Us Official Photographs

Allied Airmen in France

War II many Allied airmen, who were forced-down or escaped from German prison camps in France, were helped to safety by the French Marquis. The escapees would pass through the hands of the Marquis, French peasants, and seemingly innocent villagers who guided them across the French border into Switzerland. After the liberation of France the repatriated men boarded planes at a French airfield and were flown back to their bases and then home. Here, Sgt. Aubrey H. Geiger, Charleston, South Carolina, a Consolidated B-24 tail gunner, has nothing but his bundle, but that was enough to get him home. He was on his 17th mission over Regensburg, Germany, when two engines were shot out by flak. The crew bailed out. They were released from Switzerland. The sign on the wall is a notice to all such men as Sgt. Geiger to report to the nearest Allied civil or military authorities. October 1944