McCright, Ewell R, 1917-1990.

Ewell McCright was born in 1917, enlisted in the U. S. Army in 1940, and applied for aviation training in 1941. He was assigned as a bombardier with the Eighth Army Air Corps and was on a mission in 1943 when his plane was attacked. McCright bailed out but was captured by the Germans and taken to Stalag Luft III where he started writing his journals. In addition to personal information about his fellow prisoners, his journals contained accounts of the atrocities at both Auschwitz and Buchenwald which were later used as evidence in the Nuremberg war trials. McCright became an attorney after the war and served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1951 to 1953. It wasn't until after his death in 1990 that his journals were found and published, resulting in the issuance of fourteen Purple Hearts which had been previously denied. In 2004, McCright was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit for his activities during the war.