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Summary:

Interview with Ira L. Simpson, Army Air Forces veteran (566th Bomb Squadron, 389th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-24 navigator in the European Theater during World War II; also his experiences as a prisoner-of-war in Germany. Enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, 1942; basic training, Miami Beach, Florida, 1943; pre-flight training, Santa Ana, California, 1943; his selection for navigator training, Santa Ana; aerial gunnery training, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1943; advanced navigation training, Hondo, Texas, 1943-44; combat crew training, Charleston, South Carolina, 1944; his description of the flight characteristics of the B-24; the flight to England and assignment to the 339th Bomb Group at Hethel, 1944; his first mission, October 1, 1944, to Hanau, Germany; base living conditions; off-base social activities; German fighters and flak; Ardennes Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge, December, 1944-January, 1945; forced landing due to flak damage on a mission to Magdeburg, Germany, January 3, 1945; his plane being shot down and his capture, February 14, 1945; interrogation; train trip from Holland to Germany; solitary confinement and further interrogation at Dulag Luft, Frankfurt, Germany; processing at Wetzlar, Germany; incarceration at Stalag Luft XIII-D in Nürnberg, Germany; his description of the physical layout of the POW camp; POW camp life; his bouts with mental depression; internal camp organization among the POWs; Red Cross parcels; relationship between POWs and German guards; forced march from Nürnberg to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg, Germany, April, 1945; living conditions at Stalag VII-A; liberation on April 29, 1945; his postwar career in the U.S. Air Force.

Author/Creator:

Simpson, Ira L., 1924-

Contributors:

Simpson, Patrick B. (Patrick Brent)

World War II Prisoners of War Oral History Project

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Oral history interview with Ira L. Simpson, 2000 October 12 & 13 [by Simpson, I.L.]

Related Works:

University of North Texas oral history collection

Related Series:

Oral History; [volume] 1369

Subjects:

Simpson, Ira L., 1924- — Oral history

United States Army Air Forces — History — World War, 1939-1945 — Oral history

United States Army Air Forces — Bomb Squadron, 566th — Oral history

Kriegsgefangenenlager Nürnberg-Langwasser — Oral history

Stalag VII A — Oral history

World War, 1939-1945 — Personal narratives, American — Oral history

World War, 1939-1945 — Aerial operations, American — Oral history

Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945 — Oral history

B-24 (Bomber) — Oral history

World War, 1939-1945 — Prisoners and prisons, German — Oral history

Prisoners of war — Germany — Oral history

Prisoners of war — United States — Oral history

Genres:

Oral history — Examples

World War II oral history — Examples

European Theater oral history — Examples

General Notes:

Interview conducted in 2000 for the World War II Prisoners of War Oral History Project. Interviewer: Patrick B. Simpson.

Physical Description:

142 leaves ; 29 cm

Call Numbers:

OH 1369

OCLC Numbers:

352926102