The POW Diary of John Teune: Initial First Aid

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

Of the bombardment I remember little. I must have been unconscious several times because of the pain. I remember crawling on my stomach to a position which would put my legs higher than my head to help prevent shock. I had been promised a doctor in 20 minutes. After an unknown period of time, two Romanian soldiers picked me up to carry me to a truck. I was conscious only part of the time and it didn't seem to take long although I was told later I was carried three miles. I was placed on an old truck together with other soldiers, black bread and other miscellaneous things. It was very bumpy and I hurt terribly. We stopped in several villages where the civilians came out to gaze at me and asked if I was an American. I was taken to, I believe, a First Aid station. They did nothing but cut off every bit of clothing from my waist down. I lost my boots coming out of the plane. Again, I was placed in a truck and we rode past one of the refineries and the bombs were still going off. We ended up at a military hospital, just a large shack, although surrounded by large brick buildings. I was laid in a bed and a blanket was thrown over me.