Jason’s story about being captured by the Germans continued.
A few days had passed.
Jason and his men were sent to a German Durchgangslager, which was a transit camp where they were processed and interrogated. But Jason and his men were tough, and only gave their names, ranks and serial numbers.
After the transit camp, Jason was sent on a train to head out to another camp. He was jammed into a boxcar with numerous other American and British POWs.
It was a long train ride to their next destination with frequent stops so the prisoners could relieve themselves along the tracks.
It was an overcast day when the train made its final stop, and all the POWs were ordered out of the boxcars.
Jason got out of the boxcar with fifteen other POWs, and they were greeted with forty German soldiers with rifles.
“Get in formation!” the German officer in charge yelled at the POWs in English
Jason and the other POWs got in formation, and he was on the outside.
“Move it!” the German officer yelled at the POWs.
The formation of prisoners marched in the direction the other German soldiers headed.
After thirty minutes of marching, the POWs finally reached their new home, a German camp called Luft Stalag XXG.
The POWs were marched through the barb-wired front gate of the Stalag.
The POWs were marched further into the Stalag.
They were stopped in the middle of the dirt area, which was the center of the camp.
German soldiers quickly closed and locked the front gate.
Berndt Dunstan, a thirty-five-year-old German Sergeant, walked up to the formation and he waited without saying a word.
The POWs glanced around their new home away from home and saw a perimeter barbed-wire fence around the whole camp.
Periodically positioned around the fence were wooden guard towers, where German soldiers had machines ready to shoot any POW that attempted to escape.
They also saw many one-story wood barracks with crawl spaces and other numerous wooden buildings.
The whole Stalag was built on land with yellow sandy subsoil.
The German soldiers stood guard over the POWs, and they stayed in formation for twenty minutes.
Jason glanced over to his right and saw the large building that had the Nazi flag hanging outside.
He saw Otto Bruker, a forty-five-year-old German Colonel with a smirk while he stared at the formation from the glass windows of the door. Colonel Bruker loved making the new prisoners stand in formation for an extended period after they arrived in his Stalag.
Colonel Bruker had a rough complexion and a constant severe deadpan glare and rarely smiled unless he harassed one of the prisoners.
Hans Wolfe was an eighteen-year-old baby faced Private that stood next to Colonel Bruker. Otto was the administrative clerk for the Colonel and was happy he got this duty instead of being on the front line.
“Let’s go, Private Wolfe,” Colonel Bruker barked out his order.
Hans snapped up to attention from behind his desk and grabbed his hat.
Hans opened the door for Colonel Bruker.
Colonel Bruker put on his hat and stepped outside.
Colonel Bruker walked down the small steps of his building with Hans tagging behind him like an obedient servant.
Colonel Bruker marched over to the formation of POWs.
He stopped at the front of the formation and glared at the POWs.
Hans stopped by the side of the formation where Jason stood.
Colonel Bruker paced back and forth in front of the formation with his dangerous glare to intimidate the soldiers.
“My name is Colonel Otto Bruker. I’m in charge of your home away from home,” Colonel Bruker said in English while he walked around the formation.
He walked over to the front of the formation. “Therefore, if any of you are thinking of running away,” he said. He stopped at the front of the formation and glared at the POWs. “You’ll be shot,” he said in a threatening tone.
He walked up to one of the POWs and kneed the man in his groin.
The man dropped to his knees and clutched his crotch in pain.
Colonel Bruker strutted around to the side of the formation proud of himself for kneeing the POW. “For security reasons, I will be reading your outgoing and incoming letters. You are only authorized to write to your family. No friends. No lovers. Just family,” he told the POWs in a threatening tone.
Jason frowned while Colonel Bruker walked past him. Colonel Bruker noticed, he got pissed, and he rushed back over to Jason. He grabbed Jason out of line and immediately kneed Jason in his crotch.
Jason dropped to his knees in pain.
“This is my Stalag, and you will obey my orders! “Now, those two displays are a friendly reminder that I won’t tolerate any misbehavior or attempts to escape my Stalag. I will be offended that you want to leave this place that the Third Reich built for your comfort,” Colonel Bruker addressed the POWs.
He reached down, grabbed Jason by his hair, and painfully pulled him upright.
Hans frowned at the sight of Colonel Bruker, as he disapproved of his rough treatment of the prisoners.
Colonel Bruker walked around with another smirk to the front of the formation.
“Get these prisoners to their barracks,” Colonel Bruker ordered Sergeant Dunstan.
“Yes, sir!” Sergeant Dunstan snapped to attention and saluted.
Colonel Bruker marched away to his building, and Hans followed.
