Staff Sergeant Allen Stephens Alford, Service Number 14156672, Waist Gunner, 703rd Bomb Squadron, 445th Bomb Group (Heavy), 2nd Bomb Wing, 8th Air Force, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Taken Prisoner by the German Army 24 February 1944 in Germany after being hit by flak and finally shot down by the German Air Force during the Air Offensive, Europe Unit Campaign, held at Stalag Luft 4, Gross Tychow, Poland.
Allen flew this bombing mission as the Waist Gunner aboard B-24J Liberator #42-100335. His home base was USAAF Station 124 / RAF Tibenham located near Diss, Norfolk, England. Their target for this mission was the aircraft factory and aerodrome located in Gotha, Germany. Of their crew of nine, eight were taken prisoner and one was killed.
He's one of the Erwin Nine. Nine men from Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee from 9 different Bomb Groups all ended up in Stalag Luft 4 and all survived to include the Black March to tell their stories.
Survivor of the Black (Death) March out of Stalag Luft 4. The march began on 6 February 1945 after the sick and wounded POWs were removed by train. It lasted 86 days, covering 600 miles through Poland and Czechoslovakia into Germany. It started with around 6,000 American and other Allied POWs during what would be called the worst winter of the 20th Century in Europe. The men marched each day and slept in the snow with little food to eat or water to drink. Death rates vary, but it's estimated that around 1,000 Stalag Luft 4 POWs died during this march.
Allen flew this bombing mission as the Waist Gunner aboard B-24J Liberator #42-100335. His home base was USAAF Station 124 / RAF Tibenham located near Diss, Norfolk, England. Their target for this mission was the aircraft factory and aerodrome located in Gotha, Germany. Of their crew of nine, eight were taken prisoner and one was killed.
He's one of the Erwin Nine. Nine men from Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee from 9 different Bomb Groups all ended up in Stalag Luft 4 and all survived to include the Black March to tell their stories.
Survivor of the Black (Death) March out of Stalag Luft 4. The march began on 6 February 1945 after the sick and wounded POWs were removed by train. It lasted 86 days, covering 600 miles through Poland and Czechoslovakia into Germany. It started with around 6,000 American and other Allied POWs during what would be called the worst winter of the 20th Century in Europe. The men marched each day and slept in the snow with little food to eat or water to drink. Death rates vary, but it's estimated that around 1,000 Stalag Luft 4 POWs died during this march.
Staff Sergeant Allen Stephens Alford, Service Number 14156672, Waist Gunner, 703rd Bomb Squadron, 445th Bomb Group (Heavy), 2nd Bomb Wing, 8th Air Force, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Taken Prisoner by the German Army 24 February 1944 in Germany after being hit by flak and finally shot down by the German Air Force during the Air Offensive, Europe Unit Campaign, held at Stalag Luft 4, Gross Tychow, Poland.
Allen flew this bombing mission as the Waist Gunner aboard B-24J Liberator #42-100335. His home base was USAAF Station 124 / RAF Tibenham located near Diss, Norfolk, England. Their target for this mission was the aircraft factory and aerodrome located in Gotha, Germany. Of their crew of nine, eight were taken prisoner and one was killed.
He's one of the Erwin Nine. Nine men from Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee from 9 different Bomb Groups all ended up in Stalag Luft 4 and all survived to include the Black March to tell their stories.
Survivor of the Black (Death) March out of Stalag Luft 4. The march began on 6 February 1945 after the sick and wounded POWs were removed by train. It lasted 86 days, covering 600 miles through Poland and Czechoslovakia into Germany. It started with around 6,000 American and other Allied POWs during what would be called the worst winter of the 20th Century in Europe. The men marched each day and slept in the snow with little food to eat or water to drink. Death rates vary, but it's estimated that around 1,000 Stalag Luft 4 POWs died during this march.
Allen flew this bombing mission as the Waist Gunner aboard B-24J Liberator #42-100335. His home base was USAAF Station 124 / RAF Tibenham located near Diss, Norfolk, England. Their target for this mission was the aircraft factory and aerodrome located in Gotha, Germany. Of their crew of nine, eight were taken prisoner and one was killed.
He's one of the Erwin Nine. Nine men from Erwin, Unicoi County, Tennessee from 9 different Bomb Groups all ended up in Stalag Luft 4 and all survived to include the Black March to tell their stories.
Survivor of the Black (Death) March out of Stalag Luft 4. The march began on 6 February 1945 after the sick and wounded POWs were removed by train. It lasted 86 days, covering 600 miles through Poland and Czechoslovakia into Germany. It started with around 6,000 American and other Allied POWs during what would be called the worst winter of the 20th Century in Europe. The men marched each day and slept in the snow with little food to eat or water to drink. Death rates vary, but it's estimated that around 1,000 Stalag Luft 4 POWs died during this march.
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