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Harold Soderlund Story to end of World War 11

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Harold Soderlund Story to end of World War 11 Early Years I was born in 1921 on a farm near Sturgis, Saskatchewan. My parents immigrated from Sweden to Minneapolis ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Harold Soderlund Story to end of World War 11


1
Harold Soderlund Storyto end of World War 11
  • Early Years
  • I was born in 1921 on a farm near Sturgis,
    Saskatchewan. My parents immigrated from Sweden
    to Minneapolis about 1910 and were married there.
    After about a year they moved to Sturgis and took
    up a homestead near my uncle who had arrived
    about 1905.
  • I attended a small country school about a mile
    from home until grade eight and then stayed in
    Sturgis for my High Schooling to Grade 12. My dad
    was a small building contractor and had built a
    cafe for a chinaman in town and that is where I
    stayed for the school term.
  • Like many others my age I grew up during the
    depression years of the 1930s. Men travelled
    about the country looking for work. Often they
    would split wood or do some chore for a meal.
    Living on a farm we had ample food and fed those
    who came to our door. Riding the rods was a
    means of travel for the job seekers.
  • My brother and I after school and on holidays
    built a log cabin near a lake bordering our farm.
    I think I inherited the need to build things
    from Dad.

2
  • The Log Cabin

3
AFTER HIGH SCHOOL
  • When the Second World War started in 1939 the
    Government of Canada established the Dominion
    Provincial Youth Training Plan and young men who
    wanted to join the air force could obtain
    training as mechanics. I decided that this was an
    opportunity to escape the tedium of sitting
    behind four horses (the view was uninspiring) and
    riding a cultivator or plough. I and another chum
    made our way to the nearest rail line and climbed
    aboard a freight train to Saskatoon. There we
    entered the six months course and learned to do
    some welding, lathe work and studied some
    aircraft engines. This first taste of city life
    was new and here I listened to a big band live
    for the first time at a dance hall. I still
    remember one of the tunes but I have forgotten
    the name of it.

4
AIR FORCE TRAINING IN CANADA
  • Following successful completion of the DPYTP
    training at the Saskatoon Technical Collegiate I
    joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and went to a
    Manning Depot at Brandon Manitoba. This is where
    one first encountered military discipline, guard
    duty, and route marches, not quite the glamorous
    activities one had in mind when signing on the
    dotted line. Fortunately it was short-lived and I
    was posted next to St Thomas, ON where in a
    former Insane Assylum (Yes, it had bars on the
    windows) the Air Force lodged their recruits for
    further training. I remember the long line ups
    winding along tunnels to the mess hall. The
    training here taught one about the innards of
    Royce Rolls aircraft engines and all about
    keeping them in flying condition.
  • A week end pass allowed one to check out the
    amenities of the town and also to take the London
    and Port Stanley railway to London. Here we had
    to opportunity of dining with some of the local
    citizens. I remember the hostess was a palm
    reader. I think she knew I was from the farm.

5
Yorkton Service Flying School
  • I graduated from the St Thomas Aero engine
    training course and was posted to Yorkton,
    Saskatchewan, a mere 20 minutes by air from my
    home. Ground crew were permitted to fly as a
    passenges occasionally on test flights perhaps to
    encourage through work on the engines. At Yorkton
    SFTS recruits trained to be pilots on Harvard
    training planes. They had already completed
    initial training on biplanes. The Harvard was a
    good plane for aerobatics and I experienced my
    first x gravity as the plane pulled out of a
    loop. A waggle of the wings as the plane buzzed
    my home and I looked down with some snuggness on
    the fields where I had toiled. The exhubrance of
    being airborne was enough to convince me I should
    re-muster to aircrew and fortunately for me I
    was able to do so.
  • In the fall of 1942 I received initial flying
    training a Rivers, Manitoba. After about nine
    hours of instruction you do the solo flight. They
    say if you can walk away from it it is a good
    landing but the plane better be in the same shape
    you took it out. The initial flying training
    planes were the biplane Tiger Moth.

6
Tiger Moth
7
Claresholm Service Flying Training
  • In the fall of 1942 after a brief visit home I
    travelled by train to Clareshome, Alberta where I
    was trained on the twin-engined Cessna Crane,
    reputedly to be constructed of a soft brown
    substance, shims, and shellac. Seriously, it was
    a fine aircraft and I was able to impress my
    instructor with a flawless touch down on the
    flight test that counted. My recollections are of
    the Rocky Mountians nearby, the snow covered
    plains below with antelope scurryng about. After
    about 60 hours of flying training I was awarded
    my pilots wings and a commission as a Pilot
    Officer.
  • In February of 1943 I was sent to Summerside,
    Prince Edward Island for a six week course in
    aircraft navigation and then I was posted
    overseas.

