Dwight Davis

Segment Synopsis: Davis starts off by telling a funny story about life in a German prisoner of war camp. He was held prisoner at Stalag Luft IV in Gross Tychow, Poland with approximately 8,000 other American prisoners. He shares a story about a gassy mule, the effects of German black bread with sawdust, and how these pieces come together in a contest to measure flatulence.

Keywords: Bread; Flatulence; Germany; Humorous stories; Prisoner of war; Stalag Luft IV; Tychowo (Białogard, Poland); Wood waste; World War, 1939-1945

Subjects: Flatulence contests; Life as a prisoner of war

Segment Synopsis: Davis was born in 1922 in Harrison County, WV. He moved to Akron, Ohio to work at the Goodyear Aircraft Company building blimps used for submarine patrol.. His love of flying lead him to apply for flight school, but he failed his entrance test. Goodyear eventually released him to be drafted and where he found his way to the air service.

Keywords: Airships; Charleston (W. Va.); Draft; Goodyear Aircraft Corporation; Harrison County (W. Va.); Sheet-metal; United States. Army. Air Corps

Subjects: Draft; Enlistment

Segment Synopsis: Davis was shipped out to Fort Hayes in November of 1942. He was there for about two weeks before being shipped to the fairgrounds in Fresno, California where they had been holding Japanese before sending them to interment camps. He was assigned to Lincoln, Nebraska to be a mechanic on a B-17. He talks about his training at night, working at mechanics school, and getting shipped off to cadet school.

Keywords: B-17 bomber; Fort Hayes (Ohio); Fresno (Calif.); Lincoln (Neb.); Lincoln Air Force Base (Neb.); Outhouses; Passenger trains

Subjects: Mechanic training; Traveling to various army bases

Segment Synopsis: Davis tells a story about getting a naive young airman enrolled in an "uncredited" sex education course. He was transferred to Ardmore Army Airfield in Oklahoma where he was trained as a tail gunner operating the dual .50 caliber machine guns on the rear of a B-17.

Keywords: Alcohol; Ardmore Air Force Base (Okla.); B-17 Bomber; Flight training; Lancaster (Calif.); Los Angeles (Calif.); Oxnard (Calif.); Prostitution; Visalia (Calif.)

Subjects: Cadet Training

Segment Synopsis: Davis was transferred to Royal Air Force Bury St. Edmunds Base in England with the 94th Bombardment Group, 332d Squadron. He discusses a deadly accident while unloading the rear B-17 turret. He describes this incident as "the make up of bad dreams," and he explains how he dealt with it after the war.

Keywords: Airplanes, Military--Turrets; Lane, Edward; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Psychiatry; United States. Air Force. Air Force, 8th; United States. Army Air Forces. Bomb Group (H), 94th

Subjects: Accidents

Segment Synopsis: Davis explains that being a tail gunner was lonely and that he was called the "lonesome polecat." He recalls a close encounter with a german fighter and being saved by a Red tail P-51. Their B-17 was named after pilot Lloyd Handskemager's wife Violet and called "Vie's Guys" (B-17 #44-6150). It received 63 bullet holes on a bombing run and was replaced by the aircraft "Spare Parts," possibly "Doodles" or "Doodlee Doo" (B-17 #42-31493). They used this plane on two Munich runs and on the second took flak before losing engines. They bailed out over Garmisch-Partenkirchen, or Grainau, Germany.

Keywords: Airplanes--Evacuation; Airplanes--Fires and fire prevention; B-17 Bomber; Breimannweg (Germany); Davis, Norfleet; Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Fighter plane); Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) - taken to; Grainau (Germany) - crash; Munich (Germany); Perry, Robert; United States. Army Air Forces. Fighter Group, 332nd; Western spotted skunk

Subjects: Airplane crash; Being a tail gunner; Bombing runs

Segment Synopsis: Davis is a member of the Caterpillar Club, which recognizes those who have found it necessary to parachute from an airplane. He says he was too smart for his own good when he swapped his backpack parachute for a seat-pack parachute. The seat pack was too big, causing him to do a mid-air split when deployed and land uncomfortably. They were the first American soldiers in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where they were, stripped and throughly searched.

