Ralph E Hemmick Jr

The First Airmen - Prisoners of War Ralph E Hemmick Jr

Ralph Eugene Hemmick, Jr. was 20 years old when he enlisted into the Army in July 1942. He subsequently joined the Eighth Air Force. He was part of the 384th Bombardment Group and assigned to the 546th Squadron as a Ball Turret Gunner. Staff Sergeant Hemmick's B-17 "Flying Fortress" was shot down over France in June 1943 by German fighter planes during a bombing raid. He parachuted out along with some of his crewmates, and his pilot was able to crash land the ship in a field outside of Paris. Ralph was soon captured by German troops and spent the better part of two years in prison camps in Germany and Austria undergoing tremendous hardships with his fellow Airmen. He, along with his crew and other members of the 384th, had the inauspicious record of being the first American Airmen to become POW's in World War II. Read Sergeant Hemmick's firsthand accounts: - Staging in Kettering, England- Engaging with the enemy over France- Captured and interrogated in Paris- Prisoner of war in Stalags 7A and 17B- Liberation and homeward boundBecause of Ralph's tenacity and will to survive, he was able to marry his lovely wife, Kathryn, have five children, Patricia, Mary, Stacy, Tim, and Jane, and loads of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren