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Edward A."Eddie"Grunewald .,,
By Bill Youngkin families. It would have been confiscated from them but not from
' Special to The Eagle me. After we crossed the border, I gave it back to them.
j Edward A. "Eddie" Grunewald of Somerville has a 16t of I was delivered to Stalag Luft 3 which was where the movie
memories after 91 years of life. One memory that will never The Great Escape' was centered around. It was mostly British
dim is his experience as a POW during WWII. airmen, but we had allied airmen from all over the world. The
Grunewald was born in Alma, Kansas on February 14, tunnels that had been dug had been destroyed before I arrived.
1919, the son of a farmer. During the "Dust Bowl "days and after In the early winter of 1945 on a cold morning with only thirty
his graduation in 1936, he followed and worked on threshing minutes notice, we were marched in eight inches of snow and
18 degree temperature for 10 days to Dresden, Germany. When
k machines and combines in the wheat fields, from Texas to
1 Canada. In 1941 he joined the army in St. Louis, Missouri we stopped at night, you could not take your shoes off because
i because he wanted to fly. After basic training and testing he you would not have been able to get them back on. The cold
was selected for flight school. He received his wings and his was so bad. The only way you could get circulation in your feet 1
commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1943. was to walk. 1
According to Grunewald, "We trained to fly B -17s and "We were marched to Dresden which was being bombed to 1
1 B -24s. One of the special people I met and trained with was the ground. After a few weeks, we were moved from Dresden
James Stewart, the actor. I flew several times as his co -pilot and to Nuremburg. That was where the war ended for us. We
I will say he was an absolutely qualified pilot as he flew planes knew it was over when an American pilot flew a P -51 over our
before the war started. He also had an excellent memory for compound. Some of the guys had made an American flag which
names and he never stuttered, like he did in the movies. That they began to wave. That pilot came back over and did a barrel
was all an act. If he was serious or mad, he had no stutter at all.
roll about 50 yards above us.
"I received orders for Italy. We landed in Naples and started
flying bombing missions out of Naples in our B-24. On July 5, "later that day, the American army arrived with General
' 1944 we were to fly what we thought would be a 'milk run' to Patton pulling up in his jeep. I remember him standing in his
Toulon, France. There were three oil refineries in Toulon which jeep and in a squeaky voice, announce that we were now under
where our targets. We were to fly in over the sea, drop our the control of the United States Army.
bombs and return home. Toulon would be my 13th and last "Our greatest need was food, then a change of clothes and
mission of the war. a shower. We had not showered in months and our clothing
"By this point in the war, the Germans had become very was infested with lice. We showered 50 at a time. A lot of guys
proficient with their 88mm guns in defending targets. Our passed out, I guess because of all the pores of our skin were now
plane was hit by an 88 shell, causing the plane to catch fire clean and open.
and then explode. When it exploded I was in what was left of
the cockpit. As I fell into the air I opened my parachute and "Because we were POWs, we were allowed to go home
everything became very quiet. I could hear pieces of the plane first.1 was placed aboard a ship to New York and then a train
as they fell past me to the ground. Some pieces were very large. to Randolph Field which is just outside of Houston where 1
I was concerned I would be hit by some of the falling debris. was discharged. That all happened over 65 years ago, but I can
', I will always remember the sound of those pieces falling past remember all of it like it was yesterday."
my chute. I looked around the sky and could not find any other Grunewald would enter the cattle auction business back in
1
t chutes. I was the only survivor from my plane.
Kansas after the war, eventually returning to the Gulf Coast to
"I had no recollection of falling until I hit the ground. When work for City Service Company where he would remain until he
I hit the ground, the Germans were there waiting for me. 1 retired. After he retired, he wanted to live where the fishing was
remember them pointing their guns at me and asking for my good and life was easy. That's how he ended up in Somerville.
pistol. I didn't have one. I was badly burned in the explosion on As stated by Grunewald, "My memories of being shot down and
my arms and face so they carried to a German Army hospital. being a POW will always remain with me as well as the people
The German doctors took excellent care of me and seemed to
really know what they were doing with my burn injuries. who shared that time in my life"
"After about three weeks in the hospital, I was loaded onto If you wantto have a nameadded to the Veterans Memorial,
a train in the Rhone Valley and taken to Germany. The German for more information, to make a contribution, or if you know a
t� soldiers were happy to escort me because that would allow World War 11 veteran whose story needs to be told, contact the
them the opportunity to see their families. Maybe because of BVVM at www.bvvm.org or Bill Youngkin at 979- 776 -1325.
'; that, they treated me very well. When we reached the German Names must be submitted for the memorial by August 15, 2010
border, they gave me the trinkets and presents they had for their in orderto be inscribed by this Veterans Day.
The Eagle