SYNOPSIS

Members of crew

He hollered out that he couldn't breathe so I unplugged my oxygen mask and went to him with the portable walk-around bottle of oxygen he needed to breathe until he switched to the general oxygen system.
He pointed to show there were fighters around, then pointed to the waist gunner, Loorman, who was putting on his chute and then he began putting on his own parachute and I helped him.

After getting it on, he headed for the little hatch at the rear of the plane. That is when I knew we were bailing out. I had difficulty with the release on the waist compartment door but it finally loosened and I kicked out the door. Loorman went out the waist door hatch and I followed him. I don't know what happened to Loorman.

As I bailed out the waist compartment door my oxygen mask ripped off my face. I didn't use the bailout bottle because it was empty. The guys in the hangar had not filled it. I couldn't breathe for what seemed like a long time. Because I figured I might pass out, I pulled the rip-cord too soon and barely missed the the tail when my chute popped open. I wound up in a tree, hung up in the top of a pine tree in a sitting position with my feet barely touching the ground. I had no difficulty releasing myself from the parachute but hurt my back because I didn't double up when I pulled the ripcord and the jerk hurt my back.

When I took off the fur-lined leather jacket, I could hardly stand up and had to crawl out of the thick woods into an open field where Dutch people came.

They told me to go back into the woods where I met DeGhetto, the tail gunner. Then the people brought a burlap bag full of clothes for both of us. The bag included everything needed (not necessarily a true fit) but enough used clothes to outfit each of us with a jacket, shirt, tie, trousers, and shoes. The shoes were well worn, mine had soles that were nailed on and the nails were not bent over properly and cut into my feet. I was to be bothered with them until I found a change later on. We were grateful to the people for this clothing as it gave us a lift knowing that we had friends to help us. The women took care of the parachutes and were glad to get the nylon. Later I learned that we had landed near the town of Markelo in western Holland.

We were taken to separate places, I to a farmhouse and DeGhetto to someplace else. At the farmhouse they fed me barley and milk. In the evening a Holland policeman came on a bicycle and took me to another place. I rode on the rear of the bicycle on the carrier. I asked, "What do we do if the Germans come?". He pointed to his sidearm. I found out after the war that this local policeman's name was Gerrit Cornells Slotboom.

At this home I met up with DeGhetto again. We stayed here a few days then were moved again by Slotboom to a room over a garage. It belonged to Doctor Benny Wanrooy who examined my back and told me I had pulled a muscle but that I would be all right. We were told to remain extremely quiet because of the activity in the doctor's business. However we must not have been quiet enough because after a few days the good doctor requested Slotboom to move us as his servant-girl was becoming curious about the unexplainable noises. Slotboom contacted Gerardus J Niezink whom he knew was active in the underground as 'the Mouse' and arranged for transportation that evening with Mr Dollekamp, who owned a taxi used as an ambulance, but did not tell him who his passengers were. They were to go to the hospital in Almelo. The doctor invited Dollekamp inside the house for a cup of coffee while the aviators were put into the automobile.

They left with Slotboom sitting in the front seat with the driver. DoHekamp knew more or less what was done and who his passengers were and said that he knew he was risking his life. Dollekamp was told that Niezink who rode in front on his motorcycle was a nurse. They went by way of the town of Rijssen, where they were halted for control" but this did not cause any problem and they continued to Wierden where the driver was ordered to stop and the fliers got out and were guided to the house of Niezink.The Dutchman asked us for our escape photographs, which they knew were in our escape kits, in order for them to make cards of identity necessary for travel as a citizen. We never saw the photos again until after the war when we received copies from Art Horning who had gotten them from Niezink.

After about a week another helper and I traveled by train to go to Roermond in southern Holland on our way to Brussels. DeGhetto was left behind. I stayed in an old house overnight in Roermond then I was taken to the train station and told a helper would be there to help me on the train. The helper turned out to be a young girl with brown hair and about eighteen or nineteen years old. When I inquired about a card of identity and money and whatever else I would need for the trip, as promised, she said the train was coming and that she was sure everything would be all right without them. I told her that I didn't want her to be seated with me on the train, that she should sit elsewhere in the compartment. In case of apprehension by the Germans she could be killed if she was thought to be aiding me and I didn't want that. She told me that a helper would be waiting at the border town for me and to be careful of the German guards we might meet.

