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Part four of Stalag Luft lll

04/16/2014

Last week some information was provided about the massive level of Prisoner of War involvement, in the collection of intelligence regarding German Guard activity at the WW ll POW camp in Poland and known as Stalag Loft lll. There were hundreds of stoolies that would daily watch the guards in the towers and on patrol and even just visiting the camp. They would pass on this information through a signalling system so that within seconds a message could travel from one end on the camp to the other. This of course being to warn any POW's involved in clandestine operations to be on the lookout for the approaching enemy.

Under the auspices of the most senior British Officer at the camp, an organization called Organization X had as many POW's... and more. And all these men were working on numerous other activities in the aid of planned escapes.

One of the arms of this organization consisted of what was fondly called the scroungers, those that could use their creativity to get anything that could aid in their goals to get back into the war. These men were always on the lookout for anything that could be used to get out, perhaps in a way unintended, for the greater cause.

One of the sources of these "tools" would be the very Red Cross packages that arrived for each POW held in the camp. These would contain the basics for daily living, but not escape. Unless you looked at the parcel with the later in mind. To begin, with rationing, some of the contents of each could be removed and pooled for special events like an Xmas party, Easter etc. Some goods could be put aside to build up a supply that would carry over a new arrival until such time as his own parcels started to arrive. Some goods could be stashed as emergency supplies to carry if you were lucky enough to escape. When POW's are caught doing bad things, sometimes the Red Cross rations were only dispersed by the guards as half rations. Anything earlier stored by the POW committees could then be relied on till full rations were again being distributed.

Coffee and chocolates were a favourite for the POW's. And so too for the German guards who rarely had this luxury. Having the brew on while the guard was wandering through the hut was a way to eventually invite him in for a drink or piece of chocolate.

This might sound strange, but in this camp, things were not like most POW camps. It was just for officers, and air force ones at that.. And it was run by older, or wounded German air force officers who tended to treat their enemy officers almost like brothers.. not nearly as nasty as what would be found in other camps. Thus, an easier task to invite the enemy in for a drink or candy. Better yet, by befriending the guard, it would only be a matter of time before you could offer a whole chocolate bar or can of coffee for him to take home to the family when he got a leave.

Having cultivated the guard with these little gifts, it would simply be a matter of time before the POW would ask for something seemingly innocent, in return. Some pens and paper to write home... that could be used in forgery efforts. Some buttons, thread and needle to help repair his torn uniform that could be used to tailor uniforms for an escape. All things that could be put to creative use by the POW. A few hours on the net and you would be surprised with what can be discovered about the amount of goodies the men obtained through this form of scrounging.

And should the guard be reluctant, perhaps a suggestion that the bosses would be most upset to hear of the bartering going on and would be very harsh on the guard... perhaps enough to send him back to the front lines.

The Red Cross boxes were tools in themselves. They were made of wood that, as previously noted, were used to build the seats in the theatre. They were also used to haul out sand from the tunnels and even in some cases for the storage of the sand itself, throughout the camp.

Perhaps some of the most useful "tools" were the very cans in these boxes. With the tops chopped off, they could be used as cooking and eating utensils, holders for make-shift candles in the tunnels so the men could see what they were doing and of course digging instruments. Since each can was soldered together, a little heat application got you some solder to be used later to fasten many cans together after being cut and shaped. Things like weapons, tools, and believe it or not, furniture and even brief cases as you shall soon see.

The Borden Company was around for a long time. Back in Civil War days it supplied milk to the troops. Here is an image of MILK spelt backwards... that came in the Red Cross packages. The cute note under the key to open the cans tells the holder that the key must be saved, as DEMANDED, by the government for the use of making war weapons. There seemed to be no requirement to save the tin cans though. Just as well because the POW's had their own need for these cans as you shall soon see.

The image in the right appears to be some of the Organization X Red Cross committee members sitting around a table and going through the Red Cross parcels to pull out stuff they want to store for future use.

Here it looks like a POW is standing in the beginning of a hole and dumping sand out of a tin.

An earlier blog noted that three tunnels were being dug by the Organization X and that they totalled several hundred feet in length. As the men got further and further along, the air became so stale that another plan had to be developed. Part of this plan called for the creation of a ventilating system to be built underground that would not only force air into the tunnel but give it an ever expanding venting system that would continue to grow with the tunnel as it got longer an longer. And that's where the KLIM cans came into play. With tops and bottoms removed, they were pressed together to form a very long tube into which the air could be forced through.

The centre image shows some of these being put together. The right image shows the tube installed in one of the tunnels... probably HARRY.

One of the guards had been very suspicious of POW activity and finally the day came when he saw one of the men in the act of dumping sand on the ground. Guards moved in and started poking all over the place with long medal rods hoping to find the tunnel. Without success they turned their attention to the inside of all the huts. In one of these, the guard accidently dropped his rod, it hit the corner of a concrete slab, and upon further investigation they found that it was the trap door into the tunnel called TOM.

Ultimately lots of POW's went to the cooler and the Germans blew up the tunnel... taking with it part of the roof of the building it started in. But before doing so the Germans were so impressed with the POW ingenuity at work that the higher commands sent teams out to inspect what was being done at Stalag lll. The above pictures have one of the guards working the ventilator... or bellows... created by the POW's. It was simply two kit bags sewn together and designed in such a way that it moved backward and forward and with each stroke, man made of course, the kit bags would suck air into the bag... and also push air out of the other end...and inside all those tin cans to the face of the tunnel where the digging was going on.

After the war one of the prisoner's war notes and cartoons were discovered. From these, here is a partial page showing some of the items the KLIM cans were used to create.

