From The Front To The Films: A World War II Podcast

Clement Leone stands in the war room, that is filled with many memories and mementos, at his home in Lake Heritage. He is wearing the Legion of Honor award which he received at the French Embassy in Washington D.C. (Darryl Wheeler/Gettysburg Times)

This interview of Clem Leone was conducted at his home in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by John Fenzel and his son Luke, on June 16, 2018.  At the time of this interview, Clem was 94 years old.  The following narrative is derived from multiple sources, detailed at the end of this post.  Many of the photos of awards, models and artifacts were taken at his home.

Major Clement “Clem” Leone

US Army Air Force   B24 Liberator Radio Operator

2nd Air Division/445th Bomb Group/700th Squadron

POW - Stalag Luft IV

Poland  Nov. ’44 – May ‘45

Clem Leone was born in Baltimore in 1924.  He had two brothers and three sisters and one of his brothers served in the Merchant Marines during WW II.  I asked Clem what he remembered of growing up during the Great Depression.  “It was tough makin’ a living.  Not enough food to eat.”  Clem had a step father who was a railroad telegrapher.  “He made an above average salary for the time, but even so, we had to scrounge everywhere we could to get food.”  Clem attended Southern High School, loved his experience, and characterized himself as a nerd.  “I went there to learn and I graduated with honors.”

When the war broke out Clem was 17.  He wanted to enlist but his mother wouldn’t let him.  “When they started drafting 18 year olds she let me go.”  Clem enlisted in November of ’42.  The Army gave him several tests to identify his skills which would then be used to determine his military occupation.  Clem did well on the radio test and had he had the option of radio school or auto and truck mechanic school.  Clem had already taken auto shop in high school so he figured he should learn something else and he selected radio school. 

Clem headed to Fort Pickett in Virginia and then to Miami Florida for basic training.  At the time the Army needed radio operators so badly that they shortened his basic training and sent him to radio school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  There he spent 13 weeks having “morse code pounded into you.”  Clem wanted to fly and after passing a physical for flying he went to gunnery school to learn every weapon on the aircraft.  The training was primitive but creative for the time and the technology available.  

Next stop for Clem was Boise, Idaho where the gunners were teamed with a pilot, co-pilot, engineer and bombardier.  There were a total of 10 in the crew for the B24 Liberator.  The crew was sent to Sioux Falls where they practiced formation flying and Clem was assigned primary responsibility for the radio and secondary responsibility for the upper machine gun turret.  In November of ’43 they left for Europe.  They headed for England via Brazil and then to the Ascension Islands.  “The Ascension Islands were a tiny speck in the middle of the ocean.  My thought right away was, the Navigator just got out of cadet training.  I hope he learned his lessons.”  The Navigator got them to the Ascension Islands where they had Thanksgiving dinner while they plane was serviced.  They then flew to Africa and then to Tibenham, England.  Clem was in the 700th Squadron and Jimmy Stewart was a pilot in the 701st Squadron.  One day Jimmy Stewart needed a radio operator to go on a training flight so he could check out a new pilot.  Clem volunteered.  “He was very strict.  You never would have guessed he was a movie star celebrity.”

The crew’s first flight in December ’43 was a training mission to get accustomed to a new pilot.  During the flight, the number 4 engine caught fire and they were able to extinguish the flames.  The pilot was looking to make an emergency landing when the number 1 engine caught fire.  The pilot hit the bail out button and the crew ejected.  Clem didn’t get out of the plane until they were at 800 feet, and he hit the ground so hard he broke his leg.  All but the pilot made it out alive.