When the conductor came through the car asking for tickets, I looked at him because I didn't have any money, and he looked at me, and the other passengers looked at both of us. The conductor gave me a wink and went on about his business causing some questions in the minds of the passengers, I am sure. Everything went smoothly until I sensed we were nearing the border of Belgium. The train stopped and a couple of German border guards with brass insignia on their chests got on the train and started to inspect the papers of the passengers. As they approached our car I knew I had to do something drastic or wind up in prison which I was not going to do if I could help it. I told the girl I was going to jump from the train and she said I would be killed. I told her to make sure the man would be waiting in the next town and that if she was questioned not to think of me but to do whatever was necessary to protect herself.

I then got on the lowest step on the outside of the train. At this point I began to question my judgment but thoughts of being a prisoner settled it for me and I jumped along the track, rolling in the stones and dirt. Luckily there were no broken bones. I guess the train was going thirty-five to forty miles an hour. After the train passed, I crawled to the middle of the tracks and lay sprawled there thinking that the Germans would not have a good shot at me if they were going to shoot, especially as the train pulled away and the perspective of me became smaller.

When it was safe to get up and go again I headed for the town which I could see a few miles distant. I didn't want to follow the train into town as I was sure the station would be especially guarded, since it was a border town. So I decided to skirt the station and come into the town elsewhere. As I headed for a fenced in field, a huge bull appeared and it followed me around the field.

I didn't realize how large the field was but I must have spent an hour getting into the town, hoping all the time that the man to meet me was still there.

When I got to the town I noticed a German guard on patrol so I waited until he turned his back then crossed into the town proper. I walked around for about an hour looking into shop windows and generally just killing time while waiting for my helper.

At the same time I noticed a man on the other side of the street following me from over there. I figured he was my man and time was getting short so I turned and headed for him just as he was heading for me. Quietly, he asked, "American?", and I knew I had made a connection when he said, "Follow me!"

We walked outside of town to a farmhouse owned by a Flemish couple who fed us and then we started for Brussels. After several helpers and travel by walking, trucks and auto, - mostly walking - we arrived in Brussels.

In Brussels, I was interrogated by a young man who had lived in New York City and asked questions about American sports,such as sports figures, teams, averages, etc., to which I was honest and replied I could not answer to them as I was not interested in sports. DeGhetto, who arrived before me and had passed the interrogation, spoke up and said I was a crew member of his crew and that ended the questioning.

After the interrogation, I was fed and pictures were taken again for cards of identity, (which I never did receive) some clothing was replaced and then I was transferred, leaving DeGhetto behind never to see him again.

I was taken to a well-appointed, modern apartment where two beautiful girls, Charlotte Ambach and Madelon Ambach Frisque, lived with their family. They asked for and I gave them my escape maps and benzedrine tablets for which they said I would no longer have need. My feet were in bad shape. The shoes I wore had been repaired and the nails used to secure the soles and heels were not bent over completely so they dug into my feet, resulting in sore and bleeding feet. So I was washing my feet in the bathroom,with the door open, and heard the girls laughing at me as I was washing rny feet in what was called a 'bidet'. I had never heard of, or seen, anything like it before. It certainly did the trick for me, too.

I was there only one night would have liked to stay longer but there were other flyers coming down the line to be accommodated the same as I. I was promised a card of identity in Holland and Brussels but never received one at either place.

I was transferred to another house in Brussels where I stayed for about a month (!?! - week). This was the residence of Anne Brusselmans and her husband who worked for the gas company in Brussels. She was well decorated for her war time efforts with evaders and a well known person in the underground movement. Her husband's job made movement around the city easy and was of great importance to the movement. She and her daughter are now citizens of the United States, residing in Florida, and are welcome additions to our country. (After moving to the USA, Anne visited me, and we had a pleasant time together.)

After my stay in Brussels I was taken to Paris. I was worried because I had no card of identity which all persons were required to carry at all times, I was informed it would not be necessary - they would take care of things. At the train station were many Germans we managed to walk around. From Paris (helped by Germaine Bajpai) I was taken to Chantilly a town just outside of Paris, where I lived in an apartment over a cafe. I was told to remain quiet as the people below could hear my movements. I was able to see the German troops marching and going through drills on the campus of the large university across the street.

I was in Paris about six months and got well acquainted with the people there. The man of the house was retired - said he was gassed in WW1 - he moaned and groaned and said his legs ached so he used a cane ... at least he used it on the street but didn't need it in the house. I don't know whether or not he was faking.

