Cerro Gordo County Iowa
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The Globe Gazette
Leading Aircraftsman Lee USHER of the Royal Canadian Air Force, spending a few days at home in Mason City on leave, stopped at the Cecil theater Thursday morning to visit with Maestro Jimmy JOY during rehearsal. JOY, who is appearing with his band at the Cecil Thursday, is seen explaining some of the orchestra procedure to the Yank in the R. C. A. F. (Photo by Lock, Kayenay engraving)
The Globe Gazette
Physical reactions experienced in an airplane at a height of 35,000 feet were recalled on the KGLO Forum Monday evening by Lee USHER, Mason Cityan who is in training with the Royal Canadian air force. It takes half an hour for a bomber to reach that altitude, equivalent to seven miles, according to Mr. USHER. "During this half hour," he said, "we have to keep our ears clear and take oxygen when we reach 10,000 feet. We sit at an altitude of 35,000 feet for three hours, equivalent to the length of time it takes a bomber to start from England and make a run over Germany. "While flying that high half of the group in the plane will do arm exercises and the other half will do leg exercises to determine what reaction is caused, if any, because of nitrogen in the blood stream. This physical reaction is known officially as 'bends.'" The Mason Cityan reported that he attended classes in navigation, aircraft recognition, mathematics, code, air force law, military drill and gasses. An eight-week course, he said, was crowded into six weeks, giving an idea of how they are trying to rush the young men through their training. Mr. USHER is stationed at Regina, Saskatchewan.
The Globe Gazette
The Globe Gazette
in ACTION AFTER BOMBING Believed To Have Taken Part in Huge Raid on Stuttgart Pilot Officer Lee USHER and his crew of five were among the missing in a bombing raid over Germany on April 15, it was learned here Monday. A cable from England informed Pilot USHER'S mother, Mrs. Brice BROWN, Demossville, Ky., that her son was missing. Mrs. BROWN telephoned her sister, Mrs. J. C. DICKINSON, Mason City. The main concentration of planes was in a raid on Stuttgart on April 15 and it is believed USHER'S plane was one of the 23 missing in action after this flight. Pilot USHER entered the RAF by way of the RCAF. He ranked second in exams when he was graduated from flying school at Regina, Sask. He was attached to the RAF Feb. 11. Pilot USHER was a native of Plymouth where his mother served as superintendent of schools. The youth was prominent in athletics in the Plymouth high school. He attended Junior college in Mason City where he played both football and basketball.
The Globe Gazette
of ACTIVITIES IN LETTERS P. O. Lee Usher Wrote to Mason Cityans of Bombings by R. A. F. An intimate picture of what Pilot Officer Lee USHER and his crew of five were undergoing when they failed to return after a raid on Germany April 15, was revealed by some of [the] most recent letters written by the former Mason City resident to Erdix SWIFT of Marshall-Swift cleaners. The first was a Christmas card with the familiar "Every Good Wish for Christmas and the New Year," in type, but starting out in Lee's handwriting with "Who said sunny England?" reached "Erd" and the gang at Christmas time. In that card he gave a first-hand picture of England. "The country is not completely blown up, but one sees grim reminders in London. Sweets are very dear here. Just can't get them. What I'd do for one of Freddy's steaks! "I'm on heavy stuff and like it fine. The English really do have this blind flying down pat. I've seen everytype of aircraft you can imagine and I have had meals with the U. S. army aircorps boys. If all goes as planned I'll transfer to the U. S. navy and gain a rank or two in the deal. "Haven't seen any one that I know from home, but have run into a number of Iowans. How did Judge's football team come out? Also Iowa and who leads the Big Ten?" . . . (and then he closed with) - "If I transfer I'll be back in the states about May." In another letter dated Jan. 29, '43, we wrote - "I'm flying a Wellington III. They're a good bit like the Ford car is to the United States. It will take a hell of a beating and still hold together. . . In a month from now, however, I'll be on four-engine ships. It will be a Lancaster or Halifax. "I tried to transfer back to the U. S. navy aircorps but had trouble with the physical. It seems I'm half-blind in my left eye. The only thing I can lay it to is that I was caught in search lights. . . I looked over the side and was blinded for 10 minutes. However, the navy got a waiver, so maybe the transfer will take place." He told of one of his landings in