Even if your focus is on an airman who successfully evaded, what happened to the other members of the crew? If they ended up in prisoner of war camps, you can get some basic information from the National Archives database of WWII American POWs at:
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-description.jsp?s=644&cat=GP23&bc=,sl.
Leaving the search field blank, click on the SEARCH icon (the binoculars), which will lead you to a page where you’ll click on the SHOW MORE FIELDS icon. You are now in the “Show More Fields” page where you will check only the following fields (uncheck all others):
- NAME
- ARM OR SERVICE
- PARENT UNIT NUMBER
- PARENT UNIT TYPE
- DETAINING POWER
- CAMP
Now click on SUBMIT and, on the next page, click on the respective SELECT FROM CODE LIST links opposite the two following terms:
- ARM OR SERVICE. This will produce a pop-up window in which you will click on AC (for Air Corps) and then click on SUBMIT.
- DETAINING POWER. This will produce another pop-up window in which you will click on 1 (for Germany) and then click on SUBMIT.
By now you should have “AC=Air Corps” in the “ARM OR SERVICE” line and “1=GERMANY in the “DETAINING POWER” line.
Enter the name of the airman in the search field and hit SEARCH. You then get a one-line listing of information about the POW. Click on the VIEW RECORD icon to get a two-page listing of details.
I applied this to the members of Tom Applewhite’s crew and found seven of them. I have listed them below sorted by POW camp:
Stalag Luft 1, Barth-Vogelsang, Prussia
- Bufkin, James C., 2nd Lt.
- Shorb, Ellis, 2nd Lt.
Stalag 17B, Braunau-Gneikendorf, near Krens, Austria
- Barckett, Anthony T., Staff Sgt.
- Malavasi, Nello A., Tech. Sgt.
- Mulvaney, Vernon L., Staff Sgt.
Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Bavaria (moved to Nuremburg-Langwasser)
- Bloeser, William J., Jr., Staff Sgt.
- Johnson, Robert D., Staff Sgt.
The only member of the crew not found this way was the pilot, John P. McGowan. According to an autobiography that he posted on the Internet, it appears that he was at Stalag Luft 1 with Bufkin and Shorb.
My thanks to Ed Reniére, a fellow researcher from Brussels, who shared instructions on using the POW database.
OTHER POW RECORDS
In the index to the records that I have for “RG (Record Group) 498, Records of Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, United States Army, Series Listing for European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army (ETOUSA) and U.S. Forces, European Theater (USFET),” there is the following category of records:
Prisoner of War Interrogation Section (MIS-Y), Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center (CSDIC), UK
Under that heading are the following categories, which appear as if they might have useful information (I have not made any use of them and can’t speak from personal experience):
UD 203: Special Interrogation Reports, 1943-1945. Arranged by report #. Boxes 1-9, Location: 290/56/1/1-2
UD 204: Interrogation Reports, 1943. Box10, Location: 290/56/1/2.
UD 205: GRRG Interrogation Reports, 1945. Box11, Location: 290/56/1/2.
UD 206: POW Papers, 1944-1945. Arranged by paper #. Boxes 12-14, Location: 290/56/1/2.
CSDIC, WEA
UD 207: Preliminary Interrogation Reports, 1945-1946. Arranged by report #. Box15, Location: 290/56/1/3.
UD 208: Interim Reports, 1945-1946.
UD 209: Special Interrogation Reports. Box16, Location: 290/56/1/3.
UD 210: Final Interrogation Reports, 1945-1947. Arranged by report #. Boxes 17-18, Location: 290/56/1/3.
Because of the renumbering of boxes at the National Archives that has been underway, the above “Location” numbers may have changed. Nevertheless, the UD number probably still will be the same. That and the rest of the information will allow an archivist to find the records even if the location number has been changed.
Using the Archival Research Catalog
Another way to identify what is available at NARA in the way of POW reports is to click on the Archival Research Catalog at http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/ and enter “prisoner of war interrogation reports.” That produced 51 hits for me, some of which are from WWII and some of which appear to be available online. When I changed the search term to “prisoner of war special interrogation reports,” there were seven hits of which five covered the period of WWII. I have not explored any further.