On February 4th of 1944 they had their first mission that took then into Frankfurt, Germany.  They loaded onto their plane, the “Wacky Donald” and headed for Germany.  Clem recalled the flight was uneventful, with lots of flack but no Nazi fighter planes.  They arrived at their target, dropped their bombs, and started to make their turn to head back to England.  One of the planes in the formation above the Wacky Donald had one bomb stuck in its bomb bay and when it released it hit the number two engine on the Wacky Donald.  Clem looked at the window to find a huge hole in the wing.  This forced them to drop out of formation and head back to Tibenham at a much slower speed than the rest of the formation.  The pilot ordered the crew to throw all non-essential equipment, including all but 50 rounds per machine gun, out of the bomb bay to lighten the plane to maintain their altitude.  They were 5 to 6 hours from home.

Clem (lower left) with his crew. Top center is Lt. Robert Blomberg, an up and comer with the 445th Bomb Group who died at the controls when his ship blew up. Others in the crew were also KIA. Notable in this team photo is the small man next to Blomberg, Lt. Donald Widmark, co-pilot and brother of future actor Richard Widmark. The co-pilot would grab a parachute and leave Blomberg behind 75 years ago today. Clem’s personal rule was to stay with the ship as long as the officers did, but when he saw Widmark bail out, he said, “It was time for this guy to go.”

The plane and crew limped home and didn’t hit any resistance until they received heavy flack over the coast of France just before they headed over the English Channel.  The plane dropped to about 4,000 feet and then received a radio transmission, “fighters at 6 o’clock.”  Two ME-109 were closing on the Wacky Donald.  Clem was in the upper gun turret and swung the guns around and took aim at the ME-109’s.  Another transmission blared “fighters at 12 o’clock.”  Clem pivoted to 12 o’clock and saw a wonderful sight; two British Spitfires.  “Boy, they were beautiful.”  The Spitfires took out one of the Nazi planes and one of the Spitfires chased the other ME-109 back to France.  The Wacky Donald continued back to their air field and Clem recalled, “The White Cliffs of Dover….man they were beautiful!”.  The runway came into sight, but the excitement wasn’t over.  The pilot said “I have to put us into a dive to get enough speed to land.  Put the landing gear into the down position and just pray they lock.”  Their prayers were answered, and the pilot got them home in one piece.  “None of us were hurt, but we did a lot of sweating.”

With two near misses under his belt Clem flew 4 more missions into Germany and France without incident.  With D-Day looming, Operation Argument was developed.  The objective was sustained and heavy bombing of aviation related targets in Germany.  This was also known as “Big Week”.  The crew of the "Wacky Donald" received orders to bomb a ball bearing plant in Gotha Germany, 145 miles west of Dresden.  “That was a long flight.”  The 20 plane formation took off on February 24 ’44.  While making their way to the target they came under attack by the Luftwaffe using Fokker 190’s.  

The enemy aircraft unleashed a barrage of incendiary rockets directly at the aft section of the "Wacky Donald." Clem was on the radio when he heard a tremendous explosion and saw flames begin to consume the plane. Amidst the chaos and the 200-mile-per-hour slipstream, Clem gripped the barrels of the top turret machine gun, a desperate attempt to maintain some semblance of control.

 He looked around and found the tail gunner dead and half hanging out of the plane and one of the waist gunners dead in his position.  The other waist gunner was wounded but managed to eject.  The ball turret gunner came up to escape the fire, but he had to go back and retrieve his parachute leaving Clem and the Engineer to fight the flames with the fire extinguishers.  That proved to be pointless as massive amounts of hydraulic fluid fed the flames. 

In a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, Clem's dire circumstances took a dramatic turn. 

The co-pilot climbed over Clem and exited the plane through the upper hatch and bailed out.  Clem’s theory was, “if the pilot or the co-pilot leaves, it’s time for this boy to go.”  Later Clem learned that 13 of the 20 planes in his formation were shot down.

The engulfing fire reached the wing tanks, triggering a catastrophic explosion that instantly transformed the night sky.

The force of the blast was so intense that it rendered Technical Sgt. Leone unconscious and propelled him clear of the disintegrating aircraft, setting him on a terrifying free-fall towards the earth below.

