Oral history interview with Michael G. Gesino, 2001 May 14.

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Oral history interview with Michael G. Gesino, 2001 May 14.

Interview with Michael G. Gesino, Army Air Forces veteran (423rd Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force).), concerning his experiences as a B-17 ball turret gunner in the European Theater during World War II; his experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Germans. Enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, 1942; his decision to become a bombardier, 1943; bombardier training, Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, and Laredo Army Air Base, Laredo, Texas, 1943; circumstance leading to his decision to become an aerial gunner, 1943; advanced gunnery school, Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, 1943; additional gunnery training, Kingman, Arizona, 1943-44; combat crew training, Pyote, Texas, 1944; his decision to volunteer as ball turret gunner; stationing at Thurleigh, England, June, 1944; raids to V-2 rocket sites at Peenemùˆnde, 1944; relations with British civilians; on-base activities; raids against German transportation facilities; comments about German flak; his plane shot down, July 20, 1944, on a mission to Leipzig; eye surgery in a German military hospital in Chemnitz; solitary confinement and interrogation at Frankfurt; incarceration at Stalag Luft-IV, Gross Tychow, Germany, 1944-45; routine camp life; comments about prison camp guards; transfer to Stalag Luft-I, Barth, Germany, 1945; liberation by Soviet troops; postwar medical treatment and recuperation. Appendix consists of photocopies of photographs (two leaves), German POW forms (two leaves), and maps (two leaves).

122, [7] leaves : facsims. ; 29 cm.

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

University of North Texas. Oral History Collection.

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World War II Prisoners of War Oral History Project.

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United States. Army Air Forces

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The Army Air Forces War Adjustment Course was established in 1944 at several locations in the U.S., one of which was Harvard Business School. The HBS program involved eight weeks of training in the business of contract terminations, cutbacks, and property disposal necessitated by changes in Army Air Forces tactical requirements. Approximately 4,200 officers received instruction throughout the country, about one sixth of them at HBS. The goal of the program was to train men for participation in t...

Gesino, Michael G., 1923-

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United States. Army Air Forces. Aviation Cadet Program.

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Stalag Luft I

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Stalag Luft IV

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Simpson, Patrick

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United States. Army Air Forces. Bomb Squadron, 423rd.

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