this letter: "When I came back I found I had a flat tire when I let down my wheels, so I called in for in instructions. They kept me up for 3 hours while they got everything ready. Had two fire trucks, the meat wagon (ambulance), the flood lights on, etc., waiting for me to come in. They gave me instructions to land on one wheel and pray. "With a lot of luck I held it on the one wheel till she was almost stopped and then the wheel with the flat tire touched down and turned me around 180-degrees. The payoff is that the only damage I did was to crack one tip of a propeller blade. None of the crew even got a bump and I got congratulated. "You might be interested in my crew - all except me are 20 years old . . . I'm the captain and am responsible for every one in the kite on the ground and in the air and it's a lot of responsibility." On March 8 another letter stated, "I haven't had any too much excitement since that one wheel landing I wrote about. I was in this last (censored) raid and came home with a hole in my gas tank. A night fighter got on my tail and I had to lose 16,000 feet before I could shake him. He had the impudence to put a couple of bursts in me, but caused little damage. "I'm now in London spending a 19-day leave which we much needed. It's the first I've had since I came here. When I go back I won't go to the old squadron, but will report to a conversion unit where I'll convert to a (censored). I'll like this getting off two-engine stuff and onto the four. Bigger and better odds on getting home. "Did I tell you that I'm soon to go into the P. F. F. (path finding force)? It's an honor to be one of them as they are the pick of the British flyers. They're the fellows that go in first and catch all the hell and located and light up the target. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a target at night in the blackout when you're weaving all the time so no one gets on your tail or so the ground forces can't predict you and let you have it. "The searchlights are the worst though they don't hurt you. You see they light you up and (censored) polish you off. Most of the P. F. F. boys have been through one tour. It's unusual for a fellow like me in my first tour to get to be one of them . . . After you do two tours they send you home and that's what I want . . . If I see next Christmas, I'll see many more. "I've also been over France giving the U-boats a pasting. I've been carrying the 4,000 lbs. lately and believe you me Jerry is taking a hell of a beating now. The Yanks are keeping him on the dodge in the daytime and the R. A. F. is blowing hell out of him at night."
The Globe Gazette
The hope that Lee USHER, pilot in the Royal Canadian air force who was listed as missing in action on April 15, may be a prisoner of the Germans was strengthened by several letters received by friends here this week. They came from his mother, Mrs. Brice BROWN, now of De Mossville, Ky., who sent the official notification from the casualties officer and several letters from the mother of a member of USHER'S crew. The official letter stated that his aircraft failed to return to its base after a raid over Stuttgart, Germany. It went on to list the nearest of kin of the rest of the crew. Several days later Mrs. BROWN wrote she received letters from Mrs. M. R. Parkinson of Toronto, whose son is also listed as missing. "Our son has written us in glowing terms of the very clever American pilot he calls Lee, and I think that he must be your son. Lee is considered one of the best pilots in England, and so we hope that he managed to land the bomber safely somewhere," she wrote. In a more recent letter, Mrs. Parkinson wrote that two of the members of the crew have been definitely announced to be German prisoners, and expressed great faith in the fact that doubtless her son and Lee USHER were safe.
The Globe Gazette
Pilot USHER is a native of Plymouth, where his mother, Mrs. Brice BROWN, now of Demossville, Ky., was superintendent of schools.
The Globe Gazette
Osage - Sadie OWEN has been receiving some interesting letters from individuals who heard the short-wave broadcast by Pilot Lee USHER from Germany, the night of June 4. Pilot Lee USHER, whose story has been told in this paper since the night he participated in a raid over Germany as a bomber and was shot down, is a very good friend of Dr. and Mrs. W. OWEN in Osage, having stayed there for short periods. After his graduation from the Canadian Air Force he recuperated at the home of the OWENS. Each of the individuals kind enough to write to Mrs. OWEN, stated they had heard him talk on the short-wave, that he declared he was well-treated, and for them to contact Mrs. OWEN as to his whereabouts.
