If caught, his captors would have killed him but Marvin Doyle was determined to document the truth in case he didn’t make it out alive. There was also another reason; Marvin thought the sooner he’d write down what happened the sooner he’d be able erase it from his tortured mind.
This is the true story of aerial gunner Sergeant Marvin Doyle, a World War II prisoner of war who kept a secret diary while held captive in Stalag Luft 1, a German prison camp by the Baltic Sea. Marvin was shot down on November 4, 1944 in a B-24 bomber over Mostar, Yugoslavia. He wanted history to know what he and his crew endured for America’s freedom. Even more than that, he wanted the love of his life, his wife Anne, to know what happened to him. He had to be resourceful to make this happen. Once he got to Stalag Luft 1 he began to collect the wrappers from discarded cigarette packs, and he wrote his secret diary on the back of 37 of them. He knew if the Nazis discovered his secret diary, he would be put in solitairy confinement or worse, but he knew his experience had to be documented.
He detailed the terror of his plane being shot down, the hard parachute landing in which he was injured, his capture by dozens of Germans ready to shoot him on the spot, the overwhelming hunger and the unbearable cold. He detailed being forced to walk miles through a blinding snowstorm to get from one prison camp to the next. He would later talk of his appreciation to his squadron for carrying him when he was injured so the Nazis wouldn’t shoot him. He shared how he was haunted by the tail-gunner who froze with fear as their plane was going down and was too scared to pull his chute. He describes eating bugs and drinking vile coffee. And he writes of dreaming of sweet Anne and how he hoped she was waiting for him.
Perhaps surprisingly, he didn’t write of his hatred for his captors despite the horrific conditions. Instead, he hoped for peace for both sides. He wrote, ‘I have been in the air and also on the ground and I know how horrible war can be. It is terrible that so many people have to be slaughtered even though they are your enemies.’ This book also looks at other notable things which happened in Stalag Luft 1 including a hidden radio which allowed prisoners to listen to news broadcasts from Britain and America and allowed them to write a secret newspaper distributed amongst the camp.
Especially poignant is his treasured letter from General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, in which he warns about the importance of avoiding war in the future. At the war’s end Marshall wrote to Marvin and his fellow servicemen, ‘Choose your leaders wisely - that is the way to keep ours the country for which you fought. Make sure that those leaders are determined to maintain peace throughout the world. You know what war is. You know that we must not have another. As individuals you can prevent it if you give to the task which lies ahead the same spirit which you displayed in uniform.’
Sgt. Marvin Doyle wanted history to know the truth about what happened and this is the first time his diary is being publicly released.
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