The POW Diary of John Teune: August 30, Part Two: What Happened During the Crash of the 'Deuces Wild'

The Teune brothers in their Army Air Corps uniforms. John is second from right.

August 30, 1944 (Part Two)

After our arrival at camp, we were assigned a barracks and unpacked our bundles. We washed off some dust and then looked up Hal and Glen (they were the bombardier and navigator on Deuces Wild). We were very happy to see each other. They had been poorly treated and lost weight. When our plane was hit, they said it broke in two and they were thrown about in the nose of the plane as it spun down. While Glen was pinned for a moment, he saw his chute and grabbed it in his arms and then was thrown thru the astro hatch. When he came to, he fastened on his chute and pulled the cord and almost immediately hit the ground. Hal (Harold Dyer, bombardier), was thrown near the nose wheel door which was jarred open, but could get only one leg out. Then suddenly he was thrown out and poulled open his chute just in time to hit the ground safetly. Both were only slightly bruised and went to the camp in Bucharest. We talked for some time. I met Lehner and his crew who bailed out the same day after passing the target. Only the photographer was lost. Also met Pete and Jack.