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171 Chapter 17 30 April–20 June 1945 Purgatory Lamar and the rest of the nine thousand prisoners of war at Stalag Luft I had been liberated by the Russians, but the meaning of freedom took a while to sink in. The routine of twice-daily roll-calls, of brutal consequences for small infractions, of deprivation and hunger, all took a while to shake off. When it did, there was a celebration that the former Kriegies would never forget. An element of bedlam—here used in the exact original meaning of the London insane asylum—permeated the camp, as the not-quite-free prisoners began to celebrate their liberation. On 1 May 1945, the first day after the Russian army came through the gates to Stalag Luft I, Lamar was enjoying simply lounging around North Compound III. No guards, no mandatory roll calls, no fear. He reveled in the feeling of freedom. Spring on the coast of the Baltic Sea is still chilly. There is sharpness to the air, a crystal quality that seems to transmit sounds with special clarity. Lamar heard, on this first day of freedom, a buzzing that grew in volume with each passing minute. He listened closely, but he was unable to identify it as anything he had heard before. It wasn’t the sound of exploding ordnance, or the firing of guns, or the roar of the wind off the sea. These were all sounds that he now could easily identify. No, this was something else, something that had an organic quality to it, something that was alive, pulsating with blood and energy. A Kriegie he recognized but whose name he did not recall rushed toward Lamar, his face glowing. “They’re tearing down the fences in the other compounds!” he screamed. In seconds, it seemed to Lamar, hundreds of ex-prisoners ran to the fences of the North Compound and in unison pushed and pulled on the hated wire and posts in a focused frenzy of determination and explosive giddiness. In his 172 The Final Mission of Bottoms Up imprisonment, Lamar had never seen the Kriegies exert themselves in such a display of physical might; faces grew taut, hands gripped wooden posts and strands of wire, and without anyone calling cadence, they strained against the barrier that had enclosed them for months or years. The ten-foot-high fence began to sway; there followed a second wave of fury, and the entire ring of posts and wire fell in slow motion. Teutonic efficiency and precise engineering never really stood a chance against the pent-up sense of humiliation and outrage of the American and British ex-POWs. In a scene that might have resembled a football crowd toppling goalposts at the end of a championship game, the Kriegies pulled down the vile fences and the oppressive guard towers, cheering lustily as they fell. Colonel Zemke had hoped to keep the American and British former prisoners separated and safe from the Russians, of whom he was wary, but the Kriegies themselves thwarted his plan. Later that day, Lamar walked down to the former Luftwaffe antiaircraft school, with its red brick buildings, and watched as German civilians carted away armloads of military gear. He poked around and came across a crowd, now dispersing, wearing heavy sheepskin-lined Luftwaffe flying boots that they had liberated from a storehouse. Warm and well made, the boots were a fine souvenir, but there were none left by the time the American lieutenant arrived. Later, Lamar traded his well-worn GI shoes to a German civilian for a fine pair of the flight boots. The road out of the Stalag and the streets of the ancient town of Barth were a circus of frightened civilians, giddy American and British former POWs, Russian troops, and military vehicles. It was all too confusing, too noisy, too disorienting . Darkness was settling over the town and the compound, and Lamar decided to head back to camp. On this first day of quasi-freedom, he turned in early, nearly alone in the huge barracks. The next morning, he awoke to the sight of a large white goose hanging from the ceiling directly level with his third-tier bunk, and a net on the floor containing three or four large fish. The ex-Kriegies would not be hungry tonight. Lamar shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. The rest of the boys had dragged in at various times during the night, and brought with them...

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