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I was leading 72 B-24s of 92 Combat Wing on
a mission to bomb marshalling yards at Chaumont.
I had a crew of 11 including Lt. Duer who was rid-
ing as observer in the tail turret. I ran into moderate
to intense ak, and received considerable damage
to my ship. I gave the order to bail out about 5 mi
N of Chateaudun and everyone succeeded in jump-
ing except Lt. Duer who had not received the alarm.
I took over the controls and a few seconds later the
ship went into a spiral dive from 12,000 ft. I bailed
out at 10 000 ft, and as I left the cockpit I rang the bell
again. I jumped and pulled the rip-cord as I went out
the hatch and tore a complete panel out of the chute.
In landing I got a crack on the back of my head and
wrenched my right knee.
Many Frenchmen appeared as soon as we landed
and asked us what we wanted to do.
We hid out in a patch of trees. We later crawled
through the eld and hid in a hayloft where we
stayed for two days. The French brought us food
and civilian clothes. They advised us to go toward
Spain and gave us detailed instructions on the loca-
tion of German troops.
On the 13th May 1944, we left and started
cross-country in a westerly direction. After walking
all night our feet started going bad. I advise any-
one to take shoes and socks off in crossing a stream.
We contacted a Cure in a small town but he would
not assist us. We were stopped by a German soldier
but after brief questioning we were released. Short-
ly thereafter a French farmer approached us and
took us to his house and fed us. A few minutes later
Germans approached the house and while we hid
under a bed, the farmer was questioned by the Ger-
mans. The Germans left and the next day we left this
place. We again entered a church and kneeled down
to pray. The Cure appeared and we told him we
were Americans. He took us in, fed us and gave us
a bed. We stayed here two days and the Cure brought
a farmer to us who went to the village to contact the
Resistance Groups, but with no results. The next day
we left and travelled for ten days. We were aided
and fed by various French farmers.
We then contacted another Cure in a village where
we were helped by a French woman, formerly an
employee of Lord Fitzireland in England. She took
us to another house and put us in contact with the
local Resistance Group, where we stayed 12 days.
We were taken in a car to a farmhouse 15 mi NW
of Vendome. For two months we were part of the
farmer’s family. He advised us toward the lines.
On 13 August, the Germans started leaving Ven-
dome. On this day we were picked up in two cars by
seven members of the Resistance Group. They were
armed with weapons which had been hidden at the
house of the farmer where we stayed. We were tak-
en to a town near the American line, and then con-
tacted the advance platoon of the 5th Inf.”
The aforementioned Lt. Duer parachuted near Lay. They decided to try to
escape. Col. Lay continued:
Record of the inter-
rogation of Bernie
Lay on August 14th,
1944 after he got back
behind Allied lines.
(NARA, E&E)
HISTORY
INFO Eduard
27
September 2024