The War Stories of Sidney H. Raiken

Years ago, I asked my father to record his war stories. This is the transcript. It is his journey from the time his bomber was shot down over Holland to liberation in Halle, Germany. It’s about the people he meets and places he passes through on his 400 mile journey, mostly by foot.
The surprising thing to me was the cockiness of the other POWs. They cheered when they saw bombed out German factories while riding on a German train. They yelled “Come on you Krauts, let’s have the gas” when they were taken to “showers” that were built in the model of gas chambers. I have never seen prisoners of war portrayed in this way in movies.