The Secret Rescue (35 page)

“Lineberry draws on interviews, diaries, and archival material to recount an amazing WWII survival-and-rescue story that had remained untold by the military and the survivors themselves, who were fearful of the cost to those who helped them. Their secret was kept until the fall of communism in Albania in 1990, when their story of courage and endurance could finally be revealed.”

—Booklist

“This is a gripping tale told in a manner that brings the reader along for the entire journey, encountering one hardship after the other. In the spirit of
Unbroken
this is a tale that will leave you amazed at what humans can endure to survive and how they helped each other overcome the emotional and physical challenges they faced. Lineberry’s detailed research and expert fact-finding were only exceeded by her easy-to-follow writing style, making this book a true pleasure to read. Once I started it, I could not put the book down.”

—Gary Noesner, author of
Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator

“
The Secret Rescue
by Cate Lineberry is a true, adventure-packed World War II escape saga, impeccably researched and beautifully written. It is a Five-Star must read.”

—Major Jon Naar, Special Operations Executive responsible for coordinating intelligence gathering and dissemination during the rescue operations

“
The Secret Rescue
is an intriguing and spellbinding story. Cate Lineberry has created an amazing piece of work and research that highlights the critical role played by the British clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in these dramatic events.”

—Art Reinhardt, OSS Veteran (China) and OSS Society, Treasurer

“Meticulously recounted by Lineberry. Survivalists and history buffs will relish the daily escapades of this heroic American contingent.”

—
Publishers Weekly

Notes

The author conducted all interviews unless otherwise noted.

Because interviews with Harold Hayes were conducted at his home in Oregon, during visits in November 2011 and February 2012 and in almost daily communications over a year and a half, information provided by him is not further dated.

In instances where none of the available accounts match in details and cannot be verified through records or any other means, the author has relied on Harold Hayes’s account given that so much of the information he provided that could be verified proved to be accurate. If the discrepancies are significant to the story, the author has included a note.

The ages of the members of the 807th and the flight crew were determined through family interviews, the Social Security Death Index, the National Personnel Records Center, and obituaries.

Village names were determined through a report by copilot James Baggs, a diary kept by Agnes Jensen and returned to her after the war, interviews and notes from Harold Hayes, statements made by the returning personnel, and reports by the British and American officers who helped them.

A Note to the Reader

1. Duffy… account
“13 U.S. Nurses Dare Nazis’ Guns, Planes, Wilds—Escape!” NPN, February 15, 1943, newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers; “Chutist Leads Adams, Mates Through Nazi Balkan Lines,” NPN, February 16, 1943, newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.

2. Boyle’s story
Hal Boyle, “U.S. Nurses Tell of 60-Day Trek Across Nazi-Held Land,”
Bee
(Danville, VA), February 17, 1944 (delayed from January 9).

3. could not reveal
“Safeguarding of P/W Information,” ETOUSA Headquarters, memo; James P. Cruise personnel file, NPRC; Hayes, interview.

4. “Too many lives”
“Adams, Mates Behind Nazi Lines after Balkan Landing,” NPN, 1944 newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.

5. reunited twice in the 1980s
Hayes, interview; Karin Welzel, “Wilderness Survival Trek Recalled,” NPN, August 31, 1983, Harold Hayes papers.

6. Mangerich… memories
Agnes Jensen Mangerich,
Albanian Escape: The True Story of U.S. Army Nurses Behind Enemy Lines
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999).

7. Abbott… memoir
Lawrence O. Abbott,
Out of Albania: A True Account of a WWII Underground Rescue Mission,
ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010).

Prologue

1. [failed air evacuation]
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen Mangerich,
Albanian Escape
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 162–167; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
144–149; 1st Fighter Group mission reports, December 29, 1943, from the files of Jim Graham, 1st Fighter Group, 71st Fighter Squadron, as copied from NACP and found in Roll A6544, AFHRA; Operational Records Book of 150 Squadron RAF, TNA, AIR 27/1011. Though Duffy’s report said the planes arrived “just after 1200 hrs,” two mission reports indicate they arrived about 12:30 p.m. The mission reports also indicate twenty-one P-38s arrived, but Hayes remembered counting eighteen. British officer H. W. Tilman also recalled seeing eighteen:
When Men and Mountains Meet
(1946), collected in
The Seven Mountain-Travel Books
(1983; repr., London: Bâton Wicks, 2010), 367.

