Shot down over Yugoslavia, Creston man became POW

James Houston’s B-24 bomber was shot down over Yugoslavia during a low-altitude mission. Houston, a farm-born man from Creston, was the radio operator and waist gunner.

Nine men parachuted down from the shot-up plane on July 26, 1944.

Houston ended up in a corn field with the belly gunner. While hidden among the cornstalks, they spotted their co-pilot, who had suffered a broken ankle from the jump, ride by on a donkey.

When Houston and the belly gunner stood up, they gave away their positions, and Albanians working for the Germans captured them both.

Houston was taken to Skopje, Albania, and severely beaten.

He was then taken by train and truck to a Budapest, Hungary, prison for interrogation. He stayed in solitary confinement with a cot and a bucket.

His final stop was Stalag Luft IV in German-occupied Poland.

Cooked potatoes were served as soup along with kohlrabi. A main staple was black bread, which was made of bruised rye grain, sliced sugar beets, sawdust, minced leaves and straw.

Prisoners were left alone as long as they followed orders.

In February 1945, as the end of the war neared, Russian troops forced the Germans to abandon the camp of 8,000 prisoners of war.

Prisoners were marched 561 miles into Germany over 86 winter days. During the march, the food given prisoners caused diarrhea and dysentery, which further weakened them. They wore the same clothes the entire time and were allowed one shower.

As they plodded on day after day, they watched refugee families escaping Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. Dead horses that had carried families were seen alongside the roads.

Freedom finally came unceremoniously in May 1945. In the morning, prisoners lined up to be counted. Men in new uniforms, the English, had arrived. They told the troops they were free.

“You have been liberated,” Houston recalled hearing.

All men were on their own to get back home. Trucks took the men to Le Havre, France. Houston found space on a B-17 plane that brought him to London.

He never forgot seeing the white cliffs of Dover and the Tower Bridge on the Thames River.

A ship brought him back to the United States.

After six months in the hospital at Fort George Wright, Houston was discharged as Staff Sgt. Houston in March 1946.

Back home, he worked as an electrician for several years and eventually returned to work the family farm.

Houston was a humble man and had been reticent to share his stories for years, said his daughter, Connie Reed.

He opened up more in his later years, she said.

Over time, his wife and children compiled his accounts and wanted to share their father’s story.

Houston died July 5, two days shy of his 90th birthday.