Personnel

CREW



2ND LT LT LINDLEY L. WILLIAMSON                P POW   24 MAY 44 BERLIN

2ND LT JAMES G. DENNIS                             CP KIA   24 MAY 44 BERLIN

2ND LT BARWICK O. BARFIELD                     NAV POW 24 MAY 44 BERLIN (see DAYS NOT FORGOTTEN in 100th files)

2ND LT WILLIAM CARRILLO                       BOM POW 24 MAY 44 BERLIN

S/SGT LLOYD K. KOUNS                            ROG KIA   24 MAY 44 BERLIN

S/SGT A.L. SULLIVAN                              WG NOC

SGT JAMES O. TOWNSEND, JR.                    BTG POW 24 MAY 44 BERLIN

SGT JACK E. MARSHALL                              WG NOC

SGT CHARLES B. SEWELL                           TTE POW 24 MAY 44 BERLIN TAPS:25 FEB 1991

SGT ROBERT H. ANDERSON                         TG POW 24 MAY 44 BERLIN



350TH SQDN.. CREW, AS ABOVE, JOINED THE 100TH ON 17 MAR 1944



ON A COMBAT CREW ROSTER OF 7 MAY 44 AND ON THE FINAL MISSION,  S/SGT WIENIEWSKI, AND S/SGT  COLBERT GRAHAM (from the crew of  LT JOHN LAUTENSCHLAGER) WERE ON THE CREW ON PLACE OF SULLIVAN & MARSHALL AND BOTH BECAME POWs. THIS WAS THE 13TH MISSION FOR THIS CREW.



ACCORDING TO STATEMENTS IN THE MACR, LT WILLIAMSON BELIEVED BOTH LT DENNIS AND SGT KOUNS WERE KILLED BY GERMAN CIVILIANS. GERMAN RECORDS INDICATE KOUNS DEAD AND RECOVERED AT CRASH  AND BURIED IN VILLAGE CEMENTARY KAMPEHL; GRAVE #1 ON 24 MAY 1944. OF DENNIS THE GERMAN REPORT STATES: "BURIED AT THE LOCAL CEMENTARY OF SEGELETZ, DISTRICT RUPPIN ON 24 MAY 1944 AT GRAVE #1 AT THE ELDER BUSH." THIS REPORTS SMACKS OF A COVERUP AND  IT IS LIKELY CIVILIANS KILLED THESE AIRMEN BEFORE THEY CAME UNDER GERMAN MILITARY CONTROL. THERE ARE ALL TO MANY SUCH REPORTS…pw





SEE DAYS NOT FORGOTTEN  BY MARILEE WILSHIRE BARFIELD IN THE 100TH FILES. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST REASEARCHED AND WELL WRITTEN WORKS DEALING WITH POW LIFE AND THE EFFECT ON FAMILY AND LOVED ONES IN THE USA. IT INCLUDES GERMAN INTERROGATION REPORTS, AMERICAN INTERROGATION REPORTS TAKEN AT CAMP LUCKY STRIKE IN 1945, RED CROSS POW BULLETINS, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES,  PERSONAL LETTERS FROM LT BARFIELD AND ALL OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ISSUED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT AND U.S ARMY AIR FORCE REGARDING LT BARFIELD.



THERE IS A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS CAUSING THE LOSS OF THE AIRCRAFT AND INFORMATION CONCERNING THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE CREW..

 

         MISSIONS OF 2ND LT BARWICK O. BARFIELD (mpf 2001)



1. 28/03/44 CHATEAUDUN, FR

      31/03/44 LUDWIGSHAFEN (SCRUBBED)

      01/04/44 LUDWIGSHAFEN (RECALL)

      07/04/44 QUAKENBRUCK (SCRUBBED)

2. 08/04/44 QUACKENBRUCK, GER

3. 10/04/44 MALDEGEM, FR

4. 13/04/44 AUGSBURG, GER

5. 18/04/44 BERLIN

6. 07/05/44 BERLIN

7. 08/05/44 BERLIN

8. 09/05/44 ATHIES, FR

9. 11/05/44 LIEGE, BELGIUM

10. 19/05/44 BERLIN

11. 20/05/44 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

12. 23/05/44 TROYES, FR

12. 24/05/44 BERLIN





CHARLES BERNARD SEWELL

Epilogue by  Mrs Charles B. Sewell

(nee Mae Aileen Yewell)



 Charles Bernard Sewell was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 9. 1918. He was the son John Harvey Sewell and Mary O'Keefe Sewell, but his mother died when he was only three years old and left three boys and one girl who were raised by a stepmother.



