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

ArchivalResource

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

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.

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

University of North Texas. Oral History Collection.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63c6r4q (corporateBody)

World War II Prisoners of War Oral History Project.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60686xh (corporateBody)

United States. Army Air Forces

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wb616q (person)

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...

Simpson, Patrick

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz29jn (person)

Stalag Luft III

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jh7qf4 (corporateBody)

Kilmer, Robert B., 1919-2007

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vd808b (person)

Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q2900f (corporateBody)

United States. Army Air Forces. Bomb Squadron, 547th.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68m28mn (corporateBody)