https://barrycountyhistoryportal.org/files/original/13/336/Dibble_Text0143.pdf f9a6a543a25cedcc22211d8e57c06794 PDF Text Text '. Page 3 1st Fighter News May 1993 Stan Wojcik Shot Down! In our January 1993 issue, we told how Cy Nolen was shot down, captured, and escaped. Now we have the story ofStan Wojcik, who was shot down on hisfirst mission, was captured, and wasfinally liberated by the Russians in 1945. He has additional data on the fate of his flight lead, Lt. Dibble. turn, pulling i up, saw smoke from Dibble's plane. I pulled up alongsid gside and above to see what he was doing. I saw no movement by him, just smoke and fire in the cockpit He may have been wounded or dead so I pulled away. I felt a couple of thuds, the plane’s nose section erupted On September 9,19431 was to go on a mission that was *n flames and smoke extending into the cockpit, blasting my head to provide cover for the invasion of Italy at Salerno. Prior to this and317115 wldl heat. I immediately pulled the release on the top I was one of a group of replacement P-40 pilots that were diverted, canopy and the slip stream blew it off. I had to pull my helmet off onAugust24, to the First Fighter Group, which was flying P-38’s because the headset wires and oxygen mask were attached. Istood and in need of pilots at Mateur. Having flown only single engine up, pushing backwards, and yvas sucked out and rolled off the at:about 2,000 feet. I waited to clearthe tail and pulled planes it was quite a shock to me, but once it wore off it became trailing edge at therip ripcord. cord. IIv a matter of survival. the was going over 300 mph and the chute opened with quite ajerk. Lookingdownlsawanopenfield.butlwasoverhigh " :tric wires. I slipped the chute by climbing up the shroud After a lot ofcockpit time, ground instruction and limited power elect! wires and anc before letting go of the shroud lines, I ;cd the wites manual information, I did takeoff and started to get used to the lines, missed •'und about twice the normal speed, somersaulted and plane. The only time wecould fly was when the squadron missions hit the groun >ut 100 feet. I didn’t break any bones, since I had my were over or not scheduled. This didn’t go over too well with the rolled about grout ind crew, but things got better. Our overuse of brakes for combat shoes on. taxiing was frownedI iupon. Test firing of guns over the Mediterranean added more] : problems for the armament keptfalling falling -------- oguys. _,_. IIkept off the ladder whil ile trying to climb up on an the plane, plane. Being 5'4", I always had a problem with short leg reach. Durir ing this time I constantly' practiced pra escape procedures. I also had ai tbad feeling of fire and bumi mning. Finally the orders came to move temporarily to Dittaino, Sicily. I was put in charge of squadron baggage, which was to be transported on a B-26 bomber. The landing at Sicily was downwind, on the wrong field, and the B-26 got stuck in the lava soil that couldn’tsupport the weight. We unloaded onto a truck and left the plane and the pilots with a bulldozer to move to solid ground. Later, in a P.O.W. camp, I met the B-26 co-pilot, who had been shot down on a bombing mission. His pilot was killed. He told me that after the problems at Dittaino, they returned to Africa after dark and were shot at by friendly fire, but landed OK. Italy capitulated, but the invasion was on. At the briefing before flight, we were told we would be given a target to strafe after ourpatrol. I was the wingman for J. Dibble, the flight leader, and we were to patrol the Pears area. The patrol at approximately 10,000 feet was uneventful. A ground controller radioed us a target; a motor convoy 30 miles inland of Agropoli of some 400 vehicles on a road between Pola and lagonegro, moving g north, north. While at 10,000 feet my tight helmet, with goggles and oxygen oxygen mask, was very uncomfortable, so I loosened my chin strap “ p and and mask on the way down to strafe, with combat flaps aps down and a prayer. We came in from the sun and made a run in a valley /alley in the mountains. Fired guns, lot of vehicles, racked into a 180 degree As I was getting out of my harness, I heard and saw a German soldier waving a gun, shouting; ;and motioning me to come in his direction. He was on the strafed road1 v" up on an embankment, My face and arms were burned and my eyes res felt seared, so I was having a hard time getting up the bank. He reached down and helped me up onto the road. He disarmed me and flag; agged down a jeep-type German vehicle with two other soldiers ins inside. I was ving with the seated in the front, and the air blast created by drivir time. Seeing windshield folded down was giving my face a roughi ti. thisdriver stopped and put the windshield up and offered me a cigarette. Theytook me to a flrst aid tent, but only checked me over briefly, then I was taken to German headquarters. The guard told a German officer, who