In my October Newsletter, I wrote about story ideas and where they came from. In Call of the Wind the idea of a pilot being shot down in enemy territory was inspired by my Uncle Bart’s experience in WW II. He was the co-pilot of a B-17 that was hit by flak over Germany and made a crash landing in Holland. Here is the entire account of the story taken from a newspaper article, a piece he wrote about the experience after he returned home, and a piece written in 1990 when he went to Vollenhove, Holland for a 45th year reunion with the crewmen and the underground resistance.
The arrow in the photo below points out the man who is Lt. John Bart Calkins.
Here is Lt. John Bart Calkin’s story:
“On January 28, 1945, on our 21st bombing mission, I was co-pilot for a B-17 with a ten-man crew. We had just released our bombs on the target in Koln (Cologne), Germany, when our aircraft “Sleepy Lagoon” was damaged by 88 millimeter antiaircraft shells (flak). The ball turret gunner was injured, and the propellers of two the left engines were severely damaged—one engine was on fire. Because of this we were unable to feather the engines to reduce drag. We put the aircraft into a steep slip to the right and managed to extinguish the flames. The Sleepy Lagoon was steadily losing altitude at the rate of about 800 feet per minute.
“We followed the bomber groups northwest out of Germany into Holland for about an hour and twenty minutes. No heaters were functioning in the cockpit and the pilot’s side window was frozen shut. Luckily, I forced the right window open and searched for a minute or two for a landing site—found a beautiful meadow and headed straight in. The pilot followed me through on the controls, and we made a smooth crash, belly landing in a moderate snowstorm in the Dutch town of Steenijk, Holland, which was in enemy-held territory. We hadn’t bailed out because of the wounded gunner.
“Local Dutch farmers heard the engines of our aircraft and immediately ran over the Sleepy Lagoon to assist us. They told us to run in a southerly direction, because the Germans were coming to capture us. There was a nearby German outpost, although we did not realize how close the Germans were at the time. One couple took our wounded ball-turret gunner, Sgt. Cappiello, and top turret gunner, Sgt. Zinner to the local doctor. We heard later that they were captured the next day.
“Sgt. Phelps and Sgt. Senchuk decided to travel together, the remaining six of us stayed together. We could not travel on roads or cross bridges over the canals because of the German sentries. It was snowing hard and the snow covered our tracks. We really ran hard. Once we had to hide in some bushed and watch the Germans go by.
“We came to a shallow lake which had frozen over. Crossing the lake we fell through a couple of times and became cold and wet.
“We managed to cover approximately twelve miles before we hid in the hayloft of a barn after midnight. The next morning we were so cold and hungry we knew we had to contact the underground—now or never. We had been in tough spots before, but this was about the toughest.
“The toggleier, Sgt. Keith Haight, and I contacted a farmer who was outside in a field beside his house. He wife gave us a pot of hot porridge and he told us to stay hidden in the barn till dusk and a member of the underground would guide us to other quarters.
“The next night, the commander of the local underground came to see us and tell us our options. We decided to change into civilian clothes even though the Germans might try to prove that we were spies. The underground also furnished us with pistols and, having made our decision to stay free men, we were ready to shoot it out with any German who might get in our way. They hid us in a canal boat for a few hours. We later learned, four hours after we left the Germans found the boat.
“The Dutch took us to another boat in a canal. But it was so cold it was decided we should be moved to houses in the village. We moved only at night and behind underground patrols. The patrols were in advance of every move and we crossed roads and open places on prearranged signals.
“The commander had his men take us to three different homes in the nearby communities. We usually moved singly with one underground man as a guide. As I was heading for the village, I was forced to hide in a snow bank while a German patrol went by.
“The gestapo was continuing the search for us, going through every house they suspected. The pilot, Lt. Jackson, and I stayed in the same room in the same house for three weeks. Every day we watched from the window as the German patrols came by. You could have spit on them from the window. The man we stayed with was a carpenter. He and his wife had a six-year-old girl that they sent up north so she wouldn’t talk about us. Her mother washed our clothes and prepared our meals. She was a brave woman who would have been killed if we were found in her home.
“Two of the gunners in another house had quite an experience. The Germans searched the place and the gunners hid in a false ceiling all the time they were there. They could hear the German’s talking. The two gunners finally dressed as girls and rode bicycles south. When they left their disguises they were spotted by the Germans and machine-gunned as they crossed a field. Still they got away. The rest of us stayed together.
