April 28, 1945 - A Camp in Disarray
On April 20, 1945, a large group of marchers from Stalag Luft XIIID, which may have included Kelleher and Yemen, arrived at Stalag Luft VIIA in Moosburg, 35 km outside of Munich.
In his book Time Out. A Remembrance of World War II by American airman Bill Ethridge described the camp in his journal for April 28, 1945:
"This camp is much worse than we had expected. Everything is pretty disorganized and the Germans are arrogant and edgy… Our beds are the typical triple bunks with mattresses filled with straw and all of the same little critters we have met before. My mattress was mysteriously wavy with what felt like steel rods supporting it about every two feet. I soon discovered the reason. Wood for cooking had been so scarce that someone had shaved the bed slats to obtain kindling, and the original three-inch-wide bed slats were down to about an inch and a half. I was surprised that they had not broken, but it seemed that they were made of a kind of tough hardwood."
In his book Time Out. A Remembrance of World War II by American airman Bill Ethridge described the camp in his journal for April 28, 1945:
"This camp is much worse than we had expected. Everything is pretty disorganized and the Germans are arrogant and edgy… Our beds are the typical triple bunks with mattresses filled with straw and all of the same little critters we have met before. My mattress was mysteriously wavy with what felt like steel rods supporting it about every two feet. I soon discovered the reason. Wood for cooking had been so scarce that someone had shaved the bed slats to obtain kindling, and the original three-inch-wide bed slats were down to about an inch and a half. I was surprised that they had not broken, but it seemed that they were made of a kind of tough hardwood."
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