The Secret Rescue
Page 24
dug foxholes “[807th] War Diary for September 1943”; Hayes, interview.
“The great news that you have heard” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Teddington, UK: Echo Library, 2007), 136.
climbed in the back of military trucks “[807th] War Diary for September 1943”; Hayes, interview; Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.
Roman arches and a German fighter plane Hayes, interview.
twenty-five nurses Ibid.
While most in the 807th “[807th] War Diary for September 1943”; Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History.”
old apartment building Hayes, interview.
women spent their days Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.
three weeks after their arrival “[807th] War Diary for October 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA.
successfully delivered [patients] Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA; Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History.”
turned the tide Bruce Robinson, “World War Two: Summary Outline of Key Events,” BBC, History, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ww2_summary_01.shtml; “Timeline of World War II: 1943,” PBS, http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_timeline_1943.htm.
medics were stationed Hayes, interview.
so picturesque Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.
four flight surgeons Robert F. Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation in the USAF, 1909–1960 (Air Force Research Institute, 1960), 79.
up to twenty-four patients per flight Hayes, interview; “Douglas C-53D Skytrooper,” Aerospace Museum of California, http://www.aerospaceca.org/museum_aircraft/douglas_c-53d_skytrooper.html,
responsibility for the patients Hayes, interview; Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation, 92.
required the teams to split up Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History”; Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation, 79.
807th’s primary responsibility Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation, 197; “[807th] War Diary for October 1943.”
casualties pouring in “[807th] War Diary for October 1943.”
On one of Hayes’s first flights Hayes, interview.
On one of Rutkowski’s flights Eugenie Rutkowski to her daughter, undated and unpublished letter.
on their own Hayes, interview; Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.
caught rides on combat planes Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA; Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers; Hayes, interview.
1,651 patients “[807th] War Diary for October 1943.”
Chapter 3
November 8 Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) No. 1147, Roll A6544, AFHRA; operations officer 61st Troop Carrier Squadron to commanding officer 314th Troop Carrier Group, memo attached to MACR No. 1147, November 13, 1943, Roll A6544, AFHRA; “[807th] War Diary for November 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA; statements by returning personnel, Roll A6544, AFHRA. Hayes believes the plane crash-landed in Albania on November 7, 1943, and the AAF did not consider the thirty Americans missing until November 8 because they were present for the November 7 Morning Report, which recorded units’ personnel changes.
boarded jeeps Agnes Jensen Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th; Hayes, interview.
sky was clear for the first time in days Hayes, interview; World Data Center for Meteorology, http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/wdc. Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 10, indicated that it was raining while the nurses were driving to the airfield, but data for that day in Catania shows no precipitation.
galoshes Hayes, interview.
Simpson Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 10; Robert L. Simpson, 90, “District Pediatrician,” Washington Post, January 13, 2002.
Storms had grounded the 807th Hayes, interview.
Bari and Grottaglie Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.
807th’s medics dressed in Hayes, interview.
military leggings Ibid.
On one of the mornings Ibid.
former medic who refused to fly Ibid.; “[807th] War Diary for October 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA.
Hornsby Hayes, interview; “[807th] War Diary for November 1943.”
C-53D Skytrooper Missing Air Crew Report No. 1147; Hayes, interview.
C-47 Skytrain “C-47 Skytrain Military Transport,” Boeing, History, http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/skytrain.htm; Jim Winchester, ed., Aircraft of World War II (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004), 80-81.
the C-47 was considered by Eisenhower Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1948), 163–164.
every theater Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, World War II: The Encyclopedia of the War Years 1941–1945 (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2012), 183; “C-47 Skytrain Military Transport,” Boeing.
Almost identical Polmar and Allen, World War II, 183; “Douglas C-53D Skytrooper,” Aerospace Museum of California. http://www.aerospaceca.org/museum_aircraft/douglas_c-53d_skytrooper.html.
Among a few other planes Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation in the USAF, 1909–1960 (Air Force Research Institute, 1960), 95; Bruce Green, “Challenges of Aeromedical Evacuation in the Post–Cold War Era,” Aerospace Power Journal 15 (Winter 2001): 14–26.
never flown together Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 10.
61st Troop Carrier Squadron Missing Air Crew Report No. 1147; 61st Troop Carrier Squadron War Diary, Roll A0984, AFHRA.
dropped paratroops 61st Troop Carrier Squadron History, Roll A0984, AFHRA.
pilot… had canceled the trip Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
prominent Daytona Beach, Florida, family David F. Mitchell, e-mail interview, July 17, 2012; Dana Ramsey, e-mail interview, June 4, 2012.
Bolles Military Academy David F. Mitchell, e-mail interview, July 17, 2012; The Eagle (Bolles Military Academy Yearbook), 1939, 29.
enlisted in 1941 Charles B. Thrasher record, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946, NACP, http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=WR26.
promoted the previous month 61st Troop Carrier Squadron History.
Baggs William Hunter Baggs, phone interview, December 20, 2011; James A. Baggs record, U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946.
Foster Field “Commissioned at Randolph Field,” Savannah Morning News, February 16, 1943.
one hundred missions “Lieut. Baggs Has an Unusual Record,” Savannah Morning News, December 21, 1945.
Shumway Bill Shumway, e-mail interview, May 24, 2012.
filled in for Hayes, interview.
Lebo Clifford M. Lebo, Craig D. Lebo, Gayle A. Yost, e-mail interviews, August 26, 2012.
first of the medical personnel Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 9.
Headstrong and independent Mangerich family video; Jon Mangerich, Karen Curtis, interviews, Naples, Florida, February 18–19, 2012.
training of ANC nurses Robert J. Parks and William S. Mullins, eds., Medical Training in World War II (Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, 1974), 127–130.
dinner dates and dancing Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.
including Rutkowski Lee Whitson, telephone interview, October 11, 2011; “Detroit Nurse Is Missing in Italian Area,” NPN, 1943 newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.
required stewardesses to be nurses Futrell, Development of Aeromedical Evacuation, 91.
Dawson “Former Stewardess Missing in Action,” The Era (Bradford, PA), November 30, 1943.
Kanable “Serves Ove
rseas: Lieut. Pauleen J. Kanable,” Wisconsin State Journal, September 30, 1943.
Kopsco Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 27.
Others who piled into the plane Kathi Jackson, They Called Them Angels: American Military Nurses of World War II (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), 2.
“Tassy” Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 40.
one of five children “Three Nurses from Michigan Reported Safe,” NPN, 1944 newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.
younger brother Willard Bette Newell, e-mail interview, December 7, 2012; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 172.
“Marky” Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 26; Hayes, interview.
Hayes Hayes, interview.
sat across from Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 9.
Pennsylvania Railroad William Eldridge personnel file, NPRC.
medics who were married Hayes, interview; Wanetta Wolf, obituary, February 12, 2006, http://www.clinehansonfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/clineh0/obit.cgi?user=wanetta; Kristin Zeiber-Pawlewicz, e-mail interview, June 19, 2012; Elva Brooks, e-mail interview, January 20, 2013.
easygoing Kristin Zeiber-Pawlewicz, e-mail interview, June 19, 2012.
whose brother had been taken prisoner “Adams, Brother of Wake Captive, Lost Near Italy,” NPN, 1943 newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.
Abbott had switched places Abbott, Out of Albania, 9.
Rutkowski had learned Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 26.
roughly two-hour flight Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
Simpson… had also boarded Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 10.
Bari was open Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA.
Shumway secured Hayes, interview.
Around eight thirty a.m. Several passengers, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA. Though the Missing Air Crew Report listed 9:00 a.m. as the departure time, and Thrasher’s statement gave 7:30 a.m., several of the passengers, including Dawson, Kanable, Owen, and Jensen, said the plane took off between 8:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 13, said the plane was flying with two others that morning. Though Lieutenant T. E. Yarbrough described piloting one of those planes in a letter to Mangerich many years later, neither Mangerich nor Hayes remembered seeing any other planes flying with them that morning. Lieutenant Joseph Rogers, the other pilot mentioned by Yarbrough, mentioned the flight in a family history and included a newspaper reference, but no other sources could be found.
within fifteen minutes Hayes, interview.
paged through magazines or books Ibid.
Watson read a book Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.
control tower at Bari Missing Air Crew Report No. 1147.
classified as confidential “Pilots’ Information File,” War Department, April 9, 1943, PIF 3-3-1.
[experiences during flight] Hayes, interview; Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 11–19; Abbott, Out of Albania, 10–14; McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, 1991; Eugenie Rutkowski to her daughter, undated and unpublished letter.
IFF Hayes, interview; “Pilots’ Information File,” War Department, April 9, 1943, PIF 1-3-2; Geoffrey Perret, Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II (New York: Random House, 1993), 74; Frederik Nebeker, Dawn of the Electronic Age: Electrical Technologies in the Shaping of the Modern World, 1914–1945 (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009), 455.
“Look out there!” Hayes, interview.
both experienced swimmers Ibid.
airfield Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA, identified the location of the airfield as Fushë-Krusjë.
forgotten to switch the fuel tanks Hayes, interview.
“What’s that plane doing?” Ibid.
“Butcher Bird” Winchester, Aircraft of World War II, 94–95.
less than a few hundred feet from the waterline Hayes, interview.
black eye McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, 1991.
Chapter 4
picked up Shumway Hayes, interview.
shot of morphine Ibid.
[crash aftermath] Ibid.; Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA; Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 11–19; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 10–14.
[crash site] Peter Lucas and Edi Kurtezi located the crash site near the village of Çestie in the mid-1990s with a map from Lloyd Smith showing the general location. Lucas wrote of it in his book Rumpalla: Rummaging Through Albania (Xlibris, 2002). With this information and confirmation of the location from a document found in the German archives, the author visited the crash site in March 2012.
sandals made of old tire carcasses Hayes, interview; H. W. Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet (1946), collected in The Seven Mountain-Travel Books (1983; repr., London: Bâton Wicks, 2010), 349.
[Albania during World War II] “Implementation Study for the Over-all and Special Program Pertaining to Albania, Office of Strategic Services,” December 30, 1943, RG 226, entry 116, box 1, folder 1, NACP; Roderick Bailey, The Wildest Province: SOE in the Land of the Eagle (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008); Bernd J. Fischer, Albania at War: 1939–45 (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999); David Smiley, Albanian Assignment (London: Sphere Books, 1984); E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies, Illyrian Venture: The Story of the British Military Mission to Enemy-Occupied Albania 1943–44 (London: Bodley Head, 1952); Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet.
“personally cut the throats” Smiley, Albanian Assignment, 56.
[Albanian history] Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History (London, Tauris, 2006); Raymond Zickel and Walter R. Iwaskiw, eds., Albania: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1992); “Albania,” Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
Baggs asked Gina Hayes, interview.
Draža Mihailovi “Dragoljub Mihailovi,” Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
“my dear” Hayes, interview.
shoot down their plane Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 27; Abbott, Out of Albania, 20.
Albanian Vocational School Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 43; Joan Fultz Kontos, Red Cross, Black Eagle: A Biography of Albania’s American School (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 17–58.
offered to lead them Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 23; Abbott, Out of Albania, 20–21.
IFF Hayes, interview; “Pilots’ Information File,” War Department, April 9, 1943, PIF 1-3-2; Perret, Winged Victory, 74; Nebeker, Dawn of the Electronic Age, 455.
activated a charge Hayes, interview.
“Hey, Baggs, hurry it up!” Ibid.
coats Ibid.
transport Shumway Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 23; Abbott, Out of Albania, 21.
carried the machine gun Hayes, interview.
small stone hut Ibid.; Abbott, Out of Albania, 23.
two-story house Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 23; Abbott, Out of Albania, 23.
Gjolen “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.
After a long discussion Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 25.
kaval Hayes, interview.
cheese… cornbread Ibid.; Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers. McKenzie mentioned only cornbread. Abbott, Out of Albania, 23, mentioned cornbread and boiled chicken. Wilma Dale Lytle Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans,” Falmouth Outlook, May 18, 1964, mentioned cornbread, eggs, chicken, and cheese.
nurses gave the liners Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans.”
Hayes stretched out Hayes, interview.
Jens… detached the hood Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 28–30.
the 807th in Catania “[807th] War Diary
for November 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA; untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.
“Someone has been in my musette bag!” Hayes, interview.
sentenced them to be shot Tilman, When Men and Mountains Meet, 349.
Hayes’s bag Hayes, interview.
pitcher of water Ibid.; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 31; Abbott, Out of Albania, 27.
Chapter 5
commandant Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott, Out of Albania, ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 29.
[attempt to burn plane] Hayes, interview.
clock Koli Karaja, telephone interview through translator Albana Droboniku, December 22, 2012; Koli Karaja, interviews by Ajet Nallbani in Berat on behalf of the author, December 2012.
Hayes thought it was safer Hayes, interview.
finally set the plane ablaze Ibid.; Agnes Jensen Mangerich, Albanian Escape (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 36; Abbott, Out of Albania, 32.
Kahreman Ylli Personal papers of Hasan Gina, courtesy of the family of Hasan Gina.
considering two options Hayes, interview; Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA. According to Hayes, the Americans did not learn that the British were operating in Albania until much later. They thought a British downed airman might be in the country but not organized British missions. If they had learned of British officers in the area, it seems likely that the Americans would have immediately sought their help. Thrasher mentioned in his statement that they didn’t look for the British until after the attack on Berat. Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 34, and Abbott, Out of Albania, 31, both mentioned learning about British agents early on, though Mangerich later wrote about the party learning for the first time that British were working with the partisans (77).
water buffalo or ox Hayes, interview; Mangerich, Albanian Escape, 35; Abbott, Out of Albania, 30; Wilma Dale Lytle Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans,” Falmouth Outlook, May 18, 1964. Hayes and Mangerich both reported the animal was an ox. Abbott and Gibson identified the animal as a water buffalo, as did the article “Balkan Escape,” Collier’s, April 1, 1944, which reported interviews with Lillian Tacina and Eugenie Rutkowski.