A
collection of stories, photos, art and information on Stalag Luft I
If you are a former Prisoner of War or a next of
kin of a POW, we invite you to sign and leave your email address so others that
come may find you. Please mention camp, compound, barracks and room numbers if
possible.
Lt. George M. Collar of Jackson, MI B-24 Bombardier - 445th BG - 702nd Squadron
Shot down on September 27, 1944 on Kassel raid
Stalag Luft 1 Prisoner of War - North 2 Compound. Barracks 202, Room
9
George passed away in March 14, 2004. You can email his son Doug at
dcollar@woh.rr.com who would be
happy to answer all inquiries about him and will respond with specific data
from his memoirs and archives.
Excerpts From George Collar's Recollections of a
Bombardier written from memory in September, 1987. George spent 8 months as
a prisoner in North 2 Compound:.
On my 29th mission as a bombardier flying with 702nd
Squadron, 445th Bomb Group, I was shot down on the infamous Kassel raid of
September 27, 1944. After undergoing a variety of adventures, including
being beaten by an irate farmer and spending the better part of a day picking up the dead and
broken bodies of my unfortunate comrades who had died in the air battle with
the Rambock fighters of the Luftwaffe, I spent the better part of the night
riding around in a Wehrmacht truck collecting many of our badly wounded
airmen. These men were taken to a hospital in the city of Eisenach. I ended
up in the guardroom of the Wehrmacht base in the same city where I met about
twenty-five more fliers from the 445th.
After a couple of days, we were moved by train to the city
of Erfurt and then marched to the Luftwaffe base at Bindersleben. We were
then taken by train to the interrogation center at Oberusel near Frankfurt.
We arrived at Oberusel about the same time as all of the
Polish, British, and Canadian
paratroopers who had been captured in the Arnheim invasion. The influx of so
many prisoners over-taxed the Germans, so after one interrogation in which
we gave only our name, rank, and serial number, we were ordered to a holding
barracks. The next day about 200 of us were loaded on a train bound for
Dulag Luft at Wetzlar.
