Clement Dowler - World War II Veteran Interview - 91st Bomb Group/324th Squadron
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- Опубликовано: 30 янв 2014
- Clement Dowler's B-17 was shot down over Avord, France on April 28, 1944. It was his thirteenth mission as a ball turret gunner with the 91st Bomb Group/324th Squadron. For the next five months, he successfully evaded German patrols and Nazi collaborators with the help of local French Resistance fighters known as le Maquis. Following his escape in September of 1944, Mr. Dowler was questioned by the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service at Headquarters, European Theater of Operations. The resulting report was marked "SECRET" and titled Escape and Evasion Report No. 1669, Evasion in France. Only recently has this document been made available to the public in electronic format. This was the second interview recorded on January 11, 2014 for the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress. It contains Mr. Dowler's first-person account of his experiences during World War II, including the time he spent fighting alongside French Resistance units and an American OSS unit in occupied France.
Another WW II Veteran has just viewed this film and enjoyed it immensely. Beautifully done.
Wonderful! I'm so glad you both enjoyed it. The interview was conducted for the Veterans Project at the Library of Congress. Anyone is welcome to send in a video interview of a friend or family member that served in the US military.
What a great story !! That's one helluva an adventure.
My Dad was also a ball turret gunner, he was with the 447th BG, 711 Squadron, Rattlesden , England.
He flew 22 missions before getting shot down over Rheine Airfield , on April 8, 1944 and spending the rest of the war in Stalag 17B.
He had no opportunity to elude capture, as Mr Dowler did. He bailed and landed on main street of a small German town, surrounded by civilians and German troop.
My hats off to Mr Dowler, man ..... that's an amazing experience !
best regards from Rouen ,France.Glad to read that we honored you with the Legion D'Honneur.Better late than never , but very late though.
Thank you for your courage Sir.
Thank-you McKay Smith for sharing Clement Dowler with us. The videos of our WWII Veterans and their service are priceless!
I am so grateful you downloaded your interview. It is very special meeting a war veteran.
McKay, i've listened and watched other oral histories of veterans before, and this one is one of the best. The audio quality of the veteran is outstanding and also you had a microphone for yourself, which is a huge benefit. What field recorder and microphones were you using? And is the black background something you also brought with you to the interview? Again, you did an excellent job, asked good questions with very little comment on your part which allowed the veteran to tell his story in an undistracted manner.
This man is a hero. I am so interested listening to what he did during the war. It's amazing what these heroes did.
A wonderful memory and recall. Great story of the war. Thanks.
I really respect these guys and cherish their stories Thanks
I watched the whole thing. Nice interview :)
His story is amazing!
Thank you for sharing this McKay! I'm working on a veteran series with the Tristate Warbird Museum's honored veterans here in Cincinnati, Ohio and have an interview this Wednesday with a tail gunner by the name of Don Fairbanks from the Mighty 8th! I think the hardest part about developing the interview is the introduction and hearing yours has definitely helped. So again, Thank you!
-Patrick
No problem Patrick. Glad I could help. I grew up in Ohio as well. I look forward to hearing more about Don Fairbanks experiences.
We are currently working on the video we created during his interview! And we have 6 other veterans lined up to interview in the next few months :) It's very exciting
Sounds great Patrick. Keep me posted. I look forward to watching the interviews. Hope it went well.
Its cool to hear stories about veterans training or the funny little stuff they did on base, my grandpa was drafted and did his 2 years in the Army stationed at Alaska (got out of it just in time so he didnt have to go to vietnam) and drove trucks around like supplies or something like that and he was able to witness the testing of rockets and how cold it got there that the garbage bags would freeze to the truck bed and how he could get permission from his C.O. and eat chow at the messhall with his brother at Eielson Airforce Base.
Thanks Jake. Glad you liked it. Clem Dowler just received the Legion of Honour medal this last week at the French Embassy. I'll be uploading a video of the award ceremony soon. All the best, McKay
McKay Smith Wow thats great! This would make a very nice movie to watch if they based it on his story completely.