The Globe Gazette
Interned by Germans Since April Of interest to those persons in and around Mason City who are friends of Pilot Officer Lee USHER is the information that he is now a German prisoner. He was taken after a raid over Stuttgart, April 14, when his Halifax went down in flames killing three of his crew. He recently wrote to friends asking for phonograph records and needles. He is the son of Mrs. Brice BROWN of Demossville, Ky. Prisoner at War Lager-Bozelchaaung M-Stammiager Luft 3 Germany
The Globe Gazette
REQUESTS RECORDS AND SPORTS CLOTHES Former Mason Cityan Was Shot Down Over France After Raid EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a letter sent from a prison camp in Germany by Pilot Officer Lee Usher, R. C. A. F., who has been interned since a raid over Germany early in the summer. He is formerly of Mason City, and the son of Mrs. Brice BROWN, now of Demossville, Ky. The letter was received by Erdis Swift, Mason City. "Dear Erd, now just to let you know I am okay and feeling top-notch. I told you I was shot down by a night fighter on my way home from a raid in Germany. Came down in flames in France. A member of my crew pulled my chute in the plane by mistake, but I jumped and made it okay. It was hot when I left. Three of the crew dead. "Life in prison camp okay. Being an officer, I do not work and I spend my days is sport. Will be in good shape for basketball when I get home. What do you hear from the gang? My greeting to all. "There are "There are two things you can do for me. First, send me some games parcels. See Clyde KING at Deckers and get me 2 pairs of basketball, pants, 31 waist, loud colors, 1 pair of gym shoes, and a good number of sweat socks and a couple heavy sweat shirts. "For the second thing is to send records. I can used some good swing. Be sure and put in needles. If you need coupons, see the Red cross as they have the information. Boys here are getting parcels, so it is possible. "I am limited to 3 letters and 4 cards a month, Erd, so you must do most of the writing. Regards to King, and tell him to write. You should see the beautiful tan I have. Say hello to your force and to Freddie at the Covered Wagon. Lee" Regulations governing packages sent to prisoners of war state that only 3 packages may be sent to anyone who is interned in Germany and these are not to weigh more than 11 pounds, nor be more than 42 inches in breadth and girth. Each package must bear 1 of the coupons sent to the nearest of kin to use as they see fit. Mr. SWIFT has written to USHER'S mother for one of these tags. His return address is: Lee USHER, P/O J14135, R. C. A. F., German Prisoner of War.
The Globe Gazette
to WAR PRISONERS Lee Usher Writes from German Camp; Treatment "Okay" Red Cross parcels are getting through each week to war prisoners in Germany, according to a letter from Lee USHER, RCAF, now interned by the Germans. Although the first 4 1/2 sentences were carefully blacked out by a censor, he wrote much about his life there. USHER, former resident here, is the son of Mrs. Brice BROWN, Demossville, Ky., and was captured by the Germans when his plane went down in flames in France after a raid over Stuttgart in April. "Here at the officer's camp, we do no work and spend much of our time sun bathing and playing at sports. I have learned the English games of football, soccer, rugger [rugby?], cricket and being we have 3 or 4 golf clubs, we have made some golf balls and laid out a small course. There is a good Scotch golfer here, and I am trying to learn the swing so that I may play when I come home. . . "We live in long huts in rooms with about 8 or 10 fellows . . . in this camp we get a cross-section of the world, as all of England's colonies are represented. A number of fellows are studying various subjects, as we are allowed to have books from home. "Only next of kin are allowed to send clothing parcels, but game parcels may be sent by anyone. These include all sports equipment, sweat shirts, socks, etc., also phonograph needles and cigarets (sic). "Our camp is located on sand. I am allowed 3 letters and 4 cards a month. Greetings to all. Treatment here okay. Red Cross parcel per week very good."
