Punk Barber World War II Prisoner of War Experiences
Part II
Part I reviewed Punk Barber’s WWII air training and bombing missions up through June 29, 1944. This week’s Part II column will discuss his captivity, “Death March,” and final liberation as Punk Barber related in the September 14 Windsor Historical Society program.
On June 29, 1944, Punk Barber was a gunner on a B-24 which had completed its 13th bombing mission over Germany when the plane’s fuel system was damaged by flak. The pilot was forced to land the plane in a potato field, from which all the crew members survived. The ten crew members were able to escape from the pane, going in separate groups; however, each was captured by German authorities within a day or two.
Punk Baarber and his crew mates were taken to an Amsterdam jail. After a few days in Amsterdam, the men were moved in July, 1944 to Stalag 4, a prisoner of war camp in northern Germany which today is part of Poland. The camp housed 10,000 men, mostly American enlisted prisoners of war.
Punk was housed in a wooden barracks building with 24 other men. They slept on 3-tier bunk beds with a straw mattress and a thin banket. The barracks were unheated except for one small stove for which that barracks was allocated three pieces of coal. For food, they were fed barley or potato soup,amd one loaf of bread was given for the 24 men, ending with about a half slice of bread per man. Some of the prisoners received Red Cross packages, and they especially valued cigarettes which the POWS used to barter for food from the guards or German workers
During the day, Punk remembered walking around the barbed wire camp for exercise. They were locked in their barracks each day at 6 p.m.. Mostly they played cards, using cards they had made out of cardboard.
His parents had been notified that he was missing (MIA) in June 29, 1944 when his plane was shot down, but they did not know if he was alive or dead. The Germans sometimes would swap the more seriously injured POWs in a prisoner exchange. The men in Punk’s barracks had the most seriously injured prisoner memorize the other 23 men’s names and home towns. Eventually the injured man was exchanged, and he was able to get information to the families of the remaining 23 men that they were alive as POWs. Punk’s family first knew he was alive because of that injured soldier’s information.
On February 2, 1945, the German authorities moved the 10,000 POWS out of the Stalag 4 prisoner of war camp telling them they were moving them to a new prison camp. Actually, the Germans did not have a new camp; they were just moving them around because the Russian Army was coming closer. For 86 days, the prisoners spent every night outside in the winter elements with nothing more than a military overcoat and a thin blanket for warmth.
Food was even more scarce than in Stalag 4 camp. The POWs on the march were fed three potatoes and one cup of warm water in the evening, approximately 300 calories per day! In addition to a starvation diet, many of the men suffered from dysentery because of the unsanitary conditions and drinking contaminated water from ditches and streams along the road. Of the 10,000 men, 1700 men would perish in the 600-mile travel during the 86-day “Death March.”
Punk remembered that liberation occurred when two British soldiers arrived on a jeep to tell them the war was over. The prisoners were on their own; there were no trucks or supplies to take care of the prisoners. Most of the POWs began to head west to the nearest Allied forces as best they could. Punk eventually ended getting rides to different military groups. He crossed the ocean on the Queen Marry, arriving in New York. He recalled, “ It was a great sight!”
Punk was discharged from the military in Miami on October 27, 1945. He received eight medals including the Bronze Staar and Purple Heart. Punk Barber returned to the family farm. He was home!
Punk Barber married Judy Fewell on January 23, 1946,. They raised one son, Kent Barber, and one daughter, Kay Parris, three grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren. Punk and Judy Barber lived the rest of their lives on the family farm. Punk Barber died in October 22, 2014, and his wife, Judy Baarber, died on December 15, 2021.
