Reinke, a Madison, Wisconsin resident, discusses his experiences during World War II as a pilot in the 512th Squadron, 376th Bomb Group, 47th Wing, 15th Air Force and as a prisoner of war in Germany. Reinke grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the request of his mother, he finished high school before enlisting at Wright Field (Ohio) in the Army Air Corps. Reinke spends time describing the physical and psychological exams and flight training and that qualified him as a pilot at Santa Ana (California), Wickenburg (Arizona), and Yuma (Arizona). He mentions 50% of pilot candidates "washed out" and became gunners, navigators, or bombardiers. Reinke compares various aircraft at length, including: the BT-13 Vultee Vibrator, Stearman bi-plane, Cessna AT-9, P-38, A-20, and B-24. Reinke recalls his frustration when, after flight school, he was assigned to a B-24 instead of an A-20. In August 1943, Reinke traveled by boat to Casablanca (Morocco) as a replacement joining the 376th Bomb Group. He outlines the history of how the Group, also called Halverson's Raiders, got to North Africa, and he states the 376th was the first Air Corps Group to bomb Europe in World War II. From Casablanca, Reinke was sent to Satif (Algeria) en route to Maduria (Italy). The entire 512th Squadron of the 376th Group had been wiped out shortly before Reinke arrived at the Maduria air base, so in December 1943, he was assigned to the 512th as a replacement. Reinke reports that for thirty days after these major losses, the 512th Squadron stayed in Italy practicing formations and bomb drills. He recalls "Bed-Check Charlie," a German ME-109 plane, strafing the base every few nights while the airmen slept. Reinke describes a bombing mission in Anzio (Italy) and outlines the duties of the B-24's ten-man crew. Next, Reinke details a mission in February 1944 when his plane was shot down. His mission was to bomb a warehouse in Steyr (Austria) as part of "Big Week," one of the largest aerial assaults in World War II. (Reinke later learned this warehouse was an empty shell, set up by the Germans to fool the Americans). Reinke feels several unusual aspects of this mission contributed to his being shot down; he was piloting a B-24H for the first time, a new but slower aircraft with an eleventh man in the nose turret. They were supposed to meet the 450th Bomb Group in the air, but this group never arrived, so Reinke flew back to the 376th. Reinke explains that Colonel Fellows, leading this oversized formation in a B-24D, was moving too fast and left six planes behind. Reinke's plane was shot through the fuel tank by German anti-aircraft guns. After dropping their bombs on the target, Reinke and his crew bailed out at the urging of the engineer. Reinke describes in detail parachuting to the ground and making a rough landing. He explains they hoped to land over Yugoslavia and be rescued by partisans, but they ended up bailing out over enemy territory. Reinke lists the contents of his escape kit, which included: Rye-Crisp crackers containing benzedrine sulfate, gold seal currency, and a map printed on silk that could also keep airmen warm. Reinke tells how three German girls found him. He knew German from his grandmother, so he greeted the girls in German. He mentions he returned to Germany in 1997 to visit them, and the women gave him a piece of his parachute that they had kept for fifty years. One woman, Miss Sammer, revealed they had helped Reinke not out of altruism but because fabric was scarce and they wanted to use his parachute to make underwear. Some of the material was used to make a wedding dress for their neighbor. Reinke states the girls took him to the home of Miss Sammer's father, where a fellow crew member, "Robbie" Robinson, was already waiting. Reinke depicts Mr. Sammer as a nice fellow despite the fact that he turned them over to the police, refusing Reinke's bribes. Robinson and Reinke were then given to Gestapo agents who had apprehended seven of their eleven crew members. From there, Reinke states they were sent to Graz (Austria) with thirty-five other prisoners of war. Reinke shares a frightening experience of hiding in an air raid bunker in Graz with 3,000 German civilians who spat on the POWs and hit them with handbags. Next, he describes his interrogation at a center north of Frankfurt (Germany) where all captured airmen were taken and interviewed by the Luftwaffe. He portrays the German interrogators as clever, putting crews together in bugged rooms in the hopes they would reveal secret information. Reinke tells how Robinson burnt a "flimsy" (a piece of tissue paper listing Air Corps code names) with a match, and the Germans put him in solitary confinement. Reinke goes on to describe taking a railroad car to Stalag Luft I in Barth (Germany). On the train, he refuted a German guard's claim that New York City had been bombed. When the