Keywords: Caterpillar Club; Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany); Parachuting; Prisoner of war; Uniforms

Subjects: being captured; parachuting

Segment Synopsis: Davis and the other survivors were taken to Munich. He was told by his guard to stay close because the people of Munich were angry at the Americans for bombings and they would take his arms off "like the wings of a butterfly." After Munich, they were taken to be interrogated. Davis mentions Stalag Luft II, but it was more likely they were interrogated at one of the Dulags (Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe) in Oberusal or Wetzlar, or to Stalag Luft I in Barth. The Germans were interested in one mission they didn't know about, which was to fly supplies to french resistance fighters in Lyon, France. Davis mentions the mother of owner of La Chatelaine French Bakery and Bistro in Columbus, OH who was a member of the French resistance. He also uses the term "fifth column" which refers to Nazi collaborators.

Keywords: Libération (French resistance movement); Lyon (France); Munich (Germany); Oberursel (Germany); Questioning; Stalag Luft I; Wetzlar (Germany); World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists

Subjects: Interrogation; Munich

Segment Synopsis: On February 5, 1945 the Germans decided to keep American POWs away from the advancing Russian Army. During one of the coldest winters of the 20th century Davis was marched from Stalag Luft IV in Gross Tychow into Germany, some 500 miles. He shares a story about a night he thought he would die of exposure, but was saved by a layer of fresh snow. Davis also describes burning corpses in Bad Follingbostel, liberation by the English Army, trying to highjack a transport truck, and riding into town with an officer.

Keywords: Bad Fallingbostel (Germany); Plymouth automobile; Prisoners of war; Stalag Luft IV; Swinemünde (Germany); Świnoujście (Poland); Tychowo (Białogard, Poland)

Subjects: POWs; The March

Segment Synopsis: Davis shares a number of stories from after he was freed from his German captors. He describes taking a former German guard to dinner in an American mess hall and commandeering a Mercedes-Benz, which he drives to Nancy, France. In France he goes to Ochey Air Base where he trades his Mercedes to a second lieutenant. He catches a C-47 transport plane to Camp Lucky Strike near Saint-Valéry where he meets General Eisenhower and makes his way home.

Keywords: Douglas DC-3/C-47 (Transport plane); Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969.; Mercedes automobiles; Military camp; Nancy (France); Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme (France); Zeven (Germany)

Subjects: Cigarette Camps; Dinner with a captor; Driving to France; Going home

Segment Synopsis: Davis comes home and finds his job gone so he starts college at WVU. While there he enters the ROTC program to get three days that he had left for his service requirements. He meets general Eisenhower for the second time leading to short-term popularity and seven fraternity offers. He discusses his degree in psychology and how he was able to use his schooling while working for International Harvester.

Keywords: Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969; International Harvester Company.; Psychology; Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972; United States. Army. Reserve Officers' Training Corps; West Virginia University

Subjects: Schooling; Working for International Harvester

Segment Synopsis: Davis talks about the Hundeführer, or dog handler, that was one of his prison guards and shared the dogs contribution to prisoner cuisine. He describes the conditions of prisoners, dysentery, their diet which reduced him from 158 to 92 pounds, and the officer POW experience. The officers from their plane were sent to another camp, possibly Stalag Luft I. He also explains the positions of 748s, Flight Maintenance Gunners, why he didn't want to be the top gunner, and what the men in his aircraft wanted to do with a troublesome gunner.

Keywords: Dog trainers; Dysentery; Grasshoppers; Lyon (France); Prisoner of war; Stalag Luft I; Starvation

Subjects: B-17 gunners; Prisoner treatment

Segment Synopsis: Davis talks about how his life may have been different had he not been drafted. At the time he was likely to enter the Goodyear Industrial Technical Institute and would have become a plant engineer or manager. He describes working through his PTSD. Davis is a member of the American Ex-Prisoners of War and VFW. He never saw anyone from his crew after the war, but reconnected and is still in communication with their navigators son. He describes what he did in his free time off base, why he wouldn't trade his experiences, and his optimistic view of people.

Keywords: American Ex-Prisoners of War, inc.; Draft; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; International Harvester Company; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States

Subjects: Life without the draft; PTSD; Veterans organizations