Menu
POW shares insights on wartime events
Fort Scott, Kan. -- War is sometimes a necessary evil, according to local resident and World War II veteran Lewis Williams.
"War is hell, but sometimes, we have to have it," Williams said Wednesday at Fort Scott Community College after presenting FSCC officials with a special gift that contains some of his memories from the turbulent conflict.
Williams, who is originally from Garland and now lives in Redfield, donated the book "Stalag Luft IV: Former Prisoner of War W.W.II" to FSCC during a presentation on Wednesday.
Williams, a former POW himself, was a gunner in the United States Air Force who was flying over Munich, Germany, in July 1944, when his plane was shot down.
Williams spent more than 11 months in a Frankfurt, Germany, prison camp before returning to the United States in June 1945.
On Wednesday, Williams and his wife of 61 years, Nelda, shared stories of some of the trying experiences he endured as a soldier and POW during the mid-1940s.
"He told me one time that he went 85 straight days, walking and running without taking his shoes off," Nelda said. "Can you imagine that? I sure can't."
Williams' plane was shot down during his unit's 17th mission on July 11, 1944. He bailed out over Munich, Germany, and spent four days on his own before being captured by Germans. He was forced to spend six days in jail and solitary confinement in a Frankfurt prison camp, after which he was interrogated.
He and other prisoners were later taken in boxcars to POW Camp Stalag Luft IV in Grosstychow, Germany, according to Williams' biography in the 1996 book. The volume is titled after the name of the prison camp and written by one of Williams' fellow prisoners of war.
Williams and other prisoners were greeted at the train station near the prison camp by a German captain and his soldiers, Williams recalls in the book.
"Fixed bayonets and police dogs ran us from station to camp, three miles," Williams said in his biography. "The captain had lost family in a bombing and was bitter at airmen."
The prisoners walked out of the POW camp with a group of German guards on Feb. 14, 1945, and walked until May 2, 1945, when the American prisoners were liberated by the English 2nd Army near Holinbeck, Germany. The prisoners walked to the 82nd Airborne American lines in Hamburg, Germany, and were eventually sent to Camp Lucky Strike in Reims, France, for four weeks.
They finally left England and arrived back in the United States on June 30, 1945.
Williams was inducted into the U.S. Air Force in 1943, and received basic training in St. Petersburg, Fla.
He also attended Airplane Mechanics School, the Spartan School of Aeronau-tics in Tulsa, Okla., and the Gunnery School in Harlingen, Texas. He participated in a crew formation in Salt Lake City, Utah, crew training in Davis-Monthan, Ariz., and crew assignment in Topeka.
Williams said he donated to the book to FSCC primarily because he wants the book to stay in the local community where he was born and raised, and where he has lived most of his life, and because his son, Ted, once attended the college.
"I'd like to leave it with the community now," he said.
Fort Scott Community College officials said they are honored to receive the gift, which will be used to teach students about a portion of world history from the perspective of a local veteran, and other veterans featured in the book who shared similar experiences as POWs during World War II.
"It means a lot to us," FSCC President Clayton Tatro said. "Something like this is always important and good for the community."
Williams now farms wheat, soybeans, corn and livestock near his home in Redfield, Kan.
Williams is still active and said he will continue to be active as long as he remains in good health.
He and Nelda were married on Aug. 23, 1947, after the war had ended.