I found myself almost waiting by the mail tube each day

To the editor:

Lloyd Smith’s series of articles of his father and uncle during their B-24 missions in World War II (“A Tale of Two Brothers”) was thoroughly enjoyable and informative regarding aspects of the U.S. Army Air Force in Europe during the war. I found myself almost waiting by the mail tube each day to get the next installment of their bomber experiences.

Ironically, my dad (Hal Nininger) was also a top turret gunner in a B-24 in the European theater during the war. His crew, aboard their plane Gypsy Queen, was also shot down over Germany and he was a prisoner of war for 18 months until the war ended. He ended up in a POW camp in eastern Germany, I believe it was Stalag 3.

Over the years, he told me many fascinating stories about the war, many of which came back to me as I was reading Lloyd Smith’s articles. Their B-24 was shot down by flak; they had cases of ¾-inch-wide rolls of tinfoil that they would toss out of the aircraft to deflect the flak, but in the end the flak got the Gypsy Queen anyway.

One of dad’s favorite stories was when they were “liberated” from the POW camp. Many of the camp guards had been living in the U.S. but were called back to Germany when the war started and could speak fluent English. The POWs had been told of the Normandy invasion and then, similar to what Lloyd recalls, one day all the guards just walked away and never came back.

The prisoners were nervous about leaving the camp as they could be shot, but after about three days my dad and a buddy of his climbed the fence and left the camp. They were walking down a lone country road when a German officer on a motorcycle with a sidecar came bearing down on them. Dad figured this was the end, but the officer got off the motorcycle and saluted both of them and then handed dad his pistol. This is when Dad realized the war was over.

I’ve attached a photo of dad and his crew in front of the Gypsy Queen. Dad is the one on the lower right.

Terry Nininger

Wasilla