Re: The POW Artist

Date: June 12, 2004

"Pen & Paper Are Saving Grace For Former P.O.W.

By Paul Fredericks - Boise -

It's something Tom Young has been doing since the fifth grade.  He even made a 50 year career out of it.

"I like to draw," Young says.

Actually, Tom Young loves to draw.  He's now a retired animator/cartoonist.  But, you still can often find him drawing away in a den in his Boise home.

"I think I could probably sit here eight hours a day," he says.

Drawing has been his life.  And during World War II, a pencil and paper helped sort of save his life.  Or, at least, drawing became Young's saving grace.

"When my plane was hit, I heard myself say over the intercom... 'Dear God. This is it," he says.  "And it was me.  I heard my own voice. And I'm wrestling with the plane to keep it under control."

You see, Young was piloting a B-17 Bomber when it was shot down over Innsbruck, Austria.  He even has a picture hanging in his home of the plane in flames.

Everyone on-board the bomber bailed out and survived.  Young was captured by two Italian soldiers, and was put in a German P.O.W. camp.

That's where Young's drawing skills came into play.  He drew caricatures of fellow prisoners during his sixth months as a P.O.W.

"Using any kind of paper I could find," Young says.  "Usually, scarps here and there."

"I spent as much time as I could, as often as I had some materials to work with."

Young was just 22 years old at the time.

His favorite drawing is the one of himself as he leaps from his falling plane.  He has another of himself landing on the ground... and another has a German soldier leading him away to a prisoner of war camp.

"Most of these I did, really, for the amusement of my companions," Young says.

There's the caricature of British officer, Trevor Jones, chowing down some chocolate. 

"Trevor had a horde of chocolates he had saved from his Red Cross parcels," Young says.  "He'd horde his, and then come out and make a big display of him enjoying his chocolates.  He just loved to do that." 

There's also a drawing of another prisoner toasting his bread.

"We ate this horrible German bread," Young says.  "And the only way he could stand it was to toast it.  And it didn't matter how brown it got, or how black it got, he'd eat it."

"I did that for him on the spur of the moment.  Unfortunately, he never got it.  I lost track of him, and never saw him again."

Young believes drawing helped keep him occupied during his six months as a prisoner.

"But, it all became an adventure, and there were parts of it that I relegate to the status of a class B Hollywood movie,"  he says.  "The characterization of the German soldiers... the officers that i met, looked like they came right out of Hollywood.  And, it got to be a little bit funny to me.  And I remember that 'til this day.  Chuckling to myself thinking 'I think I've seen this movie before.  Only this time, it was me."

While Young was imprisoned, his wife Mary waited and worried back home.

"You have to stop and think that God's in charge," Mary Young says.  "And you just keep on saying he's okay, and you keep on living.  You do it one day at a time."

"I think it gave him something to occupy his time because all you can do is just sit and do nothing."

"There were times of great discomfort,"  Tom Young says.  "There were times of great uncertainty.  But, I never lost faith.  I knew that I'd get home.  Just somehow I had that confidence."

He was right.  He made it home... with a little help from his remarkable talent.

©KBCI-TV Boise, ID"