was looking out a window, what had happened and who I was. The officer waved us on. I was taken to a school building that had medical facilities. My arms and face were bandaged and I spent that night in a hallway on some straw, with other wounded Americans. There were a lot of explosions during the night. The next day, in late afternoon, they put me and others in an ambulance to go north. A German soldier was making a fuss because my name was Polish, but he was pulled away. The drivers stoppedforabreak.evidentlytostretch their legs. The ambulance started to move, with no driver! There was a lot of yelling in the ambulance, and I tried to get out, but just banged my elbows. The driver ran up in time and ar got us stopped. (Continued) �Page 4 1st Fighter News May 1993 Stan Wojcik - Shot Down, Injured, Captured - Survived! (Continued) The next morning we arrived at another school that was medically equipped, and where there were more wounded Ameri­ cans, British and Germans. By then I was very lame and sore. They tried to change my bandages, but they stuck, dried to my bums. Finally, with a quick jerk, they pulled them off. I was getting weak, when I suddenly remembered it was my birthday. My sight was getting worse, and I spent that night lying on a stretcher, delirious off and on during the night. A German medic orderly did what he could. They moved us out the next day in the back of a truck,’ headed for Naples. During the trip some of the American guys got Jt grapes at the relief stops and squeezed them through my burned lips. We saw a lot of refugees, and when we got to Naples our aitals because of the t chaotic condi­ drivers couldn’t get to the hospitals tions due to partisan activities. We traveled through the night: tand came to the town of Casino, located below a monastery, and1 ■were put up in a church. ': ]past my The Germans got some pudding for me so I could get it lips. My sight was really bad. Someone went berserk,, and not being able to see much, I got upset. But an American wounded sergeant calmed me down. A German guard led me across the street to a German ran hospital. A German doctor checked my eyes and put ointment in them, and told an interpreter to tell me that my eyes would recover. They put us on an ambulance train and we headed north. As we passed through Rome the other wounded guys got stuff from the Italians at the station stops. I told them to take my escape money. Earlier, the German guards didn’t seem to know what to do about my escape kit and didn’t take it or my personal watch. A nurse on the train sharpened a hypo needle and gave me morphine. I could hardly see, I knew I was getting weaker, and the bandages were a mess. Finally, on September 18,1943, at a stop in Germany, I heard a lot of commotion and I was put on a stretcher. The bearers were running with me, so I knew I was in bad shape. I hoped they were taking me someplace where I could get some treatment. I heard a lot of German talk that I couldn’t understand, but I knew I was in a buildir ‘ When I woke up, I vaguely saw building. I’ passed out. a smiling nun with a white head dress standing ne lunwithawhite next to me, offering meadrink.:. I thought I was in heaven. Itookadrir I took a drink through a glass straw, and1 passed >sed out on again. When I woke up an English speaking nun said I had slept for 24 hours, and they were worried. She also told me I was in a Catholic convent, part of which had been made into a hospital for heart problems and skin problems, such as burns, frostbite, etc. Some of the nuns were also nurses and were all smiles because I had a crucifix on my dog tag chain and I was a Catholic. The doctor, a middle age man, was very professional and so were the civilian nurses. In the room with me was a badly burned B-25 pilot. He was in great pain and needed a lot of attention. Later in a P.O.W. ____ wounded soldiers. camp, in 1944, he was exchanged for German My eyes were improving up. My lips - and- my -bums were drying were a mess and tbey bad t0 cut jnt0 smap s]jlivers so I could 7^^ had burned all my clolhes because they \were full of maggOts. They gave me hospital type clothes and sli lippers to Wear. They had me up in a week, but I was lame. They gave me a German uniform stripped of insignia and walked me outside to get ready for travel. My eyes would fog up from the cool air. I was getting abscesses on my wrists, elbows and armpits. A guard came to take me to a P.O.W. camp, but the doctor saw how bad my abscesses were and said I couldn’t go. They gave me therapy machine treatments, but they finally had to lance my elbow and wrist. In two weeks I developed an abscess in my throat and the doctor sent a guard away again. It took a week with hot potato compresses around my neck before it broke. All this time 1 couldn’t eat or even swallow saliva. Although I was getting over the abscesses, I still wasn’t »ling well. The doctor checked me over, seeing the yellow skin feelir id the yellow in my eyes. He said I had yellow jaundice and was andu to> stay s'" in bed for five weeks. The nuns were overjoyed that I would ay with them longer. They gave me extra meat and milk and stay wrapped my body, around the liver area, with hot towels. The B-25 pilot was getting better, and seeing how he was always looked after, he wanted to become a Catholic. In a secret ceremony, in the room with a priest, nun and me as a sponsor, he became a Catholic. I might Jit add that all religious property was in COntrol of the German gove ivernment and the nuns’ and thej priest’s activities were restricted.. 