Hjalmar Johansson: Teenage Prisoner of WWII | History — Transcript

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1. 0:00I was always interested in airplanes
2. 0:09even as a small child and flying in a
3. 0:13plane was just the most exciting thing I
4. 0:17could imagine of course there was never
5. 0:19an opportunity into flight my mother was
6. 0:22a widow we lived in abject poverty
7. 0:25actually in a way maybe that hardened me
8. 0:29for what was to come later it's an honor
9. 0:42and a privilege to be here today I can
10. 0:47see all your eager faces I hope after I
11. 0:51finish you will carry away something of
12. 0:54what I've talked about
13. 0:57[Music]
14. 0:59you know something about World War 2 I
15. 1:02assume I was 17 I graduated from high
16. 1:07school and the Army Air Corps was
17. 1:11looking for candidates to put on
18. 1:15airplanes I was a pilot training and I
19. 1:18was going to be a real hot pilot
20. 1:20however the Air Force decided otherwise
21. 1:23they said you had a choice between going
22. 1:25in the infantry or going in as a gunner
23. 1:28not a bomber and I was the nones gunner
24. 1:32which was right up in the front of the
25. 1:34airplane we entered the war zone in
26. 1:39Italy and became part of the 15th Air
27. 1:42Force this is my crew these were the
28. 1:44guys that were with me on the airplane
29. 1:45all 10 of us and unfortunately I'm the
30. 1:51only survivor at the moment at that time
31. 1:53we were on the petroleum campaign to
32. 1:57knock out all of the oil and gas supply
33. 2:00that Germany had my squadron had seven
34. 2:04different be 24th and we flew very close
35. 2:08together and because that was protection
36. 2:10for us now I'm on my way finally at last
37. 2:13into battle
38. 2:15my first mission I didn't know what to
39. 2:18expect and then all of a sudden
40. 2:22anti-aircraft fire from one of the other
41. 2:25craft craft shows punctured a hole in
42. 2:28the wing the right wing and then the
43. 2:30fighter plane sent us one of video
44. 2:35coming right straight in on my chair I
45. 2:37was doing my best to defend against
46. 2:41these guys then one of my guns geom
47. 2:44completely and that was a sick feeling
48. 2:48and then the other one Jim - look at
49. 2:55that wing I said I'm not going home than
50. 2:59this play I'm not going back to my buck
51. 3:01it's gonna be a bunch of empty bunks in
52. 3:04the tent tonight then the pilot says
53. 3:09okay gonna bail out everybody's got to
54. 3:11get out of the plane statistic at that
55. 3:14time said that whenever a four-engine
56. 3:16bomber went down half of the crew would
57. 3:22die in some cases everyone died people
58. 3:26have asked me didn't they train you in
59. 3:28jumping in a parachute and said no way
60. 3:32Air Force knew you could get hung up a
61. 3:35tree you break your legs you break your
62. 3:37arms so we didn't have any training so I
63. 3:41sat in there without a parachute on and
64. 3:44it was a big trapdoor in the bottom of
65. 3:47the airplane and the Navigator was
66. 3:50supposed to pull me out and when I get
67. 3:54out and I look for my friend the
68. 3:55navigator my buddy
69. 3:57he was gone now where was my parachute
70. 4:01right next to that open door so I
71. 4:04stepped out and on in a hurry I just
72. 4:07thought that at first we're not even
73. 4:09thinking people said to me after weren't
74. 4:12you scared to jump I said not really
75. 4:15I was scared not
76. 4:21[Music]
77. 4:24I landed with a thump knees came up
78. 4:30almost knocked me out hit me in the chin
79. 4:33now I found my tail gunner who had
80. 4:35landed very close to me and a few
81. 4:38minutes shots rang out bang bang we
82. 4:41heard shouts in German up on a hill not
83. 4:47far away
84. 4:51the Germans had to get us from where I
85. 4:55had landed in Austria to the
86. 4:58interrogation centre and then we were
87. 5:01marched into a camp itself it was
88. 5:03solitary confinement this darkness and
89. 5:07total despair inside the solitary
90. 5:13confinement I vowed I was not going to
91. 5:17talk give tell them anything they wanted
92. 5:19name rank and serial number item that's
93. 5:21all I'll give you then the next thing
94. 5:23you know the we got orders you're moving
95. 5:27out of here they never told you swear
96. 5:29cone marches down to the railroad
97. 5:31station we spent one week traveling
98. 5:34about 400 miles I would say it's
99. 5:38freezing weather it was the coldest
100. 5:41winter they had in about 40 50 years
101. 5:45even taken down to 135 miles south of
102. 5:49Berlin to a little town called Lucan
103. 5:52valle de we were then put into it
104. 5:55all-purpose Stalag Stalag means a
105. 5:59permanent prison camp and this was the
106. 6:03camp that would help me the longest
107. 6:06period of time
108. 6:07[Music]
109. 6:32March 13th 1945 dear diary starting a
110. 6:39bit late but I guess it's better than
111. 6:43nothing
112. 6:44I had never kept the diary previous to
113. 6:47this however at the same time I thought
114. 6:51hey my memories gonna fade out on me
115. 6:53I wrote down here what the menu was in
116. 6:57Stalag 3a at 7:30 in the morning I I was
117. 7:02given half a pint of grass soup which
118. 7:05was weeds that were thrown boiled in a
119. 7:07pot you didn't worry about you just wolf
120. 7:10everything down get it into you clothing
121. 7:13you had was one set of clothing and it
122. 7:15was infiltrated with body lice 100% you
123. 7:20wouldn't think it was possible with that
124. 7:22that's what we existed through we didn't
125. 7:26live through it we existed through it
126. 7:31we had two guys in my back who decided
127. 7:34they were going to escape and then
128. 7:39unfortunately they caught these two guys
129. 7:41and they dragged them back they were
130. 7:45tied to each one to a straight back
131. 7:47chair teeth knocked out arm was broken
132. 7:50and we had to go up and stand in front
133. 7:53of each one of them and take a good long
134. 7:56look if you want to escape that's what
135. 7:59happened to you and here I was 19 young
136. 8:04kid overwhelmed completely
137. 8:08[Music]
138. 8:19finally one morning we noticed all of
139. 8:23our gods disappear next thing you know
140. 8:27the Russians came in they had a an
141. 8:32armored car that came in port down the
142. 8:35walkway and the doors of the prison camp
143. 8:39opened just to be able to go where you
144. 8:42wanted to do what you wanted to even if
145. 8:45it wasn't that pleasurable is a
146. 8:47wonderful exciting feeling and it's only
147. 8:50good when you've been starved of them
148. 8:59well Emily always thought a Liberty ship
149. 9:02heading out of the Havre France into New
150. 9:06York Harvard and that's my hometown New
151. 9:09York City and then finally the most
152. 9:13important moment was when we passed by
153. 9:17the Statue of Liberty that was one big
154. 9:22lump came up in my throat and I realized
155. 9:27that something had been ripped out of me
156. 9:31by the Germans when I was a prisoner and
157. 9:35that was my Liberty and before this I
158. 9:38had never thought much about freedom and
159. 9:40the only way I think anyone can
160. 9:43appreciate freedom is when you lose it
161. 9:45and I said thank God I'm coming home to
162. 9:51Liberty and to my country and I said to
163. 9:54myself god Bless America but I say that
164. 9:58again today and hopefully you'll
165. 10:02understand what went on in my heart at
166. 10:05that time because having lost the
167. 10:08Liberty made it so much more poignant to
168. 10:12me
169. 10:19[Music]
170. 10:41you
171. 10:54you