Jones, had reason to be upbeat the evening of October 5, 1944, even though he was deep in the heart of the war zone.

NATIVE ALABAMAN JOE JONES LOVES CALLING
ASHEBORO, NC HIS RETIREMENT HOME

First, he learned his wife had delivered their first child 10 days earlier, but neither name nor sex was mentioned. 

Secondly, he was scheduled to fly his 29th combat mission the next day – after 30 missions, he would rotate stateside.

Lastly, he was aware B-17 crews nearing the completion of their tours were often given less hostile targets.

Backtracking a bit, Jones and his freshly-trained crew picked up a new B-17 in Nebraska and flew it to England via the northern route in March, 1944, “We flew over lots of water – as the navigator, I received lots of attention!

It’s just as well that we gave up our new B-17 to a senior crew upon our arrival in England, because the aircraft we flew on our first mission was badly shot up and damaged.  Two or our gunners were wounded and did not fly again.

 

By D-Day, I had been designated as pathfinder navigator.  To insure complete secrecy of the mission, those of us briefed the day before were clustered and could not leave our ward.

On June 6, we bombed Omaha Beach at 6:59 a.m. and returned for a second mission inland that afternoon.

Those were the exceptions -- most of our missions were deep inside Germany – our average mission was over eight hours per run.”

 

Now back to the almost perfect scenario mentioned earlier.  “Actually, it turned into more like a perfect storm.  We were surprised when given Berlin as our target.  It was one of the most fiercely defended.  We had been there twice before, and shot up both times.

As the 11 B-17s in our squadron approached Berlin, we met heavy flak and 75 Luftwaffe fighters.  They made three passes at us and all 11 of our bombers went down.  Our aircraft caught on fire and the bail-out signal was given.  The hatch was jammed when I went to jump so I went back up front to help the bombardier who was yelling for help.

Suddenly, the aircraft exploded.  The bombardier and I were blown from the ship at 31,000 feet.  Even with head, shoulder and leg wounds I regained consciousness at about 12,000 feet.  Miraculously, the Lord had opened my parachute.

The bombardier’s chute had also opened and one gunner had parachuted safely.  The gunner was crying from shock and because his shoes had flown off during the jump.  I told him he could have my extra flight boots, but first we were going to get on our knees and thank the Lord that we survived the explosion – the other seven members of our crew perished.”

Jones was imprisoned with other Allied aviators in Stalag Luft III at Sagan, Poland for several months.  He was actually housed in the north compound, from which The Great Escape had been made earlier.

STALAG LUFT III PERSONAL RECORDS CARD FOR COL JONES

As the Nazis considered Allied aviators valuable for future negotiations, Jones and his peers were moved westward in January, 1945 as the Russians closed in, “At three a.m. we were told the camp would be evacuated in two hours.”

After four prisoner of war camps, three inhumane days on forty & eight rail cars, two forced marches and eight months later, Jones was liberated.  He credits Psalms 91 for surviving his POW experience.

JONES SERVED 33 YEARS DURING WW II, KOREA & VIETNAM

Jones wasn’t quite homeward bound yet, “They needed officers to help round up our enlisted men from forced labor camps scattered over the area.  We gutted a cheese factory and manufacturing plant to provide temporary housing – they deemed our food and hastily constructed bunk beds to be luxurious.”

On June 8, 1945 Jones arrived in Boston and called home.  He learned his first child was a daughter, and her name was Glenda, “My family wrote often about her and sent me packages but nothing got through.  I wrote them several cards and letters but they only received one postcard, notifying them I was a POW.”

Jones’ illustrious Army career spanned 33 years and three wars.  Among his personal awards are three Legions of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart.  He retired in 1975 as a colonel, and now resides in Asheboro.

Saved at the age of 12, Jones remains a strong man of faith at 93.  He helped start Raleigh’s Providence Baptist Church in 1978 and Cary’s Colonial Baptist Church in 1987.

COL JONES' "BRAG BOARD" IS IMPRESSIVE -- THREE LEGIONS OF MERIT,
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, PURPLE HEART

Not that he needs help, but his wives may have helped him keep his faith.  After losing his first wife after 69 years of marriage, he married Betty McDowell.  Her father and grandfather were pastors, as are her son, grandson and brother-in-law.

  

     

    

MACHINE GUNNER IS MACHINE-GUNNED

Tommie Hinton joined J.P. Stevens’ Slater, SC plant in the early forties as a size mixer.  Forty-four years later, he retired in Greensboro, NC as Cost Director, Corporate Group, J.P. Stevens.