8
Harvard Trainer
9
Cessna Crane
10
Operational Training in England
  • In the spring of 1943 I received operational
    training on the Beaufighter a twin-engined night
    and day fighter carrying four 20 mm cannon and
    eight armour piercing or explosive head rockets
    or a torpedo. This aeroplane was called the
    whispering death by the enemy because of the low
    engine noise.
  • The Beaufighter had two Bristol Hercules engines
    each with 1400 horsepower. The maximum speed was
    330 miles per hour.
  • The crew consisted of the pilot and a
    navigator/gunner. A machine gun was mounted in
    the navigators compartment for defence against
    attack from the rear.
  • My training on the Beaufighter included
    cross-country navigation, air to air firing with
    a cine camera and night flying exercises. On one
    cross-country flight I returned to base and as I
    approached to land I saw a red signal to go
    around again. As I pushed the throttles forward
    the starboard engine failed and I was forced to
    trim the aircraft to fly on one engine. On my
    second approach when I lowered the landing gear
    it failed to lock down. The result was a sinking
    feeling as the plane touched the ground. The
    plane slid to a halt in the grass off the runway.
    It was obvious the propellers would need some
    straightening and I could add to my flying
    experience.

11
The Beaufighter
12
Operations against the Enemy
  • In January 1944 I was posted to 603 City of
    Edinburgh Squadron flying from Gambut airdrome in
    Lybia. It was the job of 603 Squadron to attack
    enemy shipping and facilities in the Aegean Sea.
    The Germans were evacuating Crete at this time by
    sea and air. On one raid on an enemy radar
    station on the south coast of Crete I returned to
    base with a bullet hole through the fuselage just
    aft of my Navigators position. On returning from
    another night mission my Beaufighter was caught
    in a thunder head and lifted into a stall
    position. As the plane dived and emerged below
    the cloud I was able to pull out in time to avoid
    crashing into the sea. This is called experience
    in flying and is not taught in class.

13
Libyia, Crete Area
14
Shot Down into the Sea of Crete.
  • I was the pilot of a Beaufighter of 603 Squadron
    based in North Africa not far from Tobruk in
    1944. The mission of our squadron was to attack
    enemy aircraft and shipping and communications.
  • On the night of August 30th, my navigator,
    Sergeant Ian Nichol and I were assigned to patrol
    the Aegean Sea north of Crete. The enemy was
    evacuating the island of Crete at this time.
  • At the half-way point of our patrol and at an
    altitude of 200 feet I set a course for the
    homeward journey and coincidentally this provided
    a brilliant full moon path ahead of our aircraft.
  • As if in an aircraft recognition class, the
    silhouette of a Junkers 52 passed across the moon
    path at a distance of perhaps 2,000 feet. The
    training and discipline that soldiers, sailors,
    and airmen undergo instill a sense of duty and
    without hesitation I turned the Beaufighter in
    pursuit of the enemy aircraft.
  • Ian Nichol soon made radar contact and began to
    read off closing distances. As soon as I was able
    to discern the gray shape of the Junkers 52 I
    swung the gunsight into position in front of me
    and lowered speed since our aircraft was much
    faster. When the wingspan of the Junkers 52
    filled the firing circle on the gunsight I
    pressed the 20-mm cannon-firing button. Tracers
    streamed out ahead and I turned sharply to port
    to break off the attack. I doubt that the enemy
    aircraft was hit and events that followed
    precluded any further investigation.

15
Junkers 52
16
Shot Down into the Sea of Crete (cont)
  • In turning to port to break off the attack our
    Beaufighter almost collided with another Junkers
    52 flying in the opposite direction to the first
    one. At this point I made the mistake of
    continuing in pursuit of the second Junkers.
    Bullets from his rear gun hit our port engine and
    it quickly lost power. I attempted to feather the
    propeller to reduce drag, at the same time
    straining to keep the aircraft flying straight
    against the pull of the still functioning
    starboard engine. The propeller did not feather
    and I could see flames at the back of the port
    engine. All my thoughts and energy were now
    concentrated on keeping the Beaufighter flying
    but a slight bump at the back of the aircraft
    meant the tail end had touched the water. Moments
    later the Beaufighter slid onto the water. I hit
    my head on the windscreen as the aircraft came to
    a sudden stop with the nose in the water. I
    quickly opened the overhead escape hatch and hit
    my parachute and seat belt release button and
    climbed out on the wing. Ian Nichol was already
    there.