1There was very little Gestapo1 activii activity j;--------------- . -u ... L------ t-.j the Russjan jn the hospital, but a soldier patient told us how bad the Russian front was and that Hitler should be hanged. It may have been a bait for any reaction. It was nearing Christmas time and I was over my jaun­ dice. Iwastoldlwouldn’tleaveuntilJanuary 1944, so I could look after the B-25 pilot until he was ready to travel. My burns had healed with no scars, but the B-25 pilot was a mess. His lips, eyelids, ears, arms, and face were badly scarred. He had lost most of the use of one arm. I fed him and bathed him when I was able. At Christmas we got packages with cakes, wine, and beer, the same as the German soldiers. I went to midnight Mass with an officer who was a patient. It was in the convent chapel and even the townspeople attended. We were taken for walks, always with a guard, and we saw a lot of the countryside. There were ■>. — They always took our shoes away plenty of shrines and villages. jught of escape, but never got any once we were inside. I thou contact. ( Continued) �Page 5 1st Fighter News May 1993 Stan Wojcik - Shot Down, Injured, Captured - Survived! (Continued) The convent/hospital was on the bank of the Danube, Our food consisted of barley, horse meat (that had been which was just a small stream, and about 75 miles from the border killed by strafing), potatoes, rutabaga, and Red Cross packages. I of Switzerland. An inspecting army major asked me about my was ration man for 9 P.O.W.’s that shared food. I was cook Polish ancestry, but I said only that my parents were bom in the (cooked in the room) for 6 months. Things got bleak toward the It United States and were United States citizens. I wasn’t interro- end. We got letters and packages from home. We saw a lot of headf for Berlin. We saw and heard British Mosquigated all the time I was a P.O.W. Of course, I didn’t know bombers heading anything. The rest of the soldier patients never mentioned any- toes beat up an airfield 3 miles away and shoot down a FW-190. lotof , night raids. One lasted all night, as they went thing. The B-25 pilot and I were in a small room, just the two of We heard a lot us. The patients would bring their wives and kids to see us as a after Peenemunde rocket station. We saw a lot of jet and a rocket novelty. lights lightsand andtrails trailsover overthe theBaltic. Baltic. We Wewere werenever neverbombed bombedor < strafed, even when the Russians were near. A lot of eastern German InmidJanuary, 1944, a guard showed up and escorted me refugees and Allied P.O.W.’s were fleeing the Russians. and the B-25 pilot to a British officer P.O.W. camp about a half­ day trip away by train. When we arrived I was given a French At the end there were a lot of rumors, of being\ sshot by the SS, uniform that looked likea World Warl type uniform. We were put or moving everybody west. But the main Russi sian thmst was in a camp medical dispensary. After 2 weeks I was put in a for Berlin, so the Germans decided to leave and left the camp to barracks with British and Canadians. The British fixed me up with us. Russians showed up in a few days and the agreement was a British uniform without any insignia. An American P-51 pilot finally made to fly about 9,000 of us out by B-17's and C-46’s was brought in also. The B-25 pilot stayed in the dispensary all the to France. time. We stayed at this camp until mid February of 1944. With two guards and a couple of boxes of food, we were taken to another camp for airman officers on the Baltic Sea (Stalag Luft 1), at the town of Barth. We traveled 3 days and 2 nightsson < civilian passenger trains. We stopped at a German equivalent it to our USO’s and guards would bring us beer at station stops. Thir hings started to look bad as we went through the northern cit ities. When we got to Berlin to change trains we saw fields of graves, ( burned out buildings, and rubble in the streets, The dam; raged railroad station was full of people, pushing and shoving,, tmilling around to get on trains. I saw a Coke machine; that shoo' rook me. There was noroom on theconnecting train, and we would have to wait until the next day. The guards didn’t want to spend the night in Berlin because of the RAF raids, and to our relief, they convinced the railroad station manager