Former RAF POWs share experiences with Mildenhall Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  About 50 Airmen were given a first-hand account of life in a German World War II prison camp during a question-and-answer session held here Sept. 16.

Historian Dr. Howard Tuck, whose career is dedicated to military history, introduced Air Cmdr. (retired) Charles Clarke and Andrew Wiseman, both of whom were imprisoned in Stalug Luft III during World War II.

As part of RAF Mildenhall's POW/MIA Remembrance Week, the pair took turns telling how each were shot down in RAF bombers and were interred at the prison camp. Commodore Clarke told the audience how, after bailing out of his Lancaster and parachuting into a snow drift, he was picked up by German soldiers searching for a downed American aircrew.

When he arrived at the camp, he was forbidden to talk to anyone and had difficulties locating other RAF airmen. At one point, he began singing a song from a popular movie he'd seen earlier that week in London, and when he heard someone answer in kind, he knew he wasn't alone.

Later, in the '50s, Commodore Clarke made contact with, and actually accepted an invitation to visit the German fighter pilot who shot him down.

Despite the harrowing experiences he recounted, Mr. Wiseman told the story of his bailout over occupied France with a touch of humor. Having leaped from his burning Halifax bomber, he "managed to land in the only tree around," he said chuckling.

Mr. Wiseman was directed to a French farmhouse for assistance, but when a German soldier answered the door, he tried to pretend he had the wrong house. The ruse didn't work, and he was captured. The former Halifax navigator told how a clerical oversight he didn't bother to fix kept his identity as a Jew secret from his captors.

When Mr. Wiseman had been issued his identification tags, they bore the wrong religious preference. He pointed out the error and was offered replacement tags, but when he found out about the burdensome process of having them remade, he decided to just keep the set he had.

Both former POWs told, each in their own words, of the tight security within Stalag Luft III - not by the German guards but by the RAF airmen interred there.

"We had to be careful, because the Germans would place English-speaking soldiers in with us as spies," Mr. Wiseman said. He explained that each person in the camp had to be vouched for by two people already there in good standing. Unfortunately, when he arrived there was no one there who knew him.

Mr. Wiseman had to shadow one of the camp's leaders until the following week, when a new group of prisoners arrived who could vouch for him after being identified themselves.

After sharing their individual stories with the audience, the men answered questions about life in the camp, flying in English weather and bailout procedures during their days as bomber aircrew.

Dr. Tuck, while giving background on German POW camps in World War II, said they were a "breeding ground for ingenuity."

He told how some of the best lawyers, doctors, actors and other professionals came from POW camps, where many were able to study and earn degrees.

"You had some of the most remarkable individuals living behind the wire," he said.