17
Shot Down into the Sea of Crete
  • In a matter of seconds the Beaufighter sank
    beneath us and I inflated my Mae West life jacket
    and Ians. The water of the Aegean Sea at this
    time of year is not cold and we were not
    uncomfortable.
  • It happened that a one-man dinghy, either mine or
    Ians had floated out of the aircraft and this
    was another of the fortunate circumstances that
    contributed to our survival. We inflated it and
    climbed in. My feet dangled in the water.
  • A fully lit Hospital ship was passing some
    distance away and we tried attracting attention
    with one of the small lights aboard the dinghy
    but to no avail. The enemy aircraft circled a
    couple times with a landing light on but did not
    see us.
  • A couple of days later when our dinghy had
    drifted toward the occupied town of Candia on
    Crete a German patrol boat came out and picked us
    up.
  • We had survived the rather heavy odds of
    crashing into the sea at night.
  • I am proud that I carried out my duty to the best
    of my ability and I am thankful that neither I
    nor Ian suffered debilitating injuries.

18
Prisoner of War
  • In the late evening of the day of our capture we
    were placed aboard a Junkers 52 with German
    soldiers being evacuated from Crete. The plane
    took us to Athens fortunately without any
    encounters with 603 Squadron aircraft.
  • At the school building where I was held prisoner,
    my guard a former school teacher confided in me
    that in Germany at this time if you were told
    that black was white you had better believe it.
  • After a week I and others prisoners were placed a
    board a train bound for Salonika, Greece. The
    train travelled at night without lights. At one
    point when the train was travelling slowly I
    decided to try escape thru a small window near
    the top of the carriage. As I was getting up to
    the window a shout from some Russian prisoners
    alerted the guard. I quickly dropped back down
    and I heard the click of a rifle bolt. No light
    came on and the incident passed. I often wonder
    if I had made it out how this story may have
    changed.
  • At the prison compound at Salonika we were joined
    by several P-38 Lightning pilots who were shot
    down while attacking aerodromes in the vicinity.
    The German guards said they were Chicago
    gansters.
  • The forward compartment of a transport truck was
    our accommodation for the next leg of a journey
    which took us to Skopjle. Bulgaria. We arrived at
    a aerodrome in time to see several Junkers 87
    Stuka dive bombers dive on the aerodrome and drop
    their bombs. The guards had taken us outside the
    aerodrome as the sirens sounded. It was and
    encouraging sign. We learned that the planes were
    captured from the Germans and flown by Romanian
    pilots who had by this time been liberated.

19
Enroute to Stalag Luft 3
  • The aerodrome at Skopjle, Bulgaria was quickly
    repaired after the Stuka dive bomber raid and
    after sunset I was placed aboard a Junkers 52
    again with German soldiers and the plane took
    off. The journey was not without excitement. At
    one point the plane was rocked by bursting
    antiaircraft fire.
  • The flight landed at Zagreb in Yugoslavia and I
    was put in holding room. Later that same day I
    was put aboard a passenger train which took me to
    Budapest, Hungary. There was a tourist aspect to
    this journey because I could observe the scenery
    in the lovely countryside. Crossing the Danube
    River it was noticeable that some repairs were
    done to the bridge. I soon found myself in a
    narrow cell at the Budapest penitenatiary. On the
    way in a guard relieved me of a shirt I had under
    my arm.
  • After a few days I was place aboard a 40 man or
    four horses carrige along with other prisoners
    and the train headed westward. In a couple of
    days the train arrived at Frankfurt which was the
    interrogation centre for aircrew prisoner. I saw
    at this time the rubble of bombed out buildings
    first hand.
  • The interrogation officer suggested that since I
    had no identification that I could be turned over
    to the Gestapo. After getting only my name rank
    and number I think he decided he knew more than I
    did. He told me that my flight commander had been
    promoted to squadron leader. Silently I was
    impressed. After a week I found myself aboard
    another train headed for Stalag Luft 3.

20
STALAG LUFT 3
  • I arrived at Stalag Luft 3 about a month after I
    was shot down so that would be sometime around
    October the first.
  • The camp had a library of storts and one could
    exercise within the camp grounds. Food consisted
    of a dark, heavy bread and a thin soup once a
    day. The International Red Cross was allowed to
    bring in concentrated food parcels approximately
    10 inches square by 3 inches deep once a month
    and this was a godsend. As I recall we could send
    out one letter a month.
  • Showers were cold water, our beds were straw
    mattresses on wood slats.
  • A clandestine radio procured by some ingenious
    prisoners provided news which was passed around
    in a book. We knew of the crossing of the Rhine
    at Reymegan.
  • In February the Russians were approaching Stalag
    Luft E and so prisoners marched to various
    destinations. The group I was with spent about
    five days to reach Luckenwald, a city south of
    Berlin. We could hear the bombing of Berlin.
    About the end of April the Russians were nearing
    Luckenwald and soon a Russian tank came and
    knocked down the gate and we were able to get out
    in the countryside. An American convoy of trucks
    came to take us away but the Russians refused to
    let us go. It was not till a week or so later
    that agreement by the Russian and Allied
    generals allowed our return to western Germany
    and evacuation to Britian. The war was over and
    the next move was back to Canada!

21
Harold Soderlund POW
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