The speakers program for March at the Smyth Public Library in Candia, NH featured WWII POW Gerry Smith from Durham, NH. The former University of New Hampshire professor kept his promise to speak for the allotted 50 minutes. The sellout crowd would have allowed for longer, if necessary.
Gerry was a UNH freshman when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His first instinct was to join the armed services. Time would not allow for all volunteers to join at once so he entered the Army Air Corps in 1942 after having been part of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He attended flight schools in New York, North Carolina and Louisiana in two month intervals, earning his wings before his 21st birthday.
All of Gerry’s 25 missions were daytime bombing runs or frag bombing runs to support ground troops. These were mainly from Sardinia, an island off the coast of Italy. He said his first mission over southern France shortly after the D-Day invasion at Normandy was a real eye-opening experience. On November 4, 1944, Gerry was to be granted a three-day pass to Rome, Italy. His squadron was shorthanded so his Captain had asked if “he would delay his time off” so he could participate in a special mission on Sunday, November 5.
Flying in a group of nine B-26’s, Gerry’s plane was hit by German fighters and his plane was shot down over Italy. He was forced to parachute to safety from his Martin B-26 Marauder bomber. He landed in a field surrounded by 12 German soldiers. He was actually glad to see them.
"The civilians would have done me in. They came at me with clubs and pitchforks," the Durham man said.
Much to his surprise, the German soldiers stationed at an .88 millimeter anti-aircraft gun station protected him from certain death. They also provided him with very good medical care. "I was on the operating table probably within a half-hour after I landed," Smith recalled.
Smith, a second lieutenant with the 320th Bomber Group of the 444rth Squadron, was also wounded by German shrapnel in his left arm and German doctors had few medical supplies.
Smith said they didn't have any sulfur or cloth bandages and used chloroform for anesthesia.
"I expected they would cut my arm off, but when I came to and saw it was in a cast, I was amazed," said Smith.
Gerry would spend time in a German hospital in Merano, Italy until being moved to a POW camp in February to Spittal, Austria. After just 10 days, Smith said he and five other POWs along with two German soldiers and a German under officer headed to a second Germany POW camp in Frankfurt am Mein, and later to a third POW camp in Nuremberg, Germany, which was Stalag XIIID.
On Easter Sunday in April, Smith said 30,000 POWs were marched to another POW camp in Nuremburg to Moosburg, Germany. His weight had dropped from 180 pounds to 100 pounds by the time General Patton's army liberated them on April 29, 1945.
Soldiers were flown to the United States in an orderly fashion, based on need and rank. Gerry returned to Mitchell Field in New York in late May. The base is now the home of Hofstra University. The pilot had given the returning soldiers a treat by flying past the Statue of Liberty twice so they would know they were home.
Smith spent 18 months at Cushing Hospital in Framingham, MA recovering from his injuries. He would be discharged in January, 1947. He had achieved the rank of captain, and was also awarded an Air Medal, Purple Heart, the European Theater of Operations Medal, the Mediterranean Theater of Operations Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and a Prisoner of War Medal.
Gerry returned to his alma mater to finish his studies and spent 35 years at UNH as a professor in Animal Science. With his wife, Gerry returned to Italy and Germany in 1979 to visit the place where he was shot down in Italy. They rented a car and drove from Rome to Merano, Italy, then to Spittal, Austria, and to Frankfurt am Mein, Nuremberg and Moosburg.
In a second trip in 2012 with the entire family, one of the 12 year old Italian boys, who was playing soccer in the field when Gerry’s plane was shot down in 1944, met the family. He had remembered Gerry and hugged him, after having checked his left arm to be sure.
Mr. Smith is a hero from the Greatest Generation. He is a marvelous speaker who brought great knowledge and joy to his presentation. I am happy to call him my friend.
http://youtu.be/UnOnvff7UXc
Paul Murphy
Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy
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