The Fort Snelling Bulletin

Air Corps Men Interned In Rumania Come Through Fort

Nine Of Group Were Inducted Here - All Vets Of Polesti

It was "Homecoming Day" for nine flyers just recently returned from imprisonment in Rumania when they came through the Fort's Reception Station enroute to 21 days furlough to their homes, as all of them started their Army careers at the Fort.

The nine were members of a group of 20 Air Corps men all shot up while raiding the Ploesti oil fields and interned by Rumania.

They were liberated at the capitulation of King Mihai to the Allies and had the freedom of the country after Rumania broke with Germany several weeks ago.

After the Rumanians quit relations with Germany there was bitter street fighting between the Rumanians and the Nazis, the flyers reported. It wasn't safe to leave their camps even though they could, so most of the internees stayed in their camps for safety, according to the men.

Strangely enough, the greatest fear these men had while being interned in Rumania, was the threat of being bombed by the British and American planes. Then after Rumania's withdrawal from the war, they had the Germans to fear, they said.

For the most part the men said they were treated "fairly well" and the biggest complaint was about the food.

"However," one of the men said, "We got as good food as most of the people of the country, which consisted practically of soup three times a day."

Back From Rumanian Prison Camps

Back from internment in Rumania are these nine Air Corps men who were inducted at the Fort. Front row left to right, Tec Sgt Allen G. Christianson, S/Sgt Ewald Semmler, Tec Sgt Harry C. Opp, and Lt Col Merrill J. Curtis, CO Personnel Center.

Second row, left to right, Lt Roy H. Jacobson, Lt Lenus A. Bahti, both of Minneapolis; Tec Sgt Matt Schu, Tec Sgt Richard S. Hackney, St. Paul; Tec Sgt Oscar Carlson, St. Paul; and Lt Melvin Evenson.