Plummeting from an altitude of perhaps 10,000 feet, Clem was unconscious, his body hurtling down at a speed that should have guaranteed a fatal outcome upon impact. However, fate had other plans for the feisty airman. In a miraculous twist of events, Clem regained consciousness mid-fall, his face covered in blood, yet his mind startlingly clear. With death staring him in the face, he managed to summon his wits, frantically searching for the orange metal ring on his chest that stood between life and certain death.

With a decisive yank, Clem pulled the ring, deploying his parachute and transitioning from a deathly free-fall to a controlled descent. Despite his injuries, including fractured ribs sustained upon impact, Clem survived the ordeal, a testament to his incredible resilience and presence of mind in the face of overwhelming adversity. This harrowing experience not only showcased Clem's indomitable spirit but also marked the beginning of an extraordinary tale of survival against all odds.

 

Clem put on his parachute and climbed through the upper hatch.  At this point the plane was still flying 240 mph and Clem had to hold on to the two upper guns to keep from blowing off.  The plane was being consumed by flames and Clem was trying to decide how to exit the plane without getting caught in the spinning props or being thrown into the big double tail in the rear.  “While I was contemplating what to do apparently the ship exploded because I found myself at 14,000 feet without an airplane.”   Clem knew he was over enemy territory, and his mind was spinning on how to avoid capture.  His chute opened without a problem and he could see below that there was a pond and he was headed straight into it.  “Well wouldn’t you know it, I got out of the plane safely and here I am going to land in this pond and drown because I can’t swim.”  Luckily, he remembered his training on how to use his cords to direct his landing.  At about 8,000 feet he saw a crowd of civilians running toward him.  Now he remembered being told that German civilians would kill American pilots because they were told they were gangsters. Clem made sure to pull his legs up so he wouldn’t break them and instead broke three ribs and hurt his back.

With the crowd rapidly approaching, Clem pulled out his sidearm to try and defend himself.  He could hear them yelling, “Hollander, Hollander!”  He then realized he wasn’t in Germany but rather occupied Netherlands.  Clem motioned them to come closer and tried to use his language card to speak Dutch but to no avail.  They brought Clem to a farmhouse and gave him a slice of bread with some jelly and a drink.  Clem didn’t know what to expect so he gave the Dutch his firearm in case he was captured.  Better the Dutch to have it than the Nazi’s.  Then came a knock at the door and it was a member of the German Home Guard; A Dutch citizen in a Nazi uniform who said, “you are my prisoner.  For you the war is over.”  Clem was led down a road by the Home Guard followed by the Dutch villagers.  Clem was directed to enter a civilian camp, but the Dutch were yelling, “no, other way!”  A 17 year old ran up to Clem and said “come” and he began running.  Without thinking Clem took off with him.  At the same time the Dutch villagers handled the guard.  “They beat the daylights out of him!”

They ran into the woods and took Clem to a camouflaged underground bunker just big enough for a cot and a bucket for a latrine.  They told him to stay put and they would be back as soon as the Nazi’s stopped looking for him.  A few days later they returned with a doctor.  The doctor taped his ribs and gave him some pain killers and the Dutch brought him some food.  Clem was told he would have to stay put until the villagers were able to hand him off to the Dutch underground.  He hid in the shelter for a week.  One day he heard a truck pull up and was sure the Nazi’s had finally found him.  Instead, it was the Dutch underground and Clem’s luck continued.  The underground took him to Amsterdam where a family hid him for a while.  They hid him in the attic and sometimes closets.  In the evenings they took him out for walks. They were trying to arrange to get Clem into France and then over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain and from there to England.

The underground thought they had found safe passage and they took Clem and began walking south until they eventually came to a train station, and they handed Clem off to a guide to take him the rest of the way.  At the train station a Nazi soldier asked him where the train was headed.  Clem was dressed in civilian clothes and had identification papers that identified him as a deaf and dumb accountant from Sumatra.  They chose Sumatra because of Clem’s Mediterranean complexion and Sumatra was a Dutch possession.  They took the train to a farmhouse in southern Holland and then walked to the border of Belgium.  At the border they had to time the patrols of the Belgium border guards so they could slip across the border.  Once across the border there was a truck waiting for them that took them into Antwerp.

