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| 2nd Lt. |
| Philip C. Wymond |
| O-691848 |
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| Navigator - Brague Crew 718 |
| POW |
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Life before the War
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Phil's family started to put together a bio for him but haven't finished it yet. Right now all we know about his life before the war is he was born on September 26, 1922 in Ohio.
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Into the Army
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I don't know when or where Phil was inducted but records do show he was commissioned a 2nd Lt on 16 September 1943. He went to the Crew Assignment Center in Salt Lake City where he was assigned to a crew piloted by Roger Brague. Upon completing their crew training in Tucson, they were transferred to the 492nd BG stationed at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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Training Record (partial)
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| 16 Sep 43: Commissioned 2nd Lt |
| Crew Assignment Center: Salt Lake City, UT |
| Crew Combat Training: Davis-Monthan Airfield, Tucson, AZ |
| 492nd Bomb Group: Alamogordo, NM |
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War Experience
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On 19 May 1944, Phil and his crew were shot down near Brunswick, Germany. He had barely made it out of the plane when it blew up, cheating a certain death. Shortly after landing he was captured by a young German boy. We have details on that experience, see our MANDELSLOH Story and Phil's own account entitled, THE FINAL FLIGHT OF THE KATIE JEAN.
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After getting processed by the German military, Phil was sent to Stalag Luft III. He roomed with eleven other officers including three guys from Crew 717, Charles Arnett, Lucian (Bert) Stewart and Ernie Gavitt. Ernie already knew Phil fairly well as both men were navigators. Charles and Bert sort of knew him was because they were good friends with his pilot, Roger Brague. But after many months in POW camp they all became close friends, bonded for life.
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