The Secret Rescue (39 page)

24. After a long discussion
Hayes, interview; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
25.

25. kaval
Hayes, interview.

26. cheese… cornbread
Ibid.; Lois Watson McKenzie, lecture, Nurses in War symposium, Washburn University School of Nursing, February 7, 1991, McKenzie family papers. McKenzie mentioned only cornbread. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
23, mentioned cornbread and boiled chicken. Wilma Dale Lytle Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans,”
Falmouth Outlook,
May 18, 1964, mentioned cornbread, eggs, chicken, and cheese.

27. nurses gave the liners
Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans.”

28. Hayes stretched out
Hayes, interview.

29. Jens… detached the hood
Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
28–30.

30. the 807th in Catania
“[807th] War Diary for November 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA; untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA.

31. “Someone has been in my musette bag!”
Hayes, interview.

32. sentenced them to be shot
Tilman,
When Men and Mountains Meet,
349.

33. Hayes’s bag
Hayes, interview.

34. pitcher of water
Ibid.; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
31; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
27.

Chapter 5

1. commandant
Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 29.

2. [attempt to burn plane]
Hayes, interview.

3. clock
Koli Karaja, telephone interview through translator Albana Droboniku, December 22, 2012; Koli Karaja, interviews by Ajet Nallbani in Berat on behalf of the author, December 2012.

4. Hayes thought it was safer
Hayes, interview.

5. finally set the plane ablaze
Ibid.; Agnes Jensen Mangerich,
Albanian Escape
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 36; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
32.

6. Kahreman Ylli
Personal papers of Hasan Gina, courtesy of the family of Hasan Gina.

7. considering two options
Hayes, interview; Charles Thrasher, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA. According to Hayes, the Americans did not learn that the British were operating in Albania until much later. They thought a British downed airman might be in the country but not organized British missions. If they had learned of British officers in the area, it seems likely that the Americans would have immediately sought their help. Thrasher mentioned in his statement that they didn’t look for the British until after the attack on Berat. Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
34, and Abbott,
Out of Albania,
31, both mentioned learning about British agents early on, though Mangerich later wrote about the party learning for the first time that British were working with the partisans (77).

8. water buffalo or ox
Hayes, interview; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
35; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
30; Wilma Dale Lytle Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans,”
Falmouth Outlook,
May 18, 1964. Hayes and Mangerich both reported the animal was an ox. Abbott and Gibson identified the animal as a water buffalo, as did the article “Balkan Escape,”
Collier’s,
April 1, 1944, which reported interviews with Lillian Tacina and Eugenie Rutkowski.

9. announced his decision
Hayes, interview.

10. led the party
Ibid.; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
39–41.

11. “Never mind. Just eat it.”
Gibson, “World War II Story of Escape from Germans.”

12.
Besa
Robert Elsie,
A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture
(New York: NYU Press, 2001), 35; Robert Elsie,
Historical Dictionary of Albania,
2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010), 218–219; Bernd J. Fischer,
Albania at War
(West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 187; Norman Gershman,
Besa: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2008).

13. churning river
Hayes, interview; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
42; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
36.

14. possibly Poshnje
“Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.

15. retaliation
Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124; Fischer,
Albania at War,
190.

16. Owen, Hayes, and Abbott
Hayes, interview.

17. led the party through the woods
Ibid.

18. Watson kept thinking of the cake
“Nurse Back with Army after Plane Is Lost in Flight,”
Southtown Economist,
February 2, 1944.

19. nearby stream
Hayes, interview.

20. German patrol
Ibid.; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
44; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
39.

21. stay near the roads
Fischer,
Albania at War,
197.

22. Borovë
Roderick Bailey,
The Wildest Province
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 62; “Memorial to the Victims of the Wehrmacht Massacre of Borovë,” Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance, http://www.memorialmuseums.org/eng/staettens/view/1262/Memorial-to-the-Victims-of-the-Wehrmacht-Massacre-of-Borovë; Owen Pearson,
Albania in the 20th Century: A History
(London: Tauris, 2005), vol. 2, 258.

23. they would arrive in Berat
Hayes, interview.

24. six B-25s
Ibid.; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
46; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
41.

25. bombs exploding
“Excerpts from operations report,” November 13, 1943, RG 18, entry 6, box 10, NACP; Kit C. Carter and Robert Mueller, comps.,
The Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology, 1941–1945
(New York: Arno Press, 1980), 215; Philip Adams, “Chronological Sequence of Events in Albania, from June 15 to December 31, 1943,” November 12, 1943, entry, RG 226, entry 154, box 17, folder 238, NACP.

26. facedown in a ditch
Hayes, interview.

27. reminded Jens of home
Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
46.

Chapter 6

1. [description of Berat]
“Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra,” World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/569.

2. people cheered, sang, and waved
Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen Mangerich,
Albanian Escape
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 47; Lawrence O. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 43; Agnes Jensen, Richard Lebo, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA.

3. Grand Hotel Kolumbo
Ajet Nallbani, e-mail interview and photo of hotel, April 7, 2012.

4. Stefa
Hayes, interview; Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
47; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
46; Joan Fultz Kontos,
Red Cross, Black Eagle
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), 95.

5. Stefa had remained in Berat
Stefa family, written statement delivered to the author in person in Berat in March 20, 2012.

6. pool… money
Hayes, interview. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
48, 78.

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

8. Jens and Lytle
Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
48–50.

9. Hayes was paired
Hayes, interview.

10. milling about the town
Ibid.; “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.

11. tens of thousands of Italians
SOE report, RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP; Bernd J. Fischer,
Albania at War
(West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 164; Roderick Bailey,
The Wildest Province
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 85; E. W. (“Trotsky”) Davies,
Illyrian Venture
(London: Bodley Head, 1952), 73.

12. keep themselves from starving
Davies,
Illyrian Venture,
74; “Economic, Social, Political Conditions of Towns and Villages which the Party Passed Through,” Roll A6544, AFHRA.

13. Between one thousand and two thousand
SOE report, RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP.

14. a hundred Italians a day
Fischer,
Albania at War,
164.