Raymond B. Klinke was born in Chicago and grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois.
He married his wife Joan before enlisting in the Army Air Corps on
October, of 1943. He was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in Albany,
Georgia in February 1944. Ray and his crew flew their B-17 overseas via
Manchester, New Hampshire, Goose Bay, Labrador, Blui West, Greenland,
and Meeks Field, Iceland, to Valley, Wales. They were assigned to 388th
Bomb Group- 560th Squadron in Knettishall, England. On their sixth
mission to Merseburg, Germany, (September 28, 1944), Ray's ship and crew
were badly damaged by flak. They tried to limp back to Liege, Belgium
but finally had to bail out and were captured at Altenkirchen, Germany.
Ray and the other officers ended up in Stalag Luft 1A in Barth, Germany.
The Russians liberated the camp and Ray and others were flown out via
B-17 to France on May 13,1945.
Raymond and his wife have raised one son and two daughters and now enjoy
the fruit of life with 5 grandsons and 5 granddaughters.
Raymond retried after forty-four years of service from United Airlines
as Manager, Revenue Accounting. He and his wife now enjoy retirement in
Lake San Marcos, California.
A POW STORY
In Stalag Luft 1A, the Germans were constantly searching for a secret
radio which provided BBC news. The information was printed up and
relayed to the neighboring compound via a thrown tin can.
At one point during one of the many roll calls and searches of the
barracks, one American comedian bent down and pretended to cover
something up in the gravel. Immediately others picked up the dupe and
started doing the same. It drove the German guards crazy running all
over trying to find what was being covered up. Of course, there was
nothing.
The funny part of the story is that a fellow in our room who we
nicknamed “x-9” was the one who had the secret radio all the time
and we didn’t know it until liberated.
