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A telephone call to Oscar Johnson
of Pompano Beach in August 1998 from a person with a strong, barely
understandable accent re-opened an episode that had remained out of
his mind since Johnson's bomber was shot down from 32,000 feet and
captured by German soldiers outside of Hamburg, Germany on December
31, 1944.
Oscar. K. Johnson was born and
raised in Pompano, the son of a pioneer family among the original
settlers in the area near the turn of the century. Oscar was
attending Pompano high school when WWII erupted in 1941. Upon
reaching the age of 17 years, Oscar joined the Army Air Corp with
hopes of becoming a pilot. Because the quota for cadet training was
filled, Oscar trained as an air crewman, attended gunnery school in
Arizona and became a ball-turret gunner on a B-17 four engine bomber.
After training, he was stationed in
England. Oscar says, "On our 24th mission, returning from a raid
on Hamburg, we were attacked by German F/W 190 fighters." After
an initial flurry of fighter runs and after Oscar believed he had
destroyed two of them from the ball turret, he saw a fire had started
in the wheel-well of the #2 engine which was visible only to him at
this time.
His report on the intercom of the
fire resulted in the order by the pilot to bail-out. He depressed his
twin 50 caliber guns which allowed him to climb out of the turret and
back into the plane, he says he snapped on his chute and jumped out
of the rear exit door into that minus 20 degree air.
"All the crew made it safely
out , except the pilot and co-pilot. They were still in the plane
when it exploded. I thought they were dead," Oscar recalled. But
later on they showed up in a POW camp alive and well, having both
been blown out of and clear of the plane.
Floating to the ground, Oscar was
concerned with the German fighters that circled around him and the
other crew members as they drifted down in their parachutes. The
German fighters left only after the bomber's escort of P-47s arrived
and drove them off. Reaching the ground, the crew was quickly
rounded-up by German soldiers and trucked off to a stockade.
After spending the remainder of the
war in a POW camp, Stalag 15, Oscar was liberated by the American
Army at the end of hostilities. He, along with some of his crew
members were moved around, and eventually flown to camp Lucky-Strike
in La-Harve France, and there by chance, he met up with a Pompano
native and good friend, Bill McClellan, also an air crewman on a
bomber who was returning home after being been shot down, wounded and
held as a POW.
Oscar said he was the first person
he had met that he knew since going overseas. Johnson and McClellan
returned to the States and on to the separation center and finally
they returned to Pompano together.
Oscar returned to school and
continued on with his life. It was after receiving this phone call
more than 50 years later did these strange events begin to unfold.
The telephone call was from a
Belgian citizen and in his broken English inquired the man inquired
if this was the Oscar Johnson who had been shot down and made a POW
in Belgium in 1944.
He told Oscar that his name was
Jean Blum and he had in his possession some personal articles that
belonged to Johnson dating back to WWII and he would like to return
them to him.
Oscar says that regulations
prohibited flyers to carry anything on missions but their dog-tags
and this was mandatory. Also, if a man failed to return from a
mission, his personal belongings were gathered, inventoried and sent
to his next of kin.
The following is an exact
reproduction of the correspondence of this bizarre happening.
Jean Blum had in his possession, a
wallet belonging to Oscar. In this wallet were pictures of his
Mother, Callie Johnson, a local girl Oscar knew, LaVada Kinnett,
friends Forrest Cope, USAAF and Marion Fugate, USN, both flyers and
high school classmates.
There was a lock of hair that
LaVada had sent him and that had been in his barracks in England when
he left on his last mission. The lock of hair was tucked in behind
the picture.
All these articles were left behind
when he went on his last mission and somehow this Belgian, Jean Blum
had been in possession of them since 1944 or 1945 and he felt he
should return them to their rightful owner.
Later, Oscar received a letter from
Jean Blum addressed to: City of Pompana Florida, USA.
Addressed like this it came to the
Post Office in Pompano Beach. The letter delivered to City Hall, and
a letter was sent to the American Legion Post #142. In turn, the
Legion got in touch with Oscar and this letter is in his possession
along with a letter from the Department of the Army in Belgium.
