Oral history interview with Robert Bruce Kilmer, 2001 May 26.

ArchivalResource

Kilmer, Robert B., 1919-2007. Oral history interview with Robert Bruce Kilmer, 2001 May 26.

Oral history interview with Robert Bruce Kilmer, 2001 May 26.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/420268163

Interview with Robert Bruce Kilmer, Army Air Forces veteran (547th Bomb Squadron, 389th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force), concerning his experiences as a B-17 pilot in the European Theater during World War II; also his experiences with the French Resistance and as a prisoner-of-war in Germany. His educational background; his reaction to the Pearl Harbor attack; enlistment in the Aviation Cadet Program, April, 1942; basic training, Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, 1942; primary flight training, Sikeston, Missouri, 1942; basic flight training, Majors Field, Greenville, Texas, 1942; advanced flight training, Pampa, Texas, 1942-43; B-17 transition training, Windover, Utah, 1943; stationing at Grafton Underwood, England, 1943; his description of preparations for a bombing mission; post-mission debriefings; description of missions and his getting shot down, October 14, 1943; rescue by the French Resistance and his six-month experience operating with them; capture by the Gestapo and incarceration at Fresnes Prison, Paris; solitary confinement and interrogation at Wiesbaden, Germany; transfer to Dulag Luft, Frankfurt, Germany, for further interrogation by the Luftwaffe, 1943; transfer to Stalag Luft-III, Sagan, Germany, 1943; physical description of Stalag Luft-III and his compound; daily life in the POW camp; value of Red Cross parcels; evacuation and forced march to Nürnberg, Germany, January, 1945; forced march to Moosburg, Germany, 1945; liberation and reunion with his brother at Moosburg; processing at Camp Lucky Strike, Le Havre, France, and return to the States by troopship.

210 leaves ; 29 cm.

University of North Texas Library, UNT