The order of unrestricted warfare was given when the war started so we sank cargo ships, tankers, transports etc. in addition to warships. I'm trying to find the reference but I read somewhere that after one of the sinkings of a POW ship that we decided to let go any transport that appeared to be headed back to Japan thinking that it could be carrying prisoners. Everything else remained open game.

Not exactly POW related but does relate to the targeting of ships marked as non-combatants.

Takasago Maru (Wiki)

I didn't realize that we let Japan send a hospital ship to Wake Island during the war. We inspected it both in and out but didn't stop it. This was when we had bypassed Wake Island. We did damage the hospital ship a couple of times previously but in several other attacks hit only warships around it. It and another hospital ship are the two largest Japanese ships to survive the war.

We sank the Awa Maru on April 1, 1945. We had granted safe passage of the ship to deliver Red Cross relief supplies. She was to have white crosses on either side of the funnel. Two white crosses on each side of the ship were to be illuminated at night. All navigation lights to be on. The schedule and route was sent out several times. The sub still mistook her for a destroyer.

YZ250 said:

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The order of unrestricted warfare was given when the war started so we sank cargo ships, tankers, transports etc. in addition to warships. I'm trying to find the reference but I read somewhere that after one of the sinkings of a POW ship that we decided to let go any transport that appeared to be headed back to Japan thinking that it could be carrying prisoners. Everything else remained open game.

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There is nothing in Clay Blair's Silent Victory about this. Don't think it happened b/c they US Subs were sinking just about everything in sight in 1944/1945.

I have a list of 146 Aggies who were POWs compiled at this time.

Is Franklin Forrester, class of 39' from Smithville on your list? I would be interested to know. He was my great uncle and wonderful man, I believe he spent a little over a year in a couple of the stalags. Was a navigator on a B-17 shot down on a raid over the Ploesti oil fields. He was basically emaciated when liberated in 45'.

RGV AG said:

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Is Franklin Forrester, class of 39' from Smithville on your list? I would be interested to know. He was my great uncle and wonderful man, I believe he spent a little over a year in a couple of the stalags. Was a navigator on a B-17 shot down on a raid over the Ploesti oil fields. He was basically emaciated when liberated in 45'.

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Yes, Verified in Texas Aggie, May 5, 1943. Lt Oscar Forester reported as a prisoner of war in Germany.

Thank you sir, that is mighty kind of you! Our family was/is very small, and my great Uncle and Aunt ended up in CCTX after the war. They only had one son who never had kids and was a world galivanting TV producer for PBS and one of the big museums up in NY. He rarely got back to TX, hence my mother and I were much closer to them.

So for the last many years of their lives, and the first years of my married life, when I was in the US, the wifa and I would always spend Christmas Eve with my great uncle and aunt up there and I would visit a few times a year. I was always close to them, but in his final years became even closer. Wrote down his recollections of time in service and of the POW experience. I also have his 8th air force Dress Uniform and his Aggie ring.

The Xmas eve of 2004, about 10-12" of snow in Corpus, we suffered the trip from the Valley up there and took them dinner from the Omni in Corpus, it was a trip I will always remember until my dying day. He said he hadn't seen snow like that since 1945.

Those men of the times were all heroes to me and I admire them greatly.

Texas Aggie July 15, 1943

LT. OSCAR F. FORESTER is a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III in Germany.
His bomber was shot down on January 3rd,1943, over France. He was not injured.
Mrs. Forester lives in Smithville, Texas.

B17-F 41-24608 'Yahoodi' Monument

N MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN AVIATORS
of B-17F 41-24608 BN-S "Yahoodi."
303rd Bomb Group - 359th Squadron
SHOT DOWN BY FLAK AND GERMAN FIGHTERS
JANUARY 3, 1943 at 11:45 AM

Service Record: 2LT Oscar F. Forester, Jr.

Assignment to Aircraft

• Date: 10 July 1942
• Location: Alamogordo Field, Alamogordo, New Mexico
• Description: Assigned as Navigator of the B-17F Flying Fortress (41-24608) nicknamed "Yehoodi" with the 303rd Bomb Group, 359th Bomb Squadron.

Arrival in United Kingdom

• Date: 12 October 1942
• Location: Molesworth, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, UK
• Description: Arrived at Molesworth as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi." This aircraft was distinguished as the first B-17 of the 303rd Bomb Group to arrive in England.

Mission #1 (Aborted)

• Date: 22 November 1942
• Target: Lorient, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi" on a mission to bomb the U-Boat pens. Mechanical failures forced the pilot to abort the sortie; the aircraft returned to base (RTB) safely.

Mission #2

• Date: 23 November 1942
• Target: Saint-Nazaire, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F (41-24606) "Werewolf" on a mission targeting U-Boat pens. RTB OK.

Mission #3 (Aborted)

• Date: 12 December 1942
• Target: Rouen, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi" on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards. The sortie was aborted due to mechanical failures. RTB OK.

Mission #4 (Aborted)

• Date: 20 December 1942
• Target: Romilly-sur-Seine, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi" on a mission to bomb a German air depot. The mission was aborted due to mechanical failures.

Mission #5

• Date: 30 December 1942
• Target: Lorient, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi" on a mission to bomb U-Boat pens. RTB OK.

Mission #6 (POW Status)

• Date: 3 January 1943
• Target: Saint-Nazaire, France
• Description: Served as Navigator of B-17F "Yahoodi" on a mission to bomb U-Boat pens. The aircraft was shot down; 2LT Forester successfully bailed out but was captured by enemy forces.

Prisoner of War (POW)

• Date: 3 January 1943 12 June 1945
• Location: Moosburg, Bavaria, Germany
• Description: Held as a Prisoner of War at Stalag 7A. He was officially Returned to Military Control (RMC) on 12 June 1945.

A minor historical note: the German army and the Luftwaffe administered separate PoW camp systems, each responsible for PoWs from their counterpart services. So, as air crew, Lt Forester would have been in Luftwaffe camps, "Stalag Luft" instead of an army "Stalag."

ABATTBQ87:

Mucho blue star for you sir!

Thank you for all that information. I remember him telling me that he only went on a few missions, either in his old age, which he was getting a little daft, or by embellishment I remember him telling me that he was shot down over Ploesti. But that does not appear to be the case. Nonetheless he was a good man and did his duty honorably. I am better off for having him in our family.

I remember him telling me that he was crushed after liberation when he found out so many of his service mates and friends had not survived the war.

From the first line of my above post

Texas Aggie July 15, 1943

LT. OSCAR F. FORESTER is a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III in Germany

Masters of the Air shows life in Stalag Luft III (the famous camp for airmen where the "Great Escape" occurred), the final episode depicts the brutal "Long March" in the winter of 1945. As the Soviet Army closed in from the East, the Nazis forced the airmen out of Stalag Luft III and marched them hundreds of miles southwest to Moosburg

My pleasure!! Love finding and sharing stories of Texas Aggies

My great uncle relayed quite a bit about life inside the Stalag, I know he hated Hogans Heroes as he felt it minimized the plight of the POW's. He did say that there were 2 radios inside the camp and that they were able to keep up with war via the BBC and I think send some messages.

His tales about the camp mainly centered around food and lack thereof, especially as the war wound down. One of the things he also talked about is how the Germans would try to get undercover guys in amongst the POW's, there was a whole system in place to verify real serviceman. Also there were collaborators amongst the POW's according to him and thus it made things a little perilous to be overt about working against the Nazi's.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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I have a list of 146 Aggies who were POWs compiled at this time.

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now up to 174 Aggie POW's