27 Aug From Gotland
The medieval church in Hemse. From Wikimedia Commons, photo taken by Artifex on May 3, 2008.
The month of March is one of the coldest of all the year on the island of Gotland. In custody of the local military unit, our ten airmen, miraculously safe and sound, were taken by truck to the folk high school in nearby Hemse.
On the way to the school, Captain Charles W. Smith asked Gunnar Jonsson, the teacher riding with them, if a little church they passed was the one the plane had circled around while he was searching for a safe place to land. Gunnar replied yes … it was built in the 13th century, one of 92 such medieval churches on the island, all built prior to 1350.
When they arrived at the school, they saw that it was equipped as a small wartime hospital. Each man was given a medical examination and declared unhurt.
The route from Hemse to Visby across the Baltic Sea to Nynäshamn, 60 km. south of Stockholm
The crew spent two nights in this war hospital, and on Wednesday, March 8, they left for the Swedish mainland. Because they were afraid that German submarines might be searching for them, they traveled at night. Their route from Gotland was north from the medieval city of Visby to the coastal town of Nynäshamn, 60 kilometers south of Stockholm. This would have been a three or four hour boat ride through the brackish Baltic Sea.
At this point, I am going to leave behind the adventures of our Liberty Lady crew for just a while.
To be continued …
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