Is there anyone who knows my Father?   Please contact me....

I wonder if there were any Indian POW's. I heard some of  them joined the germans.

My son found this information in a new's paper in new Jersey the other day and called me and I asked him to send me the information and I'm glad he did. I had a good time remembering this story and I was a part of it. I was a B 17 pilot and was shot down by flack on our 17 th mission the last that I know of my bomberder died last year, His name was Jack Schimpf.

My father 1st Lt William A. (Scotty) Rendall, now deceased, was a krigie at Stalag Luft III after he was shot down by ME-109's 30 December 1943. Evaded with the Free French until his arrest by the Gestapo on 19 June 1944. He ws first imprisoned at Fresnes prison in Paris, moved to interrogation center at Obereusel (spent 14 days in the "hot box" due to suspected armed action with the Maquois - true but not discovered).

August 1944 moved to block #44 Center Compound, Stalag Luft III. After years of my pushing to get him to do it, he finaly wrote of his experiences in Europe in a informal format with copies for family and friends. I am now at a point (actually fed up with the current state of affairs) where I would like to have the book published. At the AFEES reunion held in Cincinnati I received and and still have a copy of the program book THE LONGEST MISSION, the program is not copy writed but I would like to use some pictures from it and wish to give proper credit

I would appreciate any assistance as to whom I should contact to gain permission. Would also welcome any recommendations re: a publisher.

With best regards,

Richard Rendall

My father was in the 8th Air Force, 445th Bomb Group, 702 Squadron.  His plane was Beebe's Boys.  He completed 19 missions before being shot down on 4/1/1944.  He is living with us now in Salem, NH.  He had lived in Scituate, MA since 1946.  My mother just passed away in August.  One of his roommates was Morti Seifter.  He has lots of stories if anyone wants to contact him.  (603) 898-2937.

Chester L Blackwell was my uncle.  My dad, only told us a little about my uncle's stay.  I'm very proud to have been raised in a military family and proud of the men who went before I came along.  I hope that towards the end of their days on this earth that they will find PEACE and know that we younger Americans are proud of them. 

My Father Was Thomas R Smith passed away April 18, 2008.

Does anyone know if my stepmother Jane Smith is still alive

because 478 chickadee ct, Plant City Fl  33565 and last time I spoke to her she sent me pictures of my father....

I pasted some articles of what info I have of my father.

Monday May 26, 1997

Section BAYLIFE

Page 1

Keeping history on track

Military re-enactors in Plant City say their staged battles are a lesson on the sacrifices by U.S. soldiers.

PHILIP MORGAN

of The Tampa Tribune

PLANT CITY — In World War II battle re-enactments, somebody has to be the bad guy.

Pete Winston and his friends are happy to oblige. They dress up as Germans to fight and die — again and again — in staged combat with American re-enactors. They have fun at it, and they say it gives spectators an idea of what an earlier generation of Americans went through to preserve their freedom.

On a recent Sunday, Winston, dressed for the press as a soldier in the regular German army of the era, hauls recruits around a cow pasture in his half track armored vehicle.

Diesel exhaust wafts through the confined cockpit of the machine. It doesn't bother him.

"It's part of the fun!" a grinning Winston shouts over the roar of the engine.

Winston is looking for a few good German soldier actors. He seeks people interested in the history, he cautions — not militiamen making a political statement.

"If you hate somebody, don't call us. If you want to overthrow the government, don't call us. If you see black helicopters flying around, don't call us. We don't want to hear from you. We're not interested."

Winston, a major in the Florida Army National Guard, says the common thread among most of his squad of re-enactors is a consuming interest in World War II and membership in the National Rifle Association.

"We like to take our rifles out and enjoy them," he explains.

They shoot blanks, of course. This is, after all, theater of war.

Winston caught the re-enacting bug in 1994, when he attended command and general staff college at Camp Shelby in Mississippi .

"They had a World War II battle re-enactment out there, and I just thought that was so neat."

He got a chance to buy the half track last year, and "I jumped in with both feet."

The vehicle, with wheels on the front and tank-like tracks on the rear, is a Czechoslovakian-made weapon from the early 1950s. It's very similar to the ones the Czechs made for the German occupiers during the war.

Half tracks, usually equipped with machine guns or antitank guns, were widely used by the Germans and the Allies. They carried troops into battle, spearheaded infantry attacks and neutralized pockets of opposition following tank thrusts through enemy lines.

Winston and his friend Tom Smith, both of Plant City , bought the machine for $5,000. They keep it in a camouflaged garage in rural east Hillsborough County .

Winston and Smith, with some help from re-enactor John McDonald of Lakeland , spent eight months reconditioning it. Little work was needed on the air-cooled V-8 engine, which looks to McDonald like a "Volkswagen on steroids."

Smith, 70, works backstage in re-enactments. He advises the younger men on how it was. The veteran of the U.S. 101st Airborne was born in France of a German mother and American father and raised in Plant City . He was awarded the Silver Star and given a battlefield commission in Europe . He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Germany 's unsuccessful last gasp offensive in Western Europe in December 1944. He finished the war a first lieutenant.

The staged battles, he says, will "show the kids the sacrifices and let them realize what the situation was, and bring it to their attention how easy they've had it in this country."

Winston, new to the hobby, so far has participated in just one re-enactment, a small battle near Bartow in March. He plans to go to more in the fall. In his thick wool uniform, summer truly is hazardous duty.

Though spectators and opponents jeer good-naturedly during engagements, people seem to keep perspective — that these are actors, not the real warriors who threatened to conquer the world a half century ago.

"Nobody gets angry about anything. There's no point," Winston says.

The 46-year-old machinist and mechanic says acquiring the Czechoslovakian halftrack had a lot to do with his decision to play a German.

