Planning for an Unique Family History Trip to Austria, Germany and Poland this Summer
In the early morning hours of June 9, 1944, three days after the successful Allied invasion along the beaches of Normandy, 2nd Lt. Leo Carlton was awakened from his cot and informed he would be the substitute co-pilot for a B-24 bombing run over Munich. Little did Leo know this would be the start of an 11-month POW experience. Seventy-nine years later, 18 family members of Leo will converge in Europe to retrace the steps of his POW experience as part of a once-in-a-lifetime family history trip.
I’ve been privileged to travel often, but most of the time it’s to experience cultures, taste new foods and meet new people. Although some of that will occur on this adventure, that’s not the primary focus of the trip. This family history trip is more than four years in the making – partly thanks to COVID-19 delays. It all started with a Facebook post I came across back in 2010.
This article won’t be dedicated to travel tips, like my past articles have been. Today’s article is a rundown on how this family history trip came about and the key experiences we’ll have in Austria, Germany and Poland as we retrace his steps and meet people who saw Leo Carlton on that infamous day in 1944.
Preserving my Grandpa’s History in Video
In the summer of 1997, my older brother convinced our grandpa to share his WWII story on video. It’s a treasure our family has held on to ever since – especially since our grandpa would pass away later that year from Leukemia.
In late 2009, I decided to surprise my siblings, parents, aunts and uncles with a transcription of that interview. It took me hours to transcribe the hour-long interview. Additionally, I reached out to the United States Air Force to request copies of his military records. I tried to piece together every bit of information to digitize and provide to my family, including a DVD of the interview and a CD with all the scanned documents. I had no idea the project would lead me to truly bringing home the history of my grandpa’s POW experience.
This was only the beginning.
Finding the Facebook Group for the 459th Bomb Group
Months later, I was scrolling through my Facebook page and wondered if there was a Facebook group related to the squadron or bomb group of my grandpa. He had served in the 459th Bombardment Group, 758th Squadron in the 15th Air Force. His crew was based on Italy at Giulia Field near Cerignola.
Sure enough, there was a Facebook group for the 459th BG. After joining, I began scrolling through the posts. At one point I saw a photo of a B-24 and the text of the post read…
On June 9, 1944, mission Munich MACR #5783/ B-24G 42-78106, nicknamed Cherry II, of the 758th BS piloted by 1st Lt. Herbert Oleson suffered flak damage and was losing fuel. They decided to head to Switzerland.
The date and details in that post matched up with the details I had pieced together from my grandpa’s history. I was looking at a photo of the plane in which my grandpa made an emergency landing in Austria – just short of the Swiss border by about 1/2 a mile. I was ecstatic and quickly shared the photo with my family. It was hard to believe this was a photo from 1944 of the plane my grandpa flew all those years ago.
I began engaging with members of the group and exchanging emails to share and collaborate on information. I was able to piece together timelines that were otherwise unknown to my family. These exchanged continued for a few years, but the best was yet to come.
Connecting with an Austrian Historian
In January 2018, gathering the history of the Cherry II would move to the next level. A man named Eric posted to the 459th BG Facebook page. He shared some photos and maps of the American plane that landed near Höchst, Austria, on June 9, 1944. The plane was only 1/2 a mile from the Switzerland border. I commented that my grandpa, 2nd Lt. Leo Carlton, was co-pilot of the Cherry II on that flight.
In the coming months, we exchanged notes and emails. I learned that Eric was helping to coordinate a small exhibit for their town’s museum about the Cherry II. I provided them with some of the details I’d been collecting over the years, in addition to sharing a copy of my grandpa’s interview with them. Eric and others put together a video, which includes interviews from Höchst residents who watched the events unfold in their city back in 1944.
When that exhibit was unveiled in the city’s small museum, I had hoped to be there in person. I wanted to see it and meet with those residents, but timing didn’t work out for us. However, it sparked the idea of bringing over the family of Leo Carlton to walk the paths, see the buildings and meet some of the people who saw Leo Carlton on his first day as a Prisoner of War. It would be an amazing family history trip.
