I apologize for the poor quality of the photo. Here is mine.

Stalag Luft III/7A/Mooseburg Death March survivor, shot down over Paris, and a tragic end to a heroic story. This is the story of 1st Lt. Elwin Charles Littlefield of Fresno County, California.   (This story includes suicide for those sensitive to the topic).   Born on the 7th of February, 1920, not much is known about Elwyn’s early childhood and adult years. He graduated from Roosevelt High School, and after working as a fireman for the Santa Fe Railroad, he worked at a quicksilver mine near Mendota. His story picks up in February 1942 when he enlisted. He became a P47 Thunderbolt pilot and was trained in Bennettsville, SC. He was sent over to England in January 1944. He was in the 365th Fighter Group, 9th AF, when, before D-day, he was carrying out a raid over the town of St. Germaine, France (although labeled as Paris). He was presumably caught by flak, and his P-47 Thunderbolt exploded in flames. He ejected 800 feet over the ground and deployed his parachute.   Landing and severely burned and disoriented, he hid below a house. The Germans found him and dragged him over to their headquarters, where he was interrogated. He refused to give up military secrets and was repeatedly beaten. Two survivors of a B-26 shot down two days earlier were there with him. The German guards beat them both to death in front of Lt. Littlefield in an unspeakably gruesome manner. It is likely that here his PTSD and despondency started to take shape. On a prison train, he managed to escape but was sadly recaptured. He was then taken to a main interrogation center, where he was kept in solitary confinement and starved for 8 days. He notes, “They kept one British boy there for 30 days on nothing but two slices of bread and water”. He still refused to talk and was then taken to Stalag Luft III. He remained there until January 1945, when he and 10,000 other prisoners started a march of 60-70 miles to Spremberg, where anyone who could not keep up was shot. They then boarded a train bound for Stalag 7 A near Mooseburg. It is there that he escaped again with a friend. They made for the Swiss border but were again caught by a German guard. They were taken back to the Mooseburg camp, where they remained until they were liberated on April 29th by the 7th Army, 14th Armored Division.   After flying home on a flight organized by a colonel, he was described by his mother as despondent. It is important to keep in mind that his brother Leslie was also killed in 1943 in a plane crash during a test flight, which contributed to the following actions, as stated by his mother. After returning from the war, his mental state started to deteriorate rapidly. He reportedly started living in a hotel alone after leaving his family home and avoiding contact with others. On March 19th, 1948, he went and stole his sister's .32 pistol. He drove to Lane’s Bridge on the Fresno-Yosemite highway. He leaned against a fence, and according to witness accounts, he pulled the trigger. He was declared dead, and his body was discovered on March 20th. His mother commented that she believed his suicide was due to his injuries and wartime memories. I would like whoever is reading this to reflect on this man’s life and mourn for at least a moment; he shared the same fate as thousands of Americans who suffered in silence for 3 years or much, much longer.   Elwin's Findagrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66818492/elwyn_charles-littlefield

Happen to find any other assignments?    Hayden

Great write-up and group! Thanks for posting.

It looks like it did but I don’t know much about it

I love the US restaurants though. Customer Service is fantastic. But bloody hell - it takes the waitress 10 minutes to tell you all the condiments/sauces and options. Here, it’s “You want salt and pepper with that”. We have just had Costco arrive here. Their bread and buns last weeks because of the preservatives!

He was indeed a chaplain. As of December of 1944 he was stationed at Ordnance Depot 0-629 in Lancashire, England.

I think the giant serving sizes are a restaurant thing mostly, though it's part of that farmer tradition, i think. I avoid overprocessed to steer away from sugar, carbs, and salt. Processed foods here have entirely too much sodium. 

I should add that there are service numbers available for these men above, if you need them.

Nah Mate - it’s the way your food is so over processed. And the serving sizes. I always put on weight during my US trips. PS - Parsnips were regarded here as pig fodder until some boutique chef resurrected them as Gucci ingredients. Recommend you try them with gravy!