News-Info-Alerts

Re: A Story of Survival

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 23, 2003

"Heroes remembered

A London-area war veteran gets a soaring tribute and another receives long-overdue decorations in separate weekend events.

By SHAWN JEFFORDS -- Sun Media

LONDON, Ont. -- Memories flooded back for Raymond Beaune as he took a weekend flight on North America's only airworthy Lancaster, the same kind of bomber he piloted on 23 missions almost 60 years ago. The Grand Bend native flew the harrowing missions over Germany during the Second World War. He was shot down and captured on his last run.

He stepped aboard the vintage bomber at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum near Hamilton as a belated 80th birthday present from his London family. It was his first trip aboard a Lanc since being shot down over Germany.

"Today was a day of memories. It was a fantastic gift."

Beaune, who worked for Ford for 45 years, beamed with pride as he talked about his flight and said it brought back only good memories, despite his last, ill-fated flight.

He spent nine months as a prisoner of war in a German hospital, then was transferred to a PoW camp.

The bomber Beaune piloted was hit by anti-aircraft fire as it bombed an industrial area of Germany on Oct. 6, 1944.

Shrapnel killed two of his crew, wounded him and set an engine afire.

The crew tried to put out the fire while Beaune set a course to get them out of enemy territory. They didn't make it.

"I could feel the fire licking at my legs," said Beaune. "I knew we'd have to bail out."

Beaune gave the order and he and his crew parachuted into enemy territory.

"Losing those two crew- men and being blown out of the sky were the hardest things that ever happened to me," he said.

Matters only got worse for Beaune as he was captured shortly after landing. His chute was damaged as he bailed and he landed hard, hurting his back and legs.

He was treated at a German hospital.

He was separated from his crew and his family was notified he was missing in action.

They received word from the Red Cross on Christmas Eve that he was a prisoner.

"I was never mistreated," he said. "But if looks could kill, I would have been dead. I was the enemy and they didn't like that I was being treated in their hospital."

Beaune hoped he'd be freed when the invading Russians swept into the German camp where he was held, but he and his fellow prisoners would be used as bargaining chips.

At the time, Russia and the U.S. were trading prisoners from PoW camps they'd liberated separately, to get their captured men back.

Russians were supposed to die rather than be captured, and returning to Russia meant death for the men.

But with no more soldiers to trade to the Russians, the U.S. troops lay in wait outside Beaune's camp and shuttled PoWs to safety if they were lucky enough to escape.

"There were thousands of us and we all had contingency plans," he said. "I ended up escaping in the middle of the night, through the fence."

Beaune was so eager to keep fighting, he lied about his injured knees and back in a bid to get transferred to the Allied war against Japan.

"The war ended before I could get over there," he said.

It was that kind of tenacity that David Beaune always admired about his father. David and the family helped arrange the $1,000, one-hour flight.

"I've always been very proud of him and hounded him for his stories," said David, a Londoner. "It was nice to see him relive all of those memories and make him young again, even if it was just for a day."

© 2003, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc."