Foot Locker Reveals Father's Story

Barre Montpelier Times Argus - Barre, VT, USA

By BRUCE EDWARDS Rutland Herald Staff - Published: February 16, 2009

POULTNEY — When Peggy Dooley unlatched the drab olive foot locker, it opened up a chapter in her father's life that had been largely hidden.

Crammed into the trunk was a collection of Bernard Dooley's wartime memorabilia as a B-17 bombardier and prisoner of war. There was a cigar box with photos and letters, goggles, leather head gear and German records documenting his time as a prisoner of war.

"He wouldn't answer any questions. Didn't like to talk about it," Peggy Dooley, his daughter, recalled during an interview at the Beaman Street home where she grew up.

But after his bypass surgery in 1983, she said the floodgates opened and her father started to share his wartime memories as a POW, moving from camp to camp.

"He would say they'd go to certain areas and the smell would be just horrible and everybody on the train would be getting sick and nobody knew what the smell was," said Dooley, who works as special education teacher in Maryland. "He learned much later it was the concentration camps."

Dooley left his job at the Poultney post office and entered the service shortly after Pearl Harbor. Enlisting in the Army Air Corps, Dooley trained as a bombardier and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was assigned to "Hell's Angels," the 303rd Bomb Group, 358 Squadron.

On June 21, 1944, Dooley's B-17 — nicknamed "Mersey Dotes" — took off from its airbase in Molesworth, England. Target: Berlin.

It was Dooley's 12th and last mission.

During his time as a POW, Dooley kept a diary that his daughter discovered years later in his Army foot locker.

In his entry of June 21, 1944, Dooley recalled the day his plane was shot down as it returned from its bombing run over Berlin.

"There is ahead of us — Big B — easily identified by the smoke and flames caused by the other wings going in ahead of us. I noticed a few unfortunate bombers go spinning down right over blazing Berlin. A few chutes blossomed out but not many.

"Bombs away! Bombay doors closed. Let's get the h out of here. Engines pulling us as fast as they could. We followed the group leader in evasive action and for the next few minutes we really 'sweat out' that flak which seemed to have our planes name on every shell.

"Number one engine was on fire now and as we neared the edge of the circle of intense flak, number two was given a direct hit by a shell which went clear through center of the engine."

With the plane losing power and altitude, the crew was ordered to bail out.

"I had been off oxygen for almost a minute — we were now at 18,000 feet and (I) was beginning to lose consciousness but I remember Tom shaking my head trying to clear my vision which was getting dim. Things cleared for a second and out I went, with Tom right after me."

Dooley landed in a meadow in the center of Lubeck, northwest of Berlin. It didn't take long for Dooley to become a POW — within minutes he was surrounded by several Germans with "Lugers drawn."

After processing and interrogation, Dooley was shipped to the first of several POW camps. The following are entries Dooley recorded in his diary:

"Dec. 5, 1944 — Aroused at 7:30 a.m. by goons so they could search the block for tunnels, weapons and trading material.

"Dec. 25, 1944 — Big Bash Day with mashed spuds, turkey, candied carrots, sandwiches, fruit cake, a super fruit cake, coffee pie, chocolate pie, banana-butterscotch pie. What a grand feeling to be filled up for once."

With the Russians closing in January 1945, Dooley wrote that he and his fellow POWs were ordered to evacuate the camp.

"Jan. 27 — R's (Russians) rumored as breaking through two sides of Breslau and driving on. Refugees moving with us and along roads in wagons and trailers etc. Snowing and windy.

"Feb. 1 — Stop over today. No one seems to know where we're going. Popeye and Schultz (German guards) with us plus a Hauptman (captain). Bread, barley and margarine issued. Most of snow gone. Warm. No marching orders yet.

"Feb. 4 and 5 — Late in the afternoon left for town and box cars to head for Nuremburg. Stop and go all day and nite. Ate some goon blood sausage and at nite didn't feel so hot."

Dooley arrived at his next camp, Stalag VIIA, on Feb. 8.

"Feb. 12 — No Red Cross parcels. Mass in barracks 38.

"March 16 — Food: No. 1 in all our thoughts these days. Everyone is concocting menus to bash when we get home. War: Allies are through the Siegfried line and across the Rhine river near Bonn. Fuel: No coal or wood from goons.

"April 13 — Received news of President Roosevelt's death. Everyone shocked and saddened. Wonder how the nation will fare in post-war plans etc. OKW (German command) places Allies on Elbe River north and south of Magdeburg. A huge advance. Sprinkled a bit.

"April 18 — 8th Air Force hit area again. Large column of smoke seen over Munich.

"April 23 — Cold and rainy. Warned to be prepared to evacuate in 48 hours, probably toward Innsbruck.

"April 29 — At about 1200 (hours) the firing stopped after several bursts. At 1245 U.S. Flag goes up over Moosburg. Everyone terribly happy etc. Lots of genuine cheering and yelling. Kriegies (POWs) by the thousands line streets, cheer and shake hands of tank crew. Artillery fire and explosions continue through afternoon and nite."

Dooley spent 11 months as a POW. He returned home to Poultney and his pre-war job at the Post Office. In July 1945, he married Helen Rockwood. Dooley was active in POW affairs, managed the town band, was an avid gardener and later in life took an interest in air shows.

He died in 1995 at age 79.

Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com