I started a discussion with my family about traveling to Höchst. Eric had offered to arrange a tour of the key sites in and around Höchst. We planned to visit in July, 2020. But when the world shut down from COVID-19, our plans were delayed… until June 2023.
Overview of Leo Carlton’s Days as a POW
To better understand the significance of the sites we’ll be touring while in Höchst, here’s how June 9, 1944 unfolded for Leo Carlton and the crew of the Cherry II.
After lifting off from Giulia Field in Italy at 5:55 a.m., the Cherry II and other B-24s of the 459th BG made their way north toward Munich, Germany. This was the first time the group had been sent to bomb Germany. For Leo, this was his 10th mission, serving as a substitute co-pilot. The primary co-pilot for the crew had been killed on a prior mission while substituting for yet another crew. For the pilot, 1st Lt Herbert Oleson, this was his 50th mission – which would indicate it as his last required mission before returning stateside.
The group reached their target around 10 a.m., dropping their payload on the target. Now the planes and crews just needed to make it back to Italy.
Emergency Landing at a Glider Airfield Near Höchst, Austria
Less than 10 minutes after dropping their payload, the Cherry II was hit by flak, damaging two engines. The crew feathered the propellors of one engine, fighting to stay in formation. The other damaged engine was loosing fuel, so the crew cut that engine and feathered the propellors.
With only two working engines, the Cherry II couldn’t keep up with the other planes. They know they wouldn’t make it back to Italy and examined other options. They made the decision to head to Switzerland. As they approached Lake Constance (Bodensee), the navigator was freaking out and unable to help direct the crew. They spotted a landing strip near the lake’s edge and lined up for an emergency landing.
Moments before they landed, the navigator informed the pilots they were a 1/2 mile from the Swiss-Austria border, but on the wrong side. By then, it was too late. The plane was running on fumes so they had no choice. They landed safely at a glider airfield, roughly 2.5 miles from the city of Höchst.
Soon after touchdown, the border patrol troops arrived and took the entire crew as prisoners.
The Crew’s First Night as Prisoners of War
After gathering the crew together, the border patrol troops marched the crew 2.4 miles into Höchst. At around noon, the guards placed them in a schoolhouse, which was serving as the headquarters of the border guards.
For several hours, the crew was interrogated, offering no more than name, rank and serial number. Eventually, the crew was placed in an upper story room where they spent the night. According to my grandpa…
“When they got through interrogating us, they put us in a third story room [which] had one window. Then they brought in our dinner for the night. It was a bowl about 18-24 inches around and 6 inches deep and it had 10 spoons in it. That was supposed to be our meal. Well, none of us felt like eating, cause we’d all have to eat out of the same container. That was a big mistake, because it was several days before I got food again.”
Stalag Luft III in Poland
The next day, the crew was transported to Dulag Luft (near Frankfurt, Germany) for additional interrogation and processing. On June 17, Leo and the crew arrived at the West Compound of Stalag Luft III in what’s now western Poland (near Sagan).
SIDE NOTE: If you’ve seen the movie, The Great Escape, then you’re familiar with Stalag Luft III. It’s the POW camp where 70+ POWs escaped through tunnels they had excavated from their barracks to the world outside the compound. The escape occurred in March 1944 and my grandpa arrived in June 1944.
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The crew would spend roughly seven months in Stalag Luft III, before being marched west as Russian troops advanced in early 1945. That winter march through Poland was tough on my grandpa, as well as all the other troops. Their attire was whatever they had arrived with months earlier. That was summer, but now it was the cold of winter.
Eventually the POWs were held in a camp near Moosburg, Germany, where they were eventually liberated by General Patton in late April 1945. My grandpa eventually made his way across Europe to a Liberty Ship headed for the states. He rode that home, arriving home to Utah on June 9, 1945 – exactly one year after his landing in Höchst, Austria.