The Globe Gazette
Word has been received here that Flight Lt. Lee USHER, war prisoner of the Germans since the fall of 1943, had arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is expected to be in Mason City the first of next week. He is a nephew of Mrs. J. C. DICKINSON, Mason City.
The Globe Gazette
After 2 Years Internment
Lt. USHER is in Mason City on leave and will report for duty to Winnipeg, Canada, on Sept. 1. He came here from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he had landed on July 14, having come by boat from England. The trip was made in 3 days on the Ile de France. USHER had been held a prisoner at Stalag Luft 3 since April, 1943, until the last 4 months of his internment when he had been at Lukenwalde, Germany. The prisoners had been evacuated from Stalag 3 at the advance of the Russian army. They marched 90 kilometers, he stated, and were taken the rest of the way in box cars. After a month of Russian "military red tape" following their release from Lukenwalde, they were taken by Americans in trucks to Halle, Germany, and from there flown to Brussels and thence to England. USHER, who enlisted in the Royal Canadian air force in August, 1941, was captured after his plane went down in flames on his 24th mission in the raid over Stuttgart, Germany, in April, 1945. He was "on the loose" for a month but was finally given away by a nazi Frenchman, who brought the Germany army to him. At the time of bailing out it was reported that 3 of the crew had been killed but 2 of them showed up later, USHER reported. "I didn't realize rationing was as strict as it is," he said, when asked about the biggest changes here. In Canada, meat is the only thing rationed, and that in just the last 3 weeks, he reported. In the prison compound, where he stated was the "most cosmopolitan outfit" he ever saw - flyers from all of Britain's empire - they were always hungry. Food was always scarce and what he missed most was milk. When he reached Bournemouth in southern England he had all the milk he could drink. Weighing only 138 pounds when released, he had gone up to 180 pounds during the month following, "more than I've ever weighed," he said. "We were probably as well informed as anybody," replied USHER when asked what they knew about the outside. "We built our own radio on which we listened to the British Broadcasting news." They also had the German radio news. The compound had a good library and the flyers furnished their own entertainment, averaging a play a week. Food and clothing came in Red Cross packages from "all the Red Crosses in the world." Sports equipment had been sent by the YMCA's. In all 50 persons had been shot in trying to re-escape from the camp, the officer reported.
The Globe Gazette
LOCAL FLYER'S POW YEARS Maps, Sketches, Photos and Articles Chronicle Lee Usher's Captivity
When you're a German prisoner of war - a self-styled "kriegie" - the days go slowly, and it takes a great many of them to
add up to 25 months. During his long stay in Germany, at Sagna, southeast of Berlin, and at Luckenwalde, Flight Lt.
Lee USHER of the Royal Canadian air force passed many tedious hours working on a logbook, a record of his stretch as a
POW. USHER, a Mason Cityan who joined the RACF in Winnipeg before the United States entered the war, went down in a
bombing attack over France on April 14, 1943. He walked, being fed by various farm families along the way, from the
Champagne country of northeastern France to Paris, got in touch with the underground and was on his way to the first
"station" on his way back to England when he was captured by the Germans on a French informer's tip. . . . As an
illustration of the miscellaneous nature of the logbook - which is not a diary, not a scrapbook, but a mixture of both -
it might be pointed out that the account of USHER'S capture and questioning is on pages 104 and 105. It is preceded by
a glossary of RAF slang and followed by a carefully-kept record of allied air raids on Germany, complied from German
reports. In the record are dates of attacks, the targets and the number of planes claimed shot down. Day attacks
are recorded in red ink; night attacks in blue ink.
The reports cover a period from Jan. 13, 1943, to Nov. 7, 1944. "Attacks became so regular that from about this time
the Germans preferred to mention areas rather than individual targets," a note following the last raid report says.
