Verydrunkdriver causes accident

STURGIS — On Nov. 9 at6:40 p.m. Sturgis officersresponded to a two-car proper-ty damage accident at theintersection of S. Centervilleand Wenzel in front ofMcDonalds. Investigationrevealed that the driver whocaused the accident was driv-ing while his license was sus-pended and operating whileintoxicated second offense. Itwas later discovered he had ablood alcohol content that wasthree and a half times the legallimit.

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Flakes up for holiday seasonTerry Lewis of the Three Rivers Department of Public Services puts the finishing touches on installation of one of three cross-Main Street snowflake ornaments in downtown Three Rivers Monday. In addition, 24 pole-mounted flakes will go up in theDDA district along both S. Main Street and W. Michigan Avenue, with 12 three-foot decorations and 12 five-foot units to bedeployed to lend a festive spirit as Michigan moves ever closer to Christmas and the winter solstice.

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Downtownchurchplan movingforwardPlanning Commissionapproves 4-1-2BY ELENA HINES

MANAGING EDITOR

THREE RIVERS — The ThreeRivers Planning CommissionMonday voted 4-1 to send on to theThree Rivers City Commission arequest from the Verse X VerseBible study, currently meeting at54 N. Main St. on Sunday morn-ings and Monday evenings, for as p e c i a le x c e p t i o nuse permitallowing it tobecome achurch. Theyimposed con-ditions thatthe permitexpire whenVerse XVerse’s leasedoes on Sept.30, 2015, andthat thegroup willnot opposeany applica-tion for a liquor license or anyother permitted use in the B-3 dis-trict as authorized by zoning ordi-nance.

Voting no was Gus Hilson, say-ing that decision was not what thepeople wanted. Commission chair-man Gary LeTourneau said thatwhat the commission had to dowas ensure Verse X Verse met allthe requirements for a specialexception use. Abstaining from thevote were Chad Ely, who is closely

US-131/M-60 collisionThe drivers of two vehicles were transported to Three RiversHealth Monday morning following a collision at the intersec-tion of US-131 and M-60. Margie Livers, 66, of Niles, the driv-er of an SUV eastbound on M-60, failed to yield to a compactcar driven by Debra Dolbee, 59, of White Pigeon southboundon US-131 resulting in a crash that caused both drivers tosustain non-life threatening injuries. No passengers were ineither vehicle; both drivers wore seatbelts and airbagsdeployed; alcohol was not a factor. Livers was cited for failureto yield. Responding to the scene were the St. Joseph CountySheriff’s Department, Fabius-Park Townships FireDepartment, Three Rivers Fire/Rescue, Brokers Towing andSteve’s Auto Parts. This was the sixth accident in the pastthree weeks along the US-131 Three Rivers corridor (whichincludes Fabius and Lockport townships), with a seventhoccurring at US-131 and Heimbach (Park Township) duringthat time frame.

Commercial-News/Rick Cordes

This is the third story in ourfour-part series profiling local vet-erans who have served the nation.BY WILLIAM ALLEN BALTZ

SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL-NEWS

While John Donnelly and fellowMarines were engulfed in a hor-rendous battle against eliteJapanese troops raging on thesearing hot South Pacific island ofIwo Jima, Robert L. Thompson ofThree Rivers was enduring bittercold and hardship as a prisoner ofAdolf Hitler’s Third Reich half aworld away.

On his 13th mission as a bom-bardier aboard a B-17, his planewas shot down. Thompson bailedout and, after capture and interro-gations, eventually wound up inStalag Luft III, the same campwhere American and British pris-oners had earlier staged the leg-endary “Great Escape,” 50 ofwhom were caught and executedby the German Gestapo.

He suffered from dysentery andsurvived grueling forced marchesbetween POW camps in freezingblizzards — wearing nothing butthe clothes he had on when heparachuted out of his dooamedplane — in which those who couldnot make it were shot dead.

“It was quite an experience,”recalled Thompson, 89, who wenton to teach and coach at Mendon

and Three Rivers high schools for40 years.

Statistically, he was not sup-posed to survive past his 14th mis-sion. From 1942 to 1945 more than45,000 airmen were killed inaction over Europe and approxi-mately 50 percent of 12,700 B-17sbuilt during the war were shotdown or otherwise destroyed. Rigorous training

Born and raised in Three Rivers— where he played football, bas-ketball and, his favorite, baseballin high school — he enlisted in theArmy Air Corps in July of 1943. Hewas 20 years old at the time.

After basic training and pre-flight school in California, heattended bombardier school inDeming, N.M. This 18-week pro-

gram was rigorous and intense inthe classroom and in the air wherestudents practiced hitting targets,in daytime and night, using theNorden Bombsight — one of thecountry’s most priceless militaryassets that Thompson swore,under oath, to keep secret andguard “if need be, with my lifeitself.”

As a B-17 bombardier,Thompson had a long list ofrequirements and responsibilities.His main job was to make surebombs hit the intended target —the entire reason for the mission.During the critical interval beforebombs were dropped, he assumedcomplete command of the aircraft.Until he called out “bombs away”his word was law.