Our Key Experiences Planned on the Journey
My love of travel and passion to capture as much history of my grandpa put me in the driver’s seat for this family history trip. I’ve been coordinating elements of the larger trip and the specifics in Hochst and at the POW camp in Poland. Here’s a rundown of what we’re going to experience on the trip in relation to Leo Carlton’s POW experience.
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Guided tour of The Cherry II’s emergency landing site
Our family has an entire day dedicated to exploring the area in and around Höchst, thanks to Eric. He’s put together an amazing itinerary for our family history trip and brought in roughly 20 people to help share the history. Here’s a rundown on what our family is going to experience:
- Drive to Walzenhausen (Switzerland) to overlook the area and gain a better understanding of the flight path of the Cherry II
- Tour Heldsberg Fortess in St. Margrethen (Switzerland), which prevented the area from being attacked by the Nazis in World War II
- Visit the hangar and former glider airfield in World War II where the Cherry II landed on June 9th, 1944 (roughly 2.4 miles from Höchst).
- Drive to the building (Vereinshaus – former headquarters of the border guards in World War II) along the same route the crew had to march with crossed hands behind the head. The crew was interrogated here and spent their first night as POWs.
- Visit the city’s museum, which holds a few artifacts from the Cherry II (silk map, compass, bullets, etc.) and watch a short documentary film about the landing of the Cherry II.
- Receive an official welcome from the City of Höchst from the mayor or deputy mayor.
- Meet with eyewitnesses who watched as the crew of the Cherry II was marched through the city and who visited the landing spot of the B-24.
Eric has also lined up some local historians and a news station to be there to document the experience of all involved. It goes without saying, we are very excited for this day-long experience in Höchst.
Guided tour of Leo Carlton’s POW Camp in Poland – Stalag Luft III
I recently reached out to the museum near Sagan, Poland, about Leo Carlton’s POW camp – Stalag Luft III. I received a response from a gentleman who provided me more details about my grandpa’s days at Stalag Luft III, including a roster showing his arrival date of June 17, 1944. The roster also shows he was housed in the West Compound, Hut 172, Room 15.
The man also mentioned there are still remnants of Hut 172 and he will offer our family a guided tour of the former POW camp and show us the remaining foundation. When I sent this newfound information to my family, they were just as excited as I was. My aunt commented that she never thought we’d have this kind of insight about her dad’s life during the war.
It’s hard to believe all the experiences we’ll have on this family history trip, and we’re so excited to learn everything we can.
How You Can Follow Along on our Family History Trip
My hope is to share as much information as I can about our experience while those experiences are happening. If you’d like to follow along, here are the three social media channels I’ll be sharing photos and videos on during our entire tour through Germany.
I do hope you’ll follow along on this journey. If you have any additional insights you would want to add about your family’s stories from WWII or their POW experiences, I invite you to email me at carltonaut@gmail.com.
Looking Ahead to “Love of Country Leads”
Since 2010, I’ve been actively engaged in tracking down details about my grandpa’s experience. It’s been with a goal in mind: Write a historical fiction book about his experience. While I would love for it to be a biography, my grandpa has passed away and there are details I’ll just never be able to track down. So I’ll need to fill in the holes with details that will help move the story along.
Over the past few months, as I’ve been planning this experience in Europe, my drive for the book has been relit. My goal: Publish my grandpa’s story before I turn 50. I’ve got seven years to not only finish gathering the details, but write a compelling story highlighting his experiences. The title of the book will be “Love of Country Leads”. That was the motto of the 459th bomber group – Ducit Amor Patriae. Knowing my grandpa, I think that sums his story up so well.
Summary
I know this article isn’t along the lines of my typical travel tips articles, but I hope you’ve gained greater insight to my purpose for this upcoming adventure. The trip will be full of emotions as we connect with our family member and learn more about his military life in World War II.
If you have any questions, or military stories from your family members you’d like to share, please feel free to do so.
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