“…I remarked this was a bit like home. He replied 'Not quite' and it wasn’t long before I got what he meant.”

Ernest Nelson Thorp

Ernest Thorp [detail] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 452nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force Service Location: San Antonio, Texas; Chickasaw, Enid, Altus, Oklahoma; Salt Lake City, Utah; Sioux City, Iowa; Deopham Green, United Kingdom; Germany; European Theater Rank: Captain POW: Yes Place of Birth: Clinton, IL

Even in summer, the North Sea is a cold place for a pilot to ditch his plane, but that’s what Captain Ernest Thorp did on August 4, 1944, when his bomber suffered irreparable flak damage during a run over Germany. Fortunately for Thorp, a fishing boat was in the area, and he was “rescued” and handed over to German authorities. He spent most of his time as a POW in two camps, with a six-week forced march as a kind of intermission. Food was never far from his mind; liberation day by Allied troops found Thorp in the camp kitchen, whipping up a batch of pudding. The detailed diaries he kept in captivity allowed him to write a memoir, which includes lists of books he read and the contents of every food parcel he received while imprisoned.