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Lt. Howard Kenneth Hinds
US Army Co. E, 414th Infantry Regiment
from:Poteau, Oklahoma, USA
Lt. Howard Hinds was captured in Belgium on 24th of October 1944. He was moved to several interim camps and ultimately to Oflag 64 in Szubin, Poland. On or about 24th of January 1945, he was marched from Oflag 64, in one of seven columns, westward into Germany. He arrived at Stalag IIIA in March 1945. The Russians liberated them in late April. What the Germans did not take (food, blankets, etc.) when they fled, the Russians commandeered. Lt. Hinds heard talk of being taken to Odessa, Russia. From the camp, he could see POWs being loaded into rail cars. He had already been in rail cars on the trip from Belgium to Poland. He knew Odessa was not the direction he wanted to go, so he decided to escape. The Russian guards were neither numerous nor vigilant. When Lt. Hinds saw his opportunity, he ran for an opening in a fence. He could hear footsteps behind him and expected to be shot. As he rolled under the fence and looked around, he saw a French officer who had also decided to escape. They hiked by night and hid by day. At one point they stole a chicken to eat and later bicycles. They had no common language and could only communicate using hand gestures. They finally made it to an American unit and were repatriated.