“Move out!” Sergeant Dunstan yelled at the POWs and led the way to the barracks.
Ten minutes later, Jason was in his barracks that consisted of wooden bunk beds stacked three high and a charcoal burning stove in the middle of the room.
Jason looked around the room. He noticed most of the POWs that have been here for a while are thinner. He looked worried about his future while he looked for an empty bunk.
Jason rushed over, grabbed a bottom bunk, and quickly got on his back. He stared at the bottom of the bunk above him. All he could think about was Cindy, and what was she doing at this exact moment in Chipley Springs.
After they found empty bunks, Sergeant Dunstan entered the barracks and summoned all the new POWs over to another building.
In this building, the new POWs pictures were taken for their Luft Stalag identification card.
Thirty minutes later, the barracks was quiet and grim while the POWs lay in their bunks.
Jason removed his photo of Cindy and himself from the inside of his pants. He was able to keep this picture since he was captured because he hid them in his underwear.
His eyes welled up while he look at Cindy and prayed he would be together with her soon.
The barracks door opened, and Hans entered with mail in hand for the older POWs.
A few of the POWs smiled at Hans while he dropped off their mail on their bunks.
Jason saw Hans, and he quickly shoved his photo back in his shirt pocket, but one of the corners stuck out.
Hans continued to deliver the mail around the barracks.
He dropped off the last letter and was near Jason’s bunk.
He walked over and smiled at Jason. “Hello, my name is Hans Wolfe,” he said then extended out his hand.
Jason looked a little apprehensive, but his gut told him that Hans was not a threat, so he shook Hans’ hand.
“I’m Jason, Jay Jay, Jenkins.”
Hans sat down on Jason’s bunk. “I’m sorry about Colonel Bruker. He thinks he’s God. I hope he didn’t hurt you.”
“I’m okay.”
“I hope my English is good.”
“It’s perfect,”
Hans smiled over Jason’s compliment.
Sal walked over and patted Hans on his back. “How’s Hans today?”
“Good,” Hans replied to Sal.
Sal walked away and headed to his bunk.
The sight of Sal and Hans made Jason feel he could trust this young German.
“I’m from Kaiserslautern, where are you from?” Hans curiously asked Jason.
“Glen Burnie, Maryland,” Jason replied.
“Are you near the ocean? I’ve always wanted to go to a beach,” Hans said while he looked like he was dreaming of visiting paradise.
“No, but I have visited the beach in Ocean City, Maryland,” Jason replied.
“I see. So, are you a pilot?” Hans asked with a warm smile.
“Yes I am,” Jason replied, leery on providing any additional information.
“I want to be a pilot. It’s my true love. Maybe after the war, I will learn how to fly,” Hans replied with a gleam in his eyes. Then Hans’ eyes caught the part of Jason’s picture while he protruded from his shirt pocket. Hans quickly grabbed the photo from Jason’s shirt pocket.
Jason cringed thinking his photo was gone forever and Colonel Bruker would be beating the crap out of him.
“Is she your wife?” Hans asked while he stared at the picture.
“She’s my fiancé,” Jason replied a little worried.
“She’s beautiful,” Hans said while he continued to stare at the photo.
“Thank you.”
“I take it you fly B seventeens?” Hans asked.
Jason knew he couldn’t ignore the question since Hans had proof in his hand. “Yes.”
Hans placed the photo back in Jason’s shirt pocket. He then opened up his shirt pocket and removed a photo. He showed Jason his photo of a pretty nineteen-year-old German girl. “My girlfriend, Emilie.”
“She’s pretty,” Jason replied while he looked at the photo.
“Thank you,” Hans said while he shoved his photo back in his shirt pocket.
“Make sure Colonel Bruker doesn’t see your picture. He’ll take it away, and you’ll never see it again.”
“Thanks, Hans,” Jason replied.
Hans smiled while got up from Jason’s bunk.
He walked away and headed to the door.
Captain Ralph Whiteberry, a thirty-five-year-old P-47 fighter pilot, walked over and sat on Jason’s bunk.
“Ralph Whiteberry,” he said then stuck out his hand.
“Jason, Jay Jay, Jenson,” he replied, then shook Ralph’s hand.
“So, what’s with that German kid that delivered the mail?” Jason asked,
“Hans is harmless. In fact, he’s the only German that’s friendly toward us. The rest of them are waiting for an excuse to fill us up with lead.”
“How long have you been here?” Jason curiously asked.
“Three months, and it’s boring, and the food is lousy,” Ralph replied.
“Well, I guess it beats being killed,” Jason said while he thought about his dead crew members.
“It does,” Ralph replied.
Jason yawned.
“I’ll let you get some rest,” Ralph said then got off Jason’s bunk and headed back to his bunk.