USHER'S RAF glossary, illustrated with little cartoons done in colored pencil by one of his fellow prisoners includes
these, among its 3 pages of terms: To have been: To have passed out of circulation; usually dead.
To be in a bind: Boring or unpleasant talks. Of a person, a bore. Brassed off: Fed up, bored to death.
Bounced: Killed, usually shot down or crashed. Drains: Emphatic exclamation. Gen: Verbal
information, short for genuine. Pukka gen is true information, reliable or satisfactory. Duff gen is information
that has proved unreliable or untrue. Griff: Written information. More reliable then gen. To have had:
To have finished with something. Push out a boat: To pay for a party. Usually on promotion. Round the
bend: (either going or gone) Conditions of madness. To tear off a strip: To reprimand severely.
Taped: Situation under control; applicable to individuals. To have bought it: To be killed by
stupid flying. View - Bad, dim, good, low, poor: Different opinions taken of various actions. It would be difficult
to estimate the amount of time spent by USHER simply on the precise printing of the material in the book. There is almost
no writing; every thing is hand-printed. Additional hours of painstaking work are represented by a series of
intricate campaign maps, looking, at least to the untrained eye, as well-drawn as the color plates in a geography book.
There is a map of the Polish campaign of Sept. 1-18, 1943; of the Norwegian campaign, April 9-June 10, 1940; of the
Battle of Flanders, May 10-June 4 (one map) and June 5-27, 1940 (2nd map); the Balkan campaign, April 16-21, 1941; the
African campaigns (3 maps covering action from September, 1942, to May 12, 1944); Crete, May 20-June 1, 1941; the
Italian campaign, July, 1943 to June, 1944. Each of these is done in colored pencil, with battle lines, advances
and retreats carefully drawn. They range in size from less than a page to approximately 4 pages. Accompanying them
is a chronology of events in each campaign, including major battles and important dates. Also included in this section
is an account of the approximate size of German and allied forces in several of the campaigns. A large section of the
book is devoted to photographs, autographs and "case histories" of USHER'S fellow prisoners - their home addresses,
dates of capture, typed of planes they flew. The addresses range from New Zealand and South Africa to Canada and include
Russians, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen, Belgians and Scandinavians as well as citizens of various parts of the British commonwealth.
There were several artists among the "kriegies," and their work is represented by cartoons scattered throughout the books,
as well as of 3 portraits of USHER - 2 crayon sketches and a water-color. Ed BEATTIE of United Press, a war correspondent
who spent several months in USHER'S camp at Luckenwalde, has drawn a cartoon showing Hitler and one of his generals at
a map-covered table. Says der fuehrer: "Just a bit of personal advice, Herr Felmarschall. You will be healthier if
you make this retreat look good, for once. I'm tired of looking like a mug in Lee Usher's logbook!!" Another section
of the logbook is labeled, in red letters, "The Mart" and lists comparative values of various types of food; this was
the basis on which POWs bartered back and forth. The point values placed on food were "strictly nebulous," USHER
explained. They served only as a means of fair trading - for example, a can of tomatoes and a can of peas, each worth
30 points, might be swapped for 1/2=pound of sugar, which was rated at 120 points a pound. Tea was worth more than
twice as much as a pound as Canadian coffee in the predominately British camp where USHER was held - the highest -
valued of any of the supplies listed. All the food bought and sold in "the mart" came from parcels supplied by the
Red Cross and from private parcels sent the prisoners by various relief organizations in allied nations. Food in a
prison camp fell under 2 heads:
Rations issued by the Germans, a weekly parcel supplied by the Red Cross and private packages. The weekly Red Cross
parcel was inaugurated at the beginning of the war. Prisoners captured in 1939 received at first 3 a week, and later
(at their own request) 3 every 2 weeks. They were intended as an addition to the German ration and supplied vitamins and
luxuries. "Transport . . . was the major difficulty," USHER comments in his summary of the food situation. "After 1941,
a sea route, England - Lisbon - Marseilles, as used and proved successful. Special weekly parcels for invalid or hospital
cases were also packed by the British Red Cross. They contained more milk and invalid foods. . . Private parcels were those
addressed to an individual . . . British prisoners were allowed one clothing parcel every 3 months (including chocolate)
and U. S. prisoners, one every 2 months (including dry food). These had to be sent under special Red Cross labels from
next-of-kin. . . Cigarets (sic) were limited to 300 a month from the U. S. but were unlimited from other countries. Book
parcels were permitted from all countries, but newspapers and magazines (except technical) forbidden; German
censorship excluded many books." In addition to the bartering of food, many cash-on-the-line transactions took
place, some of which USHER has recorded under the heading, "Kriegie Deals." Included was a wager of 8,000 reichmarks
($2,668) to 2 reichmarks on the outcome of a football match. The prisoner who gave the heavy odds lost. At another
camp, $80 in reichsmarks was paid for a loaf of bread. For a 2nd-hand haversack, a prisoner at Warburg paid $330 - and the
haversack was lost in a search the next day. Five pounds - $25 - was offered for a potato and brown bread sandwich at
Spangenburg in July, 1940. The offer was refused. USHER records that large sums of money were bed on "Oxford-Cambridge
boat races," represented by match boxes in flooded gutters. At Lubeck in October, 1942, 6 prisoners caught a cat,
skinned, cooked and ate it at Lubeck. That is substantiated by a signed statement, "Best meal I've ever eaten!" signed
by one of the men who took part. "Cat," USHER wrote at the end of the story, "is said to be very like rabbit."
The Globe Gazette
at Hi-Y Club An informal talk was given to the Mason City Hi-Y club last Monday, Dec. 10 by Lee USHER, former aviator in the R. C. A. F. Mr. USHER entered the R. C. A. F. late in 1940 with one other buddy, also of Mason City. After many difficult months of training, Mr. USHER was transferred to the R. A. F. and was sent to England. Lee says R. C. A. F. training was quite different for it involved much schooling and knowledge even before a plane was seen by the student aviator. All the fundamentals of flying were taught and learned on the ground. In England, Mr. USHER completed quite a few missions and was also shot down over France in April, 1943. Lee, then, by underground aid worked cautiously back. He tried to reach England but was reported by a French underground traitor. Immediately he was sent to a French prison, managed by Hitlerites, for a period of several weeks. Here he was astonished for he discovered himself to be questioned by nazis who were formerly from the United States, one from New Jersey and one from Texas. Mr. USHER, incidentally, was a prisoner in the camp where the nazis had difficulty keeping them, for they would incessantly dig out under the fence in the soft and very sandy earth. This camp was recently written about in the Readers Digest. Prisoners were committed to solitary confinement if caught at this game. Mr. USHER was penalized twice, once for an attempted escape and again for insulting a nazi officer. He commented, "If that's possible." Mr. USHER is now discharged and is residing at the Y. M. C. A. for the present.
The Globe Gazette
Lee USHER, former flight lieutenant with the RCAF who was imprisoned by the Germans for 25 months after being shot down over France, will be the speaker at the Mason City Junior Chamber of Commerce dinner-meeting Friday night in the Green Mill. NOTE: USHER became a new member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. Globe-Gazette, October 24, 1946 Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2013
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Lee USHER of Mason City, leading aircraftsman in the Royal Canadian Air Force at a station near Regina, Saskatchewan,
ranked second in his examinations when he was graduated from the R. C. A. F. flying school there. He now goes to
service school and then operational before attaining the status of a full-fledged pilot in the R. A. C. F.
Word was received by friends here Friday, that Pilot Lee USHER, royal air force, is a prisoner of war, not missing as
was previously reported. He took part in the raid over Stuttgart, Germany, on April 15, as pilot of a bomber. He is the
third member of that crew to be reported prisoner.
"The more you see of the world the better you like the U.S.," was the opinion of Flight Lt. Lee USHER, RCAF pilot, just
back in this country from more than 2 years of internment in a German prison camp.