You need medical attention

Heroes Remember

You need medical attention

Transcript

We had been shot down, I think about 9 o'clock at night, might have been 9:30, I, I forget now. At that time and it was in the early hours in the morning, that my first consciousness was, walking in the snow and almost immediately after that, I'm surrounded by people with rifles and dogs, who were shouting, "Lay down your weapons!" which of course I didn't have. And the other, the other thing that surprised me, I'm no longer wearing my parachute harness or my may-west. All of that is gone, just wearing my flying suit, but I had been wounded in the head and I had been wounded in the leg. So I suppose all of that had contributed to the fact, that I am not clear as to, as to what had happened. You have briefings in UK as to how you were suppose to conduct yourself and what you were suppose to, you know, you instructed, you can if you're interrogated, you can reveal name, rank, and number, nothing more. And incidentally that was all I ever did, name, rank and number, nothing more, during my time in, in Dulag Luft, the interrogation centre at Frankfurt. You know you, the routine there is first of all, you are put in a cell and on your own. And then a quite nice officer comes in and sits down and says, "You know, I can see . . ." well this, the chap who dealt with me said, "I can see you need medical attention." And he opened the door of the, of the cell. And there was a slot in the door and he put a red cross in it. And he said, "That will mean that you will get first you will get medical attention." and he said, "But I need to take some details as to who you are, where you from but first . . And he had a form and filling it in, I gave him name rank and number. "Squadron number?" "No I'm sorry I can't tell you that." "Where are you based?" "Sorry, I can't tell you that." "What sort of aircraft were you flying?" "Sorry I can't tell you that." And so on. Eventually he went out, and, oh, first of all he says, "I can show you hundreds of these forms filled in by your aircrew and officers. So why are you not doing this?" And I said, "I'm sorry but that's all I'm required to provide." And when he went out, he took his red cross with him. But incidentally I, I did, later in the day, get medical treatment. And I had a clip put in my scalp and stitches in my leg and ( inaudible ) and so on.

Description

Mr. Yeomans describes his capture and interrogation by the Germans.

John Yeomans

Mr. Yeomans was born in Manchester, England. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was an apprentice electrical engineer. Too young to enlist, he was still involved as a firewatcher during the German air raids on his city, during which time he witnessed heavy destruction and numerous deaths. In 1941, Mr. Yeomans volunteered for the RAF, and went to South Africa, where he took Navigator training. His combat activity saw him take part in the bombing campaign against Berlin. Mr. Yeomans was the lone survivor when his Lancaster bomber was shot down and after spending a year in several different POW camps, he escaped and finally returned to England. After the war, he spent time in the RAF before moving to Canada as a flight instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 3:50
Person Interviewed:: John Yeomans
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Germany, The Berlin Series
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 156 Pathfinder Squadron
Rank:: Wing Commander
Occupation:: Navigator

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You need medical attention

Heroes Remember