Henry Bengis

From Easter 1945 (April) our SAO (senior allied officer) Col. Zempke organized all the compound, and barracks commanders, to prepare us for the eventual German abandoning STALAG LUFT 1. All the while I was in the camp, the daily radio reports were read to all the kriegies.

The reports came from both the German and Allied sides, so that we had an overlap in claims. The actual lines were about in the middle of the claims. The secret radio was well hidden, and moved to different locations. All of this is documented in the book, ZEMPKE’S STALAG. We knew that the Russians were advancing at a rapid pace. During the night of April 30th, the Germans left the camp. On the morning of May 1st, we had our own people at the gates, and in the guard towers. Later that day an advance party of Russians entered the town of BARTH. Col. Zempke, some of his staff, and our own interpreter met the Russians. When the Russian General in charge of the region arrived, he met with Col. Zempke.

Zempke announced to all the POW’s, that for our own safety, we were to stay in the camp. Of course being young, brash, “HOT SHOTS”, a few guys took off heading west. One of them was Bill Smithdeal, the first pilot of my plane. He had quite a harrowing experience, before reaching the good guys. Then with the cooperation of the Russians, we contacted the Eighth headquarters to arrange our evacuation. While this was going on our own staff arranged to have each barracks come to the German camp office to retrieve our own personal records. It was all done in an orderly fashion, no overcrowding. On MAY 12th, B-17s from various groups started coming in to the small airfield in Barth. They did not cut their engines while we loaded about 20 POWs, closed the door, and took off. We had to stay in the corridor set up by the Russians and the 8th HQ. Each plane had 2 pilots, a navigator, radio operator, and a flight engineer. The pilot flew at about 5000 feet to show us the devastation of war. I was lucky to be on a plane from my own group THE 379th, THE “GRAND SLAM BOMB GROUP”.

We landed at a field near Le Harve, and then trucked up to camp LUCKY STRIKE, a GI tent city camp. A quick debriefing, delousing, showers, an issue of 2 sets of fatigues, underwear, socks, and a pair of shoes. We were told that ships would be coming to pick us up for the trip back to the good old USA. My group of POWs were assigned to a brand new ship run by the Coast Guard. We kind of felt privileged to be making the maiden voyage, and also to have as a chief bosons mate, VICTOR MATURE, the Hollywood movie star. He kept us entertained for the entire 6 days it took for us to reach BOSTON. (hallelujah) !!! By the way, there was a 24 hours a day, the usual military “crap game”. Lots of money changed hands. This was from the partial pay we received at camp Lucky Strike. We docked at what is now the Boston Trade center. Railroad tracks covered the entire length of the pier. We debarked the ship, directly on to the trains, and headed to Camp MYLES STANDISH, in Taunton, MA. We were processed, and a day or so later, we were shipped to Atlantic City, NJ, to be processed for further duty, or discharged. While on terminal leave, I came down with HEPATITUS.

After a stay in 2 hospitals in the NEW YORK area, my doctor recommended that I be sent to the military hospital in CORAL GABLES, FL. That facility is now the top luxury hotel “THE MIAMI BILTMORE” What a deal !!!!!!!!!!!!!. Every morning I had to report to the lab to have blood drawn, to monitor my progress of Hepatitis. After the lab work, I had breakfast, and then had my choice of activity for that day. My 2 best choices were, THE TATUM SURF CLUB, a relatively small hotel on the beach, right next to what used to be THE FIRESTONE ESTATE, and is now the FOUNTAINBLUE HOTEL. They opened their facility as an officers club, with lockers, and towels, and use of the beach grill. Top notch!

Also, HIALEAH RACE TRACK, a top, and beautiful track at that time, also we had a choice to go to downtown MIAMI. All of these locations were served by military busses. This was by far the most delightful time of my military career. I took advantage of the GI bill, and the benefits. I studied YAK HERDING in the HIMALAYAS. A fascinating experience. Then I took a course in collecting “belly button lint”. Very exciting, especially since most of the work was done on 18 year old “virgins”, very hard to find then, and almost impossible today.