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 7A 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 prison camp, where they remained until they were liberated on April 29th by the 14th Armored Division, 7th Army.

 

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

That poor man's mind and body was tortured like so many.  Even freedom would not allow him to escape the horrible memories.  So so sad.  Thank you for sharing his story.  

Very interesting group.

 

Years ago when I lived in PA I cleaned out a house in Middletown.

 

The man in charge had been a B-24 pilot and he told me a story about a cold snowy winter night in 1939  driving down Rutherford rd, which was out in the sticks back then, when a car flew by him. 
 

A couple miles down the road he finds the car overturned off the road, the occupant is unconscious and gasoline is leaking.

 

He takes the man to the hospital and saves his life.

 

During the war he is shot down, captured and ends up on the Moosburg.

 

He told me they were freezing and guys would fall to the wayside exhausted and freeze to death.

 

He told himself the next guy he sees fall down he’s going to pick him up.

 

Shortly after someone one falls from exhaustion and he goes over and picks this guy up, it’s the same guy who’s life he saved in 1939, he saves his life again.

To go from the smiling, energetic and proud young pilot in that early photo to such a tragic end is very sad. A nice tribute post and collection display to honor his struggle. 
 

Frank