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POW Experience

This story was written by Capt. David B. Archibald (USAF Retired) and based on his experiences flying P-51s over Europe during the second world war. The story was edited by David Archibald, Jr.

On or about March 5, 1945, all Allied Airmen, Officers and Enlisted , were ordered to be ready to move out. We assembled in the compound and were loaded into trucks. We had no idea where we were going except that we were being moved back so that the advancing Americans could not liberate us. We were taken to a little town nearby and loaded into freight cars, like the ones seen on television on broadcasts of the holocaust, with little openings in the top corners of the opposite ends of the individual cars. There were around 240 of us.

We were loaded into five cars. Almost 50 men in each car. There were so many of us that we could not all sit on the floor at the same time. This forced us to take turns standing. I was fortunate to got into a corner of the car below one of the openings. There was no heat or toilet. Some of the men smashed a hole in the floor for a toilet.

We were each given one loaf of German sour black bread. It was about the size of the small Arnold loaf. We were also given a bag with about one pound of what they called blood sausage. We were all so starved that it really tasted good. This had to last us to the end of the trip. At that time we had no idea in the world how long it would be.

We ate the equivalent of about two slices of bread, and a teaspoonful of the sausage each day. It was a good thing we did as we didn't get to the new camp until March 13, 1945. We stopped once a day and they gave us water and usually they gave us each 2 or 3 warm potatoes. They sure tasted good.

We had been locked in the cars for three or four days when suddenly in the afternoon the train stopped. I recognized the sound of P-51's and the sound of 50 caliber machine guns. I was standing at the time so I stretched up and looked out of the opening over my head. What I saw almost killed me from shock.

Not only were we being strafed by American Fighter planes but the planes had Green noses and Yellow tails. I was being strafed by my own Squadron! I yelled as loud as I could and told the fellows near the openings to wave their handkerchiefs or just their hands out of the openings so that the pilots could see that there were men in the cars.

We were very lucky as the pilots must have seen us and broke off the attack. Thank God!! HE must have been looking out for us! I never found out if anyone got hurt from the attack. There were no Red Crosses or anything on the cars to let the pilots know that there were people in them.

The P-51's must have blown the engine, as we sat there for quite a while after the attack. I tell you, we were a scared bunch of guys. I have often wondered since then if I had ever strafed freight cars with people in them.

We almost froze on this trip as the winter of 1944-45 was the coldest in over fifty(50) years. We arrived at our new camp on March 13, 1945. We were very cold, tired , and very frightened. Some of us were in much worse condition than when we started the trip. It was a very trying ordeal.

For me , it was a horrible time. Eight days of being banged around in that car was Hell ON Earth. The pain was excruciating. I knew something was wrong with me but I didn't know what. I latter found out, when I got back to the Hospital in England, that my back was broken in four places. I had eight broken ribs, four on the left side broken and crushed in and two on the right side broken and crushed in. The other two were in the back. I had a fractured right hand and wrist. When I got back to the States, I found that there were five fractured vertebra, the broken ribs, hand and wrist, and also my left shoulder blade was fractured, I also had a fractured skull. It was not overly comfortable on crutches and banging around in that car. They didn't start or stop very gently.

Another incident that happened on that trip that scared the day-lights out of us, happened one afternoon as it was getting dark We had entered a tunnel and suddenly the train stopped. We felt the ground shake under the cars. We heard an explosion and heard dirt and stones landing on the roof of the car. Having been on a few dive bombing missions to bomb and seal tunnels, with trains in them if possible, I knew that we were being bombed. We got out of it O.K. but what a scare No damage except to our nerves.