They "docked" at Bari, so they said
     Member Jay Mueller of Orlando, Fla. has sent an account of the
 return to base of a crew which bailed out over Ploesti, Roumania,
 on July 9, 1944.
     The narrative was written by 1st Lt. Alfred Berger, the pilot.
 Other crewmen were co-pilot Cecil Spencer, bombardier Mueller, navi-
 gator Alexander Dewa, engineer Francis Jones, radio operator David
 Spindel, waist gunners Robert Baum and Emmet Jones, ball turret
 gunner Merle Peart, and tail gunner Warren Jones.
     According to Berger's report:
     "We bailed out of the plane at 1245 hours. We all landed close
 together near a Chetnik settlement. The burning of the plane at-
 tracted the Germans, who made a search through the settlement and
 surrounding vicinity for us. The Chetniks had hidden us in the moun-
 tains, however, before the Germans arrived. We all got together that
 night in a home in the hills. We were given a meal, consisting of
 hot milk and rye bread."
     "Four of the crew were injured in landing. The tail gunner had
 two sprained ankles, the engineer was dragged off a ledge by his
 chute and banged his head and knee, the co-pilot had a twisted ankle
 and the ball turret gunner did not have a pair of the GI shoes on
 and sprained his left ankle badly. We stayed overnight at this house
 and on July 10 we took off and walked all day to another peasant's
 house."
     "On July 11 - 12 we continued to walk, always contacting other
 peasants and staying at their homes. On July 13 and 14, we were at
 a peasant home when we were visited by a Chetnik captain who prom-
 ised us aid in eight days. July 15th we took off at 2000 hours and
 walked until 0100 hours. We arrived at a vacant home in the hills
 and stayed there until July 26."
     "Our meals were furnished by the people of the settlement and
 they endeavored to make everything as comfortable and pleasant as
 possible. The food was not too good and monotony was beginning to
 get on everybody's nerves. On July 20, Spencer and Spindel became
 impatient and took off for themselves; that was the last they were
 seen. After this incident, the Chetnik captain put the rest of us
 under guard. July 26 to 28, we stayed at a little house along a
 road. It was here that the Chetnik captain again showed up as he
 had promised us. This was the end of his area and we were then
 transferred to another captain's custody, and receipts for us were
 exchanged."
     "Our first stop in the new area resulted in our being served
 scrambled eggs and this was the best meal we had, and we hoped it
 would continue. July 29, 30 and 31 were a succession of marches and
 stops in villages. We had a good supper in the town in which we
 stopped on the 31st. At 2130 the town was attacked, and the English-
 speaking mayor who had charge of us took us out into the hills and
 we kept walking until 0430 hours. It was on the outskirts of this
 town that we had to leave Sgt. Peart, as he was unable to walk. Up
 until this time we were furnished horses for the cripples but we
 were now in a very mountainous region which was not suitable for
 horses."
     "We started out again at 0800 on August 9 when a Chetnik captain
 took us to Corps Headquarters. We later met 30 more Americans at a
 little settlement where the food was good.  August 4, 5 and 6 we
 walked, Aug. 7 we arrived at our final destination in Yugoslavia and
 on Aug.10 we docked in the Italian port."
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
    When the group landed at Bari, Italy, General Twining admonished
 the evaders to keep their mouths shut so as not to jeopardize the
 the chances of other crews waiting to be airlifted out of Yugoslavia.
 The "docking" mentioned by Berger was added by the OSS as a cover.
 This was part of the Halyard Mission.
 U.S. Air Forces Escape/Evasion Society Communications March 1, 1998
 Page 30
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
     The late Vic Payne of this conference was one of the C-47 pilots
 that flew evaders out of Yugoslavia.
     The Yugoslavian partisans led by Draga Mihailovitch. The name
 meant "men of the companies." Chetniks were proloyalist and therefore
 opposed to the communists under Tito. The Chetniks began the war by
 actively fighting the Germans, but as the war progressed an unofficial
 truce developed, whereby the the Germans left them alone and in return
 they did not attack the Germans. Both Chetniks and Tito partisans were
 a great help to our evaders though they fought one another as well as
 the Germans.  So you see Yugoslavia (Bosnia) had its problems then as
 well as now.
     Jim Sanders
 ===
--- DB 1.39/004487
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