There was a short break in Hinton’s J.P. Stevens service – he was drafted into the Army in September, 1942 and served until October, 1945.

Assigned to the 95^TH Infantry Division, forming at Camp Swift, TX, he says, “I walked all over TX!”  Maneuvers and specialized training took the 95^TH to LA, CA and PA before reaching Boston for deployment overseas.  

In September, 1944, Hinton’s unit went ashore at Normandy.  In mid-October, as part of Patton’s 3^RD Army, the 95^TH laid seize to the German stronghold of Metz, France.

TOMMIE HINTON WW II & 2010

Acknowledging their bravado, a German general named the 95^TH Infantry Division, “The Iron Men of Metz.”

November 14, 1944, SGT Hinton and his four-man reconnaissance team were ambushed by German machine-gun nests outside Metz, France.

“My buddy was killed instantly.  I went down with three slugs in my right side.  They kicked my buddy and turned him over.  I flinched when they kicked me, and was taken to an enemy pill box.  Later, I was moved to a more elaborate pill box.”

Unbeknownst to SGT Hinton, he was in the famous Jeanne d’Arc, the most formidable fortification of the infamous Maginot Line.

INTERROGATOR’S PISTOL & HINTON’S POW CARD

Hinton was interrogated deep in the bowels of Jeanne d’Arc.  “In response to every question, I gave them my name, rank and serial number.  Finally, they loaded a pistol, stuck it in my ribs, and pulled the trigger.”

The pistol fired a loud blank, after which the exasperated interrogator threw it on a table and walked out.  “After regaining my composure, I slipped the pistol in my boot and still have it to this day,” says Hinton.  

Hinton was finally taken to a hospital in Metz, operated by Catholic nuns.  “A German doctor put a rag over a German soldier and cut his arm off.  Next, he put the same rag over my face, sprayed it with chloroform, and patched me up.”

“The nuns said the Americans would be there any minute, so the Germans evacuated POWs by boxcar.  It took four or five days to reach our destination, Stalag IV-B.”

Suffering from infection, pneumonia and high temperature, Hinton was treated by a French doctor, a POW himself since 1940, who spoke no English.  “One guy held my feet, another held my shoulder, and the doctor put a rubber drain tube in my hip without the use of an anesthetic.”

“An English doctor arrived later.  He experimented on me with a new drug.  A POW since 1940, he had never heard of the drug, did not know dosages, etc.  After learning it was penicillin, I told him to load up the syringe and I would tell him when to stop!  In just a few days, I could walk!”

“The Russians liberated us April 21, 1945, but they weren’t nearly as anxious as we were to get us back to U.S. lines.  Two buddies and I dug under the fence one night and escaped.  The Russians shot at us but no one was hit.”        

“We made the 75 miles to American lines in 10 days – by horse, wagon, bicycle and walking.  German families along the way helped and often put us up for the night.”

Hinton weighed 178 when captured -- 118 when he reached safe haven.

After WW II, Hinton married Billie Meetze, and in 1957, the Hintons moved to Greensboro.  Mrs. Hinton taught school for thirty years, including twenty-one at Page High School.

Hinton jokes, “I was captured twice – once at Metz and once by a Meetze!”

The Hintons were charter members at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, and currently attend Starmount Presbyterian Church. 

Their daughter, Dr. Deborah Hinton and her husband, Dr. Reid Rowlett, are graduates of Grimsley High School.  They have given the Hintons three grandchildren, of whom they are noticeably proud.

Hinton has served as both Baptist and Presbyterian deacon.  No, not simultaneously!  He is not bashful about sharing his Christian faith, “I was saved before the war and prayed to the good Lord night and day during the war!”

His hobby involves the stock market, so I asked for a trading tip.  “Don’t trade – buy a stock, hold on to it, and reinvest everything.” 

That sounded so uncool until he said, “I followed this theory with 100 shares of Duke Power purchased in the sixties – those 100 shares have grown to 7600!”

Tommie Hinton -- soft-spoken hero of the Greatest Generation.  Thanks for your service!

Ol'Harry

Unfortunate Hitch-Hiker

Ninety-one year old Bob Bailey was raised by his Waycross, Georgia, maternal grandparents.  “They saw to it that I was well cared for,” says Bailey.  “They even put up with my love for all things aviation, building model airplanes, taking flying lessons, etc.” 

