Aircraft of World War II - Warbird Forums

The Evaders, by Roman Turski

Stories Discuss The Evaders, by Roman Turski in the World War II - Aviation forums; This is one of the amazing but true stories of WWII The Evaders By Roman Turski I was born in ...


Go Back   Aircraft of World War II - Warbird Forums > World War II - Aviation > Stories

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 02-07-2005, 09:51 PM   #1
Your ad here. ;)
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,145
Country:
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
The Evaders, by Roman Turski

This is one of the amazing but true stories of WWII
The Evaders
By Roman Turski

I was born in Poland, where before the last war religious intolerance was not uncommon. In spite of my father’s objection to my participation in anti-Semitic demonstrations in Warsaw, I often heaved stones at windows of stores owned by Jews. I had no qualms about my actions, and later it took months of hardship and persecution-and a Jew- to show me how to abide by the Biblical injunction: “Love thy neighbor as thyself”.
When Hitler annexed Austria and war seemed imminent, I quit my job as instructor of a flying club in Lyons, France, and started for home. My plane developed engine trouble and I had to land at Vienna and stay there overnight to have it repaired.
The following morning, just as I stepped out of my hotel to buy a few souvenirs before checking out, a man who came running past the door bumped into me and sent me reeling. Outraged, I grabbed him and was about to give him a piece of my mind when I saw his face was white with fear. Panting heavily, he tried to wrench himself from my grip and said, “Gestapo—Gestapo!” I know only a little German but understood he was running from the dreaded German secret police.
I rushed him into the lobby and upstairs to my room, pointed to the foot of my bed and motioned him to lie down. I covered his slender, jackknifed body with artfully draped blankets so that the tousled bed looked empty. Then I pulled off my jacket, tie and collar so I could pretend I’d just got up if the Gestapo men came. In a few minutes, they did. They examined my passport, returned it and shouted questions, to which I replied: “Ich verstehe es nicht-I don’t understand it,” a phrase I knew by heart. They left without searching the room.
As soon as they had gone I lifted the blankets. The poor man let out a stream of rapid German. It was not necessary to understand a word to comprehend his gratitude.
I got out my flight chart and, by gesturing and drawing pictures on the margin of the map, explained that I had a plane and could take him out of Austria. He pointed to Warsaw, and his expressive hands asked: “Would you take me there?” I shook my head and made him understand that I had to land for fuel in Cracow. I drew pictures of police and prison bars to illustrate that he would be arrested upon arrival at any airport, and made it clear that we would land in some meadow just over the Polish border and he would get off. He nodded with satisfaction, and his narrow face and dark eyes again conveyed deep thanks.
The customs and immigration men at the airport waved us through when I told them my friend wanted to see me off. My plane was warmed up and ready for flight. We quickly climbed into it and took off. We crossed Czechoslovakia and soon saw the thin ribbon of the Vistula River and the city of Cracow. Landing in a large field by a wood near a country railroad station, I showed my companion where we were on the map, gave him most of my money and wished him luck. He took my hand and looked at me wordlessly, then walked rapidly into the woods.
When I arrived at Cracow airport there was a detachment of police waiting beside the immigration inspector. One of the police said, “We have a warrant to search your plane—you have helped a man escape from Vienna.”
“Go ahead and search it. Incidentally, what was the man wanted for?”
“He was a Jew.”
They searched my plane, and of course had to let me go for lack of evidence.
The war came, and after Poland’s short and bloody struggle against the Germans, in which I served as a fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force, I joined the thousands of my countrymen who wanted to carry on the fight for freedom. We crossed the border into Rumania and were promptly caught and sent to concentration camps. I finally managed to escape and joined the French Air Force. After France collapsed I went to England and fought in the Battle of Britain. The following June I was wounded while on a fighter sweep across the English Channel, when the Luftwaffe hit us over Boulogne. In those early offensive missions we were always outnumbered and outperformed by the Luftwaffe, and our only superiority was morale.
As we started for home I rammed an Me-109 and was hit by a piece of it’s sheared off tail. I was half blinded with blood. My squadron covered my withdrawal across the channel, but I was unconscious when my Spitfire crash-landed in England. (I later learned that my skull had been fractured, and that I was so near death that the head surgeon of the hospital to which I was taken believed it would be almost useless to operate on me.)
When I returned to consciousness, I gradually realized that a narrow face with large brown eyes was looking down at me. “Remember me?” their owner said. “You saved my life in Vienna.” He spoke with a trace of a German accent.
His words ended my confusion. I recalled a sensitive face and managed to say, “How did you find me?” I noticed his white smock. “Do you work here?”
“It’s a long story,” he replied. “After you dropped me off I made my way to Warsaw, where an old friend aided me. Just before the war I escaped and reached safety in Scotland. When one of your Polish squadrons distinguished itself in the Battle of Britain, I thought you might be in it, so I wrote to the Air Ministry and found you were.”
“How did you know my name?”
“It was written on the margin of your map. I remembered it.” His long fingers felt cool on my wrist. “Yesterday I read a story in the newspapers about a Polish hero shooting down five enemy planes in one day and then crash-landing near this hospital. It said your condition was considered hopeless. I immediately asked the Royal Air Force at Edinburgh to fly me here.”
“Why?”
“I thought that at last I could do something to show my gratitude. You see, I am a brain surgeon—I operated on you this morning.”
__________________


http://www.vg-photo.com

Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda.
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2005, 10:15 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
Crazy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 699
Send a message via AIM to Crazy
Thanks evan. One hell of a story
__________________
Crazy is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2005, 10:31 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
plan_D's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 12,051
Country:
Send a message via MSN to plan_D Send a message via Yahoo to plan_D
That's a brilliant story, almost unbelieveable but a lot of strange things happen in war.
__________________
"When you go home tomorrow, don't expect anyone to know what you have been through. Even if they did know, most people probably wouldn't care anyway. Some of you may get the medals you deserve, many more of you will not. But remember this, all of you are now members of the front-line club, and that is the most exclusive club in the world." - Lt. Col. Matthew Maer CO 1st Battalion, the Princess of Wale's Royal Regiment. Camp Abu Naji, Oct. 2004

