DOCUMENTS - ZUIDEMA 4b and also listed in Crew as 8-ZUIDEMA, ALBERT S. (PILOT) Athol, Mass. Wife MarionLetters: 1) March 28 1945 to Thelma Carson; newspaper article showing hs letter; etc.2) from Marion Oct 19443) from Marion Aug 19444) news article showing letterALBERT ZUIDEMAMarch 28, 1945; Two pages; U S Army letterheadDear Mrs. [Thelma] Carson; Your Friend, Lt. ZuidemaNews Clipping - Albert Zuidema’s letter printed in reference to Orian WynnAlbert Zuidema-No DateAlbert Zuidema-Obituary ArticleLegacy dot comAlbert Zuidemahttps://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/telegram/name/albert-zuidema-obituary?id=15485986Mr. Zuidema attended Athol High School, Athol MA, and Northeastern University, Boston MA. While in Athol he lived with the Donelan family and worked in their grocery store. In 1942 after the start of World War II he started flight training as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps. In 1943 he earned his wings, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, and completed further training as a B-17 pilot. He was posted to North Africa then Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force, 419th Bomb Squadron, 301st Bomb Group. In April 1944 on his 38th mission the B-17 he piloted was shot down by a German ME109 fighter aircraft over Styr Austria. The crew managed to bail out with the exception of then First Lieutenant Zuidema, his copilot, navigator and flight engineer. Miraculously all survived the crash except the Flight Engineer. First Lieutenant Zuidema was initially declared as missing in action for several months until reported as a prisoner of war. He was treated for his injuries in a German hospital, including amputation of his left leg, then placed in a prisoner of war camp. In 1945 he was repatriated at the war's end. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/telegram/name/albert-zuidema-obituary?id=15485986extracted from internet on 9-21-2022MARION ZUIDEMA2 Oct 16 1944 from postmarked date on envelope; 5 pages + envelope note there might be a page missing need to checkMarion Zuidema to Mrs. Anallene Wynn3 August 20, 1944 two pagesMarion Zuidemato Mrs. [Analene] Wynnfirst correspondence, Albert’s a wounded prisoner at Stalag 398 in Germany; navigator Bailey also woundedMarion ZuidemaPhoto was provided by Peter Zuidema. This was a photo from that time period. Updates: 2022/10/18; 2022/10/17 this page was started within week; today the Documents - Zuidema 4b section on same page is being set up, moving materials from other places in WW2 section to here
•POW’soZuidema, Albert Pilot▪aka “Dutch”▪Died Jul 3 2017 in Falls Church, VAat age 98▪Documents•PhotosoZuidema with another crew - see 1c Crew Menu area•Letters include -important input on plane’s attack by Germans and subsequent crash;-newspaper clipping showing a letter -Wife Marion’s Letters-Article ObituaryoMar 28 1945oOct 18 1944oAug 20 1944
COMMEMORATIVE WW2 STUDY OF AN APRIL 2, 1944 DOWNED US ARMY AIR FORCES PLANE AND CREW IN THE AUSTRIAN STEYR
Contacts with useful information •Zuidema, Albert Dutch (here) •Coppedge, Jess Pilot 4d/1d•Silberman, Morris 4d/1d
Zuidema, Albert (“Dutch”) (Pilot on Orian's plane)•See Documents-3b down belowoFarmington Times Hustler circa 1945. Farmington, New Mexico earlier newspaper.oPrinted via Orian’s mother’s adoption-based father, “Grandpa” JohnsonoExplained what happened to Orian, the crew and himself.oLetter gives these names: ▪Luft-Co-Pilot L: Zuidema wrote he had seen that he survived crash, sitting on ground near wreck with head between his hands▪Bailey: Navigator, apparently fallen from plane without a chute, had fractured vertebraeoZuidema survived miraculously still inside plane that was bombed by Germans, it turned upside down and was swirling, lost control of gauges, crashed to snowy ground in southern Austria.[other sources indicate more northern Austria]•CorrespondenceoAddress: 53 Union St. Athol, MassachusettesoMarion (wife) wrote at first; then Dutch after he got backoDates: ▪1945/03/28 see letters in 3b below•Dutch said there were not 7 chutes bailing from Orian's plane - knows of three who bailed out maybe one more in doubt. About Orian's uniform: in general in this crash scenario, uniforms were confiscated by the Germans when Americans captured. "They gave it to an American pilot being trasnferred from the hospital in Wela (or Wila), Austria to a prison camp." Orian had printed his name inside the shirt and trousers (greens). "It was in no way damaged, no shell holes or burned places!"•Pilot came to long enough to see and feel plane break up. Parts of nose broke ff and ammunition belts fell out. Navigator confirmed this.•Pilot's notes are confusing here (on page 2 of letter): Both Orian and Bailey (Navigator) were in the nose. "I am certain he went out also." [italics added] I'm afraid he wasn't as lucky as Bailey because he landed on snow on his back - fractured verterbrae - but will be OK. [Note there is a jumbling of the two individuals in the sentence but it appears Bailey is the one with the injured back and verterbrae, not Orian; Zuidema might mean that Orian fell out of the plane]▪1944/10/16▪ 1944/08/20Wife correspondence on 1944/08/20-had learned her pilot husband Dutch and the navigator Bailey were POWs, both wounded, she mentions hearing from someone who saw what
Resources and Input Policing, Borders, Drugs, Cartels and System Corruption