Operation: Dive bombing (Fighter Mission #354), France

Date: 30th May 1944 (Tuesday)

Unit No: 351st Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, 66th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force

Type: P-47D

Serial No: 42-75688

Code: YJ:?

Location: Near Le Plessier-Rozainvillers, 8 km (5 mls) WNW of Montdidier, France

Base: Debden (Station #356), Essex, England

Pilot: 1st Lt. Harry Floyd Hunter O-665801 DFC, AAF Age 23. Id No: 78337 *, PoW No: 8921 **

* 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:

1st Lt. Hunter claimed a Bf109 destroyed in aerial combat on 27th September 1943 and a probable Fw190 in aerial combat on 22nd April 1944.

The 351st Fighter Squadron took off from Debden on a dive bombing mission on the Longueuil ste marie railway bridge in France.

Note: Longueuil ste marie is some 37 km (23 mls) NNE of Montdidier.

The after mission statement by 1st Lt. William J. Weaver O-686788 describes the circumstance leading to the loss of 1st Lt. Hunter:

‘I was flying Blue #4 on Lt. Hunter's wing. After completing our bomb run on the target the Squadron was split up because we had gone down by elements, using different approaches. I called Lt. Hunter, telling him my prop was oscillating and I should go home. So, the two of us headed back to the station. Soon after setting course Lt. Hunter saw the marshalling yards near Montdidier. He told me to stay up, that he was going down to attack the several freight and oil cars. I circled above while he went down. He succeeded in setting several of the cars on fire. He pulled up to about 1,000 to 1,500 feet. I again told him I thought I should go home. He replied he wanted to make another pass at the yards. I told him I would go down from East to West: he said he would go from South to North. When I went down they opened up on me with flak and ground fire. I pulled up steeply, going up to about 10,000 feet. I called him saying it was time to go home and he answered okay. I did not see him after I went down on my pass at the yards’.

German documents record that a Thunderbolt crashed near Le Plessier-Rozainvillers, 8 km (5 mls) WNW of Montdidier at 18:24 hrs on this day. The aircraft was totally destroyed in the crash and the pilot had not been captured.

In his Individual Casualty Questionnaire (ICQ) he thought that his aircraft had crashed west of the Amiens airfield after he had baled out.

Note: The nearest Amiens active airfield at that time was Amiens-Glisy which was 23 km (14 mls) NNW of the reported crash site.

No details of his evasion nor the circumstances of his capture have been found. What is known he was captured in a trap which was organised by two French collaborators working for the who were working with the local Sicherheitsdienst (SD) (Security service of the Schutzstaffel (SS)). He was arrested on the 25th July and sent to the Beauvais prison and then on the 29th July to Fresnes after interrogation.

After liberation both of the French collaborators were eventually brought before the French courts and found guilty of the charges brought against them. They were sentenced to death, however, their sentences were commuted to hard labour and then to 20 years imprisonment. They were both released in the early 1960s and were never seen or heard of again.

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 they were 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.

1st Lt. Hunter was too sick and weak with pneumonia to leave Buchenwald with the other airmen and his departure was delayed until the 28th November 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.

After returning to the USA he remained in the service and served in Korea and Vietnam and retired from the USAF as a Lt Col.

1st Lt. Hunter was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFC) on the 25th February 1944. He was also awarded the Air Medal and 6 Oak Leaf Clusters between 5th October 1943 and 31st May 1944. (Clipping courtesy of The Pittsburgh Press, dated 19th April 1944).

Burial Details:

None – Survived the war

Researched by Ralph Snape for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot (Jun 2023). Update to include forced-march information (Jun 2024). Thanks to Franck Signorile (French Historian) for additional information about the captured airmen (Sep 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