Some of the POW's from the "manufacturing" section of the Organization used their talents to make maps to be used when escaping. They even made their own mimeograph machine of sorts.

Remember the days of school children who would turn a picture face down and lay it across a bowl of jelly and rub it lightly. Some of the ink would then sink into the jelly, and in so doing would replicate the image from the page above.

Remove the page and then place a clear sheet of paper down and give this a light rub and some of the ink will now come off, and onto your clear page... and thus... you now have a map. The POW's discovered they could make 20 or 30 maps from one original. And Organization X made OVER A THOUSAND during their days at Stalag Luft lll

But what good is a map without a compass. So they made them too!

Canada's Prime Minister one year at Xmas sent Canadian POW's at Luft lll some 78 RPM gramophone records. I guess the songs were not all that great and so many of these were melted down and some of the goop produced was pushed into a mold and allowed to harden. This became the case for the compass. They would then take some razor blades and rub them about 50 times in the same direction over a horseshoe which would magnetize them. They would then slice up the razors to get a compass arm. Mount it on a thin piece of paper or cardboard, and perch it on top of an old record needle. The face was mounted over it using glass from bombed out windows. The end product was a perfectly functioning compass.

Both of the above compasses were made at Stalag Luft lll, the first for the story in these blogs. The one of the right was from another escape at the camp earlier. More on this 2nd compass in a future blog.

Many dozens of men played important, and some, less important roles in the above events. Without men like Flight Officer Johnny Colwell, Pilot Officer Barry Davidson, Lieutenant Officer Alfred Ogilvie and Sergeant Red Noble, much of the above would not have been possible.

On another note, today is my 250th blog. Please take some time to send me some comments on these efforts over the past 15 months.

With Friday and Monday Easter celebrations, the next blog will be a week from today.

Cheers till then.

Bart

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Part three of Stalag Luft 111 and the murder of 50 Allied Air Force Officers in WW11.

04/11/2014

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On re-reading last Wednesday's blog I note that the title mentioned the number of escaping officers to be 76, and in this Wednesday's blog the number of those recaptured became 73 for some strange reason. The most often quoted number of escapers is 76 men but this is really not right. It was 80. Four of the men not usually mentioned are the four that were captured right at the exit point of tunnel HARRY. Thus 80 escaped, 3 eventually made it a home run, while 77, not 73 were caught. Fifty of these were murdered and the rest returned mostly to Stalag Luft 111 but a few were sent elsewhere.

So much for the numbers! Now back to where I left off with Wednesday's blog, and the distribution of sand pulled out of the tunnels.

In 1944 a scheme was hatched for yet another major distraction. It involved the building of a theatre in the compound that would provide seating for 350, a pit area for a full 40 piece orchestra, projection room, lighting bays, a reading room, library and equipment storage area.

The camp officials felt that if this kept the prisoners busy, they would not be thinking of escapes and tunnels. So materials and tools were supplied for the venture.

The Red Cross and others soon got requests for and complied with the supply of all the needs of the orchestra, especially that of the instruments themselves. There would be marching bands and posters displaying the next attraction, coming play or musical including those of Bach, Bethoven and Mozart The POW's could come to be entertained...or on the other hand, use their own talents to do the actual entertaining. One internet story tells that in one of the plays one of the German Guards actually played a part... and in full German uniform. The POW's put on many plays including The Man Who Came to Dinner, Little Women and Arsenic and Old Lace..

Soon word got out that the entertaining was so good that you needed tickets to get in. Tickets that even the Guards wanted to get. And get they got... with a price... of a favor to a POW. Like the supply of some sort of innocent item that could be converted for escape purposes. An example was a camera and film. The POW'S argued that they needed to preserve these memories. The guards loaned a camera...that was ultimately secreted off at different times for the purposes of taking photos of POW's for forged documents to be used in future escape attempts.

The above sketch and photo are obviously of the theater and perhaps a shot off POW's rehearsing a play. Look closely at the back of the rows of seats and see the red cross image on them. The seats were made from wooden Red Cross packages. They were so well made that the backs actually flipped up and they even had arm rests.

These are actual photos of some of the scenes in plays being acted out. Since women were not allowed in the camp... every one of the women depicted is a male POW. One talented actor would later comment that he felt he was "forever in wigs and fallsies."

The prisoners did not have the theatre built. They built it. They designed it and put down the foundation and the walls and roof and the interior. Oh! I almost forgot. When they built the exterior walls, they mysteriously ensured that they did not stop a few feet above the ground like all the other buildings in the compound. They went right down to the ground.

I wonder why?

Perhaps it had something to do with seat # 13. Which, unlike the others, was not fastened down... but on hinges that would flip up and allow access to a trap door and entry beneath the floor. Winter was a coming and the POW's knew that tunnelling would be continuing but disbursement of sand on snow covered ground would not be possible.... unless it was UNDER a building. Not only was this new space used to hold tonnes of sand from the tunnels, an area under the building also became the entrance to yet a fourth tunnel called GEORGE.

In all of these activities, many men with talents were brought into the overall scheme of the Organization X. That of getting hundreds of POW's out of the compound and back into the war. Men like Flt. Lt 's Arthur Creighton, George Harsh, Gordon Kidder, Tony Pengelly, Alfred Thompson, James Wernham, George Wiley and dozens of others. Each helped in his own way, be it the disbursement of sand here and elsewhere or in acting in the plays, managing, directing and producing them, working the lighting and props, arranging and conducting the orchestra and a dozen other jobs connected with this building. A building designed to entertain, amuse, get minds off the war for some, and secretly aid in escape activity as well as distract the GOONS (German Officers and Officers Non-commissioned) from paying closer attention to what was really going on all around them. And if you will pardon the pun... right under their feet. Many of these men also played important roles in other areas of the Organization X work.

