March 31, 1945 - Colonel Stark Leaves Camp
With the arrival at Wetzlar of British officers who outranked him, Colonel Stark was no longer the Senior Allied Officer present. Stark drove away from camp, then flew off to France.
Although Colonel Stark appeared to have fled the camp at the earliest opportunity, there was a legitimate reason for him to rush off. While the Americans may have liberated the camp, they were in no hurry to get the prisoners repatriated. With timelines extending to two months being discussed, Stark and two other senior officers were on their way to complain in person to General Elwood Quesada, the U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General at his headquarters in Reims, France.
The same day, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan officially ended, after graduating over 130,000 pilots, navigators, bombers, wireless operators, gunners and flight engineers belonging to the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Although Colonel Stark appeared to have fled the camp at the earliest opportunity, there was a legitimate reason for him to rush off. While the Americans may have liberated the camp, they were in no hurry to get the prisoners repatriated. With timelines extending to two months being discussed, Stark and two other senior officers were on their way to complain in person to General Elwood Quesada, the U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General at his headquarters in Reims, France.
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