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ALFRED WALTERSCHEID
1919: born in Carlsbad (USA)
1941: US Air Force training as a radio gunner
June 1944: first bomber mission in Normandy (F)
Dec. 1944: bomber mission to Morscheid (D), shot down
1945: prisoner of war near Rostock, liberation and return to the USA
I remember, after being captured, there were about 15 of us pilots going thru a town, we were surrounded by 5 or 6 guards with “burp guns” (small machine guns) slung around their neck. They had us throw our wings or anything that showed we were flyers away. As we passed the crowds, they must have known who we were, for they spit at us, shouted etc. I can understand how they felt for we were hitting them night and day – sirens, bombs etc. It must have been whacking. But it was them who brought on all their, and our, troubles.
Alfred Walterscheid, war memoirs, January 1945
Work
Alfred Walterscheid flew his first mission as gunner on a B-17 bomber in Normandy in June 1944. As the Battle of the Bulge got under way, bad weather made any mission impossible for a week. On 25 December 1944, Walterscheid and his crew were ordered to destroy a bridge and an iron railway line at Morscheid near Trier in order to disrupt German supply lines to Belgium and Luxembourg. Near Bitburg (D), the B-17 received several hits and caught fire. The pilot tried to turn westward, but a short time later the heavy bomber crashed on “Goldknapp” hill near Ingeldorf in the region of Diekirch. Six of the bomber’s nine crew members were killed, but Alfred Walterscheid luckily managed to parachute to safety. He was held prisoner in the German “Stalag Luft I” camp in Barth near Rostock (Germany) until his liberation in May 1945.
I remained here, until the Russians liberated us five and a half months later. They asked us if we wanted to write a card to home. I wrote, “Dear pop, am well, will see you soon” […] This was when he first found out, that I was still alive. I had been reported killed in action.
Alfred Walterscheid, war memoirs, May 1945
Newspaper article – “Fear Walterscheid perished in plane when it exploded” – posted by Alfred Walterscheid in his personal memoirs after his return to the USA. “One lucky man from World War II”
You could tell how hard a mission was going to be by the reactions of the soldiers. If the mission was very difficult, the room became quiet.
Alfred Walterscheid, war memoirs, July 1944
Badge of the 9th US Air Force, in which Alfred Walterscheid served
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