Clem was taken to a home where he was hidden for a short time until the underground felt they had another contact that could take him into France.  After exchanging pleasantries, the contact started asking Clem about the name of his plane, when he was shot down and who had helped him.  Clem made up stories about why he couldn’t remember and gave up no information.  At that point he was led to a building and was handed over to the Nazi’s.  After four and a half months Clem was no longer free.  It was July of 1944 and he had no idea when the war would be over.  I asked Clem what went through his mind at that point.  He said, “I thought it was all over.”  Clem was put in a prison cell with another American that had been captured, Odell Hooper from Oklahoma.  They remained there for about a week until the Nazis had accumulated more Americans.  They were then put on a passenger train to an interrogation center.

“All that time, all my mom had was the telegram she received telling her I was shot down,” Leone said. “She didn’t know whether I was dead or alive.”

At the interrogation center they were put into solitary for a week.  When Clem was brought before the Nazi interrogation officer he was asked for his name, rank, and serial number.  The Nazi, in a very friendly manner said, “Leone.  That’s Italian.  Aren’t you fighting for the wrong side?”  Clem gave then no information and was sent back to his cell.  Next, they were taken by train to Stalag Luft IV located in present day Tychowo, Poland just south of the Baltic Sea.  Clem remembered when they stepped off the train they saw a long line of German guards, all very young in age and holding German Shepherds.  The Americans were told to run into the POW camp while the guards allowed the dogs to nip at their heels.  When Clem’s group made it inside the camp the resident POWs told them, “You were lucky.  They usually prod you with bayonets.”

“The Americans already there said we were lucky,” Leone remembered. “The captain who would prick people with bayonets had just gone on leave.”

In eight months, Leone had one shower. Had him and his comrades known about the Jewish concentration camps, he admitted they probably wouldn’t have gotten even the one shower so as to avoid being gassed.

The camp held mainly allied air crews and most of the guards were from the Luftwaffe.  There was a connection between the aircrews which made life a tiny bit more bearable.  Clem was led to his cell by an elderly Nazi soldier who told him, “this won’t be pleasant but its bearable and you will be able to live through it and you will be able to get to go home.”  Clem was offered the opportunity to be placed in the officer’s camp as an orderly, but he refused.  He wanted to be with the NCO’s.  

The POWs were warned not to cross the warning wire” that extended around the perimeter of the camp.  If they stepped across it, they would be shot without warning.  Beyond the warning wire there was a series of fences and barbed wire entanglements to make sure no one thought of escape.  Food did exist and red Cross parcels were delivered with some regularity and had some nutrition in them.  Meals consisted of raw potatoes and bread with sticks in it.  Once they were given a block of cheese infested with bugs.  To pass the time they walked around the perimeter of the camp, played baseball with make-shift bats and balls, and played football with a make-shift football.

The guards inside the camp were elderly and unarmed.  The POWs called them ferrets because they were always trying to get information from the POWs to pass along to the camp commandant.  The guards in the towers and in the Commandant’s barracks were armed.  “They were nasty, and they all spoke perfect English.”  Bartering in the camp with the guards was a big business.  Cigarettes and spam carried high currency.   One of the men bartered with a guard for parts to a radio which he built into a functional transistor radio which kept the POWs somewhat informed of the progress of the war.  They knew the Allies were winning and that helped with morale.

In January of ’45 the Allies were advancing into Nazi Territory.  The men at the camp could hear artillery in the distance.  They thought Liberation could be not far away.  The Nazi’s decided to evacuate the camp to avoid the Russian troops advancing from the east.  They decided to march the camp west.  The sick and wounded were transported by train.  On February 6, 1945, the remaining men began what would become known as the German Death March.  

