Operation: Dive bombing operation near Albert, France

Date: 22nd June 1944 (Thursday)

Unit No: 357th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, 65th Fighter Wing, 8th Air Force

Type: P-51C Miss Lucille

Serial: 42-103282

Code: OS:U

Base: Steeple Morden, (Station #122), Cambridgeshire, England

Location: About 6 mls (9¾ km) NE of Albert (Nord), France

Pilot: 1st Lt. Myles Anthony King DFC, O-2045227 AAF Age 26. Id No. 78279 *, PoW No. 8144 **

* 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:

On the 22nd June 1944 the 357th Fighter Squadron was tasked with a dive bombing operation near Albert in France.

The circumstances leading to the loss of 1st Lt. King was described by two members of Custard Blue flight:

2nd Lt. William L. Reiff O-706443:

‘On 22 June 1944 I was flying Custard Blue Two on Lt. King's wing. We were making our bomb run at about 200 feet on a Marshalling Yard, but it blew up just before we got to it. Lt. King and I immediately broke left and Lt. Michels broke right. In the explosion a piece caught his coolant and it streamed cut immediately. I told him and he acknowledged it. After that we bombed another Marshalling Yard and strafed it, then started home, when his engine cut out and I saw it smoking at about 1,000 feet. That was the last sight I had of him’.

1st Lt. Kenneth M. Michels O-801746:

‘On 22 June 1944, I was flying Custard Three in Blue flight led by Lt. King. As we were climbing and setting course for home, he said his coolant was overheating and that it looked as if he were going down. He had his shutters open, but said the ship was through. I asked him if he was going to bail out and if he wanted me to stay with him, He said to go on with the rest of the Squadron and that he was going to crash land. I then lost sight of him as he was losing altitude.’

1st Lt. King crashed-landed his Mustang at Longueval at Martinpuich, about 6 mls (9¾ km) NE of Albert (Nord).

In his Individual Casualty Questionnaire (ICQ) the then Capt. King described his story from when he force landed his Mustang to being Liberated by American Forces on the 29th April 1945.

‘After crashing my plane, and setting it on fire, I evaded capture for one month, with the French Underground, where I met another US Airman, Lt. James Duncan, a B-17 Co-Pilot, from Etowah, NC. His plane had been hit with flak, and he baled out. We were captured July, 19, 1944 in civilian clothes with French papers in Barnay, France. The Luftwaffe refused to recognise us as Military Prisoners, and turned us over to the Gestapo Who eventually lodged us in a prison outside of Paris, where there were about 160 other American, Canadian, English, Australian and New Zealand Airmen all captured under similar circumstances and kept as Gestapo Prisoners. One of the American Airman in my cell, was a 1st. Lt. Beck a Fighter Pilot from the 9th Air Force, his home was out in Los Angeles, Cal, On Aug. 15, 1944 so were loaded in box cars and taken to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp at Weimar Germany, where we were held until recognised as military prisoners. The treatment in this camp that we received, was just as bad as that reported in all concentration camps. The senior officer among the Americans was Capt. Lerwen or Larsen, a P-38 Fighter Pilot, from California. While at Buchenwald Lt. Beck took sick and because of his weakened condition, from lack of food, he could not combat his sickness, and he died, and his body was cremated. Many of the men took sick and although they recovered enough to stay alive I believe they'll always have some effects of their sickness both mentally and physically the rest of their life. One of the men who took sick was Capt. Larsen, and although he came with us to a military prison camp at Sagan in Nov. he never fully recovered, and when we were marched from Sagan to Nurnberg he suffered so such that he could not make the march from Nurnberg to Moosburg. they left his behind in the hospital at Nurnberg, and I nor any of the other ex-prisoners I have talked with have seen or heard of his since’.

Fresnes prison is located to the south of Paris and 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 the 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.

Burial details:

None. The pilot survived

1st Lt. King initially enlisted in United States Marine Corp (USMC) on the 13th August 1936 and was deactivated as a Cpl. on the 12th August 1940. He was transferred into the reserve until the 4th December 1940.

He then served three years with the RCAF before transferring to the USAAF on the 31st August 1943.

He enlisted in the Air Corps Army of the United States (ACAUS) and was promoted to M/Sgt. On the 5th November he was promoted to Flight Officer (FO) and undertook pilot training. On the 4th May 1944 he was commissioned and promoted to 2nd Lt. and then to 1st Lt. on the 10th June 1944.

Above: Clipping courtesy of The Boston Globe, dated 19th September 1943.

Flight Officer (FO) Myles A. King T-223064 was awarded the Air Medal (AM) on the 23rd February 1944 and three Oak Leaf Clusters between the 20th May 1944 and the 3rd July 1944.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DFC) on the 13th July 1944.

After returning to the United States he remained in the Service. He was promoted to Capt. on the 28th February 1946 and transferred to the Reserve.

He served with the USAF in Vietnam and retired as a Maj.

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).

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