· RUEL SK

The Bail Out
101
"After a few minutes their grandson who was about 10-12 years old came in and
pointed a small rifle at me. His grandfather knocked it out of his hands. With that, the
little bastard ran out of the house and retmned with seven soldiers all carrying submachine
guns.
"Their fear of me was incredible. They pointed their guns at me and started yelling.
Not being able to move, and lying flat on my back, I certainly did not pose a threat to them.
Finally an officer, after trying to communicate with me, spoke in French. This I
understood. He questioned me first as to whether I was carrying as pistol - I said 'no.'
Then he searched me and was satisfied that I wasn't going to shoot them all.
"Next he wanted to know the bomber group 1 was in and what type of plane I was
flying. I gave only my name, my rank and serial number as we had been instructed in
situations such as this. Thirty minutes went by - same questions - same answers.
"Soon several other German officers arrived and put me in a horse drawn open farm
wagon. We proceeded to drive to a village where it seemed like half the German
population had gathered. I certainly was the center of attention. They cursed me - spit on
me - hit me with rocks - sticks - fists and anything else they happened to have handy.
Finally after the officer had had the glory of capturing me, they put me in a small barn. I
really thought I was dying at this time. The crowd did not let up on me and continued to
throw stones through the windows and pound the walls. After about three hours everybody
left."
Navigator Corman Bean (SCHAEN crew)
"1 free fell until I reached the cloud cover, then I pulled the rip cord. When 1 came
out, I was close enough to the ground that I could pick out individual trees in the forest, so
that had to be pretty low.
"I was caught in a tree. I got over to the trunk and was able to take some of the slack
off the cords on the parachute and shinny on down the tree."
Bombardier George Collar (SCHAEN crew)
"I came down in stocking feet close to a little village and was quickly captured by
three men, one on a bicycle, and two farmers carrying pitchforks. They marched me back