Operation: Escort (Mission #423), Bordeaux, France

Date: 19th June 1944 (Monday)

Unit No: 503rd Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force

Type: P-51B

Serial: 42-106615

Code: D7:R

Base: Fowlmere, (Station #378), Cambridgeshire, England

Location: Near St. Pierre, France

Pilot: 2nd Lt. Ralph Hubert Dearey O-696689 AAF Age 23. Id No. 78316 *, PoW No. 8134 **

Above: Image from the Moore Field, Mission Advanced Flying School, Texas 1943

* Buchenwald concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany in July 1937.

** Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

REASON FOR LOSS:

The after mission report by 1st Lt. John G. Hauff O-803008, describes the circumstances leading to three of his flight being posted missing in action:

“We took off at 07:19 hrs on 19th June 1944 and formed over the field, Capt. N.T. Folwell was leading with Lt. Robert R. Dearey flying his left wing. Lt. R.B. Brown was element leader and I was his wing man, flying on his right wing. We circled the field and set course climbing through the 1000 foot layer of cloud; breaking out at about 2500 feet. We proceeded as briefed, climbing to an altitude of 12000 feet. The weather kept getting worse but did not seem to be bad enough to turn back. We tried to climb above the overcast but when we reached 18000 feet we hit snow, sleet and icing conditions. We levelled off and started to let down to our previous altitude. At this time were about 15 mins inside France. I thought that I had vertigo but stayed with the flight. Lt. Brown dropped back and disappeared, I started to close on Capt. Folwell but taking a quick glance at my instruments, I noticed that that the ball was all the way over to the left, the needle to the right and gyro horizon had exceeded its limit. I looked back and saw Lt. Dearey suddenly veer off to the left and disappear in the clouds followed almost immediately by Capt. Folwell. I immediately went on my own instruments and finally levelled off at 8000 feet still in the overcast. I tried to contact Capt. Folwell by radio but could get no answer. I returned to base.”

Note: From the same mission, Capt. Nathan T. Folwell flying P-51B 42-106905, D7:? and 1st Lt. Robert B. Brown flying P-51B 42-106889 D7:P were last seen in the LeMans/Tours/Angers area at 08:20 hrs. It is believed that they collided and were KiA.

2nd Lt. Dearey had descended below the bad weather and his Mustang was hit and damaged by flak. He baled out near St. Pierre, in France and was immediately captured.

Believed to be Saint-Pierre-des-Nids some 49 km (30½ mls) NNW of Le Mans.

He was taken to an Interrogation camp at Chartres, some 118 km (73 mls) to the east, where he remained until the 28th June. During his transfer the next day to Dulag Luft, Wetzlar, Frankfurt he escaped.

He headed in a westerly direction and was about 8 km (5 mls) from Château-Thierry on the 19th July when he was recaptured. He was taken to a civilian prison at Saint-Quentin where he remained until the 27th July 1944.

He was then taken to the Fresnes prison located to the south of Paris. This was where French political prisoners were held and ordinarily Allied airmen, after questioning, were moved to a PoW Camp. In the summer of 1944, with the Allies having liberated Paris and closing in, the Gestapo guards started reducing the prison population by execution, and then relocating surviving prisoners to various concentration camps east of France. On the 15th August 1944 he was amongst 169 Allied PoWs and hundreds of French men and women who were packed into a freight train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp on a journey lasting five days. Buchenwald was located 8 km (5 mls) north of Weimar, in the German province of Thüringen. It was established and administered by the Schutzstaffel (SS).

Fg Off. Joel Mathews ‘Tex’ Stevenson C27788 RCAF, the pilot of 419 (Moose) Squadron, RCAF Lancaster X KB727 VR:H escaped from the train and successfully evaded.

Sqn Ldr. Lamason and Fg Off. Chapman succeeded in getting all but two of the Allied PoWs transferred to Stalag Luft 3. Two airmen, 1st Lt. Levitt Clinton Beck Jr. O-736945, US AAF and Fg Off. Philip Derek Hemmens, 152583, RAFVR died in the sick barrack.

Recognition:

For decades the International Red Cross (IRC) had stated that there were no military personnel in Buchenwald despite the overwhelming documentary and anecdotal evidence. It was not until 1988 that the IRC eventually confirmed the airmen were illegally held at Buchenwald.

The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments also consistently denied that any of their service personnel were ever held in concentration camps and refused to investigate the claims made by a 'mere’ handful of men.

Reparations were made to the British airmen who had been illegally held at Buchenwald in 1965. Eventually in 1988 the Australian, New Zealand and it is believed the Canadian governments acknowledged that their airmen had been illegally held in concentration camps.

American airmen were among those who received compensation and the US Air force have acknowledged the Buchenwald airmen with an exhibit at the Air Force Museum, albeit the airmen are shown in uniform rather than in civilian attire. Furthermore, there is no mention of decades-long denial of their experiences by other branches of the government.

He was transferred to Stalag Luft 3 over the period 15th to 20th October 1944.

On the night of the 27th January 1945, with Soviet troops only 26 km (16 mls) away, orders were received to evacuate the PoWs to Spremberg which is to the West in Germany. The PoW’s were informed of the evacuation, which was on foot, at about 22:00 hrs the same night and were given 30 mins to pack and prepare everything for the March. The weather conditions were very difficult, with freezing temperatures, and it was snowing accompanied by strong winds. There was 15 cm (6 in) of snow and 2000 PoWs were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main groups.

The first groups of American PoW’s set out from the South Compound with the last PoW leaving at 23:00 hrs. The next group of American PoWs set out from the West Compound. At 03:45 hrs the North Compound left, followed by the Centre Compound. At 06:00 hrs the East Compound left. All the groups were accompanied by guards.

After a 55 km (34 mls) march, the PoWs arrived in Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours. The PoWs were then marched the remaining 26 km (16 mls) to Spremberg where they were housed in empty garages, storerooms and in military barracks. There they were provided with warm soup and bread.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages.

On the 31st January, the South Compound prisoners plus 200 men from the West Compound were sent to Stalag 7A at Moosburg followed by the Centre Compound prisoners on the 7th February.

The camp was liberated on the 29th April 1945 by units of the 14th Armoured Division from Patton’s 3rd Army.

Post war he remained in the newly designated United States Air Force (USAF) serving in the Korean and Vietnamese conflicts and retired from the USAF as Lt Col. on the 28th February 1965.

Burial details:

None. The pilot survived

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot (May 2023). Update to include forced-march information (Jun 2024).

Other sources listed below:

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt