Wars' Voices

10/05/2023

I am writing about history no one had heard before. It is an amazing journey.

01/03/2018

Stalag Luft III – posted FB 180103
As the war turned against the Germans, the conditions for the prisoners was dire. The Fuhrer’s emphatic statement, “No prisoners of war would fall into the hands of the enemy, the Allies,” was an earnest proclamation.

On the morning of January 27th Hi**er ordered, "the prisoners would not be moved." Later that evening, the order was repealed. Around seven o’clock that evening, the men were told to ready themselves for evacuation.

At eleven o’clock, the forced march of South Compound, out of Stalag Luft III, began. Some 2,000 prisoners broke trail for the 8,000 that followed in the next seven hours. Below freezing temperatures, blowing snow on top of the six-to-ten inches made the 27-hour forced march oppressive.

In the weeks that followed January of 1945, an estimated two hundred forty thousand prisoners marched away from their camps with the advance of the Allies – the Russian onslaught in the east and the British and American assault on west.

These forced marches in the brutal winter months of 1945 found Allied prisoners marching countless miles without food and shelter, and with the potential of being strafed by their own Air Force. When finally the Third and Last Reich foundered in a cloud of putrid dust, some 250,000 British, Commonwealth and American prisoners marched briskly out of the ruins.

–The Last Escape / Stalag Luft III, The Secret Story

11/17/2017

Leo Boehlens, a mechanic in the US Air Force, served at Clark Field with the 24th Pursuit Group, 21st Pursuit Squadron. Born in Basin, Wyoming on 06/02/1914, he was stationed in the Philippines for only a short time before the Japanese attack, around noon, on December 8th, 1941. The 8th was the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor. These soldiers were serving across the International Date Line. That day, the Japanese heavily bombed Clark and Nichols Field.

Because many military personnel and planners believed the Japanese attack would occur in the spring of 1942, the US and Filipino troops were caught unprepared.

The 24th Squadron was no different than the rest of the US Air Forces in the Philippines, as many of their aircraft were damaged or destroyed during the Japanese attack.

Boehlens salvaged two different manufactured P-40s, and created one usable P-40 for the fight. It dipped on takeoff, but flew normally once air-born. Heavy fighting continued on Luzon forcing the 24th Pursuit Group to escape to Bataan.

Once there, Leo was ordered by his commander Ed Dyess to leave on one of the last aircraft off the island, therefore escaping the Bataan Death March.

Flown to Mindanao, Boehlens was held at the Davao Penal Colony, where eventually Dyess and others from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp were transferred.

The atrocities and need to survive forced ten of the prisoners to escape from the Davao Penal Colony. Leo was one of them. Leo, Dyess and eight Americans and two Filipinos escaped on April 4, 1943. It was the largest escape from a Japanese prison camp, during the war.

The Japanese used escapes for executing other prisoners. Each man was linked to nine others, meaning the Japanese would possibly kill 90 prisoners due to the escape by the ten Americans. Documents held in the Wars Voices archive, state that 57 men were executed because of this escape. More Later . . .

09/16/2017

Some years ago, I received a suitcase of Radio Tokyo Letters. Not only were there 327 letters representing the POWs held by the Japanese, but thousands of notes with POWs names, some with messages. One was from a nurse, Bertha Dworsky. She served on Bataan, and was ordered to Corregidor prior to its fall on April 9, 1942. On the tadpole sized island, she served the sick and wounded in the hospital wards connected to the Malinta Tunnel. Bertha was captured May 6th, 1942, and was held at Santo Tomas, in Manila until February 3, 1945, when she was liberated by the "flying column" of the 1st Cavalry. Pictured in this image from Wikipedia are: L to R: Bertha Dworsky; Sallie P. Durrett; Earlene Black; Jean Kennedy; Louise Anchieks; Millie Dalton. Picture taken by Japanese.

08/02/2017

For many years, I have been affiliated with men from Stalag Luft III, the Great Escape camp of WWII fame, and am an honorary member of that organization, for the oral histories that I have completed with these men. Stalag Luft III is combining efforts with the 100th Bomb Group for a reunion on October 19-22, 2017 in Herndon, Virginia. Please visit: https://100thbg.com/ for information about the reunion.

A registration packet can be downloaded from the 100th BG Foundation website listed above. Please look at the program and schedule as it is full of interesting opportunities for learning. Also, please share this information with anyone you feel may be interested in attending. Thanks!

The site search at the top of each main page searches articles, photos, videos, crew information pages, etc. The site search does not search the database. Use the site search to find general information that is not included in the database.

08/02/2017

It has been a long time since posting any news about Wars' Voices. We completed a grant this last spring, and visited 21 schools, presented 51 programs to students and gave 11 public programs in all every corner of Wyoming. Look for more good news.

09/28/2015

12/04/2014

We have been working on a website that features POWs held in the Pacific by the Japanese. These POWs were allowed to relay a message to their families via shortwave on Radio Tokyo. A woman in my community would listen, write their message in shorthand and then write the families relaying the message from their family member that was a POW. The website is called www.warsvoices.org. Take a look!

Corregidor Surrender About 4,000 of the 11,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war from Corregidor were marched through the streets of Manila to incarceration at Fort Santiago and Bilibid Prison, criminal detention centers turned POW camps. US Army and Navy nurses (the “Angels...

05/02/2013

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.617635814931401.1073741846.144604392234548&type=1

MSgt Susan Rider sounds "Taps" at the WWII Memorial for the Stalag Luft III reunion (Stalag Luft III was later made famous by the movie "The Great Escape"). Stalag Luft III (Stammlager Luft, or main camp for aircrew) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured servicemen.

05/02/2013

Check out the images of the POWs at the WWII Memorial. Thanks to our bugler Susan. Good looking set of fellows.

04/29/2013

Yesterday the reunion of Stalag Luft III Prisoners of War ended in Washington DC. The stories were remarkable and the lessons learned profound. Wish you were all here. Click like if you know a POW or veteran you respect and care for.

11/11/2011

Today is Veteran's Day - 111111. The men and women that serve in our military give to all of us. We are lucky to have the dedication and commitment that they have for us. Remember them today.