Re: The Letter

Date: March 09, 2004

"Letter from France ends veteran's anguish By RYON LIST The Associated Press

GREENVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Talking about his experiences as a fighter pilot in World War II never troubled Bob Powers.

It was the questions that often followed that overwhelmed him.

His days have changed since the war. At 80 years old, the Greenville man moves slowly, like he's shouldering a burden. He has undergone surgeries. Cancer claimed the life of his wife. Friends have died of old age.

A former U.S. Army Air Forces pilot, Powers has forgotten some of the details from his past. But he still remembers much of his history and involvement in the war. He was tough and dangerous. He was fearless and cocky.

He talks of the power and velocity of the P-51 Mustang with great clarity. He smiles when he thinks about the intensity of the twin-engine P-38 Lightning.

Powers talks about a time 60 years ago. Like watching old movies, he relives the past. But there's one part he tried to forget. It was a burden that haunted him relentlessly since one day in June 1944.

Bob Powers told no one. It was a secret — one he faced alone.

The Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor officially sent the United States into World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech following the attack sent Powers off to war.

Those words inspired the young Powers, a freshman at Albion College. The 17-year-old had graduated from Greenville High School months earlier and, like thousands of young American men, he joined the military prepared to protect his country.

He enlisted in the Air Force because the thought of flying had always intrigued him. His attraction and dedication to flying, along with his youthful bravado, caught the attention of his Air Force instructors instantly.

"Right away they thought I'd make a good pilot," Powers said.

From American bases in North Africa to Italy, Powers and other young fighter pilots flew mission after mission. By 1944, inexperience had given way to experience. But at 20 years old, his youthful swagger remained.

But on June 15, 1944, some of his fortitude was lost.

Flying over German-occupied France just days after the invasion of Normandy, Powers and other pilots bombed railroad yards to limit German weapons shipments. During the attack, he was shot down. He kept some control of the plane and managed to crash-land in a large swamp in the south of France.

"They knocked out my left engine. When I was hit I was put on my back," he said. "Really, it was hard to remember."

Powers was bleeding and bruised from the crash. He remembers waving to a fellow fighter pilot who swooped down briefly to check on him.

While his memory of the incident is a bit sketchy, he does remember quickly hiking downwind to make it difficult for tracking dogs to pick up his scent. He spent a night, and maybe another day, hiding in the swamp nestled under fallen trees as the Germans searched for him.

Eventually, Powers wandered to a farmhouse near the edge of the swamp. A French family took him in for a day and a night. They fed him and bandaged him. They dressed him in civilian clothes and contacted the French Resistance to help him escape from the German-occupied area and return to his base.

"I never knew their names but I do know that family saved my life," he said. "I wouldn't have made it without them."

Trying to bring Powers back to his base, French Resistance fighters were met by German soldiers. A fire-fight followed. He remembers that a resistance fighter was killed.

Powers was captured by the Germans, beaten and interrogated. The Germans wanted to know who helped him escape. Aiding the enemy brought execution and the Germans reminded Powers that they killed those who aided allied soldiers. They would find the family who helped him, he was told. The family would be killed.

"I never gave them up. I never told the Germans who helped me. You can't give up somebody who saves your life," Powers said. "But I felt guilty. I never should have gone there. I put that family in jeopardy. That's what scarred me."

Powers was a prisoner of war for 11 months until the war ended in May 1945. Thin and frail from almost a year of captivity, Powers remembers the day American tanks busted through the German barracks and freed him.

The war had ended. He was being sent home. He could see his family again.

But for 60 years Powers battled his emotions as he thought about the family that helped him. He assumed the Germans found them and believed that he caused their deaths. It became his own inner war.

Back in Greenville, life went on for Powers. He went back to college. He found a job and a wife. He had children, became a successful businessman.

The concerns about the fate of the family persisted. He convinced himself the Germans slaughtered the family. He blamed himself.

After the war, Powers never told Air Force officers the exact details of what happened that day in June 1944. He never told them about the family.

He didn't tell his wife or children.

Simple words can mend the scars of history. For Powers, the answers came in a letter.

Late last January, Lloyd Walker opened a letter addressed to the mayor of Greenville. Inside, a man from Arles, France, searched for help "to contact the above-mentioned former pilot or close relatives." That pilot's name was Robert Fowler.

The Frenchman, Albert Illouze, was writing to locate "the courageous young man who literally walked out of the dangerous marshes and then, with enemy patrols everywhere, wanted to get back to the fight."

"A small group of researchers would like to know more," the letter read.

Right away Walker realized that Robert Fowler was actually Bob Powers.

Powers' mother, Ruth, eventually had married a Fowler. Somehow, research in France linked Powers to the last name of his late mother. Illouze couldn't find Robert Fowler, but Walker could. He called Powers immediately and told him about the letter.

Powers was stunned, not only because he had been tracked down, but because the letter also mentioned the Yonnet family who took Powers in and helped him try to escape.

Powers broke his silence and told Walker about the family and how he was haunted by their fate.

Powers asked Walker to fax him a copy of the letter and mail the original to him right away. The letter brought Powers hope that the family had survived.

In preparing a letter for Illouze. Powers chose his words carefully. Nervous, he asked about the fate of the Yonnet family.

"For 60 years I have worried about the fate of the Yonnets with no way to find out what happened to them," he wrote.

On Feb. 13, Powers' personal war ended.

"The Yonnets of today were very surprised," Illouze wrote back. "A great moment of emotion for them as they spent those 60 years wondering and hoping so much ... The Yonnets have moved and pleased we found you and want to stay in touch."

The family who saved his life had never been found by the Germans. They survived. Though the father had died years later, the effects of war did not claim the life of the French family. In fact, the young son at the farmhouse that day in June 1944, Hubert Yonnet, is alive and wants to contact Powers.

"I thought that family had paid dearly for what they did for me. I wanted them to know I did not give them up. Now I know and can tell them," Powers said. "Knowing that family is alive has changed things. It can change a person."
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press."