I just found out that one of my elementary school teachers just died at 99 years old. 50 years ago he taught me at the Lompoc (California) Honors program. He was a retired Army Air Corp pilot that was shot down twice in WW-II. The second time was during the D Day invasion and he was captured held as a POW in Stalag Luft III, a real American hero.

I'm going to have to make time and go back for his funeral next month.


His story:

A World War Two pilot who flew support for the invading Allies at Normandy on D-Day has shared his memories of being shot down TWICE in the line of duty.

Besides the incredible survival story, he also revealed more of his luck, as he actually escaped four crashes with his life - once when the landing gear malfunctioned, twice when he was shot down, and once he was in a civilian plane crash in South America.

Serving as 2nd Lt. Loren E. Jackson, one of his crashes happened when he was scheduled to join a bomber squadron in England with his flight crew in their new B-17 Flying Fortress in May 1944. Unfortunately, due to a landing gear malfunction, they crash landed in the English Channel where they were rescued by a British team. When the 99-year-old crashed on June 12 in 1944, he was part of the D-Day mission, and was shot down 60 miles north of Paris.

Now a year off his century, the Lompoc Valley, California resident has taken to Reddit - with the aid of his grandson - to take part in a question and answer session.

When asked if he learned anything interesting during the war, he answered: "I would say I learned I could do some things that I thought were impossible. "Like taking off in total darkness and gritting your teeth and flying into the flak." On being shot down the second time, he explained: "I was scared because I parachuted out and the airplane circled around me twice. "The guy who stopped me [after he was shot down] yelled 'HALT' three times. "[He] was surprised that I wasn't armed. "We had the option of being armed but if you were armed you more vulnerable. "Honestly, a lot of times they shot at you whether or not you were armed."

From there, he was taken into custody, and revealed his experience there: "While I was being taken to jail, I was taken to a railroad station in Frankfurt. "There was an anti-American crowd gathering at the train terminal where we were stopped. "The crowd was getting closer and closer, and I came face to face with a guy wearing an A-2 jacket. "I thought that was odd because the A-2 jacket is an American garment. "He got closer and closer in this very crowded area and we looked at each other and he winked. "And I thought this guy must be an American. "Face to face with an enemy guy and he winks. "Most of the Germans were pretty mad at us.”

Loren was held in Stalag Luft III, a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp made famous by The Great Escape in the German province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan. He remained there until the camp was liberated by General Patton's troops on April 29, 1945. When asked about his imprisonment, he sums the experience up with three words - cold, hungry and dirty.

He recalls: "Christmas Eve was a very cold night. "There was snow on the ground but none was falling that night.
"The Germans normally locked us in the cells after 5 o'clock, but on Christmas Eve they let us stay out until 9 o'clock. "After we were locked up, a quartet of American musicians went to the center of the compound. There was a trumpet, an alto, a trombone, and a baritone. "In the quiet of that night they played Silent Night and I don't think there was a dry eye in the POW camp - including the German guards. "It is a memory I shall always treasure."

While in the camp he revealed that he had two uniforms, wearing one for a month then another for a month. "I still think the Germans treated us fairly ", he added. "We didn't get enough to eat but they didn't either." Although they were unharmed, Loren says there were some close calls, he believes: "Toward the end of the war the Germans dug this long trench and our senior officer was alarmed by this because he thought it was a mass grave. "It was big enough that all of us could be accommodated there. "He ordered us to take a bed slat from our beds and he said we'll fight their machine guns with our clubs. "We wouldn't stand by and watch 1,100 prisoners get executed. "The Germans said it wasn't a mass grave but we were convinced that it was.”

He added that they never found out what the trench was for, but shared his memories of the day of liberation. "Well the Russians were on one side of Germany and General Patton was on the other, but General Patton got to us first. "On a Saturday the Germans told us to close our windows and doors and lie on the floor because there was going to be a lot of trouble. "They were shooting right into the camp before General Patton freed the camp. "The German guns finally quieted down and a POW who had been hiding a U.S. flag ran outside and took down the German flag and put up a US one. "It was very touching."

After military service, Loren, who has been married to his wife for 72 years, became a teacher for 13 years, retiring when he was 64.



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I have an old friend + someone that we worked together for years in the 70's. Dick was a WW2 vet. He's in his 90's now + lives in Bertram Tx. I've told all of those that I know in that little town to let me know when he passes.Too fine a man not to attend his passage.

A life well lived.

Great story. It's sad that we keep losing more and more of them.

Along this same line;do you remember that one teacher that really made the difference for you? I've several good ones but the one that sticks in my mind was Mrs. Hazelwood who taught math in 5th grade.She did all the regular math business but then on every Friday she would take an hour doing verbal multiplication questions + you had to write it down immediately. I/E. in machine gun swiftness.27x36,8x4,36x16,8x12,12x12,48x3,16x16, etc. ad nauseum. But you know something by the end of the school year I could do multiplication tables in my head (fast) + as math is a sole big part of my business that women gave me a gift greater than gold.Besides she taught you to love mathmatics + that is key.God Bless you Mrs. Hazelwood.