Clifford S Syverud
MilitaryShot down 12 May 1944 in B-24 #41-28715. Prisoner of War (POW).
Also flew with the 445th BG/702nd BS.
30 December 1943 on return from mission to IGF factory at Ludwigshaven. In B-17 #42-64436 "Two Gun Flossie" - A/C had accident upon landing. Baldwin Avery crew. 9 RTD.
Sergeant Cliff Syverud was on his 24th mission - only one to go - when he was shot down over Germany. Coming down in his parachute he hit 'the biggest tree in Germany' and, obeying orders, waited in a house for the military to arrive. One soldier came, with two bicycles and they rode about twenty miles to a local jail before being taken to the interrogation centre. The interrogation lasted five days, during which time Syverud stuck rigidly to 'name, rank and number'. He was then loaded into a boxcar with about 50 other men, packed so tightly that they were unable to even sit down during the four day journey.
Life at the camp was bleak, Red Cross parcels a lifesaver; the six cartons of cigarettes in each pack often traded with the guards in exchange for fresh food.
Early in 1945 as they could hear the Russian Front getting closer Syverud - with some 86,000 fellow POWs - was marched westward for many weeks in wintry conditions in what became
known as the Black March. 'When it became dark we were herded like cattle into an open field....we sat as close as we could....in a circle with one of us on the outside, sitting on the foot of the one inside. We kept rotating, to keep everyone awake....if they'd fall asleep they would freeze to death'.
They first walked into British troops, then set off to find American units. 'After seeing swastika after swastika for a year, what a feeling when we saw an American flag'.
On his retirement Cliff went around schools and civic groups to tell of his experiences. In 2009 he told his story to the Milwaukee Sentinel, confessing that he had had nightmares
for many years after.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 445th Bomb Group 564th Bomb Squadron 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-801489
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Site type: Prisoner of war camp
- Known as: Stalag Luft 4, Gross Tychow, Pomerania
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Other Prisoner of War |
12 May 1944 | ||
Born |
Madison, Wisconsin |
Revisions
Added a "-" to the A/C type in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Information compiled by historian Helen Millgate, sourced from The Journal, newsletter of the 2nd Air Division Association.
Merged with duplicate entry to include details from:
- the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia ;
- Losses of the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces Vol. I, p. 449
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 5217