Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						Sgt. Loral Martin was the left waist gunner of B-17 42-30677. During a bombing mission to Bremen, the bomber dropped out of the formation due to mechanical troubles. After it became a straggler, German fighters attacked it and eventually shot the bomber down. It is believed that the B-17 crashed into the IJsselmeer. Six crewmembers are still missing. Four others jumped over the northern part of Holland. These four men - Sgt. Martin, S/Sgt. William W. Higbe Jr., Sgt. Herman D. Morgan (E0227) and S/Sgt. Lee Folsom - landed close to each other in a meadow somewhere northeast of Assen. S/Sgt. Higbe ran away in an other direction and eventually fell in German hands. Morgan, Martin and the wounded Folsom evaded together. As about fifteen to twenty farmers were running towards the four airmen after the landing, and they didn't know they were in Holland, Morgan, Martin and Folsom ran away. They went trough a field of weeds to a small wood where they hid until nightfall. They then started to walk to the west, but Folsom was so stiff because of his injuries at leg and back that he hardly could walk. At around 3 AM the found a haystack and hid themselves in it. They stayed covered in the hay for the rest of the following day (17 December). When darkness came that evening, the wounded Folsom went for help at a nearby farm, while Morgan and Martin set off together. Shortly after the arrived at the junction of two canals. The only way to cross them was via a bridge in the middle of a town. After some hesitation they decided to give it a go. There were according to Morgan 'lots of people but [they] paid no attention' despite that the two Americans were still wearing 'helmets and boots'. The next morning (18 December) it was raining. They now hid for the rest of the day in a wood and used the last rations of their escape rations. After darkness they were on the move again, heading west. 

Just before daylight (19 December) they hid in a haystack 'almost inside a small town', possibly Drachten or another town in this area. Just before darkness they were discovered by the dog of a farmer who was feeding his cattle nearby. Sgt. Martin: 'The farmer came over with a pitch fork and we declared ourselves. We showed our wings, pointed to the air and explained we were hungry.' The farmer urged them to stay put and left. Morgan and Martin received a meal but as the town was full of Germans he said 'he could do no more'. He suggested to go to the north, but instead the two Americans decided to walk to the south. That night they were approached by a man on a bicycle, who spotted them when they crossed a road, but they left as soon as possible. When Morgan and Martin moved away through the fields they saw several persons searching for them with lights. Morgan and Martin hid under some hedges and weren't found. They went on and walked all night in the snow and rain and hid in another haystack before setting out again the next night. The wind was now so heavy and it was also raining so hard that the two - now very tired and hungry - decided to return to the hay 'feeling pretty blue'. The next afternoon (21 December) Morgan approached a farmer in the fields, who arranged some food for them. That evening a schoolteacher arrived (possibly Mart. Vonkeman at Allee 29 in Steenwijk) who could speak English. It turned out that the farmer wanted them to surrender. When Morgan and Martin refused, the schoolteacher 'offered them to take them to the Belgian border'. The schoolteacher also persuaded the farmer to take the two airmen to his house for a hot meal. The schoolteacher then took Martin and Morgan to Steenwijk. Here Martin found a hiding place at his house, while Morgan hid with a family nearby. On 22 December the schoolteacher contacted an underground organization and also photos were taken for false ID's. The next day - 23 December - Morgan and Martin were escorted by bicycle to Meppel were they were handed over to Peter van den Hurk. They were brought - by R. van Velzel - to the house of two sisters, Tina Wilhelmina and Froukje Trijntje de Vries at Prins Hendrikstraat 3a in Meppel. Morgan and Martin remained here from 23 December until 22 January 1944.

On 22 January they left Meppel. First they took - escorted by Peter van den Hurk and Joke Folmer, with four other airmen the train to Zwolle. These four airmen were: S/Sgt. Harry D. Kratz (E0255), Sgt. Clyde L. Mellen (E0256) ; Sgt. Walter R. Snyder (E0257) and Sgt. Norman P. Elkin (E0254). Van den Hurk guided Morgan, Martin and Kratz, while Folmer took care of Mellen, Snyder and Elkin. In Venlo, Morgan, Martin and probably also Kratz stayed for the night in an apartment 'of [a] woman, son and daughter'. The next day they moved on to Maastricht. Here the came in the hands of the Groep 'Vrij'. Kratz hid in 'a house in town', while Martin and Morgan found a hiding place at the 'NE of town with a dr. and wife'. Morgan and Martin left here in the night of 29 January. After a few hours waking they crossed the border on foot.. In Belgium they walked to a village to a woman 'who had a beer joint'  On 30 January Morgan and Martin took first a train to Liege and from there a train to Brussels. In the Belgian capital they spent the night with an 'old French woman'. The next night (1 February) Martin, Morgan and probably one other evader took the train to Paris. They reached the French capital in the morning of 2 February, but their guide didn't know what to do then. He took Morgan, Martin (and possibly the third airman) to a hotel. After a day without food, they were picked up during the evening. By metro they reached an apartment of an old woman. The airmen remained here until 11 February when a night train took them to Toulouse. They belonged now to a group of sixteen - seven so called 'Engelandvaarders' (Dutchmen trying to reach England) and nine airmen. Of these nine airmen, Morgan and Martin were the only two who had crashed in The Netherlands.

The nine airmen, including Morgan and Martin, were taken to an empty house at the Chemin de Castellardit on the outskirts of the city which belonged to the family of passeur Bazerque. Three students, Simone Calmels, Andrée  Moulouguet and Anita Boicoran supplied them with food the next nineteen days when they were 'stuck' here. They couldn't move on because the snow was too deep in the Pyrenees. On 1 March Morgan, Martin and the other airmen moved to a shepherds hut in the foothills near Saint Laurence in the Valley of Baroussa. Heavy snow still prevented their departure and the group had to wait several weeks while in the meantime the number of fugitives increased to 38 men of different nationalities. On March 16, passeurs Jean-Luc Bazerque (alias ‘Charbonnier’) and ‘Frisco’ led the evaders and an armed guide of the Maquis on a wide three-day trek round Bagnères-de-Luchon. On 19 March, the group of 38 arrived at Bossòst in the Aran Valley in Catalonia, Spain. Their ordeal was not yet over for they were arrested and next interrogated by the Spaniards. Via Viella, Sort and Lleida they arrived at Alhama the Aragón where they were visited by a representative of the American Military Attaché. It took another two weeks before the American airmen, including Morgan and Martin, were released from custody and via Madrid taken to Gibraltar, arriving there on 8 May. By air Martin returned to England arriving on Bristol airfield on May 11, 1944.