Have a long look at these three images. At the bottom right there is a fellow standing way of to the right of the spectators watching the boxing match. Why is he not with the rest? The image above shows five men standing at the garden while others worked. All are looking down... EXCEPT the fellow on the left. He may be dispersing sand. What is he watching? Why is another fellow standing against the building and it appears as though he also is NOT looking down at the gardeners. What is he looking at... or for? Why are most windows up except one? The large image on the left also shows something curious if you study the picture. At the corner of each of the 3 barrack blocks there as at least one if not more POW's. What are they doing?

While the photographer has not left any comments on the issues raised, what you are looking at could well be part of the massive security network that the POW's operated within the compound.

This network involved more than 200 Kriegies. That's a POW in the language of the POW's. In German a POW is called a Kriegiesgefangenen. And thus the term Kriegies. These men acted as stoolies or massive information gatherers for the Organization X. Men would be constantly watching the guards in the towers and on the ground and patrol and by a series of creative means would constantly pass along the movements of all of these men...including any that visited the camp... and for every minute of the day and night.

The above men pointed out could well be part of this team of stoolies. By the raising or lowering of a window, or the placing a book in a window, this would tell someone that a guard is approaching, That someone would pass the message on to another strategically placed, and he to another and another and another until the message finally arrived at the face of each tunnel and the word would then be sent underground to stop all activity till the danger passed. In Harry the signal to shut down was rather crude. It simply involved a string attached to a can with a few pebbles in it. Pull the string and you get a noise that sends the men into immediate ceasing of all underground activity, till the all clear was later sent.

Men would have a book in the window that could be taken away, or be playing chess and a simply move on the board would be a signal, or even the turning of a page of a stoolie's book as he read at his 'station" near the front gate. These were all signals used at Stalag Luft 111. The system was so reliable that it had been said by many that their accountability of all German movement at any time of the day was superior to the German's own accounting of where their men where.

Pilot Officer's Gordon King and George Sweanor, Bomber Pilot Kingsley Brown and Flight Lt.'s George Harsh and George McGill all played supervisory roles in this network of informers. As did perhaps another 200 men.

Much more to come next week.

Bart

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Part two of the Stalag Luft 111 German POW Camp, and escape of 76 Allied Officers, recapturing 73 and cold blooded murder of 50 of them.

04/09/2014

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Last Wednesday I started to bring you the story of the 50 Allied officers who were murdered by the Gestapo. This war crime happened after the officers escaped from the German POW camp called Stalag Luft 111 and were later recaptured. For those who have read that blog, you might want to revisit it as I have made a few minor changes.

There were five compounds in this POW camp, and these blogs are about one of them, that which mainly housed the British Air Force Officers shot down, and called the NORTH Compound. Some of the tough measures taken by the Germans in this compound to prevent escaping came about as a result of Germany's experiences throughout the country, and even in some of the adjoining compounds, where there alone, 98 tunnels were discovered in the years past. However most resulted in no escapes, or captures soon after escape.

But the Allies were getting smarter and with considerable background experiences in underground tunnelling they soon came to the basic understanding that individual attempts were not likely to be rewarded with freedom. The old way gave the POW's something to break the boredom, some hope and even tied up enemy manpower as it tried to detect their activities. But the ultimate goal of escape and the rejoining with friendly forces to continue with the war was far from their reach.

But Stalag Luft 111 was to be different. To begin with, it brought together about 15,000 officers, men who were often highly educated and very successful in a host of different ventures in the civilian world. Men with smarts that could pool together their imaginations and talents and address the old problems with new creativity and more positive results. And about 1,500 of these men were in the North Compound.

These officers soon realized that no mater how hard... and smart... they worked underground... that was only half the problem. There were as many if not more problems above ground that also had to be tackled. And one without the other would only see yet more failed attempts at freedom.

One of the first problems they had was what the heck to do with all the sand they would produce. They were digging three tunnels, TOM, DICK and HARRY to begin with. A fourth, GEORGE, came later. In the first three alone they would dig underground for about 550 feet parallel to ground level. In addition there would be 3 shafts down at the 3 entry points, another 3 at the exit points amounting to another 180 feet and workspaces dug out underground too boot. Advances on each tunnel of 3 to 4 feet a day produced TONNES of sand DAILY. Three feet produced over a ton, and with 3 tunnels that was almost ten tonnes alone.

From the above, you can see a yellowish or gold coloured soil. Now look at the top layer in the picture of the right. See how dark the soil was. Clearly any distribution above ground, of subsurface soil of another colour would be a dead giveaway that tunnelling was ongoing. So they needed a solution.

Not long ago an excavation of DICK was undertaken. In both above images the dark spot is the beginning of the tunnel... and that is after the shaft was dug 30 feet down from the surface. It was dug by hand with utensils perhaps about 1/10th the size of the bucket at the foot of Flight Officer Gordon King shown at above left, and one of the POWs back in 1943-45. Note also the edges of the pit in both images. They are not straight down but slanted. This is because of the instability of the sand. One of the very problems the tunnelers had to face daily, and also a fear of some of the very men recently excavating. But more on this in another blog.

Flight Lieutenant Wally Floody was the Tunnel King. He came to Stalag Luft 111 with many, many tunnels under his belt. He would soon be invited to join with the group that called itself the X Organization and it would be led and commanded by the most senior British officer in the camp, a Group Captain.

He would in turn appoint a Squadron leader who would command the day to day escape details. And Floody would answer to him.

