A WWII Prisoner of War reflects on the past, looks to the future

BY ERIKA NORTON
MONROE — For most of his life, Harvey Horn didn’t tell people his story, wasn’t involved with veteran’s groups and didn’t even go to the VA.
“I was so stupid after the war,” Horn said. “I wanted to get away so far from that.”
But 70 years later, Horn has now done all of those things and much more — especially sharing his story — which he has done through his book and various speaking events throughout the Hudson Valley.
POW storyHorn, 93, of Monroe said he had always liked the idea of flying and had been interested in airplanes, flying balsa wood airplanes off of the roof with firecrackers in Brooklyn where he grew up. When the war came, he said he joined the Army Air Corps because, “We were at war and that’s what you did.”
After training, Horn became a navigator in John Lincoln’s Crew 11-30 attached to the 772nd Bomber Squadron, 463rd Bomber Group, 15th Air Force based in Foggia, Italy. On March 20, 1945, the flight’s mission was to bomb the marshalling yards south of Vienna at Amstettin, Austria.
Their B-17G, “Pretty Baby’s Boys,” was hit by enemy fire over Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and had to ditch into Quarnaro Bay off of Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia).
“To this day I do not know, how do you take a B17, one engine smoking, two engines dead, and one turning, straighten the plane out and land without crashing,” Horn said, “and all 10 of us got out.”
But when the crew got to shore, they were quickly captured by the Nazi German Navy and made prisoners of war. For 36 days Horn and his crew were held captive, not knowing what their fate would be.
At one point, the prisoners were lined up in front of a wall that was completely shelled, and Horn said they thought for sure they would be killed like the stories they had heard. Instead, they were imprisoned in a Nazi prison camp and Horn, being Jewish, said he was terribly concerned.
“They put me in a 3x9 closet, black, and I put my hand around anything I could grab, and that’s when I started to think,” Horn said. “I layed down on the cold floor, and boy, that was the scariest time of my life. Nobody would know what happened to me, my folks.”
He was eventually released from solitary confinement, and his crew began a grueling journey to Nuremberg through a series of different trains, trolleys, buses and on foot. Horn’s feet were extremely blistered.
In Germany, other POWs were eventually able to capture the crew’s German guards and turn them over to the U.S. 3 Army 86th Blackhawk Division. After V-E Day, the crew — now free men again — took a ship back to New York.
“We came up in the morning and everyone’s screaming and shouting, ‘rah, rah.’ And then we see this lady,” Horn said pointing to a picture of the Stature of Liberty. “Anyone who could go to the railing was there — it’s a wonder the ship didn’t tilt — and then those who couldn’t were carried. You could hear a pin drop.
“We saw that; we knew we were home.”
Life nowNearly 60 years later, Horn began revisiting his World War II experience. He went to the VA after trouble with his ears. He got involved with veterans organizations such as the Hudson Valley AM-EX POW Chapter and the Jewish War Veterans Irving Zukerman Post in Monroe.
In 2004, Horn attended the National World War II Memorial Dedication Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
In 2005, Horn and his wife took a trip back to the Celone Air Base in Foggia, Italy to visit and remember his time there.
In 2009, a book written by Horn, “Goldfish-Silver Boot, The Story of a World War II Prisoner of War,” was published, documenting his harrowing story of survival.
And in 2012, through much persistence, Horn helped John Lincoln and Lorin Millard — the pilots who saved Horn and their crew the day their plane was hit — be posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the most prestigious service medals.
Around Veterans Day, Horn said he speaks at local events, mostly schools, sharing his story to the next generation.
“I want the kids to know what life was like growing up in the 30s and 40s, what war is about,” Horn said. “You don’t go to war unless there is absolutely no other option. People don’t understand this. They say ‘we’re gonna zap ‘em.’ You do terrible things in war. Terrible.”
Horn also has some advice for veterans.
“Go to the VA and speak to a national service officer.”
He said that national service officers, whether at the VA or other veterans organizations, are the ones who can help veterans be put into the system and get what they need. While there are things about the VA that need improvement, and that some veterans he’s spoken to have been burned by them before, the officers will get veterans what they are entitled to.
As far as the direction the country is going in, Horn said it is not a pretty sight. He called the United States an “experiment,” and said if people of different backgrounds, different religions, different races, can’t live together for a common purpose, then the world is doomed.
“I think what it boils down to is it’s nice to have someone say 'thank you for your service,' yes,” Horn said. “But understand why we were called upon to do what we did and build from there.
“We did what we had to do so we would not be dictatored to — and you go down through all the wars. We fought to preserve the country as it was planned, flaws and all.
“It’s still the best system that man is able to come up with.”