Revere, another time, WW II -- Lt. Harold Noel, 1945. Research for this article was taken from Wikipedia, and the Revere Journal of Thursday, 8/16/1945, pages 1 & 9. Before turning to our main character, Lieutenant Harold Noel of the U. S. Army Air Corp, this brief overview is offered to acquaint you with some historical data on WW II POWs. 130,000 Americans would become POWs. 103,000 were taken by the Germans and 27,000 by the Japanese. Statistically you were better-off being captured by the Germans, under whom its estimated only 2% to 4% died while in captivity. While conversely, per Wikipedia, the Japaneses death rate was an astounding 33%! When comparing the two models its obvious American POWs received better treatment under the Germans than their axis partner -- although at the time those experiencing the German system night not readily accept this assessment. However, the numbers do support the conclusion. The numbers only tell part of the German story. The other part is told by nationality. Fair to say Americans, British, and French POWs have the nice numbers on their side. However, if you were black, Jewish, Polish, or Russian you werent, to put it mildly, treated in a humane manner. You were in fact treated with a harsh inhumanity more akin to barbarity --- In reality you were expendable. The overall reality was that by the end of 1944 German treatment of all allied prisoners began to change for the worse. In actuality the allied forces were partly responsible. Put another way the Americans & British jointly share part of this blame. Why you might ask? I would call the answer situational irony. Simply put, the Americans bombing by day and the British by night, had a devastating effect on the delivery of German supplies to their troops and POW camps. What little got through was mostly distributed to German forces. So you have a scenario in which the better you did with your bombing program the worst your fellow allied POWs, were treated. OK so wars arent perfect, however; against this backdrop our leading protagonist, Lt. Harold C. Noel enters the scene. Harold was the son of Mr. & Mrs. Eban J. Noel. He was married to a young lady named Alice, sorry no info on her maiden name. His address was 99 Ridge Road, up off Suffolk Ave. Harolds military career began on February 2, 1942. His training as an Army Air Corp navigator was conducted at an installation in Selma, Alabama. At the time I am sure no one knew what an important role Selma would play in the historic civil rights struggle some twenty odd years later. In 1942 its main mission was to turn out much needed navigators for the nations fleet of bombers headed overseas. In this regard Lt. Noel would eventually fill the navigators role on a Consolidated B-24 Liberator, a long range heavy bomber assigned to the American 15th Air Force. On February 23 his state-side stationing concluded and he shipped out for Europe. His service longevity in the European Theater of operations would span 16 months, of which 12 were spent as a German POW. Lt. Noel became a POW in May of 1944. After his plane delivered a load of bombs on a French target it was returning to an Italian air base when the four engine Liberator found itself out of fuel, consequently forcing him to parachute from the B-24, over German occupied northern Italy. I imagine his heart must of been pounding in nervous mode. It wasnt a perfect landing, he wound-up in a tree. Luckily he avoided severe injury. OK so far so good, he must of thought. Having freed himself from the tree he began to make his way when he encountered an Italian boy with a bicycle, who I gather had an entrepreneurial side coupled to good negotiating skills. Some how the two were able to communicate and concluded a deal whereby Lt. Noel gave the boy all his change, a pen, and a ring in return for the bike, Deal done, the good Lieutenant hopped on his new acquisition and began to peddle away. I would think by now his heart rate was much lower and his nervousness much less. About an hour later he happened upon some Blackshirted fascist. Im assuming here he was in full race heart pounding nervous mode, but at the same time trying to convince himself to be cool. After a search the fascist duly delivered him to German Intelligence. I think at this point he knew he was going into POW status. Once his interrogation was completed he would be processed into the German POW system, where he would spend the next year. Before the war ended he would be transferred to several different POW camps. Upon wars end he went through POW processing which brought him back to the United States. Once back on U. S. soil Lt. Noel was further processed through an AAF Redistribution Station in Atlantic City, N. J. From there he would make his way back to good ole Revere, and life with his wife and family. Lt. Noel, as far as I know, never provided details of what it was like to be a POW. Further, like most veterans, POWs dont like to discuss their wartime experiences. While we might not know their inner feelings we can assume, with some degree of certainty, those of their parents, siblings, & spouses (if any). They no doubt did a lot of internalizing, spent a lot of sleepless nights, prayed a lot, worried to no end, and filled a lot of their waking thoughts with concern for the imprisoned loved one. These back home folks may not of done the training, fighting, and other hardships expected of those in uniform, but they knew pain, suffering, and living with the constant threat of that telegram arriving at their door. Revere remembers and thanks them and Lieutenant Harold C. Noel for their service!
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 18:15:26 +0000
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