Our Friday Find: The family of Bernard “Benny” Halpin (1920-1986) has generously donated his WWII papers including those from the time he was a German P.O.W. We hope to compile them into a story of his experiences. He was 24 years old at the time of his capture. It is extremely sobering to leaf through the archive thinking of what he, and his loved ones on the home front, went through. Benny was born in Bridgeport, CT to Charles & Amanda Halpin. After the war, he married Mabel Reed in 1949 and raised a family on New Estate Road.
Halpin was a pilot stationed at King’s Cliffe in Northamptonshire England. From an article in the Littleton Independent: “On 21 November 1944, while protecting another pilot in trouble, Halpin’s plane caught fire and he bailed out at 24,000 feet. Landing in a tree, he hung there with about 20 German soldiers below him. He was taken by truck to Stalag Luft III. In January 1945, with guns from the front visible, the camp was evacuated, the men walked in a blizzard for several days, then crammed in boxcars headed for southern Germany to Nuremberg. Finally, in the spring at the end of April, General George Patton came through and liberated the camp.”
Included in the archive, a book of memories called “Stalag Luft III” that was complied by Bob Neary in 1946. Appropriately for Independence Day are these two excerpts by unknown authors:
“I shall never forget the most beautiful sight I have ever seen…the Swastika coming down and the Stars and Stripes rising gloriously in Moosburg, not far from camp.”
“On June 2 after sixteen days at sea, we watched in reverent silence as the Statue of Liberty loomed out of the haze. I had nothing to say my heart was too full for words. I had never fully realized before going overseas just how wonderful this country of ours is. I had always taken for granted my complete Liberty, freedom of speech and countless luxuries…..I think I have learned my lesson well and feel that I shall never forget it…I am an American! and I am grateful.”
Diane LeCount Johanson – This was the husband of Mother’s friend Mabel