This officer would actually design the three tunnels and have many sub-groups that would each play a major role in the overall success or failure of the escape plan they hatched. It called for the escape of some 200 men on day one and as many in the days following. It would involve over 600 men playing a variety of roles out of the 1,500 at the compound.

As the herculean task of bringing tonnes of sand to the surface was on going each day and night, the next job was getting rid of the sand. Many dozens of men like Flying Officer Hank Birkland, Flt Lt. George Harsh, Officer Art Hobten, Flt.t. Pat Langford, Flt. Lt. George Summers, Flt. Lt. Albert Wallace, and Flt. Lt. John Weir would work at one specialty or another and also as PENGUINS. So named because they waddled like a penguin.

From the images above you can readily see why. One of the men designed these secret carrying bags for the movement of the sand. Often it was nothing more than a leg from long johns. The bottom end was slit, and fitted with some sort of a clip fastened to a string that travelled up the leg under the trousers and into the pocket of the penguin. After he waddled into position he would pull on the string, the clip came lose and opened up the leg and the 2 foot pile of sand, 3 inches across, would flow out and onto the ground.

The above left picture has a German Guard later finding and having his picture taken with one form of the device that was simply slung around the neck of the carrier. The image on the right is of actor David McCallum in his younger days, and imitating one of the penguins in the famous movie The Great Escape of the early 1960's. His fame from that movie pushed him on to greater recognition in the TV series, The Man Form Uncle, and much later in a most successful career, now with the crew of NCIS as the ever inquisitive doctor with a zillion stories of past cases to bore his fellow investigators, but not the audience.

When the above mentioned men and many dozens of others were sent off to drop their loads of sand, they would be dispatched to areas were other events were often taking places. Events like a boxing match or cricket or ice hockey were large crowds could not only hide the penguins within, but also do much to stir up the soil dropped in the hopes that it would be well mixed with the surface soil and thus not detectable. During one of the boxing matches arranged by Flt. Lt George McGill several men were trying to get over the wire at the very moment the impromptu match took place... obviously as a diversion.

The golf match above would have been a great place to drop soil as so many could help in mixing it up. So too whenever there was a crowd gathering. The officers had plenty of time on their hands as it was not lawful under the Geneva Convention to force them to be on work parties. Thus many took to gardening... where soil is always turned up and over and over. Note that a couple of fellows standing have a hand in their pocket. Are they holding onto a string?

Much more of Friday.

Bart

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Still going though some great new info of the subject at hand, but cannot possible disseminate as early as hoped. Next Wednesday I'll bring you an update.

04/05/2014

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A few details still need confirming and so the Friday blog is being put off till Saturday. Sorry folks.

04/04/2014

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Seventy years ago last week 76 POW's broke out of a German POW Camp. THREE made it to safety. Seventy three were captured. Hitler ordered all to be shot. Fifty were! In the back, many with hands tied.

04/02/2014

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Late in the night of 24 March 1944, and early the next morning a daring escape was launched that saw 76 Allied forces Officers, mostly British, escape from the Stalag-Luft 111 massive camp near what today is Zagan Poland. Back then it was German held territory.

News last week told of the 50 RAF men and women, all commissioned officers, who marched over 100 miles to honour those murdered. They started their memorial at the start place of the story, that being at the location of the old POW camp in Zagan and ended it at the final resting place of 49 of these heroes. That being the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's cemetery located at Poznan Poland.

The march started at Zagan, bottom center of map. This is located about 210 kms. south east of Berlin. The march ended at the cemetery to the north east some 170 kms., at Poznan. But more on that later.

First the camp!

In 1942 the Germans had become quite concerned about the amount of POW's escaping via tunnels. Vowing to resolve this issue they went on the hunt for a special location to build a camp that could incorporate a lot of problems for those bent on tunnelling their way out.

First they chose a spot that was somewhat remote, and thus not easy to hide out or get transportation to spirit them off. Next they wanted a wooded area that they could clear and leave a baron space all around that would require very, very long tunnels to overcome. They felt if too long, a tunnel would never be attempted. Then they wanted somewhere that had surface dirt that was very noticeably different in colour than that a few feet below grade. And finally they wanted somewhere with soil that was very sandy and difficult to dig in because of the edges just flowing into the hole made.

Zagan proved to be the spot, land was cleared and a camp built. But with more and more successes in the air, the Germans found the camp getting overcrowded with POW's and had to make several new clearings for more buildings. Each of these was built up off the ground a few feet so that the guards would hopefully discover any escaper efforts by tunnelling, or by piles of earth appearing under any of the buildings.

Outside the cleared space around the camp they erected not one but two 9 ft. high fences topped with barbed fire. And between each was a 7 ft space also filled with barbed wired entanglements. As if this was not enough they also had a warning line. One string of wire about two feet off the ground that was the no go line. Cross it and you would immediately be shot.

And to deter digging they had sensitive microphones placed in holes dug 9 ft down and strung the exterior of the camp with these. Each would hopefully pick up any vibrations and thus alert the enemy that something was going on underground. And topping all of this off they had several guard towers mounted along the edge of the camp with guards equipped with machine funs and powerful search lights These would be used all night and aided by roaming guard patrols complete with trained search dogs.

The officials would constantly brag that the camp was escape proof. But then came along a South African RAF officer named Roger Bushel who had repeatedly tunnelled out of earlier camps, (almost 50 under his belt), and had a major grudge with the enemy...especially the Gestapo. They had murdered all of those who helped hide him for a while after his latest escape.

He was so incensed that he decide that he would not only tunnel out again, he would make plans to make the escape a massive one with 200 getting out in the first phase and more to follow.

On arrival at Stalag Luft 111 he was assigned to one of the 15 huts in the north compound were most of the British officers were housed. The population of this area was about 1,500 and there were 5 more compounds in the camp.