that the five of us could ride standing up in the baggage section of a car until space in one of the cars became available as people got off. Everything worked out and we had plenty of room. That evening young German boys; ccame aboard the train, Wc assumed that they were going to training ig camp. When we pgot to Straslund Naval Base we stayed over night ;ht in solitary cells. We ™® were treated by the base people with no animosity. We drank cold Ersatz coffee, as water was taboo. We arrived at Barth and walked three miles to the P.O. W. camp. We logged in, had our pictures taken, and two of us were assigned to a barracks in the old original camp compound. The B25 pilot was put in the camp dispensary and wouldjoin us later. We were close to the flak school where youths trained on radar. Stan ‘Wojcit —^*^7 Doorknob Five Two The January 1993 issue of the News included Robin Hansen’s skeptical review of the book, Doorknob Five Two. The author, Fredric Arnold, sent us copies of documents which, if valid, show that the major points of the book are true. The News does not assume responsibility for any review that we publish. Robin Hansen stands by his review. Fredric Arnold has resigned from the Association. The 1st Fighter News is a forum for veterans to tell their stories. The News is not an official record; we may expect people to have different recollections of what happened, and many events will remain forever obscure. 'The 'Editor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource James P. Dibble: Killed in Action Description An account of the resource Typically pilots rotated home after their 50th mission. James took off for his 49th mission on Septemebr 9, 1943, and never returned.<br /><br />He was shot down on a straffing run near the town of Padula, Italy. Initially there was much confusion amongst the other P-38 pilots, and it was thought James survivied and may have been taken prisoner.<br /><br />Ultimately it was discovered that James had been shot down and then killed by German soldiers.<br /><br />James was ultiamtely brought home and buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Middleville, Michigan. See information on his gravesite at <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40312090/james-p-dibble" target="_blank" title="James P. Dibble's Gravesite" rel="noreferrer noopener">FindAGrave.com</a>.<br /><br />See reports, documents and letters around James' missing in action status and then the determination that he was killed in action. Included are letters from the Army to his wife Maxine and parents, newspaper clippings and local memorials.<br /><br /><br />Jump to other sections of the collection: <ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/5">James P. Dibble: World War II P-38 Fighter Pilot</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/6">His Early Life</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/7">High School into the Army Air Corps</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/8">Flight Training</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/17">We Got Married!</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/9">Combat!</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/10">Mission Reports</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/11">Letters Home</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/16">Flying with Eisenhower</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/12">The Day of Armageddon - August 30, 1943</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/13">Killed in Action</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/14">The Search for Answers</a><ul><li><a href="https://www.barrycountyhistoryportal.org/collections/show/15">The Monument in Padula, Italy</a></li> </ul></li> </ul></li> </ul><br /><ul><li> <ul><li><a href="http://omeka/collections/show/15"></a></li> </ul></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Printed newsletter Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Article written by Stan Wojcik and published in the 1st Fighter News recounting the day James Dibble was shot down and Stan's time as a POW Subject The topic of the resource James Dibble. Crash. Description An account of the resource Article written by Stan Wojcik and published in the 1st Fighter News recounting the day James Dibble was shot down and Stan's time as a POW. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Essay Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stan Wojcik Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. 1st Fighter Wing Association Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Jim Dibble Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available 1st Fighter Wing Association Date Accepted Date of acceptance of the resource. Examples of resources to which a Date Accepted may be relevant are a thesis (accepted by a university department) or an article (accepted by a journal). 1/18/2022