To those in that club.
plan_D is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2005, 10:33 AM   #4
Your ad here. ;)
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,145
Country:
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
It really is amazing. Someone handed me a photocopy of that story from a book years ago and I typed into word so that I would always have it. I had almost forgotten about until recently. I figured it would be a story that everyone here could appreciate.
__________________


http://www.vg-photo.com

Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda.
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-23-2005, 05:43 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
hellmaker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Ploiesti
Posts: 194
Country:
Send a message via Yahoo to hellmaker
Indeed evan...nice storry...smart of you to save it in such a way...
__________________
hellmaker is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2006, 12:58 PM   #6
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 3
Nice story

Nice feel good story, but there's a snag -- the name Roman Turski is not listed anywhere I can find for the Honour Roll of fighter pilots who flew during the Battle of Britain on the British side including the Free French and Poles. I first read this story and pretty much accepted as true back in the late '70s but on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, there were several books published on the subject and one of them actually had the names of every pilot who flew on the English side. Just for kicks I looked up the name Turski and did not find it on the list. I looked up the web site for the Battle of Britain where they maintain an honour roll and again it is not listed. Maybe I'm just having really bad luck, but I have not been able to locate the man's name on any official roll.

After doing some back tracing on this story, the earliest appearance of this story I could find was from a story from Reader's Digest in Jan. '53. It most like was based on earlier source which I've not able to find. But what is most telling is that there are several versions of this story which differs in details. Sorry guys, but this maybe one of those Urban Legends.
__________________
Jake
Jake is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2006, 01:01 PM   #7
Your ad here. ;)
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,145
Country:
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
Welcome aboard Jake. That's interesting, someone handed me a photocopy of the story and I forwarded it along. I don't know where the photocopy came from though.
__________________


http://www.vg-photo.com

Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda.
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-21-2006, 01:27 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Gnomey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Royal Deeside/St Andrews, Scotland, UK (atm Pretoria, South Africa)
Posts: 10,819
Country:
Send a message via AIM to Gnomey Send a message via MSN to Gnomey
Welcome to the forum Jake. Interesting information you have brought to light there.

Interesting story as well Eric.
__________________


"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
Sir Winston Churchill

"To him the people of the world largely owe the Freedom and liberties they enjoy today"
Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London


Moderator WW2 Talk: A WW2 Discussion Forum
Gnomey is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2006, 02:46 PM   #9
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 3
Thanks and glad to be here

Thanks. Glad to find this cool site.
__________________
Jake
Jake is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2006, 02:34 PM   #10
v2
Senior Member
 
v2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cracow
Posts: 2,957
Country:
Send a message via Skype™ to v2
Hi, here is a true story, more interesting then a legend about Turski...

http://www.geocities.com/skrzydla/300/lanc_story.pdf
v2 is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2006, 10:10 AM   #11
Your ad here. ;)
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 12,145
Country:
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
Very cool!
__________________


http://www.vg-photo.com

Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda.
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2006, 01:42 PM   #12
Senior Member
 
CurzonDax's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 355
Quote:
Originally Posted by v2
Hi, here is a true story, more interesting then a legend about Turski...

http://www.geocities.com/skrzydla/300/lanc_story.pdf
DOH! My work has it blocked. It probably has the word bra or dang! in it. Still awesome story whether its fiction or not. Still I hope its true (since I can't see the site) since war is stranger than fiction.

:{)
__________________
During World War II, Chuck Norris once shot down a German plane. He pointed his finger and yelled BANG!
CurzonDax is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-19-2006, 12:14 PM   #13
v2
Senior Member
 
v2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cracow
Posts: 2,957
Country:
Send a message via Skype™ to v2
Next story...mission impossible...
http://home.teleport.com/~flyheart/arrival.htm
http://home.teleport.com/~flyheart/parachut.htm
http://home.teleport.com/~flyheart/departur.htm
v2 is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 03-29-2006, 10:36 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
loomaluftwaffe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,848
Country:
nice stories guys
__________________


"The German Luftwaffe always fought without any reserves. This is also the reason why we have pilots with extremely high numbers of victories."
- General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland"


loomaluftwaffe is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2007, 03:21 AM   #15
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2
Country:
Re: your post (Feb-2006) Re: Evaders by Roman Turski

The story* is true. Yes, it did appear in the January, 1953 issue of Reader's Digest. I know this because I remember reading the article at the time it was published. Many years ago I went to a university library in Florida in an attempt to find and copy the original article, which I did.

Its publication in Reader's Digest was its first date of
publication. I know this because it was the magazine's policy to accept only original stories which could be verified.

When you looked into the authenticity of the article, you mentioned that you searched Royal Air Force records and you were unable to find a pilot named Roman Turski. The reason for this is simple.

The original article, as published, is followed by a brief annotation indicating that, to protect the identity of the pilot (which apparently was necessary in 1953), "Roman Turski" was not his real name.

Any subsequent versions of the story with different facts would most likely have been unauthorized versions of the original Reader's Digest article and
were obviously not properly credited to the publication.

If you doubt any of this, you are free to contact the publisher of Reader's Digest. Incidentally, I am not affiliated with them in any way. The URL for the story as published on this site is:

* http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/sto...urski-697.html (The Evaders, by Roman Turski)
locop is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:17 AM.


Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.1.0
   

AVIATION TOP 100 - www.avitop.com Avitop.com


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83