Not long after arrival Bushell met up with a former colleague who happened to be the senior British Officer in the compound. That fellow preferred that no tunnels be made due to past negative experiences and the Germans in constant search for more escape efforts. But the officer pressed upon his new boss that co-ordinated efforts between hundreds, instead of hundreds of individual tunnel efforts, was part of the key to a success. He also stressed his experience, and very strong grudge and that his idea did not involve a few but upwards of 200 men escaping, and that was just a start.

He was then given the OK to move on it. Soon a team was brought together under the code name Operation X with Bushel being the head... or X man. Soon others with very special talents were brought into the plan. One of these was an officer named Floody, an ex mining man who immediately came up with plans for not one... but 3 tunnels. Three because, if one was found they might not expect another and yet a third also being dug. To avoid detection it was ordered that the word tunnel no longer be used. From now on is was simply Tom, Dick and Harry, the names of each new venture. Soon many other talented men would join up to work the many tasks both above and below ground.

This air photo shows the several compounds at the POW camp. The RAF Officers were housed in the North Compound in the 3 identical rows of five huts. The hut that concealing the entrance to the HARRY tunnel, the one in which all 76 escapes were made, was in hut #104 which is the one in the middle of the five in that first row at top of page. The tunnel ran northbound...up the page and under the cooler, a hut where troubled POW's were held in solitary confinement. The tunnel would then hopeful travel further north until well into the woods shown as the dark area at the top of the page and exit the underground within those woods.

The first two huts on the left of the third row of five, looking at the above image, are where a 2nd and third tunnel were being built that headed off to the left... or westbound. This area was covered with pine woods like the top and right in the picture, but when the image was taken the woods on the left had been cut down to build the newer west compound.

A fourth tunnel was started as an emergency tunnel and ran under the theatre the POW's built. This building is the one, shaped like the others but much darker in the above image and below the third row of huts, It is the southern most building in the compound. It was to run eastbound into the woods outside the compound. This fourth tunnel is rarely mentioned when Stalag Luft 111 is spoken about.

This sketch is a little easier to understand. At the bottom center you can see HARRY travelling north and beside, (should be under) the cooler and then off to the woods. A second and shorter tunnel called TOM exited from hut #123 and travelled some 98 ft to the woods off to the west. And tunnel DICK, started at hut #122, went westbound travelling under hut #105 and would have exited within the woods to the west.

On Friday I bring you some of the fascinating tidbits pulled together to dig these tunnels, the ultimate results, and then we will join up with the marching 50.

Bart

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March 25th was Medal of Honor Day in then US, but it was also a busy day elsewhere!

03/30/2014

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Last week I brought you a number of updates including the significance of March 25th In the US, and perhaps it ought to be celebrated in many other countries... including Canada where so many of the Medal's recipients were either born or had other connections.

While scanning through the web a few weeks back another March 25th story came to my attention. A year ago on this date it was the 95th year since Walter Tull died. You no doubt will not know his name, but perhaps we should all reflect on his contributions to the war effort in WW 1, and to the British Empire itself.

Walter was a black man. He was the first black to play professional football in his area, and soon after going off to war he would earn not one or two or three...but four rapid promotions because of his bravery and further qualifications in uniform. In 1917, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. That very commissioning made him the FIRST EVER BLACK commissioned officer in the British Army. He'd been in several major battles by them, earned a Mentions in Dispatch and also would be the first black officer to lead men into battle..and even bring them all back after the attack. Then came the Somme and a machine gun burst that took his life. There never found his body.

He was then recommended for the Military Cross but never got it!

Years would go by and efforts were made to get him his Militray Cross. On the 95th anniversary of his battlefield death, efforts were still ongoin last year on 25 March, as they are today. Word came down that the Minster of Defence indicated that as the rules stood, a posthumous award could not be awarded more than five years after the event. Today on the net I see that another excuse has popped up. While it is OK for the Brits to take pride in the fact that Tull was their first ever black officer, they apparently felt that the rules of the game should sometimes apply. One of these was a military law back in those days that said that if you were a British Citizen of non-European descent, you cannot hold a commission in the British services at all.

But nothing was said about reversing his rank. Hmmmm!

Last week I wrote a letter to the MP for his area in London suggesting that the rules based on time lines can be changed by his colleagues in the Parliament. I suggested that he visit the situation in the US where there have been repeated cases over the years where time lines have been set aside, cases even going back to Civil War days. Some even involving British Subjects, that got their Medals of Honor once the US Congress considered the merits, found them valid, and changed either the law or passed a special Act to cover the fellow in question.

l also said that since the Tull case has been suggested by many to be one that was based on a conflict with a superior over his race, that lawmakers also might pay some attention to the fact that the President in the US just reversed 24 cases of prejudice and awarded Medals of Honor just a few weeks back. I added that surely THE PARLIAMENT of all parliaments , the very Jewel of British Democracy should take steps to lead rather then follow and take the necessary steps to sort out the Tull case and give the posthumous award if it is felt the merits of this 1918 case is deserving.

My email has been acknowledged with a form letter saying thanks for the note and I'll try and get back to you soon. I'll wait. In the mean time here is a photo of the British Army's first ever Black officer, and MC awardee in waiting... hopefully.

On another matter, regular readers of these blogs are award of my concern, one I hope you share, with regards to Hollywood hype when it brings us yet another story based on true life historic events, and leaves the movie as being the most remembered story of those events, be they true or not.