A resistance member since September 1940, Fleuriot workied with Mr Jourdain and Dr. Parlange helping escaped Pows. In liaison with Jourdain he picked up US aviators.Both airmen were brought to Fleuriot by Jourdain and stayed there weeks. At which time Fleuriot turned them over to Jourdain again, who arranged their passage via Spain.
Lepkowski and Kellers confirm staying with the above for two weeks. Prior to that they were lodged at Gentilly by the Marie-Odile group for five months.

One day, a man and a red haired woman came for me and I was told the woman was going to escort me with a group to the Pyrenees. The group met in Montmarte. There were thirty people in the group which I told the woman was too large a group. I said I would not go but they persuaded me that all would be OK.

We boarded the train which was full of Vichy soldiers who were sitting and sleeping in the aisles, and everywhere. In general they were not saying anything but keeping their thoughts to themselves as were we which was to our benefit. We had a replacement woman helper. We all fitted in some way and we started for Toulouse.

At Toulouse, we got off the train, split up and went to different homes in the area. I, with a few other people, went to the home of an old lady who fed us and gave us bread in paper sacks before we headed back to the train station to board again for the trip to the Pyrenees.

I again stated to the woman helper that there were too many people in the group. We weren't in the station more than five minutes when a Mercedes pulled up and a man in an expensive suit got out, someone yelled "Gestapo" and Germans started to come in.

We ran in all directions, I ran across the street through the front door of a house and ran through the house out the backdoor. If that door had been locked, I would have been nailed to it. From there I went to other streets and after awhile, the woman and a few of the group came about and gathered the group for the remainder of the trip.

We found later that Toulouse was a main headquarters for the Gestapo. After the war I heard the old lady who gave us the bread for the trip was killed.

From Toulouse we traveled to the town of Bagneres de Luchon at the foot of the Pyrenees. We still had about thirty people all trying to get out of France; too many, I told the leader. There were all kinds: Englishmen, Dutchmen, doctors, who knows how many different people.

In Bagneres we acquired a Basque guide who immediately had us walk through a plowed field on the way to the mountain, the footprints of thirty people were quite visible and I lost faith in him immediately. We were all in the street clothes with which we came off the train, not proper mountain climbing clothes but we were glad to get started. We traveled above the tree line in the snow. In order to cover our tracks we walked in creeks, in the ice cold water whenever we could. We stopped several times to rest and to take off our socks and wring them out but that was worse than leaving them on. We walked along a ledge, high up the mountain, where there was just enough room for your feet to make the crossing and looking down, buildings looked like toys.

At another place there was shale and it was rough making headway: one step forward and two steps back. I had a branch and I would dig it in and hang on while making a step forward. I don't know how the other people did it but I am surprised we did not lose anybody.

After two days and nights of mountain climbing without sleep and very little to eat we reached the top of the mountain which had about a five foot circular flat spot.

Then we started down the other side. We could see the German patrol going by in the valley below. It started to snow making it difficult for the Germans to see us which helped a lot. We held up for a while and after the patrol passed we got going again.

The Germans finally caught up with us about a mile from the Spanish border. I hid in some brush. Most were captured the first day. I was the last to get caught. The Germans passed by me all day long and I stayed there without food or water for three days, eating snow for sustenance. Finally, I decided to make a go of it and started for the top of the mountain, figuring the Germans would not expect me to go to the obvious. When I got near the top of the mountain, above the tree line, I could see a brick building which I didn't know was there, a ski resort, I believe. Immediately I started back down to the tree line, but it was too late, my footprints were in the snow and they captured me that afternoon.

They came up on me and I managed to evade them by running away the first couple of times when they yelled "Halt," but then they sneaked up to within forty feet and fired a shot. There were three of them going from tree to tree and as I stepped back, they fired a shot over my head and that did it.

They took me back up the mountain to the brick building, the ski resort, which was filled with Gestapo, who laughed and said, "For you the war is over. We will take good care of you." They then took us (the captured group) back down the mountain to the village of Bagneres, where they placed us in a basement with bars on the windows and doors. We stayed there about two weeks, being interrogated.

The Gestapo were merciless, using a rubber hose to pound on my legs, punching me on the face and knocking me on the back of the neck. This went on day and night and you got so tired you no longer cared what happened. The constant pounding on my legs resulted in bruises on bruises until there were open sores and then it got to the point where I was unable to walk. A guard came in one day, told me to get up for another interrogation and I refused. He took out his gun, pointed it at me and said he would shoot me if I didn't get up. I told him to shoot and do me a favor after which they let me alone and soon after this I was taken to Toulouse to the Gestapo headquarters there. I was in prison there for about three weeks with more interrogations which were severe but not as brutal as in Bagneres.

