Studiegroep Luchtoorlog 1939-1945

						2/Lt. Donald Clarence George Schumann was the pilot of B-24 Liberator 41-28593 'Prodigal Son'. His bomber was shot down at Lheebroek near Dwingeloo by German fighters. Schumann and some of his crew parachuted out of the burning plane. By the time he bailed out, his goggles and gloves were melted. His eyes were almost swollen shut from the intense heat and his hands were burned. General practisoner Johannes L. Dinkla (Dwingelo 108) picked him up on 11 January 1944 near Lheebroek and took him to his house. After a short stay here, resistance worker Hans de Koning escorted Schumann, still on the same day, to Jan Kiers and his wife Jantje Kiers-Zoer and their three children at Lhee 289 A (municipal Dwingeloo). Jan Kiers was later shot in concentration camp Westerbork on 27 October 1944. After remaining here for several days (according to Jantje Kiers-Zoer it was fourteen days), Hans de Koning guided Schumann on 14 January 1944 to Meppel were he was handed over to Peter van der Hurk in Meppel. Van den Hurk brought Schumann to Harm Kraal (“Oome Hein”) at Weerdstraat 1 in Meppel. The American stayed here for eighteen days. Kraal and his spouse had to gave intense care to Schumann because he was still badly injured. Trough this care they established a very special friendship. When Schumann eventually had recovered enough it was time to leave. On 1 February 1944 he boarded a train with his guide Joke Folmer to the south of the Netherlands. Because of the special friendship Kraal travelled with them until Nijmegen. 

After arriving at Maastricht Folmer handed Schumann over to Jacques Vrij (“Jacques van den Brink”). Schumann stayed for seven days at the house of Eduard van der Noorda and his wife at Sint Maartenslaan 15 at Maastricht. Here he met F/O. Sydney Smith (E0229). On 7  Februay 1944 Shumann and Smith crossed the Dutch-Belgium border with the help of Jacques Vrij who brought them to their next hiding address: a small farm about ten kilometers into Belgium. The next morning they were taken to a small railway station where they met six other American evaders: Clayton David, William Lock (E0246), Charlie Mullins (E0247), William Koenig (E0183), John Buckner (E0182) and Ken Shaver (E0185). They were all shot down over Holland. Marianne Spierings from Rekem and some of het friends escorted the eight airmen to Brussels. After a few days they travelled to Paris. After they arrived at Gare du Nord station the hid in the souterrain of the 'Ecole Normale' of a Christian Congregation in Rue Lhommand 24. On 26 February they had to leave the school in a hurry due to some arrests. The eight walked to Etampes, some 40 km south of Paris. Here the group separated. Smith, Schumann and Koenig stayed together. When the proceeded their walk in southernly direction they ran into a camp of the Organization Todt. Both Koenig and Schumann were arrested. Schumann ended up as a PoW at Stalag Luft III near Sagan in Silesia Bavaria, before moving to Nuremberg Langwasser 49-11. His total time as PoW was eighteen months. He weighed 118lbs when he returned to the United States. He had scars from malnutrition and bedbug bites. Even though he spoke German, the intense interrogation by the Germans traumatized him to the point he never spoke or acknowledged the language again.