Hollywood is not history. Hollywood is entertainment. But when you look back at movies... take for example the several volume series about the Civil War, you may want to believe that these volumes are the be all, and end all, of the events pertained therein. And often this is in fact... quite the opposite. But years later who will remember over one hundred Canadians who were signed up with Colonel Chamberlain's 20th Maine for sake of argument, when all they have often to go by is the movie they saw last week or month. A movie that did not even contain the word Canada or Canadians.

The same applies to the movie of over a decade ago about the 54th Massachusssetts. A great movie, called GLORY, but it forgot one thing. In amongst all those heroes were no less than 30 plus black Canadians, but you heard not a word of those while you watched it. Nor was the word mentioned when you watched the Gods and Generals. Nor was there any real prominence given to the incredible role that Canadians played in the story many of us saw recently, and still playing about the Monuments Men.

Heck, it took the former President, Jimmy Carter to come forth in a CNN interview about the recent showing of ARGO about the horrible Iran crisis of many years back. The movie was Hollywood hype and gave most of the credit for the saving of the 6 American hostages that were spirited out of Iran by Canada. Carter acknowledged that the movie hype took most of the credit when clearly, it was due to then Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor's actions and those of the men and women with him at the embassy there, in Ottawa and elsewhere that pulled that heroic mission off. They risked their lives to save the Americans but a careful study of the movie has them playing 2nd fiddle to the Ben Aflick's character. A character indeed.

This brings me to the point again about March 25th. That was the day that the Great Escape of WW11 in Germany came to an end and was later made famous by more Hollywood hype in 1963 with many of the stars of the day, mainly American, telling a mostly non American story.

The story has more life in the news over the past week and I will share this with you in the next blog.

Bart

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Part 4 of George, his Camel, the Victoria Cross and 11 more bravery awards

03/26/2014

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It is not very often that I have done 4 blogs in a row about one hero, but today's is a fourth on George who's incredible military career has been a challenge to cover and do the man justice.

The last segment covered 1918 and his shooting down an enemy ace, being promoted to Major and having the thrill and responsibility of taking the Prince of Wales, who had just been assigned duties in Italy, for an air view deep into enemy lines. The year also saw George being awarded his third Mentions in Dispatch, the Distinguished Service Order, a 2nd bar to his Military Cross, a second DSO, the highest award that the King of France could award and the same for Italy. In fact the King of Italy awarded two of them to George.

I wonder if he had to declare the extra weight of all these medals when boarding his craft for these missions. (hehe) Missions in which he repeated shot done more and more enemy planes and balloons. Kills officially totalling 42, but unofficially much higher.

In the Fall of 1918 George was ordered back to London to take charge of a fighter pilot training centre a dozen miles west of London. For the 2nd time in his career he was so appointed and managed to wiggle out of it. He reported for duty but argued that with the latest developments in the air, he was needed in the air to see what was going on, and thus better able to instruct the new recruits.

The brass were convinced and off to the Western Front George was sent for a few weeks. And this time he was taking along the latest British development in planes. It was called a SNIPE and was made by the Sopwith firm who had made the Camels. And it had the best of all Camel abilities and much more and was a match for whatever he came across. In fact, per usual, George knocked even more planes out of the sky over France. His kill total now was at 46 German and Austrian planes and 9 balloons. In late October George was again ordered back to England to resume duties at the flight training center.

Having shipped all of his goods back to London, he took his plane up for one last look at the area, some 150 miles north east of Paris and at place called La Foret de Mormal France. Flying at about 22,000 feet above the ground he spotted an enemy observation plane. He gave chase and a fight ensued with the enemy getting shot down. But in the process another enemy craft came up behind George and strafed his craft with powerful cannon fire that sent George into a dive. He passed out but came to by onrushing air, pulled out of the dive, caught up with the enemy again and sent another the ground ablaze.

But by spiralling down he ended up in the midst of about 60 enemy planes who immediately started to fire their cannons at him. He shot two more down and went again into a downward spin, passed out again, again came to and charged after the closest enemy and shot him down but because of so much damage to the plane George was going down also... and fast.

Heading towards his base he came across a fleet of enemy planes and soared through them, shooting yet another down and dispersing the rest in all directions. But he was only a few thousand feet off the ground and still going down, managing to finally just clear some tree tops he brought the plane...at full speed... to a crash. It flipped over and George was pulled free... alive but with many wounds The entire battle was witnessed by thousands of friendly forces including Canada's own General Andrew McNaughton.

George was rushed to a hospital about 90 miles north west of Paris where he remained unconscious for several days. He would received acknowledgements for his heroism from the Prime Ministers of Canada and England, the King and Prince of Wales and others including his flying comrade... Lt Col Billy Bishop VC

In November of 1918 Canada's George, from Alberta, who's complete name was William George Barker, was awarded the British Empire's highest medal for bravery... the Victoria Cross.

If you laid all of his bravery medals out, here is what they would look like...

While there are a few others that actually shot more enemy planes out of the skies, there is no other hero from Canada, or anywhere else in the British Commonwealth that earned more bravery medals than George. His actual medal group does not contain duplicates of those medals awarded more than once. For these, a bar is issue for each further award.

Having said this, here is an image of George's actual medal group...

George was severely wounded and remained in hospital for some time before being moved back to London. He was too ill to even attend a VC presentation till much later than the actual date of the award.

In the Spring of 1919 George was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and later that year returned to Canada where he joined up in a business with Billy Bishop, flying tourists out of the Toronto harbour airport. But business failed and he then went back to military duties as an attaché in England with the Air Force.

He then returned to work in the tobacco industry in Ontario for a few years before becoming an executive with the Fairchild Aviation Company at Montreal.

In March of 1930 he was demonstrating a new Fairchild plane when he took it for a steep dive over Ottawa and the engine stalled bringing the plane to a crash and instantly killing the British Empire's most medalled hero.

