Your message will be forwarded to the last contact details we have, your email address will not be passed on, they can reply to you via this messaging system. Please scroll down for message form.
259258 Gilbert M. Dowling U.S. Army 314th Infantry Regiment from:Minto, ND Gilbert Dowling was my Dad. He didn't talk much about his time in the Army or his time as a POW.
One story he did tell us was why he was pistol whipped as a POW (from which he suffered life long mental health problems).
He said there were other prisoners at Stalag 5. These were mostly Polish prisoners who worked as farmers outside the Stalag.
The U.S. prisoners were badly fed. My Dad was able to make contact with some Poles who worked in the kitchen. My dad knew some Polish due to him having Polish farming neighbors growing up in North Dakota. With his new Polish contacts he was able to set up a system whereby the Polish farm labors would bring potatoes into the kitchen and my Dad would smuggle the potatoes in his pants legs to his under fed mates.
He was eventually caught but refused to name his co-conspirators for which he was repeatedly pistol whipped.
|
|