Notebook of Thomas Joseph Lynch, 1944-1945 - Part 1

Cover of diary - see original document

P.O.W. GERMANY
17^th APRIL 1944-JAN. 45
I woke up in hospital on the
5^th MAY 1944, in a place I was
later to learn was Baden Baden.
I could not recall how I came to
be there in strange surroundings
& was taking stock of myself
& remember trying to look
under the bed clothes, because
everything did not seem as it
should be, when a sister
entered my room accompanied
by a doctor, & remarked -
"How are you Thomas - For
you, the war is over." The
person I took to be a
doctor asked me how I was
feeling & shook hand with
me.

(2)
I told them I was OK, but
how much I was aware of my
state of health I was to learn
later over a period of ten
months. I was still trying to
find out what had happened
to me but the sister would not
let me look. They left the
room saying they would return
which gave me the first opportunity
to have a look at things.
When I saw that my right leg
had been amputated, my
reaction was [[sick?]]. It was only
then that I noticed a third
person in the room. It appears
that he had been shaving me,
but of course I may have been
imagining this lost interest. They
seemed to be taking on my
welfare.

(3)
An elderly nurse came in
with some food & immediately
began feeding me. Shortly after
I had finished my meal I was
taken to the operating theatre
but nothing of a serious nature
took place at this visit. I was to
be brought here regularly for the
next two weeks & on one of
my visits, the doctor who had
spoken to me the day I started
taking an interest in things,
asked me, if I had written to my
people in Australia. Before I could
reply another person in the
surgery informed the doctor that
I was not allowed to write
until I had been through
Dalag Luft (The interrogation centre
for all airforce P.O.W.) to which

(4)
the doctor replied that he would
give me permission & would
arrange for the writing material
to be supplied. I was to find out
two years later that this letter
reached my home six months
after I had written it & was the
first news received of any of the
crew who had bi been reported,
missing over Germany, believed
killed. In this letter to my mother
I gave only the facts in
relation to my injury & that I
was being looked after quite well.
During our training in England
we had been told that if ever
you were in the position I now
found myself, to give only, your
name, rank & number. Of course
these instructions from the other

(5)
side of the channel did not take
into consideration the ways & means
which were employed at Dalag
Luft to entice an airman to talk
Often these methods were quite
successful & in other cases boys
when went through weeks & months
of heat treatment & methods
such as being confined in a space
7ft x 4ft without a wash, tooth
brush or razor, with only bread
& potatoes to eat. Some times a
beautiful meal would be brought
to the prisoners & be was told
that if he was ready to give the
information wanted he could
have the meal, if not it was taken
away. Only people who have been in
this position will realize how much
it takes to say - no.

(6)
Prisoners have been known to be
kept in solitary for three months.
On receiving my letter my mother
was able to inform the Air Board
King's Way London that I was alive
on the 10^th May 1944. The day
I wrote the letter.
I stayed in hospital
at Baden Baden for about
three weeks.
Incidents that stand
out in my memory during my stay
in hospital here include a visit to my
room of a young German boy of about
19 years of age. He told me that the
other members of my crew were
found dead in their parachutes in
the Black Forrest. He said how
very sorry he was for me & his
younger sister, who had visited him
(7)
here in hospital was very sorry for
me also. She wrote a letter in
English to this effect. I remember
in the letter she said, even though we
did a terrible thing in bombing
Germany, she could not but feel sorry
for me & my crew who had died.
I have since regretted not asking
some particulars of how they died.
As it is now, I will never know,
how Ricky, Will, Johno, Hec, Jazbo &
Doug "bought it" & how it is that
I am not in Germany with them
to-day. His visit stopped suddenly
but one day he came in & told
me that he had been forbidden
by the authorities of the hospital to
visit me. We of course have the
same rules in England & Australia
My next visitors were in such a

(7)
mood that they did not worry about
orders. These were two "up" patients
who had been out for a walk &
had called in at a beer garden
for their health exercise. One spoke
very good English & sat on my bed.
In his During our conversation he
told me he had been in
England & he hated the English
people. I did not mind that,
but he thought I was English &
had his fingers around my
throat. I did not feel very happy
until his friend decided that they
had better return to their ward.
I never saw them again. A few
days after this I was moved to
another room and a guard placed
over me. I was very weak & was
afraid I could not have put
(8)
up much resistance as later events
here proved. My guard became very
friendly with me & would sit
down near my bed & talk to me.
He told me all about his war service
on the Russian Front, which was not
very interesting. After he had told me
all about himself he shot that
old line all girls have heard, but
I never ever thought it would be
tried on me, a hard bitten male.
I was not feeling up to the
advances being showered on me
by my kind admirer, as I had
just got over one battle with
death. I was not quite up to
another battle this time for my
honor. I had not been trained
on such warfare as this & did
not know how be to defend myself.

(9)
I was saved by the timely
entry of a sister & my guard
lost his job & I had no more
guards watching over me. The
next day the doctor informed
me that he was sending me
to another hospital where I
would have better attention; from
the medical staff I hoped.
Next morning before
breakfast, I was carried out & put
out a in an ambulance & taken
to a railway station. One of my
guards told me my destination
was Frankfurt on Main. They
placed me in a 2ND class
compartment & I could rest my leg
along the seat. The carriage was
overcrowded & people had to
stand. I was the centre of all
(10)
eyes as my injury could be seen,
& I was dressed in the English
grey battle dress with Australia
on the shoulders. During the day
the passengers had to leave the
train several times in between
stations & make for cover when
air raid warning were sounded.
It was the Americans on their day
light raids. The guards never moved
me from the carriage when the
train stopped. They must have been
of the opinion ^that I deserved what was
coming to me. After the A/C would
pass over everybody would return
& the train would move off again.
It was on this journey that I first
heard the warning that I was to
hear very often during the next
few months, Actung - Actung - Actung.

(11)
They warning that the German
people were by now very familiar
with, both by day & by night. As
the day wore on & passengers
were taking out their lunch baskets
or unrolling something to eat, I
was very hungry as I had had
nothing from the day before. On
several occasions I nearly toppled
over from weakness but was able
to lean against the back of the seat
& the window. At last the train
pulled into Frankfurt about 3 PM
& I was taken out & placed on
a stretcher on the platform, while
the crowd walked by, looking
down at me. The station &
railway yards had been badly
bombed pl by the R.A.F. &
American air force
(12)
I had been on a raid in
Frankfurt about two months
earlier. My guards here handed
me over to an ambulance
driver who asked me how were
conditions in Australia as his
son was there & he had not
heard from him for some time.
I was not able to see
much of this badly bombed
city on my drive to the hospital
but what I did see, was in
ruins. This was the city, in which
I was to spend the next nine
months between life & death at
the Frankfurt Luftwaffe Hospital
on the outskirts of the city.
On arrival at the
hospital I was placed on a trolly
in the waiting room & no one