Here is Lt. Col Barker's London Gazette account of his heroism and the awarding of the Victoria Cross...

Note that he was listed still as an acting Major when the VC was awarded.

For more information there is quite a lot of information on the net on this man. Just Google his name.

I expect to be away from my computer on Friday, and thus the next blog will be probably on Saturday, but check on Friday as plans often change.

cheers

Bart

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Part 3 of George, his camel, the Victoria cross and 11 more bravery awards.

03/22/2014

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A week ago today I started with the first of four blogs on a fellow I am calling George who came into this world in a log cabin in a place that years later would become Dauphin Manitoba. The boy grew up on a farm and learned to shoot as a kid and got so good at it that he would not only be winning all the local shooting contests, but he would also be bringing home the food for the workers employed at his father's sawmill.

In his teens George would become involved with the boy scouts, then the Manitoba Horse, a militia unit of the day and then he'd join the regular army and served in the trenches of France with the First Manitoba Rifles. The 2nd blog told of his crawling out of the trenches after about 8 months and switching into the air force by enlisting with the Royal Flying Corps. By the Fall of 1917, and then with about three years service under his belt George would have been promoted to the commissioned rank of a lieutenant and moved up from a machine gunner and observer to that of pilot.

By the end of the 2nd blog he had already shot down over a half dozen enemy planes and became an air ace in the process. For these he would be awarded the first four of 12 medals he would eventually get for bravery. These were not one, but 2 Mentions in Dispatches, and also 2 Military Crosses for bravery while flying combat missions over France.

With the capture of some 80,000 Italian's near their front and the country's near collapse, the British ordered four squadrons to leave France and do their best to aid the Italians. George would travel with one of the squadrons and would actually command most of the flyers sent. It did not take long for the Brits to realize that the Germans and Austrians commanded the air space, having already had so much success over the Italians. Thus the job for the Brits was to set the tone and let the enemy know that they meant business.

Very soon after arrival George and three other Camels were ambushed by 12 of the enemy, but the Camels took to battle right away and sent a message to the enemy... they had no intention of turning and running. In fact in one of the earliest dog-fights 12 German planes attacked the 4 Camels... and all were driven off with exception of the one George forced into the ground, having already shot of one of its wings.

On another flight George and his squadron came across two large observation balloons tied off quite close to the ground in a large field. A long line of tucks carrying enemy supplies was also in the area. George immediately dropped out of the sky and flew very low and took out both balloons and set the trucks scrambling to safety. Later when he got back to base he was given a lecture from his boss who noted the instructions of the day did not permit such low flying. George simply responded that upon seeing the obvious targets he just forget the order.

Not long after this they came across five balloons and set them all afire and also shot up a German staff car which flipped over under the Camel's intense cannon fire.

Being in good Christmas spirits three Camels including George piloting one of them, flew over an enemy camp and dropped out a large cardboard message... from the RFC to the Austrian Flying Corps, Have a Merry Xmas. They then circled around and fired into the camp site killing over a dozen and left planes and hangars ablaze. No credits were given the men because it, like many others, were unauthorized raids. (Ernest Hemingway's short fictional story... The Snow's of Kilimanjaro was based on this event.)

The next morning about 40 enemy planes woke the Brits to an air attack but it was a sloppy job as most apparently were still under the influence of too much partying the night before. The Brits raced to their planes and after many dogfights drove about a dozen enemy planes to the ground. But en-route back to their base the Brits came under attack by about a dozen of the most formidable German craft... the Gotha bombers. But the Brits managed to drive two out of the air. Again the men were not awarded for the credits they deserved because the enemy attack was due to their disobeying commands earlier and conducting unauthorized raids.

On Jan 1 1918 George was on another mission escorting some Brit bombers, but doing so from off in the distance. The enemy not seeing him when they swooped into for some kills. George then jumped the enemy and blew one from the skies. He would be awarded his first Distinguished Service Order for this action. The DSO is just one medal down from the Victoria Cross. Days later he would be shooting down 2 more enemy craft.

Because of his flying skills, the British command would often turn to George to do the most difficult jobs. One of these being the dropping of spies into certain target areas. He was so successful with numerous missions of this sort that the King of Italy awarded him first a Silver Medal for Valor, and later even a 2nd one. This medal is the highest medal Italy can award a non Italian for war time bravery.

In April, and May of 1918 George would shoot down another 9 enemy planes. A second bar to his Military Cross would soon be presented. And soon the French government presented its Croix de Guerre for his support role in defending their bomber missions into as deep as five miles into those enemy lines. In May one of his victims was an Austrian air ace. By June of 1918 the Austrians had lost about 150 of their 200 aircraft.

So they were little in the mood for George's invite to come and do battle. He had invited the enemy in the past with similar challenges but this time told the enemy his boys would be doing bombing runs for the next 2 weeks and gave the times and places and invited the enemy to come up and say hello. They never showed up. And so the Brits did just what they said they would do. They dropped their bombs with impunity.

In July a new squadron was formed and George, now with the rank of Major was given its command. The following day 3 of his planes ran into 5 of the enemy and drove two from the sky. Days later they would drive five to the ground. Another 24 hrs. would pass and George's team ran into the enemy. This time they decided they wanted nothing to do with the Brits and sped off. Within a few more days George would down 3 more planes. It was at about this time that he would get yet another Mentions in Dispatch.

Now with an acknowelged record of 33 planes and 9 balloons, George was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order. The equivalent of earning two of the very medal just one down from the VC. The numbers were really much higher, but credits were not given for those he shot down before becoming an officer and those shot down on unauthorized raids.