“The Gestapo captured the leader of the underground and his wife, and the Germans were searching all the houses in the village looking for us, so it was decided we should be moved again. We went back to a canal boat in the lowland lake region.
“We camouflaged the boat with bushes on the side and roof of the cabin. Sgt. Haight and Sgt. Kelly were moved to the boat the same night. The Dutch provided us with two British Sten guns and a pistol. Lt. Lucas came out four weeks later. Eventually, we had five members of our crew, two Russian escapees and usually two or three underground men on this rather crowded canal boat. We slept head to feet in two crowded sections of the boat.
“Dried peat was used for fuel in a pot-belled stove. Our main meal consisted of potatoes, black bread and some milk and was cooked after dark. Occasionally they brought us cheese and whipping cream. It was delicious. The Dutch resistance rowed out at night gave us the same scarce food they were eating and we were so hungry it was wonderful. The Russians got fat on the black bread and potatoes.
“We stayed on the boat eight weeks. The two Russian sergeants had escaped from a German prison camp. We called them Little Rollo and Big Stoop. We all played cards and argued capitalism and communism.
“We left the boat in April and rowed across the lake and ran right into two hundred Germans coming down the highway. We hid in a ditch, and although it was cold and uncomfortable, we sweated as the Germans went by.
“After they passed, the underground patrol went out ahead of us and we retreated to a cow barn. We could hear the rumble of the battle twenty miles up ahead. After an hour in the barn, we went to a house in the village because the Germans were retreating down the roads ahead of the advancing 1st Canadian Army.
“After two days in the village, we took off again and ran into a Canadian patrol about eight miles away. We were then sent to Canadian Headquarters at Nijmegen, Holland.
“All of our crewmen survived the war and eventually made it back to the United States.
“I can’t say too much for the members of the Dutch underground. The Dutch boys, young men, who were supposed to be working in Germany, had a lot of nerve. One of them who helped us had escaped from Berlin. They too only move at night. Without their help I wouldn’t be alive.”
In WW II the German’s abducted 12 million European people and used them for forced labor in Germany. These Dutch boys avoided the abduction and joined the resistance.
Here is another account Uncle Bart wrote in December 1990 for the 45th year celebration of the local Vollenhove, Holland resistance.
“On April 22, 1945 ,the Canadian light artillery units were moving north into the areas near our hidden boat. In the morning, we left the boat went with some resistance members to the local town hall. In the town hall there were several men and women who had collaborated with the Germans. They cropped the girls’ hair short and the men were handcuffed. There were only a few traitors but the Dutch people weren’t going to put up with them so they were jailed until their trials took place.
“The local resistance commander was killed in a shootout with the Germans the day after we met the Canadians and headed south for the American army units in Brussels, Belguim. Later several of the underground member were sent to the Dutch East Indies in the Dutch army. One was killed and another was wounded overseas.
“When we returned to Holland in May of 1990, every former member of the underground, that was physically able to be there, was present for the anniversary of the liberation of all the western European countries from the tyranny of Nazi Germany. This included the local movement that had operated in the area from 1940 to 1945.
“Keith Haight and I had at the honor of unveiling the monument in the park in front of the city hall. After the ceremony we had a silent march of about two hundred people through the town of Vollenhove to the local cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of fourteen allied crew members that were buried there during the war. They ended with an impressive speech by one of the resistance members about fighting for a country’s freedom from tyranny.
“After the May 8th celebration, the Dutch people toured with us to various cities, museum, castles, and the palace and gardens of Het Oude Loo.
“Our visit to Holland was very memorable and emotional experience. As one underground member said, ‘You were over here fighting our common enemy and we wanted to help you when you were shot down.’”
If you’d like to learn more about B-17s, here is an excerpt from an article put out by the Hill Aerospace Museum in Utah.
“Inside the B-17. The first thing you’ll notice when peeking inside a B-17 is that it was built for combat, not comfort. Crews of 10—a pilot and copilot, bombardier, navigator, radio operator and five gunners—occupied the small cabin for six to eight hours per mission. The main cabin was barely tall enough for the crew to stand up straight. Flying at altitudes above 27,000 feet meant it got very cold in the aircraft, often below freezing temperatures. Outlets in the sides of the aircraft allowed the crew to plug in electric suits to stay warm. The crew also required oxygen above 15,000 feet and oxygen tanks were located throughout the aircraft.”
Click this link to read the whole article and view a short film.
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