Americans laughed, the guard denied the POWs water for two days, although they managed to get some from snowballs. Reinke details the layout of Stalag Luft I; the prison held nearly 10,000 POWs, mostly American airmen captured during Big Week. Reinke explains the camp was divided into compounds of 2,500 men with 100 men to a barrack, and he was in North Compound Number One. There were also British prisoners from the Royal Air Force as well as 150 Russians, who were kept separately. Reinke comments that the Russian POWs were afraid the Russian Army would treat them as cowards when they were released. Reinke discusses at length pastimes and daily life: prisoners crafted chess sets from bed slats, made playing cards from Red Cross packaging, played ball, and gave lectures to each other on various subjects (French, zoology, engineering, etc.) they had studied before the war. Reinke mentions there was a chaplain from South Africa and one RAF doctor for all 10,000 POWs. He describes the mess hall where POW cooks pooled everyone's Red Cross parcels along with rations from the Germans; however, the mess hall burned down a couple months before the war ended. He recalls how getting sauerkraut from the Germans was a special treat. Reinke comments that the American POWs made committees for everything: food, escape, security, etc. He also reveals a prisoner named Bennett, an Associated Press reporter, had a radio that could be dismantled and hidden among several POWs. Bennett listened to the BBC and wrote up a two-page newsletter called "POW-WOW" that soldiers passed around the compound. Reinke describes the barbed wire fences surrounding Stalag Luft I and outlines several escape attempts. He states POWs dug 102 tunnels which were "engineering feats," but the Germans always found them. Reinke learned later that the Germans had a seismograph and knew when the POWs were tunneling but let them continue to give them something to do. Reinke tells of one successful escape: 2,000 men in his compound staged a fight as a diversion while one POW put a board over the two barbed wire fences and walked over. He was caught four days later and put in solitary confinement. Finally, Reinke tells how the camp was liberated. The Germans left one night in anticipation of the Russian Army, and the next morning, Reinke saw Americans in the guard towers. Reinke praises Colonel Zemke, the ranking officer for the Americans, for his dealings with the Germans and Russians. Reinke comments that the Russians staged a liberation photograph, opening the gates and telling POWs to "act liberated." As Reinke explains, Colonel Zemke had orders from Eisenhower to keep the gates locked and the POWs together until airplanes arrived to take them to France. However, the Russians were planning to march the American POWs to the Crimea and the Black Sea and release them in Italy, which would take months. According to Reinke, Colonel Zemke held his ground against the Russian general and insisted they follow Eisenhower's orders. Reinke suggests some Americans followed the Russians out of the camp and brutalized German civilians. He also tells the unusual story of Major Von Mueller, the German Security Officer in charge of Stalag Luft I. Von Mueller lived in the United States for many years but was forced to join the German Army in the 1930s when he returned to Germany to claim some land. Von Mueller became burgomeister of Barth after fleeing Stalag Luft I and was eventually captured by the Russians. Reinke reports that B-17s finally came to rescue the POWs. He flew to Rheims (France), took a train to Le Havre (France), and eventually sailed on a troop ship back to the U.S. Reinke reveals there were a rash of suicides by American troops waiting at Camp Lucky Strike in Le Havre. He attributes the suicides to soldiers "cracking up" after witnessing destruction and German propaganda. Throughout the interview, Reinke discusses German propaganda including rumors spread about the destruction of major U.S. cities and posters portraying Russians as baby-killers. Reinke reports many Germans committed suicide before the Russians invaded. He also claims that the Russians held three million German prisoners for seven years after the war. In addition, Reinke recalls being perplexed by signs on telephone booths in Frankfurt that said "No Jews." He explains none of the POWs realized the extent of the Holocaust. The interviewer, John Driscoll, mentions frequently that he interviewed another Wisconsin Veteran who was also at Stalag Luft I, but he forgot his name. (That POW was Henry Renard, also a pilot with the 15th Air Force.) Finally, Reinke expresses great affection for Germany and states he returned several times, meeting the three women who rescued him and attending a dinner in Steyr (Austria) in honor of crew members who died during Big Week. He says of his overall experience: "There is always humor."