In August of 1918 George flew the Prince of Wales on a flight over the enemy territory so that the Prince could see the battleground for himself.

George's next assignment involved relocating back to England and commanding the fighter pilot training, but I'll bring George's blogs to a close with that story next Wednesday.

Bart

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24 Medal of Honor Corrections and a Victoria Cross one and a few updates....

03/19/2014

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The buzz in US newsrooms across the country yesterday was the White House East Room ceremony to award 24 Medals of Honor, the most in one gathering since the days of WW11.

A previous blog alerted you to the event to take place on the 18th, and yesterday families and dignitaries and a few current Medal of Honor heroes attended the historic occasion. US President Barrack Obama's comments quickly turned to the wrongs of the past and noted that..." No nation is perfect, but here in America, we confront our imperfections." He added that..." Some of these fellows fought and died for a country that did not always see them as equals."

Indeed they did not!

About a dozen years ago the US Congress ordered a review of over 6,500 cases where a soldier was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross. Awards covered WW11, Korean and Vietnam service and concentrated on the Army, and those veterans that were either Hispanic or Jewish. The review was later extended to Black Americans.

And the review did not come easily. A fellow named Mitchell Libman can take the credit for starting this. Some 50 years ago he wondered why his buddy only got a Distinguished Service Cross, one down from the MOH when feelings amongst many was that he ought to have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest of all military awards. He began a 50 year fight to see justice being done. The President himself congratulated Libman on what he actually accomplished with this decades long battle to set things right.

Twenty four men were found in the review to have been awarded the lower medal when indeed they were deserving of the MOH. Eight from Vietnam, nine from Korea and seven from WW11. One of these is still listed as missing, ten others never came home. Yesterday only three of the 24 were still alive and were presented their medals in person by Obama in Washington. All but the three received their awards posthumously, and yesterday's medals presented to relatives at the White House.

Sgt First Class Melvin Morris on the left, at center is Master Sergeant Jose Rodela, and Spc Santiago Erevia are proudly wearing their Medals of Honor. All earned them for actions in 1969 in Vietnam.

Their very stern looks might be saying lots about the 50 years of discrimination they, the remaining 21 and possible thousands of other experienced during those horrible war years, and perhaps since.

Moving along, but still with corrections.. back on July 7 last year I brought you a story of Lt. Colonel James Forbes-Roberstson, a Scottish born officer who was placed in command for a short period with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment back during WW1.
Well, last week a sharp eyed reader dropped me a note to say what a nice story it was but that I had made a glaring error. Turns out he was not only right but I goofed on two points. His comments now appear on that page and the blog can be reread at... http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/07/ten-men-do-the-job-of-40000-thats-4000-per-man-and-every-last-one-of-them-got-rewarded-for-their-heroism.html

The story about the regiment happened in 1917 but I had stated that it was during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. While the unit definitely fought most heroically there, and was almost whipped out, the story in the blog was in fact about another battle the next year.

I ended the blog by also mixing up the Colonel's dates of birth and death. His correct date of death was 5 August 1955 and his birthday was 7 July 1884.

I thank that reader for holding my feet to the fire and am sorry for these errors.

Again moving along, watch out for the news coverage next week on March 25th. That day is National Medal of Honor Day in the US, and ought also be recognized in Canada but doubtfully you will see any news coverage in Canada about it.

Back in 1863, that was the day when six of the survivors from the Andrews Raiders were in Washington DC and met with the Secretary of War and presented with the first ever Medals of Honor. They were later taken down the road to the offices of the White House and met President Abraham Lincoln. These medals of course were the first presented but not the first earned. Later that year and for years to come others would be awarded the medal for actions that actually dated before the events involved in the Andrews Raid.

And finally a note of thanks to Mark Sumner who has taken a great interest in my blogs and come to my assistance with information about Newfoundland born John Hayes. Much has been written in past blogs about Hayes and the famous battle of 1864 between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg France. Hayes and another fellow thought for years( in error) to be a Canadian, Joachim Pease, were among several from that battle to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Mark has sent me many tidbits on Hayes and has recently actually visited the grave in Iowa. He has also taken a Medal of Honor flag to the cemetery and posted it at the grave sight and noted that in a few months there will be a commemoration ceremony at this grave. Stay tuned for more on that, but in the mean time here are three of several photos he has sent along regarding this Canadian hero of Civil War days.

Mark poses at the grave, with the US flag flying and the Grand Army of the Republic marker on display. Also shown is the relatively new government created Medal of Honor flag that all recipients are entitled to. Now if we can just get a Canadian flag in the next shot. hehe

Back on Friday with the last on Victoria Cross recipient George.

Bart

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Part four of Stalag Luft lll

Part three of Stalag Luft 111 and the murder of 50 Allied Air Force Officers in WW11.

Part two of the Stalag Luft 111 German POW Camp, and escape of 76 Allied Officers, recapturing 73 and cold blooded murder of 50 of them.

Still going though some great new info of the subject at hand, but cannot possible disseminate as early as hoped. Next Wednesday I'll bring you an update.

A few details still need confirming and so the Friday blog is being put off till Saturday. Sorry folks.

Seventy years ago last week 76 POW's broke out of a German POW Camp. THREE made it to safety. Seventy three were captured. Hitler ordered all to be shot. Fifty were! In the back, many with hands tied.

March 25th was Medal of Honor Day in then US, but it was also a busy day elsewhere!

Part 4 of George, his Camel, the Victoria Cross and 11 more bravery awards

Part 3 of George, his camel, the Victoria cross and 11 more bravery awards.

24 Medal of Honor Corrections and a Victoria Cross one and a few updates....

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