Since I posted Roland Rakow’s story to this site on July 30, 2008, I’ve gained access to additional information about the crash and outcomes for the crew of Roland’s B-25 bomber.

The plane was shot down on September 1, 1942 over North Africa. Roland, who served as the radio operator and lower turret gunner on the plane, was eventually interned in Camp 59.

November 2011, I heard from Jurine Biers, the widow of 2nd Lt. Irving Biers, co-pilot of the plane. Irving Biers passed away in 1996 at the age of 78.

When Jurine learned through the post on this site that Roland was still living, she contacted him. She and her grandson have has since visited him at his home in Florida.

On the 2008 post, Roland explained, “… as our B-25 was returning from its second completed mission—dropping its bomb load on tanks, trucks, and troops on the front line at El Alamein—it was struck by a German anti-aircraft 88 mm shell on the left side of the aircraft, adjacent to the top turret gun position. The shell made a gaping hole, which caused the aircraft to break open and go into a 30-or 40-degree dive.

“The bombardier, navigator, and the top turret gunner were unable to leave the aircraft. The pilot, co-pilot, and I (the radio operator) parachuted to the ground. We sustained wounds and injuries.

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This narrative is by Staff Sgt. Roland V. Rakow, a crewmember of the 83rd Squadron, 12th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Force. It describes the mission on September 1, 1942 when his plane was shot down.

The narrative also covers the events that followed—his capture, POW experience, escape from camp, and finally his return home.

In compiling this account, Sgt. Rakow drew on his personal experiences, as well as information from Capt. Croteau, as relayed in correspondence by the captain’s wife to Sgt. Rakow’s mother.

83rd Squadron, 12th Bomb Group (M), 9th United States Army Air Force
Attached to the British 8th Army—based at Ismailia, Egypt—El Alamein

The Crew

Pilot
Capt. Hubert P. Croteau—Prisoner of War in Germany
Army Serial No. 0-404012

Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. Irving Biers—Prisoner of War in Germany
Army Serial No. 0-659064

Navigator
2nd Lt. Robert J. McPartlin—Killed in Action—El Alamein
Army Serial No. 0-659067

Bombardier–Nose Gunner
2nd Lt. Thomas F. Archer—Killed in Action—El Alamein
Army Serial No. 0-850959

Top Turret Gunner
Staff Sgt. Leonard George Andersen—Killed in Action—El Alamein
Army Serial No. 57030832

Radio Operator–Lower Turret Gunner
Staff Sgt. Roland V. Rakow—Prisoner of War in Italy
Army Serial No. 16004997

The Mission

“On September 1, 1942, as our B-25 was returning from its second completed mission—dropping its bomb load on tanks, trucks and troops on the front line at El Alamein—it was struck by a German anti-aircraft 88 mm shell on the left side of the aircraft, adjacent to the top turret gun position. The shell made a gaping hole, which caused the aircraft to break open and go into a 30-or 40-degree dive.

[See further details of the crash on a later post, Roland Rakow’s Story—An Update.]

“After the aircraft was hit, I looked for a way of escape and found the gaping hole where the shell had hit. After some effort, since the aircraft was in a dive, I bailed out at the hole. Before exiting, I looked for Sergeant Andersen. He should have been adjacent to the hole, as this was the location of the top turret gun. I could only conjecture that he had been blown out of the aircraft when the shell hit.

“I bailed out and waited a few seconds, then felt for the ripcord—but I couldn’t find it. Frantically, I tried to locate it and finally found it, almost completely behind my back.

“With my last energy, I pulled the cord. The parachute opened with a jerk. My left arm became so entangled in the parachute’s lines I sustained a compound fracture of the left clavicle. I had no control of the chute before hitting the ground, my face down. There was a strong wind as I landed. The parachute ballooned and dragged me approximately 300 feet, until German soldiers came and stopped me from being dragged farther.

“Lt. Archer and Lt. McPartlin were unable to leave the aircraft and died in the crash. Capt. Croteau, Lt. Biers, and I parachuted to the ground. We landed in separate locations. Each of us sustained wounds and injuries.

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Roland Rakow received this Christmas card from his comrade Cpl. Ralph Shoemaker at Christmastime 1943. It had been a little over a year since Roland’s return to the States after his escape from captivity.

Cpl. Shoemaker, a member of the maintenance crew of the 83rd (Roland’s squadron), served with that unit until the end of the war. Roland kept in touch with him since the war, until Shoemaker passed away last year.

The front of the card reads: “Christmas Greetings, 83rd Squadron, 12th Bomb Group, United States Army Air Force”; in the center is a propeller with wings and four stars in gold.

The British Eighth Army, with essential support from the USAAF 12th Bombardment Group (known as the “Earthquakers”), had pushed Gen. Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps from North Africa and pursued them northward into Europe.

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The following 1942 news item was clipped from the Chicago Tribune.

Rakow Back After Fleeing War Prison

Dundee Youth Was In Plane Nazie Downed

Sgt. Roland Rakow, 22, the first soldier from the Elgin area to escape from an Axis war prison, arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert F. Rakow, 506 S. First st., West Dundee, Saturday evening with a 24-day furlough which will permit him to spend the holidays with his family.

The youth had planned to be home by Thanksgiving day but was delayed on the way here from Italy by illness. For nearly four weeks, his parents expected him every hour of every day. Every time there was a knock at the door, Mr. Rakow hopefully called out: “Come in, Roland!” At 9:30 Saturday night, he was rewarded. His son stepped across the threshold.

Regains 20 Pounds.

Since he escaped from the prison in northern Italy and made his way to safety behind the lines of the British Eighth Army, good food and care has helped Sergeant Rakow regain 20 of the 30 pounds he lost in the more than a year he was in confinement.

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The following news clipping is likely from the Elgin Courier News, published in Elgin, Illinois, near Roland Rakow’s boyhood home of West Dundee.

The article would have appeared in the paper in September 1942.

Staff Sgt. Rakow “Missing In Action In Africa”
Is Report

Staff Sgt. Roland Rakow, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Rakow, 506 S. First st., West Dundee, has been “missing in action in Africa since Sept. 1.” his parents were notified in a telegram from the U.S. War Department from Washington, D.C. this morning. It was stated that a letter would follow.

The young man is a radio operator and gunner attached to the 83rd Bombing Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces. He left this country one month ago, and yesterday his parents received a letter from him, written in Egypt. The letter dated Aug. 24, contained a picture of Sergeant Rakow and two companions talking to an Egyptian.

I don’t like it very well here,” he wrote. “I would rather be back in the states.”

Young Rakow graduated from Dundee Community High school in 1939 and was an employee of the Oaks Manufacturing Co. at Crystal Lake at the time he enlisted, June 27, 1941. He was a radio enthusiast and studied telegraphy and radio in Chicago preparatory to joining the armed forces.

He received his initial training at McClure Field, Wash., and was then transferred to Scott Field at Belleville, Ill. From there he was sent to the gunnery school at Las Vegas, Nev., and later given advanced training at Esler Field, La.

The latter part of July, the bomber he was attached to was assigned to 10 days of patrol duty, flying out of Pensacola, Fla. Letters from him ceased about a month ago and while his parents believed he was being transferred abroad, it was not until yesterday that they learned he was in Egypt.

The young man’s father is foundry foreman for the Elgin Manufacturing Co. A brother, Ralph, is employed in a submarine building plant at Vallejo, Calif. A sister, Miss Arlene N. Rakow, is an employe of the Elgin National Watch Co.