| On November 2, 1944 Lt. Pierce and his crew were shot down over the target, the oil refining plant named Leuna at Merseburg. This statement was give during a debriefing of Lt. Pierce conducted at Lockbourne AAF Ohio on 1 Sept 45 after returning home. The following data was taken from the original - (spelling and grammatical errors are from the original document) STATEMENT OR REPORT OF INTERVIEW OF RECOVERED PERSONNEL LAST NAME - FIRST NAME - MIDDLE INITIAL: Pierce Albert I. NAME AND GRADE OF IMMEDIATE COMMANDING OFFICER AND ANY OTHER MEMBERS OF HIS ORGANIZATION WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES Lt. Col. Clyde A. Thompson Sqdn. Comm. POSITION OCCUPIED OR DUTY BEING PERFORMED: Pilot B-17 FOR PERIOD OF ABSENCE FROM UNITED STATES MILITARY CONTROL IF TAKEN PRISON OF WAR NAME OF PRISONER OF WAR CAMP OR CAMPS IN WHICH IMPRISONED, AND LENGTH OF TIME SERVED IN EACH - Stalag Luft #3 Sagan Germany 16 Nov 44 to 27 Jan 45 NAMES OF SENIOR UNITED STATES ARMY OFFICERS IN EACH SUBH PRISONER OF WAR CAMP Debriefing conducted at: On 2 Nov. 44 our target was Merseburg. Everything went well until we reached the target and dropped our bombs. Just after the bombs were released we were hit quite badly by flak. Two engines were badly damaged and soon went completely out. Sgt. Siudeikis was wounded inthe right thigh by a piece of flak but no bones were broken. Lt. Hampton went immediately to the radio room and gave expert first aid. Morphine was given and Sgt. Siudeikis rested comfortably. After loosing the two engines we began to loose altitude a and air speed and could not stay with the formation. We followed the bomber route as closely as possible, but accurate navigation was almost impossible due to the loss of our electrical system, which caused the failure of the navigation instruments, and a solid layer of clouds below that made contact navigation impossible. Under the circumstances, Lt. Lansche did a fine job. For almost two hours everything was comparatively quiet while we flew a west-northwest course. Everyone worked hard throwing all excess equipment out of the ship to lighten the load. A good job was done by all. Finally we came to a break in the weather and found ourselves over the Ruhr Valley. Almost immediately we encountered more enemy fire. At this time we were about 12,000 feet. Evasive action prevented our getting any direct hits but flak did get our two remaining engines. One went completely out and the other was on fire, so it was necessary to order the crew to bail out. Sgt. Butler went to the rear of the ship where he and Sgt. Mullen and Sgt. Warren helped Sgt. Siudeikeis to get out the waist door. I believe the order in which they left the ship to be Mullen, Siudeikeis, Butler, and then Warren. The rest of us went out by way of the nose hatch. I believe the order was Sgt. Nemes, Lt. Lansche, Lt. Hampton, and then Lt. Willis. After heading the ship away from the position of our chutes, I left by the same hatch. What happened after that I have very little information. Lt. Lansche, I learned later, landed in a field and was first picked up by Polish workers and then taken by the Germans. He suffered a broken ankle on landing. Lt. Willis and Sgts. Butler and Mullen were picked up immediately by German soldiers. They were not injured except thru some mistreatment form their captures.. As for myself, I landed in the rear of a military police headquarters and was taken immediately to their office. I was unable to obtain any information about the others from the Germans except that an old German lady told me Sgt. Siudeikeis was taken to a hospital. The five of us were picked up in a truck later that evening and taken to the Cologne County Jail where we spent the night. The next evening we were taken by train to Frankfurt where we spent several days in solitary confinement and were questioned. From Frankfurt I was taken to Stalg Luft #3, Sagan, Germany. Later we were taken to Stalag Luft 7A where I was liberated on 29, Apr. 45. ALBERT I. PIERCE |
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