| Notes |
- Air Force P.O.W; WWII
- First Lt. Robert C. Gamache spent 518 days as a prisoner of war of the Germans and received three Air Medals, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Ward 3 Councilor Claire M. Freda, whose late husband was a Vietnam War veteran, read Mr. Gamache's obituary to the audience:
He was on a mission on Feb. 24, 1944, to destroy railroad yards, bridges and airfields in Austria when the plane he was in was shot down, Mrs. Freda said. After he parachuted from the plane at 26,000 feet, two farmers with pitchforks turned him over to authorities. After six days ofinterrogation, he spent the next 518 days as a prisoner of war before being liberated by the Russians on May 5, 1945.
During a 1988 newspaper interview, Mr. Gamache said he was a squadron leader in a B-17 Flying Fortress out of Italy when the bomber encountered German fire over Austria.
The pilot, the co-pilot, the left and right waist gunners and the man at the ball turret died, according to the story. A bullet hit Mr. Gamache in the throat and the plane began swinging from side to side, the story said. Mr. Gamache bailed out into minus-51 degree temperatures and the German fighters returned, but he evaded the fire by swinging from his parachute, the story said.
Two Austrian farmers and German soldiers were waiting below when he landed in 7 inches of snow, the story said.
Fourteen months later when the Russians liberated the German prison camp and saw the starving prisoners, they went into the countryside and machine-gunned pigs and cattle, the story said. The animals were used for a huge barbecue for the liberated soldiers.
Mrs. Freda said Mr. Gamache went on to work as a letter carrier, and he and his wife, Helen, became involved with former POWs.
"When the soldiers came back from Vietnam, they were there to talk to them," Mrs. Freda said.
Mr. Gamache died in 2000.
Gamache Lane is named in his honor, and yesterday people took photographs of the blue-and-white street sign that included a small American flag and information that he was a World War II POW.
Born:
- U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
Name: Robert Clarence Gamache
[Robert C Gamache]
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birth Date: 6 Nov 1918
Birth Place: Leominster, Massachusetts
Death Date: 2 Jul 2000
Father: Henry Gamache
Mother: Flora St Martin
SSN: 013125599
Notes: Feb 1938: Name listed as ROBERT CLARENCE GAMACHE; 13 Jul 2000: Name listed as ROBERT C GAMACHE
Died:
- Robert C. Gamache ?40S, 81, of Leominster, died at home Sunday evening, July 2, after an illness. He was born November 6, 1918, in Leominster, the son of Henry J. and Flora M. Gamache, and had lived here most of his life. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture in 1940. On Feb. 11, 1941, Mr. Gamache enlisted as a flying cadet in the military. Washed out due to a midair collision, he joined the US Army Air Corps three days later. On Feb. 24, 1944, while on a mission to destroy railroad yards, bridges and airfields in Austria, he was shot down over Steyr, Austria. Five of his 10 crew members died. Lt. Gamache was one of the lucky ones. He jumped from 26,000 feet and when he landed, he was apprehended by two farmers with pitchforks. They turned him over to German authorities. After six days of interrogation, they sent him to the Luftwafe's Stalag Luft I in Barth, Germany, on the Baltic Sea, where he spent the next 518 days as a prisoner of war. Most of his time was spent planning escape routes and twice when Lt. Gamache tried to escape, they captured him. The punishment for attempted escape was solitary confinement- 30 days in a 6-foot by 3-foot room, with a daily menu of two slices of bread and cabbage soup. After the war, he worked as a letter carrier for the US Postal Service in Leominster for more than 20 years before he retired. He leaves his wife, Helen J. Gamache, whom he married Oct. 4, 1947. He also leaves two daughters, Janice M. and Patricia A. McCray and Tara McCray; and a sister, Doris McCloskey of Indiantown, FL. . .
(Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise 7/5/00)
- Massachusetts, Death Index, 1970-2003
Name: Robert C Gamache
Certificate: 037514
Death Place: Leominster
Death Date: 2 Jul 2000
Birth Place: Massachusetts
Birth Date: 6 Nov 1918
Spouse: Helen Becrelis
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1918 - 2000 (81 years)