He says, too, he admires the skill of some of their World War II generals. And, as a military officer, he appreciates the effectiveness of the blitzkrieg warfare the Germans perfected. He notes that the U.S. military uses a high-tech version of the coordinated attack of airplanes, tanks and infantry.

Crew member Dewey Norris, 35, of Plant City , says he admires the battlefield skills of the front-line soldiers.

"They were smart. They were very courageous. They could fight."

Norris calls himself a military fanatic. He figures he has spent $2,000 so far on his library of World War II books.

"It's interesting, the stories. If the American people would only pick up a book and read of World War II battles, of any Army battle or Marine battle on any island, they would be shocked at what goes on in war and what the guys of World War II went through for us today."

Norris gets a kick out of driving the halftrack, though he and McDonald warn it isn't for claustrophobic people. The two front and two side windows are about 2 inches by 7 inches.

"If you can drive a standard [shift], you can drive it," says Norris.

Winston says halftracks like the one he and Smith own are rare, though a number of people bring military vehicles of the era to re-enactments. Often, they just put them on display.

Winston bought his to use. He hopes to expand his squad of six into an armored reconnaissance platoon. He wants 20 to 40 soldiers, some BMW motorcycles with sidecars and a couple of kubelwagens — the German counterpart to the American Jeep, similar to the Volkswagen "Thing" of the 1970s. A friend bought a second Czech halftrack that was available when Winston got his, but it needs work before it rolls into mock combat.

Winston's mustard-colored halftrack with German cross markings has two dummy MG 34 machine guns that make no sound. It was battle-tested in the re-enactment near Bartow.

"We had a ball," says Winston.

The crew was able to outflank an enemy antitank gun but couldn't bring enough firepower into play.

"We were yelling, "Bang! Bang!' and he ignored us."

Winston figures that won't happen after he equips the guns with a device that makes them flash and bang.

He plans to cut out a piece of the 3/8-inch armor on the top and move the front machine gun forward to better duplicate the World War II models.

In battle re-enactments, the rule is the equipment and uniforms must look accurate from 10 feet away, "and a lot of them try to go beyond that."

Winston says it's exciting to see hundreds of re-enactors, serious about authenticity, gathered in one place.

In January, he went as an observer to one of the biggest World War II re-enactments in the country, at Indiantown Gap , Pa. More than 300 German re-enactors faced more than 500 Allied re-enactors in a mini-Battle of the Bulge.

"It was like stepping back in time."

KEYWORD WORLD WAR II REENACTMENT PETE WINSTON TOM SMITH GERMANY MILITARY EQUIPMENT

Copyright © 1997, The Tampa Tribune and may not be republished without permission. E-mail library@tampatrib.com

Photo Caption: (C) The halftrack driving through woods BOB FALCETTI/Tribune photos

(C) Pete Winston looks down the barrel of a machine gun mounted on a halftrack he co-owns with Tom Smith. BOB FALCETTI/Tribune photos

(C) Tom Smith, left, and Pete Winston paid $5,000 for their Czechoslovakian-made halftrack armored vehicle, which is similar to the ones the Czechs made for the German occupiers during World War II. The pair use the vehicle in battle re-enactments. BOB FALCETTI/Tribune photos

Pete Winston poses as a German soldier during a WWII re-enactment. Winston and Tom Smith own the vehicle. BOB FALCETTI/Tribune

I am looking for anyone who may remember my dad George hughes his regement was kings royal rifle corp he was in stalag xxa pow camp as my dad never spoke about his time in the camp i would like learn about his life there Doreen davies  (Daughter)

My father Warren Soden was in the "Bloody 100th Bomber Group" 8th Army Air Force, 349th squadron and a navigator, in the Orville Everitt crew. He passed away August 11, 2008 but would have enjoyed this website. His plane was shot down during the Ruhland Mission on September 11, 1944 and only three men were able to parachute out.  He did not talk about this time in his life but he did make a brief letter to the Czech Republic Museum, Mr. Jan Zodiarsky, about that day. He was captured that night by the Germans and taken by truck to a hospital and then to Sta lag Luft I. He was there until  May, 1945. Later he traveled to Thorpe- Abbots,England  where they received their training . He was loved and respected by all of his family. If anyone is still living  that knew my Dad or was a roommate of his, I would love to hear from you.  Thank you for having this wonderful website.

My husbands Uncle Len died in 1978 of Leukemia.  He was a POW from 1940 through to the end of the war.  If anyone has a photo or any info regarding Uncle Len I would love to hear from them.   We still have the rucksack that he made to carry things to and from his work placement whist a POW.

Ever since my father passed away in 1990 I've kicked myself that I didn't record him talking about his pow days. I have looked up a few names in his wartime log but I've never contacted any one. If anyone wants to contact me, I would love to hear from them. thank you for hving this website!

These sites are immportant if families want trace people who may remember relatives and to give them the chance to learn just what went on daily in the camps                                                                                         Doreen Davies

 Dad was shot down over austria. Picked up by the german gorillas. Spent 18 months as a pow. I had a copy of "kriege memories" i think my sister has it. But can't seem to find any other details or specifics. Anyone have any luck?

I only know my Dad was a POW in Germany during WWII.  I reallyknow nothing of his time in the war or his time as POW. He NEVER spoke about it and he died in an explosion at his place of employment in 1975 when I was just 18 years old. As a young kid growing up I never had an interest to know, but as an adult I would LOVE to know more about my father.  If anyone knew my Dad, please get in touch.

I am trying to find all I can about my Dad (deceased)whose records were "destroyed" in the 1973 fire in St. Louis. If anyone has anything on him please help, I'm trying to recontruct his life for my grandkids, thanks in advance.