Ohio War Stories: Share Your Memories

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May 22nd, 2008

Danish Flag Courtesy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer comes this story about an unlikely reunion many years in coming…

WWII American food-drop airman, Dutch recipient land in Northeast Ohio
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Stan Donaldson -Plain Dealer Reporter

Elyria — Robert Smith and Jan Van Galen met a few years ago over breakfast, but it was meals decades ago and thousands of miles away that created the bond between the two men.

In one of Smith’s final missions as a bombardier in the Army Air Corps during World War II, the 20-year-old dropped food rations from a B-17 Flying Fortress over the Netherlands. The 1945 mission was part of “Operation Chowhound,” designed to help Dutch citizens who were starving after years of German occupation.

Van Galen, a teenager at the time, was one of the people who benefited from the food delivery by U.S. and British airmen.

Smith returned from the service and Van Galen immigrated to America, both settling in Northeast Ohio. But they would not meet until 60 years after the war ended.

In 2005, both men were living at the Wesleyan Meadows senior living facility. By chance, Smith and Van Galen sat near each other at breakfast one day. Van Galen overheard a conversation Smith was having about World War II and the two men talked about the war. Realizing their link, Van Galen said to Smith, “Let me shake your hand. You saved my life.”

The two men broke bread together again Saturday, this time over lunch.

Smith was honored as Veteran of the Year by the Cleveland Wing of the Commemorative Air Force at the Lorain County Regional Airport. Van Galen was there, too, among dozens of guests on hand to celebrate Armed Forces Day.

“It boggles my mind that after all of this time, we were able to meet,” said Smith, 83. “It’s an honor to be recognized by the humanitarian effort I was a part of in 1945. The time still sticks in my heart like it was yesterday.”

Van Galen, 78, wore wooden shoes native to his homeland at the airport. The retired schoolteacher said he is forever grateful to Smith and to the U.S. military.

“People were dropping on the streets because they were starving so bad,” Van Galen said with tears in his eyes. “It was dangerous . . . but they came to us and dropped food and helped to liberate the country.”

Van Galen said the food was delivered because Holland’s Queen Wilhelmina, exiled to England during the war, asked British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt to help her nation.

The missions, flown in May 1945, came just as the Allies reached a cease-fire with Germany. Still, the flights were considered risky and a test to see if the Germans would abide by the cease-fire and not shoot down the B-17s.

The food consisted of items such as corned beef, bread and cigarettes. It was dropped in wire-wrapped bundles, each containing enough food to feed 10 people for one day, Smith said.

The Dutch Red Cross picked up most of the rations and served them to people in soup kitchens.

After the men shared their stories Saturday, audience members stood up and applauded.

“It was an honor to sit and listen to them, and there should be more events like it,” said Robert Gazso, a North Olmsted resident and civilian member of the Commemorative Air Force.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
sdonalds@plaind.com, 216-999-4885

This story brings to mind the tale of one boy, now an adult , who lived through the blitzkrieg. Olaf Kongshaug was a boy living in Denmark when the Germans invaded as part of their Blitzkrieg in 1940. The country fell in mere days, meaning that Olaf (and his large family) and the country were occupied for years.

According to wikipedia: Nazi Germany’s occupation of Denmark began with Operation Weserübung 9 April 1940, and lasted until German forces withdrew at the end of World War II following their surrender to the Allies on 5 May1945. Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions continued to function relatively normally until 1943. Both the Danish government and King Christian X of Denmark remained in the country in an uneasy relationship between a democratic and a totalitarian system until German authorities dissolved the government following a wave of strikes and sabotage.

FYI: The image at the top of this entry shows the headquarters of the Schalburgkorps, a Danish SS unit, after 1943. The occupied building is the lodge of the Freemasons located on Blegdamsvej, Copenhagen

Mr. Kongshaug’s video is below: