Lt. Pat Wilson Returns Home On Visit To Parents

Lt. Pat Wilson Returns Home On Visit To Parents

Seemingly calm and collected after 18 months of terrible suspence and anxiety, Lt. Pat Wilson, RCAF pilot twice captured by the Germans, is home to spend 30 days leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C. Wilson, of 505 Detroit St.

From September, 1943, to June, 1944, the lieutenant was in hiding behind enemy lines in Europe, managing to elude his former captors with the aid of various underground groups.

Making his way to Italy, he was in Rome on the day when British and American troops took over the historic city. He established contact with the Allied troops as soon as he could make his way to their headquarters, and was immediately sent by plane to London.

He has been at Intelligence Headquarters in London all summer, straightening out the details of his escape with officials and receiving explicit orders not to divulge any information whatever as to the nature or locality of his escape or the people who befriended him.

When his boat docked in New York on Sept. 12, he flew first to Canada and then came home to Ann Arbor. When his 30-day visit is up, he will report back to Ottawa, Canada, for reassignment.

The lieutenant was serving with the British forces in Egypt during the assault on Rommel in November, 1942, when his plane was shot down and he was captured by the Germans. .

Shipped to Bari, Italy, he was interned at a prison there for some time and then was transferred to another prison camp at Cheti. From Cheti, he made his first escape when the Germans were in the process of taking over all Italian prisons.

However, his success was short lived, for a few weeks later, while attempting to cross over the enemy lines, he was again caught and captured by German officials.

For eight days he was in German custody, but watching his chance, he eluded his captors at the end of that time and once more made a successful escape.

He was not captured again. But for nine months, his parents had no communication from him, and although they knew he had escaped through a letter written them by one of Pat’s comrades, another escapee, they received no assurance that their son was alive until June, when he reached Allied headquarters in Rome.

Lt. Pat Wilson, RCAF pilot, who was in hiding behind enemy lines from last September to June after he had escaped from his German captors, is back in the states visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn C, Wilson, 505 Detroit St., after spending two months at Intelligence Headquarters in London.