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One of my wife's cousins posted a comment on Facebook yesterday that piqued by curiosity and sent me off on an research mission on the Internet. I had shared the Facebook page I created for my great-uncle's book about his experiences as part of a B-17 bomber crew during World War II. As I was reminded yesterday, one of my wife's uncles also served on a B-17 during the war and was also shot down and captured. My wife's cousin wondered if our uncles may have met, decades before my wife and I were even born.
As I did the research, I was surprised by the similarities. My Uncle Connie was born 31 August 1921 while my wife's Uncle Homer was born 14 November 1921, so they were the same age during the war. They both entered the service in the fall of 1942, serving as non-commissioned officers on B-17 crews in England, my uncle with the 447th Bomb Group at Rattlesden and my wife's uncle with the 379th Bomb Group at Kimbolton. They were shot down just 12 days apart in February 1944 (my uncle on 10 Feb. and my wife's uncle on 22 Feb.).
I have not been able to find any information about the details of my wife's uncle's experiences as a POW, so I can only speculate about any similarities in their treatment as POWs. However, because they were shot down on missions only 12 days apart, and because the targets of those missions (Braunschweig and Halberstadt in Germany) were so close to each other, it seems entirely likely that they would end up transported to the same POW camp. There were a lot of POWs in these camps, so it is impossible to say whether they would have met, even if they were interred in the same camp, but it is interesting to think that they may have known each other during those months of captivity.
I'm going to have my wife check with her family to see if her Uncle Homer ever recorded any of his experiences or left any mementos from the war, but it does not appear likely that I will ever learn much detail about his experiences.
As I did the research, I was surprised by the similarities. My Uncle Connie was born 31 August 1921 while my wife's Uncle Homer was born 14 November 1921, so they were the same age during the war. They both entered the service in the fall of 1942, serving as non-commissioned officers on B-17 crews in England, my uncle with the 447th Bomb Group at Rattlesden and my wife's uncle with the 379th Bomb Group at Kimbolton. They were shot down just 12 days apart in February 1944 (my uncle on 10 Feb. and my wife's uncle on 22 Feb.).
I have not been able to find any information about the details of my wife's uncle's experiences as a POW, so I can only speculate about any similarities in their treatment as POWs. However, because they were shot down on missions only 12 days apart, and because the targets of those missions (Braunschweig and Halberstadt in Germany) were so close to each other, it seems entirely likely that they would end up transported to the same POW camp. There were a lot of POWs in these camps, so it is impossible to say whether they would have met, even if they were interred in the same camp, but it is interesting to think that they may have known each other during those months of captivity.
I'm going to have my wife check with her family to see if her Uncle Homer ever recorded any of his experiences or left any mementos from the war, but it does not appear likely that I will ever learn much detail about his experiences.
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