2. [realized air evacuation was possible]
Hayes, interview; Richard Lebo, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
147. Though Duffy’s report made no mention of the last-minute effort to attract the pilots’ attention, Hayes vividly recalled the scene, which was further backed by Lebo’s account in a 1944 intelligence report. He said, “We thought it would be too dangerous to signal the planes but at the last minute we did try to signal them.” The description in Abbott’s book supports Hayes’s claim as well, except Abbott wrote they used “parachute scarves” to try to signal the planes rather than panels from parachutes used in supply drops.

3. They were amazed
Debriefings of nurses and medics from Army Intelligence, Roll A6544, AFHRA; Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania”; Hayes, interview; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
162–167; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
144–149.

Chapter 1

1. More than ninety personnel
Grace H. Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History,” Roll A0323, AFHRA.

2. second week of August 1943
Ibid.; Hayes, interview.

3. more than one million troops
“Winged Angels: USAAF Flight Nurses in WWII,” February 7, 2011, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=15457.

4. Eisenhower deemed
Bruce Green, “Challenges of Aeromedical Evacuation in the Post–Cold War Era,”
Aerospace Power Journal
15 (Winter 2001): 14–26.

5. McKnight
William P. McKnight, Jr., e-mail interview, October 14, 2012.

6. School of Aviation Medicine
807th Medical History Memo, August 24, 1944, Roll A0323, AFHRA; History of the School of Air Evacuation, Roll B2061, AFHRA.

7. flight surgeons… primary duty
Robert F. Futrell,
Development of Aeromedical Evacuation in the USAF, 1909–1960
(Air Force Research Institute, 1960), 86; Hayes, interview.

8. squadron’s twenty-four other flight nurses
World War II Flight Nurses Association,
The Story of Air Evacuation 1942–1989
(Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1989), 53; Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History.”

9. rank
Carolyn M. Feller and Constance J. Moore, eds.,
Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps
(Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1995), 11–19; Mary T. Sarnecky,
A History of the U.S. Army Corps
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 147, 290–291.

10. sixty dollars per month
Sarnecky,
A History of the U.S. Army Corps,
252.

11. car accident
Rudy Stakeman, e-mail interview, August 25, 2012.

12. squadron also included
Stakeman, “807th (US) Medical Air Evacuation Squadron Unit History.”

13. technician third grade
David W. Hogan, Jr., Arnold G. Fisch, Jr., and Robert K. Wright, Jr.,
The Story of the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps: The Backbone of the Army,
U.S. Army Center of Military History, Pub. 70-38. The Army abolished the technician grade title on August 1, 1948.

14. He and the three other young men
Hayes, interview.

15. Owen
Bob Owen (son), e-mail interview, August 25, 2012.

16. “Windy”
Clint Abbott, e-mail interview, July 6, 2012.

17. she and Helen Porter
Agnes Jensen Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th.

18. fiancé went missing
“Detroit Nurse Is Missing in Italian Area,” NPN, 1943 newspaper article, Harold Hayes papers.

19. Watson
Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers.

20. first… of its kind
Futrell,
Development of Aeromedical Evacuation,
93.

21. first two MAETS squadrons
Ibid., 80–81.

22. [training for 807th’s nurses]
Ibid., 88; Historical Record of 807th, February 5, 1944, Roll A0323, AFHRA; History of the School of Air Evacuation; Mangerich’s undated and unpublished notes about her experiences in the 807th; McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, 1991.

23. “I won’t get airsick”
McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, 1991.

24. Blanchfield
“History of the Army Nurse Corps: World War II,” U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History, http://history.amedd.army.mil/ANCWebsite/slpr/slpr5.html.

25. Their specialized instruction
Futrell,
Development of Aeromedical Evacuation,
89; History of the School of Air Evacuation; Hayes, interview.