Ties that Survived Captivity
By Rachael Stephany
This map displays the division between the North and South camps. Michael Mooslechner, Das Kriegsgefangenenlager STALAG XVIII C “Markt Pongau.”
Frank Leigh Gitchell Jr
January 21, 1918 - February 16, 1996
On January 21, 1918, Frank Leigh Gitchell Jr. was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, to his parents, Frank Leigh Gitchell and Laura Mae Miller. Before Frank’s first birthday, his mother passed away, leaving behind her husband and three children.[1] Frank was the youngest of the Gitchell children with two older sisters. Following Frank’s first year of high school, he dropped out and pursued a job with University Press at the University of Virginia.[2]
The United States found itself in a full-fledged war against the Axis Powers following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Gitchell felt pulled to serve his country and enlisted in 1942.[3] He served in the Air Corps within the US Army and served as a pilot on bombardment campaigns, particularly heavy bombers.[4] Gitchell’s first duty station was located in Alaska, and then he was deployed to the European Theater to support the mission of defeating Germany.[5] Gitchell continued his role as a pilot but also became a confident gunner.[6] Heavy bombers used in the European Theater were B-17 Flying Fortress, used for long-range missions.[7]
During a mission, Gitchell was sent to bombard tanks and arsenals in Rossheim, Germany.[8] Suddenly, Gitchell was turning the plane around over Austria due to engine failure.[9] Gitchell was forced to eject from the plane and he parachuted violently downward. Thankfully, a gust of wind pushed him upwards into a tree, forcing him out of an uncertain death.[10] Gitchell suffered back injuries from attempting to climb out of a tree.[11]
A boy in a Nazi Youth uniform found Gitchell and held a pistol to his head, asking if he was American or English.[12] Gitchell’s fate was in the hands of this young boy, not much older than thirteen years old.[13] Gitchell was taken to a hospital in Tamsweg, Austria, halting his deportation to a POW Camp in Germany or Poland.[14] The lives of two POWs would cross in this hospital, creating a lifelong friendship. A New Zealander, Max Craig, was the only English-speaking POW at Stalag 18C and contracted pneumonia, leading to his transfer to the hospital in Tamsweg.[15] Stalag 18C housed many prisoners of war, but it housed only a handful of English-speaking prisoners. French POWs were housed within the southern part of the camp.[16] Serbian and Polish POWs would be housed in the southern camp alongside Frenchmen.[17] The Northern camp held Soviet POWs who were deemed inferior to the Nazi regime due to their political ideology.[18] POWs were forced to work within factories and the fields. Soviet prisoners worked in the harshest conditions and had the highest rates of malnourishment and death.[19] Of the 3600 POWs who died at Stalag 18C, 3,452 were Soviet POWs.[20] Gitchell and Craig were put into the same unit within the hospital attached to Stalag 18C. [21] Even though they only lived with each other for two weeks, they would forge a bond that would last for eternity.[22]
Stalag 18C held limited Americans; English and American troops were housed there for only a short period of time in 1943.[23] They were placed near the Southern entrance of the Northern camp and were placed in a hut.[24] Gitchell would spend some time in Stalag 18C due to his injuries from the plane crash. Ultimately, his injuries would only provide temporary relief from deportation to a POW camp in Northern Germany. Gitchell would be liberated by Russian forces on May 2nd, 1945.[25]
Following the war, Frank married Bernice June Bone on October 16, 1954, in Denver, CO.[26] Gitchell would continue his service in the military and would retire as a Sergeant after more than twenty years of service.[27] Gitchell clocked in over 6000 hours of flying time and received an Air Medal and a Purple Heart.[28] Following his retirement, he would continue to kindle his relationship with Craig.[29] They were pen pals for over two and a half decades, when finally Craig decided to come and visit Gitchell in Denver.[30] Their relationship continued until Gitchell passed on February 16, 1996.
Footnotes ↓
[1] Family Search, “Frank Leigh Gitchell,” Family Search, accessed July 25, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/about/GZKN-DWN
[2] Family Search, “Frank Leigh Gitchell, Virginia, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945,” Family Search, accessed July 25, 2025, https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/sources/viewedit/7FBV-QL4.
[3] Family Search, “Frank Leigh Gitchell.”
[4] National Archives and Records Administration, “Gitchell Frank L Jr., World War II Prisoners of War Data Files, 12/7/1941-11/19/1946, NARA, accessed July 25, 2025, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=3159&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&q=Gitchell&bc=,sl,sd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=29928.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Cecil Jones, “POW Friendship Stretches Across Globe, Many Years,” The Rocky Mountain News, June 5, 1969, accessed August 23rd.
[7] Britannica, “B-17”, Britannica, accessed July 25, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/technology/B-17.
[8] Cecil Jones, “POW Friendship Stretches Across Globe, Many Years”.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Memorial Museums, Stalag XVIIIC, Markt Pongau, Memorial Museums, accessed July 25, 2025, https://www.memorialmuseums.org/memorialmuseum/stalag-xviii-c-markt-pongau.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Cecil Jones, “POW Friendship Stretches Across Globe, Many Years”.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Michael Mooslechner, Das Kriegsgefangenenlager STALAG XVIII C “Markt Pongau”, Geschichtswerkstatt St. Johann, accessed July 25, 2025, http://www.geschichtswerkstatt-stjohann.at/uploads/3/0/5/7/30571421/stalag_broschuere_en.pdf.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Cecil Jones, “POW Friendship Stretches Across Globe, Many Years.”
[26] Family Search, “Frank Leigh Gitchell.”
[27] “Retired,” The Rocky Mountain News, May 3, 1963, accessed August 4, 2025, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=RMD19630503-01.2.132&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxCO%7CtxTA-Frank+Gitchell-------0------.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Cecil Jones, “POW Friendship Stretches Across Globe, Many Years.”
[30] Ibid.
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