John Katsaros has quite a story! And, until recently, not one he was allowed to tell.
During World War II, Katsaros served as a gunner, photographer and engineer in the
U.S. Army Air Corps, when he was barely out of his teens. During that time, he
survived a 25,000-foot free-fall. Took photos of the enemy’s secret aircraft
and weaponry. Trekked for months through enemy territory. Was captured twice.
Escaped. Had a $10,000 reward on his head. Almost lost an arm due to gangrene.
And the grande finale of this tour of duty? A four-day climb over the Pyrenees in a
suit and dress shoes a size too small — only to be jailed when he reached the
other side.
None of this could he talk about, “My mother and father never knew what happened to
me,” he said.
“After we were shot down, we basically became spies. We had to report back everything
that we saw, and that information was used by Intelligence.”
Over the years, as information became declassified, he was freed by the government
from his oath of secrecy, and able to recount his experiences. He’s just
released the rewrite of his book, Code Burgundy — The Long Escape, which
came out in 2008.
“The British knew every step I took through French Intelligence and the Resistance.
I was only a 20-year-old kid at the time, and I did exactly what the French
Intelligence told me to do. I knew if I did, I’d have a good chance of
escaping.”
He went thousands of miles but did manage to get back, he said, thanks to the
French Resistance. “That’s why I honored them in my book. Without them, I’d
never have made it.”
In London, he was interviewed for four days.
“The Germans were way in advance, he explained. “They came out with the V2 bomb. It was shot up quite high, and you never knew where it would land: You couldn’t
hear it. It was developed by Dr. [Wernher] von Braun, whom we captured and he
developed our program on intercontinental ballistic missiles, which resembled
the V2 bomb.”
The Germans had so many secret weapons, so far superior to the Allies’, he said.
“Besides the stealth jet bomber and the first rockets, they had the flying V1
Buzz Bombs. We called them Doodlebugs. They were unmanned and they shot them
over London. They made a ‘putt, putt, putt’ sound, like an engine on a grass
cutter. Count to five and you’ll be alive, because when they landed, within one
second, they were right next to you.
If we hadn’t destroyed their air-force facilities where they were developing these weapons, he said, they would have had the atomic bomb before us, and we’d be
speaking German right now.
These accounts he’s finally able to tell. Recently, he was invited by four-star Gen. Duncan MacNabb to talk to the Air Force cadets about escape and evasion. “They could listen to someone who had actually escaped,” he said.
— Christine Davis
10 Questions
Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced
you?
A. Haverhill, Mass. (30 miles north of Boston). I attended Haverhill school
systems and graduated from Haverhill High School. On Dec. 8, 1941, the day
after Pearl Harbor [was attacked], I joined the Navy Pilot Air Cadet Program.
On Dec. 7, 1942, I joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, and volunteered to fly
combat on a B-17 Flying Fortress as an aerial engineer, gunner and
photographer, for the famous 8th Air Force, stationed in England.
Q. What is your strongest memory of the war?
A. Flying on a B-17 Flying Fortress out of England on March, 20 1944. Our plane,
named Man O’ War, the lone bomber, successfully destroyed the FW-190 aircraft
factory at Frankfurt, Germany. Flying a return flight back to England, we ran
out of ammunition in a firefight with a German group of attacking aircraft.
Several enemy ME-109 fighters shot down our B-17 with cannon and .50 cal.
machine-gun fire. Three crewmen were killed on station, two engines, blown out
and the wing was in flames, when the alarm was given to bail out.
The navigator was the first to bail out. His chute “candled” and he did not survive the landing. I was seriously wounded, but assisted crewmates with their wounds,
and bailed out, only to experience the fear of pursuit by the Gestapo, after a
bone-cracking landing from a 25,000-foot free-fall. Twice captured by the
Gestapo and twice escaped with the assistance of the brave Free French
Resistance who hid me over three months while nursing me back to health, and
assisted me in my travels from north of France, south to climb the Pyrenees
Mountains to Spain and freedom, only to be locked up by the Spanish
Constabulary.
My medical treatment in France, while on the run, is owed to a Dr. Levy, a Jew who was hiding out from the Gestapo in the cellar of his clinic. With the
insistence of the Free French Underground, punctuated by a pistol to his head,
Dr. Levy performed three surgeries within two days on my gangrenous arm to save
it and my life.
Q. After the war, what did you do?
A. After WWII, I graduated from Boston University with a bachelor’s degree in
business management. I opened the Haverhill Finance and Mortgage Corp. and the
Katsaros Realty Corp., as president and treasurer. I was also affiliated as a
stockholder and director of the Colonial Banks in Danvers and Beverly, Mass.
Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
A. If financially able, get as much of an education as possible. It is the
foundation of your future success. If not, consider joining the U.S. Air Force
or other military service, as a career, and take as many advanced courses as
they offer.
Q. How did you end up in Ocean Ridge?
A. I have spent many winter months in Florida, since 1942. My primary residence
for 32 years has been Ocean Ridge. We spend six months in Ocean Ridge and six
months in Massachusetts.
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Ocean Ridge?
A. My wife, Mary, and I love the ambience of the small town, living across from
the Boynton Park and Beach, the ease of shopping, fine restaurants, easy access
to the Palm Beach International Airport, great nearby golf courses, walking the
beach, visiting friends, entertainment and the local friendly people. It’s like
living in paradise.
Q. What book are you reading now?
A. The Somme, by Malcolm Brown, a remarkable book about the WWI
Western Front. For many, it is the ultimate symbol of the folly and
futility of war.
Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A. I enjoyed the Big Bands of the ’30s and ’40s such as Glenn Miller, Dorsey
Brothers, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa. Also I enjoyed the singers,
especially Frank Sinatra. For my quiet periods of inspiration and to relax, I
like symphony music.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. “A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.”
Q. If your life story were
made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
A. Matt Damon
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