The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1986 (13. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1986-11-01 / 11-12. szám
AMERICAN VETERANS IN HUNGARY (See October/September Newsletter) Thirtyeight B17 bombers took off from the airfield of Sterparone, Italy, on the 21st of January 1945, amongs them Sky Wolf II under the command of Lieutenant Victor Prescott. Their target was the Lobau oil refinery near Vienna. The cold and wet weather and enemy flak silenced two of the engines. After having accomplished their mission the commander turned the aircraft towards the Eastern front which was closer. But Sky Wolf II could not reach the nearest airfield, it had to risk an emergency landing near Kiskunmajsa at 14.30 local time. “It was a beautiful landing, nobody was hurt” Gunner Bernard Boraten jotted in his diary. “We got out of the plane and soon enough quite a few people gathered around us from the homesteads nearby. We were awfully hungry, and they treated us to hare paprikash, potatoes, bread and wine at one of the homesteads. ” “Never in our life did we drink as much wine as that night” remembered Jack Bratlie, the navigator. The commander of the aircraft walked to Kiskunmajsa the next day and informed the local Soviet command about the forced landing. The crew of the plane was given a sleigh ride into the town the same day. “The peasants were really kind. Everybody offered wine and food, and one of them invited us to spend the night in his home. It was the first time for months that I had drunk fresh milk. Everybody welcomed us as heroes”—wrote Jacob Grimm, the co-pilot. The crew of nine spent four pleasant days at Kiskunmajsa. Then they received orders from Rome, to set out for Bucharest. They travelled by truck, horse-drawn cart, then by train and reached Bucharest on February 3. From Bucharest they were flown to Italy. On the 18th of May the crew gathered for a farewell evening in the tent of the commander. The four gunners set out for home, the others stayed to take part in the repatriation of American troops. How did the people of Kiskunmajsa remember them? “We liked their direct, friendly manners, their not in the least soldierly attitudes” - recalls István Juhász, one of their ex-hosts. “Once we invited them for dinner, and prepared chicken soup and roast meat for them. We sang after dinner. They sang their American songs, and we sang our folksongs. Peter Cickóczi, a tailor by trade, who had worked in England for years, and who interpreted for the Americans, translated for us that the food was just like at home. There was no child in the village, not even adults, who missed looking at the plane” - said Iván Paskuj. The bomber was left to the people of Kiskunmajsa. Not a piece of it was wasted. Sky Wolf II was to serve peaceful purposes, as a gate here, guttering there, water-tank or even dog’s house elsewhere. The silk of the parachutes was used as material for bed-linen, even for a wedding dress, which was sold soon after the wedding for 5 kg of salt. The years passed. The crew of the bomber was demobbed, they married, and worked as dyers, teachers, salesmen, engineers, drivers, pharmacists, telephone mechanics and bank tellers. The Kiskunmajsa Museum of local history collected all the documentation it could about the forced landing of the American air force personnel. * The old comrades held a reunion in West Virginia on the 24th of July 1981. They decided to write a letter, which was subsequently read to them from the pulpit by Dr. Elemér Pongrácz, the parish priest of Kiskunmajsa: “The B-17 bomber, which Ipo-piloted, was damaged over Vienna, therefore turned East, to the Russian lines, and managed a successful emergency landing 11 kilometers from Kiskunmajsa on the 21st January 1945. The people of the district were kind to us, they gave us food, and received us as guests. All of us have fond memories of their friendly hospitality. We survived the war, and held our first reunion this summer in West Virginia. On that occasion we proposed a toast in honour of our Kiskunmajsa hosts. I should like to ask you to inform your parishioners. We would be very happy if they still remember us, and if you would also sent pictures of our old acquaintances. ” Jacob L. Grimm Ligonier, PA Népszokások — Bethlehemezés. Karácsonykor betlehemesek járnak házról házra. Kisfiúk azt a jelenetet játsszák el, amikor az angyal (ezt a szerepet is fiú játssza) hírül viszi a pásztoroknak, hogy a kis Jézus megszületett, s azok elmennek hozzá a betlehemi istállóba tiszteletüket tenni. A magyar betlehemes játékok tele vannak szebbnél szebb karácsonyi énekekkel. A legismertebbek közül mutatunk be néhányat: Csordapásztorok Midőn Betlehemben Csordát őriznek Éjjel a mezőben. Isten angyali jövének melléjük, nagy félelemmel telik meg ő szívük. Örömet mondok nektek, ne féljetek, mert ma született a ti üdvösségtek. Menjetek el csak gyorsan a városba, ott találjátok Jézust a jászolba. ☆ Pásztorok keljünk fel, Hamar induljunk el, Betlehem városába, Rongyos istállócskába. Siessünk, ne késsünk, Hogy még ezen éjjel Oda érhessünk. Mi Urunknak tiszteletet Tehessünk. Angyalok hirdetik, Messiás születik. Itt van jele fényének, Helye születésének; Pólyába, pajtába, Be vagyon takarva posztócskájába, Álldott gyermek, Szenved már kis korába. Page 7
