99th Bombarment Group
*** Note: This is a partial transcription of V. Fairbanks report. Other pages were unavailable.
An Italian officer then questioned me. He said he had lived in America for 14 years. I asked him why he had’nt stayed there. He did’nt answer. After the questioning (details in Paragraph 7, attached report) they took me to Bari where I stayed for 17 days. We had no blankets and we slept on the floor. We were fed once a day--- water, macaroni and cheese. There were 17 American flying officers there. I didn’t get acquainted with them. Then we were taken to a prisoner of war camp about 40 miles north of Rome. Two of us were put in one room for 21 days. We were exercised one hour every two days. We had macaronu and cheese. After that they took us to Camp No. 21 at Cheiti where we were until September 11. While we were there we heard about the Armistice. An RAF officer had built a radio set out of parts smuggled into the the camp by friendly Italian soldiers. When the Armistice was announce on September 8 there was a hell of a celebration. All the Italian soldiers just picked up and left for their homes or farms. There was an American colonel in the camp. His name sounded like Colonel Gruer. I don’t know how he spelled it. He ordered us not to escape or leave the camp. I don’t know why. On September 10 some German paratroopers took over the guarding of the camp. We had set up our own guard after the Italians left.
On September 15 we were loaded into trucks and taken to Sulmona. There must have been about 3500 of us. They started moving them out of Sulmona on trains. They took about 800 a day. They said they were taking us to Germany. On September 16, 1300 British, American and Canadian officers were loaded on a train and we were headed north. While we were at the station a few officers tried to escape and they were shot. They just dropped their stuff and ran toward some bombed buildings.
There were 29 of us in the car I was in. It was a good sized steel freight car. I had a hack saw about three inches long. An Italian soldier had given it to me. A Lt. Southward---he was a B-26 pilot---had a can opener. I don’t know what outfit he was with. At one end of the car was an air vent which came up from the floor of the car. It had a steel bar over it and was covered by a strong wire mesh. Lt. Southward and I worked for 18 hours until we had made an opening big enough to get through. The other officers did’nt help us and did’nt seem anxious to escape. I don’t think they wanted to escape.
At Vernona the train stopped at about 2 A.M. September 17. Our hole was completed. We (Titus and Southward) climbed down through it and layed down between the tracks. We had about a foot clearance over our heads. We just stayed there and let the train roll over us. As soon as it had passed we got up and ran for cover. I don’t know if any of the other officers tried to escape or not although some of them were getting their stuff together when I left.
That night we slept in a haystack not far from the tracks. At dawn we went to a nearby farmhouse and got some food. We traded our uniforms for civilian clothes. I got an old pair of rubber – tired shoes. The soles were made from old automobile tires. I had a black coat and an old hat. We hung around Vernona for one day and then decided to separate so we would’nt both be caught at once. We figured one of us would get away, at least.
I stole a bicycle at Vernona and started out. That was about 4 P.M. I headed out the main road and went through Mantova and Bologna. I slept in another haystack at Mantova. I rode until about nine o’clock that night. Leaving Mantova about six o’clock in the morning I started out on the main road again. There were many German soldiers and trucks moving on the highway, but no one paid any attention to me. Ijust rode along in my old clothes. At times I caught hold of the German trucks for a lift. They did’nt even suspect me. I got to Bologna about 10:30 that night and found another haystack to sleep in. I stopped at farm houses and begged food and water. The people gave it to me without trouble as soon as I told them I was an American. From Bologna I followed the main road to Rimini. At one time I caught the rear end of a truck-trailer combination and coasted for about 175 kilometers. That was the longest ride I caught. There I found another haystack. That is the best place to sleep-- in a haystack. The bugs are bad and bite pretty hard but it is warm. At times I went into town and drank from the fountains. No one seemed to have any interest in my comings and goings. Maybe it was because I was riding a bicycle like nearly everyone else does. Sone of the farmers were scared they would get caught by the Germans if they helped me, but they did anyway. I did’nt get any of their names. At Bologna I shaved. I left Rimini about eight o’clock the next morning and headed for Ancona, which I reached about seven o’clock that night. The Germans were hauling their supplies and equipment out of Ancona by truck because the railroads were destroyed. I followed the coast from Ancona to To Pescara. The railroad was all shot up all the way. There were about 1,000 dead horses along the tracks. Some of them had their heads or legs sticking out of the cars. The smell was pretty bad. The civilians had evacuated Pescara when I arrived and there were only German soldiers in the town. A German soldier took my bicycle from me there. He stopped me and pointed to a flat tire on his bicycle and said; “Caput.” He made me trade bikes, but he did’nt suspect I was an American. He must have figured I was an Italian farmer and he could’nt talk Italian. I took his bike and had it fixed. A woman at Bologna had given me 70 lira so I paid for it.