 Charles dropped out of school in the eleventh grade of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and went to work at Lever Brothers.



 We met in 1937, when I was 15 and he was 19, and we dated from then on. When the U.S. went to war, he enlisted in the Army and really seemed to enjoy army life. He was stationed near Denver, Colorado as an Arms Instructor but volunteered for overseas duty and became a Top Turret Gunner on a B-17 flying out of Thorpe Abbotts, England.



On his fourteenth mission, he was shot down over Berlin. His pilot, Lt. Lindley Williamson, tried to make Switzerland but the plane was damaged and burst into flames after being hit by Focke Wolfs firing 20 mm. shells, so they had to bail out.



 Charles parachuted into a forest outside Berlin, where a train had been stopped because of the raid. German soldiers and civilians had rushed from the train to take cover in the forest.  Sgt. Sewell landed among them and was immediately captured.

 

 The soldiers and civilians formed a gauntlet and forced him to run through it. He was struck with fists, gun butts, etc. and ended up losing his four top-front teeth. He told me his life was saved when the  "All Clear" sounded, the engineer blew the train whistle, and everyone ran to board the train. Sgt. Sewell was left in the custody of a civilian policeman on a bicycle who made him alternately walk and run in front of the bicycle, about four miles, to a small town where he was put in jail. From there he was sent to Stalag Luft IV in Stettin, the camp was evacuated to Nuremberg. It took about eight days to make the trip, crowded in small boxcars, 60 men per car.



 Soon the Americans were nearing Nuremberg so, once again, the camp was moved. This time the P.O.W.s were marched approximately 150 miles to Mooseberg. It took them about two weeks. About 8,000 P.O.W.s plodded slowly along the road in scattered groups. They sometimes had to knock on doors when they came to a crossroads to ask which way the groups ahead of them had gone.



 Finally, they reached Mooseberg and shortly thereafter (4/29/45) they were liberated by General George S. Patton and the 88th Tank Battalion and sent to Camp Lucky Strike, France. This was a R.A.M.P. Center (Recovered Allied Military Personnel) The men were given new uniforms and sent on to Le Harve and then home.

 After liberation, Charles returned to the U.S. on the Admiral Benson, a converted liner, in five days. Charles and his closest friend in P.O.W. camp, Frank Ray of Albany, New York, stood side by side on the deck as they passed the Statue of Liberty. Both were very emotional and tears in their eyes.



 When he arrived home, I could see no change in him. I don't know, of course, what he felt, but to me he was just as gentle, quiet, and nice as he had always been and continued to be for the rest of his life.

 

 Charles knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. First, he got his G.E.D. (General Equivalency Diploma) and tried to enroll at the University of Maryland but was told that enrollment was closed for that semester. To my amazement, he took his army records and the G.E.D. results and presented himself to the Dean of Admissions of the University of Maryland. The Dean reviewed everything and said, "anyone who has just been through what you have and can get such a high mark on the G.E.D at the age of 27 -- I will make a place for you." He did and Charles finished college in 3 and one half years majoring in accounting. He became a C.P.A. and eventually became a partner in one of the oldest and most prestigious accounting firms in Maryland, Stegman and Associates.



 We were married on April 20, 1946 while Charles was a college freshman and our marriage lasted 45 years until his death on February 26, 1991. We had two sons, Kevin born in 1951 and Terry born in 1953. All in all, it was a great 54 years, and I am left with wonderful memories about a very special person.