Jason closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep since the long trip to this camp was exhausting.
Jason had a dream while he slept in his Stalag bunk.
In his dream, he walked with Ralph and some four POWs around the Stalag during their daily walk.
They walked to the rear of the Stalag and saw a huge section of the perimeter fence was missing.
They looked around, and all the towers were void of guards.
Jason, Ralph and the four other POWs smiled at each other at the sight of the missing fence section.
Jason, Ralph, and the four other POWs slipped through the missing section of fence.
They all had huge grins while they bolted to the nearby woods free as birds.
A few minutes later, Jason, Ralph and the four POWs ran through the woods and came upon a large field.
They saw a C-47 Skytrain Army cargo plane that waited with its engines running at the end of the field.
When they got to the middle of the field, Jason saw Cindy step out of the C-47 and wave at him with a huge smile.
Jason waved back and was happy that Cindy came to rescue him from the Germans.
Jason ran faster to Cindy, but she and the C-47 suddenly taxied away.
Jason ran faster to Cindy, but she and the C-47 taxied away faster.
The faster Jason ran to Cindy, the farther she and the C47 moved taxied away.
Then Cindy and the C-47 disappeared.
“Halt!” a German soldier yelled from the woods.
Jason stopped and saw that Ralph and the other four POWs were gone.
Then all of a sudden, fifty German soldiers rushed out of the woods and aimed their rifles at Jason.
They all fired their rifles at Jason.
Jason woke up from his dream in a panic, and for a split second, he thought he was shot.
He sat up in his bunk and looked a little dazed and confused.
After a few seconds, he realized he was still alive in the German Stalag.
Ralph walked over and stood by Jason. “It’s time for our fine German cuisine,” he jokingly told Jason.
Jason got out of his bunk and followed Ralph and the other guys out of the barracks.
Jason, Ralph, and the other guys walked over to the wooden chow hall.
A little while later in the chow hall, Jason sat down with Ralph and looked at his bowl of thin soup and slice of black bread.
“Is this all we get?” Jason asked Ralph.
“Yea. If you want something nice, you better hope your family sends you some food through the Red Cross,” Ralph replied, then ate some of his soup.
Jason looked around and could easily spot the POWs who have been in this Stalag for a long time, as they were really skinny.
Jason looked down at the soup and wondered how skinny he will become. He ate this tasteless watered down chicken soup.
After their German cuisine, Jason walked around the area of the Stalag provided to the POWs for exercise.
Jason started a slow jog to make sure he would stay in the best of health possible while he was in prison.
Later that evening, Jason relaxed in his bunk and stared at this photo of Cindy and him by the Sweet Bird.
The barracks door opened and Sergeant Dunstan entered with some postcards in hand.
Jason saw the Sergeant and immediately shoved the photo in his shirt pocket.
“New prisoners up here!” Sergeant Dunstan yelled out.
Jason and five other POWs all got up from their bunks and walked over to Sergeant Dunstan.
“You will write to your mommies and daddies, and you will only tell them that the Third Reich is taking good care of their babies,” he told them while he held up some postcards and pens.
Sergeant Dunstan handed out the postcards and pens to the new POWs. “Private Wolfe will pick these up in one hour,” he said then he turned around and headed to the door.
Jason and the other POWs all walked back to their bunks with the postcards.
Jason sat up in his bunk and started writing on his postcard.
“Dear Cindy, I’m alive and well in a German Stalag. I love you, and we’ll be married as soon as the war is over,” Jason wrote on his postcard.
An hour later, Jason lay in his bunk while some of the other POWs played some poker or slept.
The door opened, and Hans entered the barracks.
He walked around and collected the postcards from the other POWs.
Hans walked up to Jason’s bunk. “Hi Jay Jay,” Hans said then looked concerned. “I’m sorry, can I call you Jay Jay?” he said.
“Sure, Hans,” he said while he handed Hans his postcard.
Hans didn’t look at the postcard while he shoved it at the bottom of the other cards.
“How long were you a pilot?” Hans curiously asked Jason.
“Over a year,” Jason replied.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking about flying. I won’t tell Colonel Bruker,” Hans stated with sincerity in his eyes.
“No problem, as long as it’s about planes in general,” Jason replied.
“Ya,” Hans responded, then he looked a little concerned. “I better go back. Colonel Bruker will be mad if I spend too much time here in the barracks,” he said then he rushed away.
“Hey Jay Jay, want to play some poker?” Ralph asked three bunks over where three guys were playing on a bunk.
“Sure,” Jason replied, and he was looking forward to playing some poker. He learned the game during his pilot training days and loved it.