The Army sent a letter to Oscar
with 20 questions and expressed a desire to write a story for the
local military newspaper, it being such a unique story and one that
must be preserved for history, (Jean Blum had contacted them in 1995
and had apparently turned over the 'portfolio' to them and they had
sent them to Oscar hence, their knowledge of these happenings.)
The letter that Jean Blum sent to
Oscar through the City of Pompano follows:
Sir,
I accidentally enter into
possession of a portfolio having been the ownership of an American
soldier of the World War 1940/1945. Staff Sergeant Oscar Kelly
Johnson 14185089. Enlisted in Air Corp on 19th August, 1943 Army Air
Force, Miami, 6 Florida. Citation for meritorious achievement while
participating in hevey (sic) bombardment over continental Europe
350th Bombardment Squadron (H) 100th Group (H) signed by command of
Major General Partridge F.E. Fitzpatrick, Capt. Air Corp Assist.
Adjutant General N,B. Harold Brigadier General USA Chief of Staff
As civilian, this courageous boy
was : Johnson, Oscar, Kelly. Serial # 14 185 089 Address Pompano
Florida. Student, 17 years of age in 1943. Green Eyes-brown
hair-ruddy complection-66 inches in height.
As I go into all the details, I
hope you are able to do what is necessary to know what has become of
him for him or his family.
Jean Blum.
Oscar said this following letter
was received from a friend of Mr. Blum's, Pol Walhain 2, rue du
Gravier 4170. COMBLAIN-AU-PONT 10ty Februari 1998
Dear Oscar.
I am writing you this letter
for my friend Jean Blum.
Indeed, he is sorry because
he did not write to you sooner but now he remember of you and he
would like to hear from you.
He gave your portfolio to the
headquarters of the American Army here in Belgium.
In the end of 1995, and since
then he didn't receive any news so he wonder now if you have
well(sic) received it.
A friend of him, who was a
war prisoner and who died some years ago, gave it to him, and that is
how the portfolio arrive in Belgium.
I must tell you that Jeans
health causes him some trouble and that he would be very happy to
hear from you about this.
I hope to hear from you soon
and I remain, friendly yours.
Pol Walhain
Oscar is not sure of the exact
order in which these letters were dispatched. Apparently, Jean Blum
wrote the Army information office in Brussels after he had sent the
wallet (portfolio) and other articles to them and they supplied him
with the information that he included in the letter he wrote to the
'City of Pompana' that was relayed to Oscar,
After not hearing from him, Jean
Blum and the Army HQ information officer wrote Oscar asking for more
information on this happening and posing 20 questions regarding the
series of events surrounding the 'portfolio' and of his POW treatment
and other personal observations relating to this incident for an
article of historic significance of same.
Where Jean Blum got the information
contained in the letter to Oscar, telling about his Army awards and
other information of serial # and school had to come from the Army,
just adds to the mystery of this incident.
The events leading up to and
finally resulting in the return of the Wallet and papers to Oscar
after all these years leaves many unanswered questions and naturally
concerns Oscar and he seeks a plausible explanation as to how, where
and when his possessions left his barracks, where he left them on
December 31, 1944 before embarking on the mission that resulted in
his being shot down and taken prisoner by the Germans and held until
the end of the war and never again returning to his base in England.
How his wallet and papers made
their way to, and became possessions of the 'friend' Jean Blum says
gave them to him in 1944 or 1945.
What convinced Jean Blum to try and
locate Oscar and return these articles after all these years? Blum
included a photo of himself holding Oscar's wallet in the letter he sent.
Stranger things have happened to
other ex-members of the military after their return from foreign duty
but this incident leaves about as many unanswered questions as there
are answered ones.
To Oscar Johnson, these are things
that he will wonder about and maybe someday the 'rest of the story'
will be revealed to him.
(Thanks to Oscar Johnson for
allowing this very interesting, intriguing ,true story to be written
and published for all to see and read. Happenings such as this come
along very few times and are revealed in such detail even less.) |