Evening star., 1944-09-03

for the return OF captured Amer
icdn dirnen from Romdnia is Lit.
Col. James A. Gum, Sd. His re-
SourcetulnesS at a moment of er-
treme crisis, 1Uhen the Romdnidn
government capitulated and the
Germans aOere bombing Bucha-
rest on one side and Russian
armies a0ere advancing from the
other, is one OF the UiDid chap
terS of the Dar. Col. Gum is a
natiUe OF Kelseyuille, Calf. His
1Dite and 2-year-old son liue in
San Antonio, Ter
BY LIT. COL. JAMES A. GUM, Sd
tWritten for the Associated PressD
FIFTEENTH AIR FORCE HEAD
QUARTERS, Italy, Sept. l.-De-
layed) Il was shot down over Plo-
esti, the hottest target on the face
of the earth, at exactly IL o'clock on
the morning of August II. The first
flax caught us and three motors
were shot away.
When all the crew was safely out
I jumped and I never felt such q
sense of relief as l got away from
the ship, which had become an in
ferno.
I landed in a cornfield and two
soldiers and two farmers discovered
me. l was driven to PloeSti and i'm
prisoned there with other members
of the crew. Later we were taken
to Bucharest and placed in a great
three-Story school house which
served as a stockade for interned
Americans Prisoners lived on the
second and third floors and Ro-
manian officers occupied the ground
floor. I was the ranking officer.
Decided to Fight 1t Out.
The night of August % at lO:l5
We heard the King broadcast the
news that Romania had changed
sides. At once we held a staff
meeting an decided to arm our
selves and fight it out rather than
be overrun by the Germans.
We asked the colonel in charge
to give us back our Sidearms, which
amounted to just 20 pistols. At
first he hesitated, then said he
would have them in readiness and
give them to us if the Germans
tried to storm the school house.
We were in the center of Bucha-
rest. Every night we put some of
our forces in air-raid shelters so
too many wouldn't be killed if the
was hit.
Next morning the colonel told us
he was delighted Romania was fight
ing on our side. opened all exits to
the prison and gave us our guns.
We could hear street fighting in
the distance
Nazi Bombing Infuriated Romania
When the Germans began to
bomb the city. the Romanians got
mad. They killed many Germans,
but many civilians also were killed
by the German bombings, which
went on day and night.
Our people were getting jittery
No real protection was guaranteed
us. On August "a I sent two officers
out to make radio contact with 18th
Air Force Headquarters and sent 8
third officer out to see what chance
we had of evacuating the men to
the safety of the country.
BY noon of the 26th none of these
officers had been heard from.
/ made request to see the Ro-
manian Minister of War, Gen. Ra-
covita. Within two hours he re-
ceived me. told him the men
should be evacuated to the country
He agreed and instantly sent ar
officer to reconnoiter the southwest
section of town, which seemed the
likeliest exit.
I then asked the general to sene
me in plane back to Italy to max.
arrangements to evacuate the mer
by air. He said maybe we had bet.
ter talk with the chief of staff.
Excellent Idea," Promises Aid.
The chief of staff, readily acces.
sible, took me to see Air Minister
Gheorghiu, who said, "it is an ex-
cellent idea. 1 will do it
Next morning I was presented te
a lieutenant commander who tool
me to an airfield and we boarded
an old Italian plane which barely
got off the ground. In 80 minute:
we were in such trouble that I won.
dered whether we would get bacl
to the field.
1t was pretty disheartening to re.
turn but the Air Minister then intro
duced me to Capt. Carl Cantacuzino
tall, handsome man of 80 VIII,
is Romania's ranking pilot with tn,
astonishing number of 64 Alliet
aircraft to his credit.
He said he would get me to Ital,
in his ME-109. We painted al
American flag on the fuselage ans
white stars on the wings. After tn,
radio equipment was removed I 20
into the fuselage and he screwed tn,
plate over the side. We were read,
to go.
Came In Like Native.
At the field we came in at decl
level, wagging our wings and hopin,
the attack gunners would see tn,
stars. He came in as if he hat
lived there all his life.
The last thing he said before VIZ