I headed for Fossicesia and then I was stopped by the Germans. They took me and a lot of Italian civilians and soldiers to dig trenches and machine gun nests. Evidently they wanted to hold a hill there. We were forced to work two days and two nights without stopping. We were given three meals in that time. They gave us black bread, rice, beans and water. There were about 1,000 Italians working. I got hold of one Italian soldier and told him who I was. He stayed near me so he could answer any questions. I knew a few words of Italian so I got by. The third day we were there Mitchell bombers came over and bombed hell out of us. The Germans all ran for bomb shelters. I just wlaked off down the valley toward Estonia. The front lines were about 15 miles south of Estonia at that time. There were so many soldiers around I did’nt figure I could get through so I went to the beach. I found some bamboo poles about seven feet long. They were about like our fishing poles in America. I bound a big bunch of them together with some barbed wire I found and made a raft. Then I got a ple and fixed up a double bladed paddle. I pushed out into the Adriatic about seven o’clock at night. I straddled the poles. I took off my shoes and tied them to the raft.
About eight o’clock that morning I came even with the __ont __es. I could tell by the sound and flashes. Then the raft sank when I was about five miles off-shore. The tide was going in so I just kept floating and it drifted me in. I was in the water all night before on the raft and all that day. British destroyers were not far away shelling the shore. The Germans were shelling back.. I tried to attract the attention of the destroyers, but no one saw me. Finally I landed about three miles south of the front lines. I would judge it to be about 3 miles south of Termoli.. I was weak and cold, but I walked up the sandy beach in my bare feet. My pants were wet and my clothes were all wet, but I was so happy to be free that I just busted out singing. It was moonlight and I sang as I walked up the beach to Termoli. I found some British Engineers and they gave me some whiskey, cigarets and a bed. Next morning they took me to Foggia. I got first aid treatment there. The places where I had been bitten while sleeping in the haystacks were infected and the salt water did’nt do any good. The rubber-tired shoes had worn a blister on my right foot. The big toes was infected. My hands had blistered so badly from working in the trenches that they also had become infected. The salt water was tough. From Foggia I got an Air Transport Command airplane to Bari. I just went up and asked the pilot where he was going and got on. At Bari Colonel R.H.Hagg of the cavalry gave me some clothes and a travel order to get to Africa. Second Lt. James L. Giblin was on the order too. I did’nt know him. Colonel Aage of the 301st Bomb Group also had escaped. We landed at El Ouina airdrome near Tunis and I caught a ride with a 301st pilot. We landed here at this base at 4 P.M. November 12.
At one place a German soldier said he did’nt want to fight but he feared he would have to. They don’t have any cigarets and some of them don’t have field boots. They make their own tobacco out of weeds. They didn’t feed too good either. It would be a good idea for any crew to learn a few words of the language so if he is forced down over Germany, Italy or France he can ask for food and water. I can’t understand some of the American officers who would’nt help Lt. Southward and I when we sawed our way out of the box car. Anyone should try to escape. Youn can’t lose, The British and Canadian Red Cross parcels were about all that kept us from starving. They had meats, cookies, milk, cheese, raisens and other food. The first letter I wrote to my mother I told her to give $25 to the British Red Cross. The Canadian parcels were the best and we used to draw straws to see who would get them. They came about every two weeks. An English officer who had been a prisoner last winter said that 80 British officers died of starvation at Fossicesia.
I don’t know what happened to any of the other members of our crew except an Italian officer brought Lt. Frank Hunter’s Form 1 (log book) in and showed it to me. He claimed that they had found nine bodies in the wreckage of our plane. It was Lt. Hunter’s book because he had entries in there that the Italians could’nt have known about.
VENON E. FAIRBANKS,
Major, Air Corps,
S-2, 99th Bomb Gp (H)
Official US Army Air Forces Combat Report by Venon Fairbanks of the 99th Bombarment Group. This material is a transcription of official reports-testimonials of Venon Fairbanks's combat experience.
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