SS troops were going north and we were taken in their compartment to a French prison in Paris. It was a flea bitten place. Fleas got into your clothes and everything. I thought they would eat me alive. I was still wearing the same clothes I was given in Holland and they were a mess because I had to eat, sleep and live in them constantly. I was there about a month and then was moved, along with other prisoners accumulated there, to Germany.

Our clothes were deloused in the steamer they had there: none of that into Germany! We were examined for fleas as well. At the train station we were handcuffed after being asked if we wanted to wear our jackets which could not be taken off after the cuffs were put on.

We were put on a train with German soldiers going back to Germany after leave etc. and were taken off at Frankfurt and taken to the Gestapo headquarters there. There I was interrogated again for several days but not as brutally as before, they were trying to get information that might have been missed before.

After satisfying themselves that they had all they were going to get, they transferred me to the German air force personnel at Dulag Luft which was located in a barracks type prison atmosphere. But before transferring me they placed me in a windowless room with a pull down board for a bed and I thought that at last I would be in solitary confinement and for the first time be able to rest. I wasn't there more than a couple of hours when a Gestapo captain came in and apologized for the mistake that was made using English that had to have been learned at Oxford. That is when I was turned over to the German Air Force personnel .The German Air Force operated a transient barrack, like a prison camp for enemy air force personnel who were captured; they would be placed immediately in this camp without interference of the Gestapo and they would be handled by the German Air Force personnel before being shipped on to the other prisoner of war camps.

On the way to a barracks I spotted someone who looked like a doctor and I asked my guard if I might speak with him. I showed the Doctor the open sores on my legs and asked him for help. He gave me some white cream in a canning jar and also a wooden spatula telling me to spread the cream on my legs and to wrap it with the bandages he gave rne. This was the first medical help I had in several months.

After applying the medication as he directed my sores cleared up soon and I was able to walk without difficulty again. For this I was awarded a Purple Heart medal after the war.

After several weeks in this camp I was interred in the prisoner of war camp, Stalag No.4, about May 1944 - a month before the invasion. It was located in northern Poland - what was Prussia before the war. When the Russians were advancing the Germans moved us to Stettin in boxcars and for fourteen days we had so little room that one could not squat down or anything. The train would seldom stop but when it did we would all get out and use the great outdoors for a toilet and to get some food, if available.

Water was taken from the streams and creeks from which, miraculously, nobody seemed to get sick. After Stettin we were moved to Barth. We were released by the Russians from the camp at Barth about May 1945 and I got home about August 1945.1 was never interrogated in the concentration camps.

SUBJECT: Visit of Mr Emile CHASSAGNE and of Mme Veuve Jeanne VACQUIER
both living (probably in sin) at 127 Avenue de Montrouge, Gentilly, Seine
15 June 1945

1. The CHASSAGNE-VACQUIER couple sheltered T/Sgt Theodore B. KELLERS, and S/Sgt Stanley E LEPKOWSKI, (both PW who have been recently liberated) from 6 November 1943 until 29 March 1944. Both men were brought to the couple by Mme BASTIN, (nom de guerre "MICHELE") 7 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, Paris . Her chief was Commandant POTTIER, whose nom de guerre was "MARTIN" and who is believed to have been killed. Both the Americans had come from a Belgian filiere. While they were with the CHASSAGNE-VACQUIERS the filiere was broken and their hosts had to arrange themselves for their evacuation. They eventually got in touch with a Mr JOURDAIN whose present address is Service de Securite du General de Gaulle, 102 Rue de l'Universite, Paris VII. Mr JOURDAIN came for the aviators and took them to CLAMART where he lodged them. The exact name and. address of lodger unknown. They remained in this place from the 29 March until the 17 April 1944. When Mr JOURDAIN took them to the Gare d'Austerlitz they were convoyed to the South and were arrested as they were about to cross the Spanish frontier.
2. S/Sgt LEPKOWSKI recently called on the CHASSAGNE-VACQUIER couple and told them that both men were tortured by the Germans in an attempt to make them give details on their stay in the French underground. He also stated that both these man were arrested at the frontier because the convoy in which they were travelling was much too large.
3. Mme VACQUIER reports that they have a claim of 4.494 francs 25 centimes to make for lodging men. Mme BASTIN had already paid a certain amount (details forgotten) on 15 March 1945. Mme BASTIN still owed them 594 francs 25 centimes.From that date on Mr JOURDAIN's organisation promised to pay 300 francs daily. (39.000 francs remain due since all this sum was never collected).