Re: WW II POW Airmen to Get Medals... Finally

Date: January 18, 2004

"WW II pilot to get long overdue medals

By Jim Reeder, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Tom Accardi Sr. was wounded on one flight during World War II, and shot down and captured on another, but he hasn't received the Purple Heart or the Prisoner of War medal he earned nearly 60 years ago.

He'll finally get them, along with a World War II Victory Medal, in a ceremony today at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Riviera Beach. His son was instrumental in seeing that his dad was honored.

"This is the first time someone has received three medals here at the same time," said Sidney Forman of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 717.

Accardi, 82, of Port St. Lucie flew in the Army Air Corps as co-pilot or pilot on 16 B-17 bombing missions over Germany from a base near London.

Two of them, the ones in which he earned the Purple Heart and the POW Medal, stand out in his memory.

"The antiaircraft flak is what got us," Accardi said of the Purple Heart mission. "When the shell exploded outside the plane, shrapnel ricocheted all around the cockpit."

One piece went through his seat cushion into his thigh, and he suffered other injuries to his eye and back.

"I think the shell put two engines out, but we aborted the flight to Brussels, Belgium," Accardi said. "Then they put us on a DC-3 to London.

"In London I noticed my pants were torn and my partner told me the white of my eye was turning green," he said.

But he didn't lose his sight and soon was back in the cockpit.

"On my 16th mission, we got hit and had to bail out 60 miles behind the front line," Accardi said. "I took off my parachute and flight boots and took off.

"I could hear the dogs barking, and the home guard caught us and brought us to a dungeon," Accardi said. "Then they put us on a train to Frankfurt for interrogation."

That's where Accardi saw his tail-gunner's bloody flak jacket and learned he was killed.

"It was payday, Nov. 30, 1944, and I didn't get my paycheck," he said.

Accardi spent the next six months in a 24-man cell where the prisoners got little food and most of it starch.

"The food wasn't that plentiful and was potatoes, rutabagas and bread," he said. "We had to be careful because the Germans baking the bread would put ground glass in it.

"I lost a lot of weight because of lack of food," he said. "I weighed about 189 pounds when I was shot down and an estimated 100 pounds when I was released."

They passed the time by making small items from whatever material was available.

"The mattress and pillow were burlap stuffed with newspaper," Accardi said. "We got a blanket from the Red Cross and a cup, spoon, knife and a fork."

At war's end, Accardi went to Camp Lucky Strike, one of several camps in France named after cigarettes.

"General Dwight Eisenhower came, and I got very close to him," Accardi said. "He knew we all wanted to go home, and he promised to get us there even if we had to double up on the ship."

Accardi made several stops, but was finally sent to Fort Dix, N.J., the base closest to his home. He left the service as a lieutenant.

He spent several months in a hospital before they finally told him he had pneumonia.

Accardi finally returned home to his wife, Grace, whom he had married just before going to Europe, and to his job with Western Electric installing central telephone office equipment.

He was transferred to Fort Lauderdale in 1968 and later retired after 38 years with Western Electric. He and his wife moved to Port St. Lucie in 1981.

Accardi credits his son, Tom, with getting the long-delayed medals that will be presented today.

Fifteen family members will be on hand to witness the presentation.

jim_reeder@pbpost.com
© 2004 The Palm Beach Post"