Eric Braun - Trapped Behind Nazi Lines: The Story of the U.S. Army Air Force 807th Medical Evacuation Squadron

Before the war, when he was back home in Michigan, gunfire, he felt a jolt of fear run through him. This, he imagined, must be what a rabbit feels just before it is shot dead.

Adriatic Sea and a boat that would take them across it to safety in Italy. But in order to reach that boat, they would first have to survive yet another close call.

An American officer, Captain Lloyd Smith, had made his way into Albania to help lead the stranded medical personnel to safety. He was in charge. It was Smith who had somehow gotten hold of an old Italian truck and a driver so that the Americans could make better time that night. After walking for so many weeks and so many miles, sitting in the back of an open flatbed truckeven exposed to the winter airfelt like a luxury. But on the road, they were also exposed to passing vehiclesincluding Nazi vehicles.

When a Nazi truck approached from the opposite direction, both it and the truck with the Americans stopped. They faced each other in the dark. Smith told the driver of their truck to get out and walk toward the German vehicle. For the medics and nurses, his instruction was to wait. If the Germans turned their headlights on, they should bail out of the truck bed and run into the woods.

THEYD MOST LIKELY BE RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES.

The Americans laid as low and still as they could. The wind moved in the trees along the road and chilled their skin. The idle rumble of the two truck motors was the only sound. Of all the scares they had survived the past nine weeks, this was among the most intense.

When the driver got a few feet away, the German truck turned on its lights, and the entire road lit up with a glare. In a flash, the Americans leaped from the truck and ran as fast as they could for the trees.

Looking back later, Abbott wrote, I know now how the skin along the back of a rabbit must be crawling as he leaps for cover in those few split seconds before the sting of pellets rips into him and he blacks out with the roar of the hunters gun behind him.

As they ran, the Americans listened for the eruption of gunfire and hoped they wouldnt be hit. None of them expected to survive this confrontation. But as they dove into the brush and scrambled deep into the woods, nothing happened. Not a single shot was fired.

While their driver talked to the people in the other truck, the Americans waited. The ground was snowy and cold. Because they never expected to spend any time outside of the barracks and hospitals where they worked, none of them had proper winter clothing. For all these weeks, they had been getting by with thin jackets and plain, fraying shoes. Everyone crouched and shivered.

After a few minutes, their driver came back into the glare of the headlights. He found Captain Smith waiting by their truck, and the two of them spoke quietly for a minute. Then the hidden Americans heard Smith laugh.

All aboard! Come on! he yelled. Were getting out of here.

As the nurses and medics climbed back into their truck, Smith explained that the German truck had been stolen by two local Albanians. They were taking it to Allied territory so they could use it against the Nazis. The thieves had thought the Americans were the German patrol.

As the two trucks passed each other and the Americans continued on through the darkness, a couple people in the back of the truck began to argue about luck. It was too dark for Abbott to see who was talking. A mans voice said that theyd had terrible luck. After all, they kept running into all these dangerous situations. Time after time, their lives were in danger.

One of the nurses argued that theyd had terrific luck. Sure, they had found themselves in many bad situations. But every time, they had escaped. What better luck could they ask for?

Soon, they reached a turnoff and got out of the truck. They carried their measly belongings toward a farmhouse hidden away from the road. Before they reached the farmhouse, they saw lights back on the road and heard the sound of Nazi patrol cars. Once again, the group hid in the trees and waited while lights were shined over the woods. Nobody moved. For a few terrifying seconds, the powerful beam of light swept over them. It was another test of their luck. Would it be good or bad? Abbott might have thought once again about those rabbits. They were terrified of their hunters. But sometimes the rabbits didnt die.

SOMETIMES THEY ESCAPED.

Their flight had trouble almost from the start. The plane was bound for Bari, Italy, on a mission to pick up wounded British soldiers. Shortly after the aircraft took off from the airstrip in Sicily, a nasty storm rolled in. Dark clouds filled the sky, and the Mediterranean Sea churned below. Rain pelted the plane, and a heavy fog wrapped it up. The 13 nurses and 13 medics on board the transport began to squirm, but they were careful not to let fear show on their faces. Fear had a way of spreading, and nobody wanted that.

Besides, the 807th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron (MAETS) had flown through storms together before. It might be scary, but they didnt feel their lives were in dangeryet.

One of the nurses, sitting in the front row, was Second Lieutenant Agnes Jensen. She tried to distract herself from the troubling weather by reading a magazine. But it wasnt easythe plane made sudden drops, climbs, and jerks. Horrible cracks echoed through the cabin, and loose equipment flew. Only Jensens seat belt kept her from flying loose too. She gave up on reading and slipped the magazine beneath her bottom to keep off the chill from the metal seat.

As the aircraft flew higher, the inside got colder. The plane was not crash? She counted the life veststhere were 10. The plane held 30 people.

Then they climbed again. The radio operator came out of the cockpit to grab some equipment near Jensen and rushed back into the cockpit. The door remained slightly open, and the passengers saw that he was having trouble with the radio. The plane was now flying in circles. Jensen had a bad feeling. Though she and the rest of the squad had flown many missions together, the pilots were new to them. They hadnt built up any trust.

Jensen and the other nurses and medics looked anxiously out their windows for a sign that they would be at their destination soon. Suddenly Jensen felt a tap on her shoulder. The nurse sitting next to her, Second Lieutenant Elna Schwant, pointed out the window.

MOUNTAINS.

Where were they? They should have landed in Bari long ago, but there were no mountains near Bari. They must be way off course. How much longer could they fly before they ran out of fuel?

Suddenly the plane banked and slowed. They dropped altitude quickly, and one of the pilots, First Lieutenant Charles Thrasher, came out of the cockpit.

.

Relieved to be landing at last, the passengers in the cabin chatted with excitement as the plane descended at a sharp angle. They were all eager to be on the ground again. The wheels lowered from the plane. As tracers suddenly flared past the windows. The glowing bullets tore through the fog, and a few pocked against the planes wings.