Quentin's ordeal

Quentin and a friend escaped while on a march from STALAG LUFT III to southwestern Germany. They walked away from the group into the woods. They could hear the Americans coming into Germany,aircraft,bombs, etc.,off in the distance. They stayed up in the hills until they had no more food. They often heard some German people gathering firewood,so they stayed hidden,and didn't get caught. They then decided to walk toward to where the fighting was,a long distance away. No sooner did they get to the edge of the woods, out in the open, they were caught by German soldiers. They could see the autobahn down the hill. To their amazement, they were captured by the worst soldiers, the SS

Much to their surprise, they were taken to a town and put in jail in individual cells. The jailkeeper told Quentin to take off his shoes and he refused. He was taken out in the hallway and shown all the shoes from other prisoners lined up. Quentin realized that was what they did, and he gave him his. The following day the jailer came to Quentin's cell with his shoes and some food. He was speaking to him in German saying that President Roosevelt was dead. The following days they were taken out of the jail by an OLD soldier with a gun over his shoulder. They suspected they were being taken to another camp. The camp they got to was a for British prisoners. Upon their arrival, there was a lot of excitement. Quentin learned from the British that that day some were being taken out of the camp and marched south. Out on the highway they were strafed by American or British aircraft, whose pilots mistakenly assumed they were Germans. After that the British painted a red cross on a large sheet to protect them.

Quentin suffered frostbite and didn't have much to eat during his ordeal. When they were to leave the camp,the Germans put Quentin and his friend on a truck to go to the next camp. He said "They were nice enough to put us with the injured British, even though we weren't hurt." The next camp was in the southern part of Germany. During the night the British were dropping flares and lit up the area like it was daylight. It seeemed like they were dropping bombs in areas closeby! "We were shaking!" That was the last camp. "What happened after that, I'm not sure how long, the American tanks broke through the barbed wire and rolled into the camp. The guards must've known the Americans were coming, because they were gone when we got up. They must've left during the night. That was the end of our captivity!" From there Quentin was flown to France where we stayed in tents until we could board ships for home."

Quentin had become ill, and developed jaundice. He slept for the entire cruise home.

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