Mentally, he had to have a firmgrasp of how factors such as alti-tude, air speed, bomb ballistics,ground speed, time of fall andwind velocity affected bombingaccuracy. Moreover, Thompsonneeded to know how to operate allguns and be prepared to take overthe navigator’s position should hebecome incapacitated.

In short, Thompson was wellprepared to handle virtually anysituation in his job as a bom-bardier in a B-17. Surviving cap-tivity in a German POW camp wasa different matter.

Robert L. Thompson: POW camp survivor

See THOMPSON, page 5

Shawn Reus,owner of

Paisano’s, said he saw

an upswing inhis business on Mondays

due to patronage of

Verse X Verseattendees.

See DOWNTOWN CHURCH, page 3

COMMERCIAL-NEWS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012 – PAGE 5LOCAL

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Kayden HillBaby Boy

Nov. 8, 2012 • 12:35 p.m.7 lbs 9.9 oz • 20.5”

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Brother of Diesel

Nov. 810:53 a.m., public assist,

100 block of W. Adams St.2:37 p.m., suspicious situa-

tion, 200 block of N. LincolnAve.

7:26 p.m., K-9 drug search,Middle St./E. Michigan Ave.

7:48 p.m., agency assist,Middle St./E. Michigan Ave.

8:36 p.m., K-9 drug search,100 block of Kirby Rd.

9:35 p.m., agency assist,800 block of S. US-131

10:04 p.m., suspicious situ-

ation, 200 block of S. HookerAve.Nov. 10

10:28 a.m., inoperable vehi-cle, 600 block of S. Grant Ave.

11:09 a.m., agency assist,400 block of Mill St.

1:21 p.m., animal violation,Eighth St./Broadway St.

1:52 p.m., trash violation,400 block of W. MichiganAve.

1:54 p.m., animal violation,600 block of S. ConstantineSt.

Three weeks before Thompson completed bombardier training, he called his girlfriend, Patricia Niendorf, 18, also of Three Rivers and asked her to marry him. She said yes. “I took a troop train to El Paso and then a bus to Deming,” she said. The two started out their lives togeth-er in Sioux City, Iowa where Thompson underwent 10 weeks of operational training in early May with his B-17 flight crew.

In July Thompson and nineother crewmates of the 815thSquadron in the much-deco-rated 483rd BombardmentGroup assembled in Kearney,Neb. where they were issuedcombat clothing, equipmentand new B-17. They left theplane in Wales, hopped atrain to England where AirTransport Command tookthem to Italy. A B-17 in the483rd then flew them to theirbase at Sterparone, whichhad been built in April out ofa wheat field, fully opera-tional, in an astonishing 13days. “Two days after wearrived, we were flying ourfirst mission,” recalledThompson.

With the allied invasion ofFrance in June of 1944, thenoose was tightening aroundthe Nazi regime. By October,Germany was fighting forsurvival — and hurlingeverything it had at the B-17formations destroying itsrefineries, factories andtransportation hubs.

Thompson and his crew-mates flew their FlyingFortress, named PrincessPat, through skies swarmingwith fighter planes andbursting with deadly flak —razor sharp shrapnel that

ripped through planes andflesh alike. He sat in theplane’s nose, a nearly frame-less plexiglass bubble thatgave him a clear view. It alsoput him directly in harm’sway. The Luftwaffe knewfrom first-hand experiencethat the B-17 was vulnerableto head-on attack, giving riseto the famous alarm, foreverassociated with the formida-ble aircraft, “bandits at 12o’clock!”

Though B-17s are leg-endary for their ability towithstand enormous punish-ment, it was no comfort ride.Temperatures outside coulddip to 60 degrees below zeroand there was no adequateheating system. The menwore electrically heatedflight suits and heavy glovesthat provided some protec-tion against the cold, anddonned oxygen masks oncethe aircraft climbed above10,000 feet towards its opera-tional level of 29,000 feet.Quarters were tight. Theball-turret gunner, forinstance, was sealed off in acramped sphere under thefuselage.

On Oct. 20, Thompson’s B-17 was the squadron lead inthe second group. Nearingthe target — an oil refineryat Brux, Czechoslovakia—each man put on his 30-pound flak suit designed toprotect against anti-aircraftfire. “I heard a tremendousbang,” recalled Thompson,soon after dropping hisbombs. Several anti-aircraftshells had exploded under hisship. Moments later, thePrincess Pat rolled over andbegan plunging downward ata steep angle. Two engineswere gone. The blast had also

ignited a fire in the oxygensystem in the pilot’s compart-ment, destroyed most of theelectrical systems and radioequipment and severed somecontrol and trim cables.When the pilot, George B.Potter, finally regained con-trol of the aircraft, the planewas at 15,000 feet and losingaltitude rapidly.

“He tried to take our planeback to Italy but it wasimpossible to get over theAlps,” recounted Thompson.Potter and the navigator,Darrel H. Reno, then decidedto try to make it to Russianlines in eastern Hungary.After an hour and a half, theyentered clouds. When the dis-abled B-17 finally brokeclear, the plane was at 5,000feet, critically low on fuel anddifficult to control.

While Thompson and hisother crewmates prepared tobail out, three German fight-er planes attacked and bul-lets tore through the plane.One struck Reno in the rightshoulder and another hitJames H. Burris, the ball-turret gunner, in his righthand. Bleeding profusely andin excruciating pain, theymanaged to bail out, along

with Thompson and the oth-ers, while Potter flew theship a few minutes longerbefore he too jumped out. POW

Suddenly, Thompson wasfalling in mid-air over enemyterritory. “I waited a longtime before pulling mychute,” he said, wary of theGerman fighter planes thatcould easily blast him out ofthe skies as he descended.

“When I landed, I ranstraight into a corn field,” herecalled. “It was getting dark,but soon I saw a line of peoplecome at me.” In a short time,he went from managing com-plex functions bombing alargely anonymous foe tostanding face to face withHungarian military police.They apprehendedThompson and two othercrewmates, Eugene W. Hazenand Frederick G. Bundy. “Wewere taken through townsand it was frighteningbecause, for good reasons, thepeople didn’t like us. We hadbeen bombing their cities.”

After initial interrogations,they were taken to a jail on amilitary base near Kassa(now Kosice, Slovakia). “Theyknew everything about us,”he remembered. “When I gotin the back of the truck to go,I felt a hard object under thetarp. It was a rope. I thoughtthey were going to hang us.”Up since 4 a.m., he wasexhausted, too.

He then endured a two-daytrain trip to Budapest. “Thetrain ride was rough becausea lot of guys were sick andthere was no sanitation,” hesaid.

At an interrogation prisonhe was grilled about his mis-sions, targets and other infor-

mation. After spending amonth in solitary confine-ment, he was then transport-ed to Stalag Luft III, a POWcamp run by the German AirForce, consisting of about11,000 allied flying officers,in Sagan, Germany, whileHazen and Bundy went to asergeants’ camp. At StalagLuft III, there were 16 men toa cell. “I was a cook, thoughthere wasn’t much to cookwith and we were gratefulwhen Red Cross packagesarrived with spam and ciga-rettes,” he recalled, thoughGerman guards were notori-ous for pilfering such aidpackages.

All of Thompson’s crew-mates had survivedincluding Potterand co-pilotHoward B. Johnsonwho also wound upat Stalag Luft III.Reno’s arm wasamputated — with-out painkiller — aswere Burris’ fin-gers in a field hos-pital. Anothercrewmate broke hisleg landing. JamesDobson was on his 50th mis-sion — had he made it hewould have gone home.

Meanwhile, Thompson’swife was notified that he wasmissing in action. “I was liv-ing with my folks in ThreeRivers,” said Patricia, whowas pregnant at the timewith their first child. “Thelady from the nearbyWestern Union office broughtme the telegram about Bob.”She paused, then addedthoughtfully: “I just knew hewould come back.”Freedom

Hitler was fearful that theRussians would liberateStalag Luft III. He wantedthe airmen as a bargainingchip and therefore orderedthem transferred. On themorning of Jan. 25, 1945,Thompson and the other pris-oners trudged through a bliz-zard that lasted 30 hours toMuskau, Germany. “It wascold and icy on the road andwe stayed in barns,” herecalled. “I had no change ofclothes since the plane. Therewas a big guy named Dukewho I cared for. He cried a lot.Those who couldn’t keep up

were shot.”From Muskau they then

walked to Spremburg, a totalof 62 miles in six days, andnext spent two days in draftyboxcars traveling toNuremberg. “En route, ourown planes shot at us so wegot out and lined up againstthe cars so they wouldn’tshoot,” he recalled. The campat Nuremburg was StalagXIIID, where Thompson andcrew experienced extremehardship — cold, ill clad,hungry and exhausted.

Thompson, Potter and theother prisoners — by nowragged and emaciated almostbeyond recognition — thenendured 17 days marching 91

miles destined forStalag 7A atMooseburg. “Alongthe way we wereable to barter foodfrom farmers,” hesaid. Prison campsby now resembledhobo towns —dilapidated shacks,infested with ver-min and jammedpacked with thou-sands of prisoners,

many sick and starving, asNazi Germany disintegrated.

One morning en route,Thompson recalled, therewas no bugle to waken themen. “It was silent. Thensomeone yelled, ‘Americans!The Americans are here!’”Soldiers with General GeorgePatton’s Third Army hadarrived. It was April 29,1945. Thompson and theother prisoners were free.The next day Hitler put arevolver in his mouth, blewout his brains, and the ThirdReich collapsed in a massiveconflagration.

Thompson had enduredmore than six months in cap-tivity. He was skin and bones.“I ate the entire time on theship back home,” he said. Hisathletic abilities and trainingno doubt helped him survive.Most important, though, washis overriding desire toreturn home to the love of hislife: “When I arrived in NewYork the first thing I did wascall my wife. I found out Ihad a baby girl.”

Wednesday: The story ofGeorge P. Yung, U.S. Navy,Vietnam.

TR POLICE LOG

THOMPSONContinued from page 1

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Thompsonhad

enduredmore thansix monthsin captivity.

NEW ARRIVALS AT THREE RIVERS HEALTH