Narrative Contributed by
John Edwards, 384th BG Historian

On March 4, 1944 the 384th Bomb Group prepared for the first American daylight raid on Berlin. The group dispatched 22 aircraft, but eight aborted. Unexpected clouds hindered assembly, so the entire Eighth Air Force split with elements of the Third Bomb Division flying to Berlin while First Bomb Division units, including the 384th Bomb Group, bombed a target of opportunity: Bonn, Germany, just south of Cologne. Clint wrote about the mission nearly 50 years later.

Clint Orean's U.S. training crew
Clint is 2nd from left, kneeling

"The take-off was normal. At the I.P., we started the bomb run. The flak ahead was very heavy and level with us. At bombs away, we took a direct hit in the nose which killed the navigator and bombardier. The #3 engine quit with oil leaking and the prop windmilled, shaking the plane badly. The interphone was out, so I had no contact with the rest of the crew. At this point we fell out of formation.

German fighters attacked the straggling aircraft. The pilot, Lt. George Consentino, continually evaded the fighters by flying into clouds while heading back to England. The running battle ended when the fighters broke off the attack over Belgium at some 18,000 feet."

Clint continues the story:

"After some time, S/Sgt Vincent Romano, the radio operator, banged on the turret door. I rotated the turret up and he motioned for me to get out. The plane went into a slow spin to the left just as I bailed out. I remembered to keep crouched (so I wouldn't hit the stabilizer) and not to open the chute too soon. I recall thinking how strange it was because I was falling faster that the snow. There was some eight inches of snow on the ground. I think the plane crashed near Fleures, Belgium."

Clint shattered his knee and had several shrapnel injuries when he landed on the Minet farm outside of Fleures, Belgium. Immediately, Minet's took him in while he recuperated from his injuries. During four weeks in recovery, Clint quickly mastered French, including the Belgian accent. After his recovery, Clint attempted to continue his escape, heading toward Switzerland, helped along with the way by helpers. His helpers, Gustave and Emma Pholein provided false identification papers and civilian clothing. The escape attempt failed when a Gestapo infiltrator exposed the escape line just prior to Clint's last stop before Switzerland. Clint stopped trying to escape and joined the local resistance.

Clint's ability to quickly learn foreign languages paid off during this time with the resistance. One time a German officer tried asking Clint about the local train service in French. Fortunately, the German struggled with his French, then asked in English if Clint spoke English. Clint replied "Well, yes I do - a bit." The conversation continued with Clint trying to hide his Mid-Western American accent and sound like he learned his English in the local school.

In addition, his knowledge of explosives made him a valuable member in the resistance group. Clint recalled "If we could drop a railroad bridge into a stream with explosives, we would." Later, the group focused on rail lines servicing the Pas de Calais area. The group diffused unexploded Allied bombs and scavenged the needed TNT explosives for the demolition plan. On the appointed night, Clint waited until the train passed over the tracks wired with explosives before triggering the detonator. "You never saw such a mess in your life. It turned out that the train carried Buzz bomb warheads that exploded. The resulting explosion blasted away the entire rail embankment and cut the line for weeks."

Clint successfully evaded German captivity until the Allied advance finally recovered him in the fall of 1944.