Tortured P-38 pilot in Sardinia

[kaki3152]

While reading my copy of "Forever Flying",the biography of Robert Hoover,the famous pilot, I came accross the following passage[p.36]:

"The worst one...was inflicted on a P-38 pilot shot down over Sardinia. He was strapped to a table with his feet hanging over the side,and when he would not talk,they beat his feet with 2x4s. When he still refused to cooperate,they tied his genitals with a cord and yanked them off. He bled to death."

This surely does not fit in with standard German POW interrogation techniques!
Any further information?

[Larry deZeng]

Agreed. Does not sound like uniformed members of either the German or the Italian armed forces.

But might be:
- Black Shirt militia?
- local police?
- local village militia who had just lost family to bombing or strafing?
- the beating part is true but the emasculation part is made up?

You would probably need the pilot's name, name of the exact location and the date to find any contemporary documents on this war crime. Something this egregious would have been pursued by Allied investigators.

L.

[kaki3152]

Larry,

I know, but this is all the information I have. I thought the same thing, based on the story of a RAF bomber crewman who was lynched by Italian Fascist militia.

I merely posted this excerpt to see if it rang any bells.

Carlos

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
For what it's worth, may be of some help.
I only have the following P-38 losses in Sardinia.

24/05/43 - 42-13054 ? - Charles J. Zubarik - POW.
18/06/43 - 42-12923 - Robert C. Britz - MACR 19 - Still MIA.
18/06/43 - 42-12876 - George E. Wehman jr - MACR 1406 -Still MIA.
24/06/43 - 42-12918 - John A. Hay - MACR 53 - KIA.
24/06/43 - 42-12910 - David M. Conn - MACR 56 - KIA.
24/06/43 - 42-13246 - Thorman R. Nielson - MACR 105 - POW.
24/06/43 - 43-2360 - Harold R. Alexander - MACR 57 - POW.
03/07/43 - 42-12830 - Douglas A. Crichton - MACR 359 - KIA.

Good hunting
Alex

[RSwank]

FYI -- The POW record has the name as Thorman R Nielson, O-732320 (not Nielsen), but he was POW and did return to the US.

The other two listed as POWs appear to be correct and both did return to the US.

The MACR for Crichton is interesting in that it contains many untranslated pages in both German and Italian. The claim is he burned up in his plane when it crashed. It may mean nothing and I have not had time to read/translate the pages to see if something else is being discussed.

[Alex Smart]

Hello Rolland,
Thanks for the correction, Have checked the NARA pages and have now changed spelling in post above.
Thanks again
Alex