Alhambra WWII veteran revisits his prison in Austria to seek closure

Paul Parkinson of Alhambra, was a gunner on a B-24 World War II bomber, whose plane was shot down over Germany and became a prisoner. Parkinson, with a book on the B-24 World War II bomber's role during World War II, Monday, May 12, 2013. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini)

ALHAMBRA -- Imprisoned by the Nazis in Stalag 17-B near Krems, Austria for 13 months, Paul Parkinson never thought he'd want to see those barracks again.

An Alhambra resident Parkinson, now 89, completed eight missions as a flight maintenance gunner and staff sergeant aboard a B-24. His ninth mission ended in disaster. The bomber was shot down on Easter Sunday 1944 and the crew bailed out over enemy territory. The survivors were taken prisoner and hauled into a prison camp where they remained until they were freed on April 8, 1945.

Nearly seven decades later, Parkinson will return to Europe this week for the first time since he left as a free man who weighed just 110 pounds.

"I've always wanted to go back and make some kind of contact with the (past)," Parkinson said. "At least it would take a little of the burden off my shoulders. You carry that burden for all these years..."

Sixty-nine Easters ago, it all started with a mission. Three Messerschmitt Bf 109s, fighter aircraft, overwhelmed Parkinson's crew as they tried to bomb a ball bearing factory in Germany. American gunners shot down one plane, and the remaining two came at the 458th Bombardment Squadron with irate tenacity, causing his Liberator to catch on fire, Parkinson said.

"We were not going to be able to make it back to England," Parkinson said, recalling a barrage of anti-aircraft fire and German fighters hot on his tail. "We lost two crew members while bailing out. The pilot hit the rudder and an engineer gunner went through the flame. Everything burned off of him except the parachute."

The remaining eight crew members landed in the German countryside. An elderly farmer took the eight survivors into custody. The POWs were sent to Frankfurt, Germany, for interrogation and then dropped off at Stalag 17-B near Krems, Austria. Enclosed in two rows of barbed-wire fencing, the prison

Newspaper clipping listing Paul Parkinson missing over Germany in local newspaper. (SGVN/Photo by Walt Mancini)

Like many young men of his generation, Parkinson witnessed horrors that became forever entrenched in his memory. One incident in particular haunts him to this day, and it's his reason for wanting to return.

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Alhambra WWII veteran revisits his prison in Austria to seek closure