The men were assembled in columns of 4 or 5 across and were forced to march between 5 and 20 miles each day.  The men had inadequate clothing to provide them protection from one of Germany’s harshest winters on record.  Snow and sub-zero temperatures resulted in frost bite and the complete lack of sanitation, food or drink resulted in extreme weight loss, lice, dysentery and in some cases death.  Men who could not keep up were escorted by a Nazi soldier into the woods and executed.  Sometimes the men were able to sleep in barns but often they slept in open fields exposed to the elements.  The march took the POWs through numerous German towns where they were distained by the German citizens who had endured prolonged and devastating Allied bombing.  They threw eggs and tomatoes and tried to assault the POWs.  

They stole eggs for food. At one point, they collected all their cigarettes to trade with a farmer for a pig to roast. They dodged friendly fire from U.S. airplanes that had no way of knowing they were American prisoners.

“Survival,” Leone said when asked what was going through his mind during the more than a year he spent in Europe. “How’s this gonna end? What are they finally gonna do? Any time you don’t have your freedom, I think you’d feel that way. The worst part of it as far as not having your freedom was that week in solitary.”

Clem believes the march ended on May 6th, 1945.  That day they woke up and found that the guards had disappeared.   The POWs wondered what had happened.  A short while later they heard engines and soon a British Lorry appeared carrying British soldiers.   

The number of men thought to have started the march was 6,000+.  The total time estimated for the march was 86 days.  It is believed the men covered 600+ miles as the Nazi’s continually changed direction to avoid the advancing Soviet troops.  It is thought that 1,300+ men perished in the harsh winter conditions.  No official records were kept making it hard to get precise numbers.  Despite the lack of records this forced march is often compared to the Bataan Death March.

The British took the POWs clothes and burned them.  They deloused the men and gave them plenty of time to take a nice hot shower.  Initially they were issued small portions of rations until their digestive systems became accustomed to food again.  Clem boarded the ship, The Jonathan Worth for a 13 day voyage home.  When they entered New York Harbor they were greeted with pleasure boats “with gals in bikini’s and some of them had records playing don’t fence me in.”  I asked Clem if he remembered seeing the Statute of Liberty.  “Oh Yes.  That was a wonderful site!”  Next, they were taken to Fort Dix and were given a big steak dinner.  They were permitted one phone call and Clem called his uncle to come pick him up.  

Clem arrived back in Baltimore and had a 60 day recuperation furlough.  He looked up his high school sweetheart who had waited for him to return and they decided to get married and move to Miami where Clem was scheduled to report back for duty.  They were married and before they left on their honeymoon Clem received a letter to be ready to deploy to the Pacific.  Fortunately, when he returned from his honeymoon the war was over.  

Clem went about building his life with a keen sense for making money and advancing.  He worked as an auto mechanic, then networked his way into a Pontiac dealership in the service area, became shop foreman and then went into sales and various other roles in the car business.  In a chance meeting someone asked him if he had ever considered teaching auto mechanics.  He had not but decided to give it a try because it had a pension.  Clem ended up teaching high school auto mechanics for 22 years and was beloved by his students.  He also stayed in the Army and Air Force Reserves for 33 years reaching the rank of Major.  “In my opinion, there are no real heroes in a war,” Leone said from his Mount Joy home in the Lake Heritage development. “There’s nothing glorious about war. It’s mayhem.”

Clem Leone passed away at the age of 98 on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. 

CLem received France’s highest award, the Legion of Honor, at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., and also received the Purple Heart, the POW Award and the Dutch equivalent to the French Legion of Honor.

Luke Fenzel with Clem Leone (June 16, 2018)

John and Luke Fenzel, with Clem Leone (June 16, 2018)

The above narrative was derived from the following sources:

Written Account by Walter Schuppe, Avon, CT, (860) 558-1072; [email protected]

"WWII vet, former POW, recalls War as 'Mayhem'," Gettysburg Times Article by Mark Walters, December 6, 2010

"Death for Wacky Donald," by Robert Matzen