# Were Allied POWs sent back into action after being freed/ escaping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027 "2010-03-27T16:45:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/1 "2010-03-27T16:45:37Z")
I know Gen O’Connor was given another command after being freed from captivity. I suppose thart a General is a different beast from the rest. And he was captured in N Africa and freed in Italy. But what about others?. I imagine someine freed or escaping in say 44 or early 45 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/2 "2010-03-27T17:29:01Z")
There was a policy of not allowing pilots who had been shot down and then escaped to fly over enemy territory again, so as to avoid compromising resistance cells. Chuck Yeager was shot down and escaped with the help of the _Maquis_, but was allowed to return to combat after the Allies had invaded France and the _Maquis_ were fighting openly. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/3 "2010-03-27T18:53:25Z")
What does Star Trek Deep Space 9 have to do with this? 😉 No, that makes a lot of sense if they’ve escaped using help from resistance groups. I too am kind of interested in this. When we liberated POWs from camps in Europe or Asia, were they nursed back to health and put back in uniform, or were they simply sent home? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/4 "2010-03-27T22:15:04Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I too am kind of interested in this. When we liberated POWs from camps in Europe or Asia, were they nursed back to health and put back in uniform, or were they simply sent home? I have an uncle that was a POW in Germany during WWII. He survived a 400mi death march during the winter of 1945. Once the front reached him, he was taken to a hospital-like base. Since he was so weak and underweight it took some time to recover. Then he was shipped home, spent a short time on a base in the US, mustered out and given a ticket home. He called his folks from the bus station in the middle of the night to get picked up. The war with Japan was still (barely) going on, and as an experienced bomber crewman he could have been useful, but I think they thought he had enough. (Lots of bomber groups switched from Europe to Japan at the time.) I think that would be typical for US POWs rescued near the end of the war in Europe. POWs rescued in Asia would be in even worse shape, as hard as that is to comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/5 "2010-03-27T23:09:12Z")
One of the airmen who managed to escape the German POW camp [Stalag Luft III](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III), [Bram van der Stok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_van_der_Stok), is mentioned as returning to duties as a Spitfire pilot during the war. Another escapee, [Bertram James](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertram_James) was a reservist after the war it seems, which might not be what the OP was looking for. Allied POWs were sometimes held _very_ close to the UK, in the [Curragh Camp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curragh_Camp) in Ireland. A magazine story on the camp made mention of Allied airmen eventually being sent straight across the border when the war was coming to an end, I wonder if they had a chance to get back into action. Crash landing in or baling out over Ireland was (I hope!) a much less stressful experience than doing so over German or Japanese held territories and shouldn’t have been an impediment to flying again. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/6 "2010-03-28T01:32:18Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Allied POWs were sometimes held _very_ close to the UK, in the [Curragh Camp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curragh_Camp) in Ireland. A magazine story on the camp made mention of Allied airmen eventually being sent straight across the border when the war was coming to an end, I wonder if they had a chance to get back into action. Crash landing in or baling out over Ireland was (I hope!) a much less stressful experience than doing so over German or Japanese held territories and shouldn’t have been an impediment to flying again. You do realize that Ireland was neutral in WWII? The inmates there were not actually POWs, they were internees, members of the military of the belligerents that happened to be in Ireland when the war started. There wasn’t actually a lot of bailing out or crashing from combat missions in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![boilercake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@boilercake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boilercake)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/7 "2010-03-28T02:07:52Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > You do realize that Ireland was neutral in WWII? Technically, I s’pose. Didn’t it and most of its population favor the Axis? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/8 "2010-03-28T02:36:41Z")
> [@Lok](#): > > You do realize that Ireland was neutral in WWII? The inmates there were not actually POWs, they were internees D’oh, yes, I forgot they were internees. But yes, I do realise Ireland was neutral. I seem to remember my grandfather had some sort of a medal or citation relating to [The Emergency](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(Ireland)). > [@boilercake](#): > > Technically, I s’pose. Didn’t it and most of its population favor the Axis? Only the IRA, inevitably, tried to act against the United Kingdom with the connivance of the Axis. The Irish government offered help in various ways, from openly sending fire fighters to Belfast during the blitz there to quietly allowing RAF aircraft to fly straight from bases in Northern Ireland across the NW of the island to their Atlantic patrols. There were quite a few Irishmen who volunteered to fight as part of the British Army, as many or more than from Northern Ireland IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/9 "2010-03-28T02:41:01Z")
Interesting. I thought that when a soldier surrendered, he was basically saying “I give up. Don’t kill me. I am done fighting.” I would think that escaping and returning to the fight goes against the spirit of surrendering and would make the enemy more likely to not take prisoners. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/10 "2010-03-28T02:59:11Z")
No, it was more, “I can no longer fight at this point in time without definitely dying.” It was recognized that POWs would attempt to escape and return to the fight. That is considered the duty of any Americans taken prisoner. I believe it is also specifically recognized in the Geneva Conventions, but I am not certain about that. And a major reason for someone to take prisoners is so the enemy does the same. If the Axis just automatically shot any Allied military they captured, then they could expect the same for their military that is captured. Although both sides did sometimes kill prisoners out of hand under some circumstances, it was not the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-allied-pows-sent-back-into-action-after-being-freed-escaping/534027/11 "2010-03-28T03:02:52Z")
[http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawlegislation/a/codeofconduct3.htm](http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawlegislation/a/codeofconduct3.htm) > [@](#): > > The Geneva Conventions recognize that the regulations of a POW’s country may impose the duty to escape and that POWs may attempt to escape. Under the guidance and supervision of the senior military person and POW organization, POWs must be prepared to take advantage of escape opportunities whenever they arise. In communal detention, the welfare of the POWs who remain behind must be considered. A POW must “think escape,” must try to escape if able to do so, and must assist others to escape. > > The Geneva Conventions authorize the release of POWs on parole only to the extent authorized by the POWs’ country and prohibit compelling a POW to accept parole. Parole agreements are promises a POW gives the captor to fulfill stated conditions, such as not to bear arms or not to escape, in consideration of special privileges, such as release from captivity or lessened restraint. The United States does not authorize any Military Service member to sign or enter into any such parole agreement.