James V Newton

Military

Shot down by fighters on mission to Brunswick on 11 Jan 1944 in B-24H #41-28593. Prisoner of War (POW). The fallen members from his crew are commemorated on a memorial in Dwingeloo, Netherlands.



Whilst a Prisoner of War, Jim unwound the threads of his woven uniform belt, and used the thread to "sew" pieces of cardboard together to make a blanket/blankets in order to keep warm. At first he was laughed at by inmates, but eventually they saw that it would work and they also created "blankets". The cardboard was from packages that the men received.



Following the war he became an aero-space engineer. He is now retired and lives with his wife Rosie in Manhattan Beach California.

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 448th Bomb Group.

448th Bomb Group

  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

41-28593

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: The Prodigal Son
  • Unit: 448th Bomb Group 712th Bomb Squadron

Events

Event Location Date Description

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Stalag Luft IV, Gros Tychow, Poland 11 January 1944 - 23 May 1945

Born

Lake Forest, Illinois, USA

Born

Manhattan Beach, CA, USA

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Capitalized all the words in the "Role/job" field to aid readability.

 

Date
ContributorEmily
Changes
Sources

Information provided by Doris Buhr, from her own research and anecdotes told to her by Jim.

POW Information researched by Doris from:

World War II Prisoners of War Data File [Archival Database]; Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942-1947 (on Ancestry.com)

16034264 NEWTON JAMES V ARMY Illinois European Theatre Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated GERMANY Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow (formerly Heydekrug) Pomerania, Prussia (moved to Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust) (To Usedom Bei Savenmunde) 54-16

Memorial to fallen members of his crew

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2519 / MACR 2519, 8th AF Losses / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database