Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						Sgt. Walter R. Snyder was the ball turret gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress 42-39761 ‘Fireball II’ that crash landed near Zweeloo after sustaining flak damage over the target area on January 11, 1944. After bailing out he landed near Sleen, threw his parachute and May West in a ditch and headed for a small wood. On his way to it, he came upon his crew mate Sgt. Clyde L. Mellen (E0256), the top turret gunner. From where they hid in the small wood, they could see the burning wreck of their B-17. After about 45 minutes they left their hiding place and emerging from the wood, were at once spotted by Dutch youngster Roelof Meijering. He ordered them back into the wood and told them to wait. Around five in the afternoon, Meijering Jr returned with an extra bicycle and civilian clothes. He told both Americans to follow him to the farm of his father, Jan Meijering, at the Kruisstraat in Zweeloo. Here they were united with their crew mate, S/Sgt. Harry Kratz (E0255), the radio operator on their Fortress. Meijering Sr. and the three airmen walked to Gees where he had arranged a hiding place at a farm. On their way to this small village, they picked up the left waist gunner of their plane, Sgt. Norman P. Elkin (E0254). The next day the Americans were fetched from this farm and transported by car to the farm of Hendrik Einje Moorlag in Emmer-Erfscheidenveen. On January 20, two members of the resistance, Markus Assies and Tony Wessels, took Mellen and Snyder to the house of Assies' girlfriend in Venebrugge. Kratz and Elkin were taken there the next day. On 22 January the four airmen travelled to Meppel where they were handed over to Peter van den Hurk and Joke Folmer. These two took them by train via Zwolle and Venlo to Maastricht where they were handed over to the group of Jacques Vrij. 

Vrij in turn took the men to Harry Hoenen at the Sint Lambertuslaan 48 in Maastricht where they joined 1/Lt. William H. McDonald (E0148), 2/Lt. Frank P. McGlinchey (E0149) and P/O. John McLaughlin (E0264). The seven airmen stayed here for some days and were then collected by Tony Gielens who took them across the Dutch/Belgian border near Caberg. Once in Belgium, they were taken over by the Dutch-Paris escape line who brought them to Brussels. They stayed for one day at the Rue Franklin while J.P. Bol prepared their forged documents. At the end of the same day, the group left Brussels to arrive in Paris on the 29th of January. They were brought to the basement of a laboratory in the Rue Lhomond. Later that day a second group arrived that had arrived earlier in Paris and had stayed for a few days at the Huitema farm outside the French capital. This group consisted of F/Sgt. George Watts (E0145), F/Sgt. Philip Brown (E0179), a Sgt. Harris and crew members 2/Lt. Victor Ferrari (E0191), Sgt. Nicholas Mandell (E0192) and 2/Lt. Omar Roberts (E0193). On January 30, Campbell Brigman and Harold Boyce, crewmembers of B-17 42-39759 that belly landed near Hirson in northern France, joined the group and brought the number of evaders to fifteen.

McLaughlin was the first of the group to leave Paris for Toulouse on 3 February, travelling together with eight ‘Engelandvaarders’, Dutch men trying to get to England. Late in the afternoon on February 4, the remaining airmen were taken in small groups with the metro to Gare d’Austerlitz with the exception of Victor Ferrari. He stayed in Paris for medical treatment and would join another group some weeks later. From the Gare d’Austerlitz, the thirteen airmen and their guides took the night train to Toulouse. Having arrived there the men had breakfast at Chez Emile and next took the afternoon train to Saint-Girons. From this little town some went by taxi and others by bus to Mane where the group assembled in a shepherd's hut outside of Arbas. Their number had risen to 26 and consisted of airmen, Engelandvaarders and some others. At 22:00 on February 5, they left for the crossing to Spain, led by passeurs Treillet and Marot. During the night it started to snow, making the going even harder, and early in the morning the passeurs led the group to a shepherd's hut for a break. Later that morning the weather improved and under a clear blue sky, the passeurs decided to leave the Col de Portes d’Aspet. Passeur Treillet was the first to leave the hut around 10 o’clock and went ahead to scout. When the group started to leave the hut to follow him, Treillet spotted a pair of dog ears belonging to the dog of a German mountain patrol lying in ambush. He shouted a warning and eleven men scrambled up the mountain to hide, being fired at by the Germans. The German patrol then descended to the hut on ski and arrested the remaining fifteen men. From their hiding places farther up the mountain, those who had escaped the ambush saw a bus arrive on a road nearby the hut who then took the arrested men away. Passeur Marot was among the arrested but managed to escape before the bus arrived.

Passeur Treillet found the escapees and led them to an inn to warm up before returning to France. On February 7, Snyder and the other escapees travelled by bus to Boussons where they took the train to Cazères. Here they stayed for some days before returning to Toulouse on February 15. In Toulouse they were informed that they already would leave the next day for the Pyrenees crossing. In the afternoon of the 16th, the group left by train for Montréjeau. From here they were transferred to a shepherd’s hut in the foothills near Ardon in the Valley of Baroussa. Heavy snow prevented their departure and they 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 the 19th of 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 Snyder, were released from custody and via Madrid taken to Gibraltar, arriving there on May 8. By air they returned to England arriving here on May 11, 1944.