Ironically, Bailey soloed for the first time on December 7, 1941.

He enlisted in the Army in December, 1942 and was later accepted as an aviation cadet.  During flight training at Brookley Field, Alabama he met Betty Rose Waybright, from nearby Irvington.  They were married on May 15, 1943.   

Bailey became a B-29 pilot and was sent to Tinian Island in the Pacific theater.

“These were the last stages of the war.  From Tinian we were bombing the Japanese homeland relentlessly, hoping they would surrender.  My most graphic memory of World War II was a night bombing raid over Tokyo – the whole earth looked like it was on fire.  Someone suggested the lid had been taken off hell,” recalls Bailey.

Bailey had returned state-side when the atomic bombs were dropped, signaling the end of the war.  

He left active duty with the USAAF but joined the U. S. Army Reserve.  

He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, this time as an Army aviator.  As an airborne artillery observer, Bailey flew combat missions with the 25^th Division Artillery. 

In 1961, with almost 20 years of service and two wars under his belt, Bailey, now a major, became the Assistant Military Attaché at the American Embassy in Laos.  “I was excited about this assignment.  I could retain my flight status, use the military expertise I had gained, see new parts of the world – and bad guys wouldn’t be shooting at me.” 

He became even more excited about the job as he piloted the American ambassador and embassy personnel over Laos and surrounds, including exotic destinations such as Bangkok and Saigon.

An engine change required Bailey’s Beechcraft L-23 to remain in Saigon for several days.  Returning from Laos to Saigon to pick up his L-23 with new engine, he hitched a ride with an Air Force C-47.  He wasn’t deterred when informed the unarmed C-47 would be flying a secret reconnaissance mission over Communist-held territory.

Per Bailey, “There were six crew members plus one other hitch-hiker and me.  The pilot ordered everyone to don parachutes.  I will always believe the Good Lord told me to choose a back-pack parachute versus the chest-type.  There was only one back-pack parachute (which you leave on at all times) on the aircraft.  Most aviators prefer the chest-type parachute (which you can easily remove in flight).”

Soon the “not getting shot at” part of Bailey’s new assignment literally went up in smoke.  “Our secret recon mission was fired upon by secret enemy anti-aircraft guns.  We were hit, the plane caught on fire.  The pilot ordered everyone to jump.  I was the only one with a parachute already on so I immediately jumped through the side door which had been removed for photographing.”

Bailey was struck by part of the C-47 fuselage as he exited but recovered in time to watch the doomed aircraft’s death spiral downward.  He hoped to see seven parachutes.  There were none.

Given his shoulder and leg injuries, Bailey pondered his safety.  The area into which he was jumping was locked in a three-way civil war – two of the aggressors were less than friendly towards covert American intervention.

The good news of the jump -- he landed safely, rescuers came to his aid, and a modicum of medical attention was given his wounds by his captors.

The bad news – at that moment, Bailey realized he was a prisoner of war.

As the first American prisoner of war in Southeast Asia, Bailey spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement in a small, dismal, unlit cell.  He went from a robust 185 pounds to an emaciated 135 pounds. 

It could have been worse – of the more than 600 Americans captured or unaccounted for in Laos, only 15 escaped or were released.

Fortunate to be one of the 15, Bailey was finally freed and returned home to his wife and three children.  President John F. Kennedy presented him with a bronze star.  He doesn’t remember who presented him his purple heart, but recalls, “There were generals all over the place.”  Colonel Bob Bailey retired in 1970 with 28 years of service.

Of Bailey’s book, SOLITARY SURVIVOR, fellow Georgian, Newt Gingrich writes, “This is a story about uncommon valor, unparalleled courage and untiring personal strength.”

Bob and Betty Bailey reside in Carolina Estates.  They moved to Greensboro to be near their youngest daughter, Elaine, a retired Episcopal priest.  They have two other children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 

There is more to the remarkable story of Betty and Bob Bailey than most people know.  After 23 years of marriage, three children, two wars, the POW notoriety, and a continuing barrage of duty assignments requiring family separations, the Baileys divorced by mutual agreement.

Bob Bailey met and married Mary Jean Jordan, a former high school sweetheart from Waycross, Georgia.  Jordan’s fighter pilot husband had been killed during World War II.  After many years of marriage, Jean passed away in 2000.

Betty and Bob had remained in friendly contact since their divorce.  In 2007, they were remarried -- on May 15, the same date of their first marriage in 1943.

Ol'Harry