Swante B. Norlund
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Swante B. Norlund entered into the Army Air Corps April 21, 1943, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Home at entry: Floodwood, Minnesota.
He served as a Technical Sergeant, radio operator, mechanic, and an aerial gunner on a B-24 Liberator Bomber with the 760th Bombardment Squadron of the 460th Bombardment Group of the 15th Air Force.
Mr. Norlund shared the following:
"On November 18, 1944, I was flying... out of Foggia Air Base in Southern Italy on a B-24 Liberator bomber. We were bombing a German airfield near Pola, Italy, on our 16th bombing mission. We had just dropped our bombs when we were hit by antiaircraft fire, knocking out two engines.
"The crew if 10 bailed out and scattered all over the country-side. Four crewmen were captured by the Germans and taken prisoner of war for the duration. Six of us made our way back to our own lines by different underground organizations. I traveled across the Italian border into Yugoslavia. I was hit shrapnel in the plane which broke my left arm. It was left untreated and had festered for three months when I was rescued. At the time I was rescued, I had lost 50 pounds.
"I was traveling with a seven-man guerrilla patrol one night in Croatia and at daylight we came upon a still-smoking burned-out village. All the women and children and old men were lying in the streets with their throats cut. I think it was done by the Ustashi, a murderous band of guerrilla fighters. They cut throats to save bullets. The young men of the village were away fighting in the war. As I traveled with different patrols to Southern Italy, we were chased and shot at several times.
"I arrived at a small farm village in Southern Yugoslavia around February 18, 1945. John Blatnik from the Iron Range was in the village with a portable radio operator. (Editor Note: John Blatnik, was to later become a U.S. Congressman from Chisholm. He served in Yugoslavia with the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA) They called in a C-47 cargo-passenger plane. It was filled up with 10 airmen, wounded guerrillas, and their wives. P-51 fighters circled us for protection. Taking off, we didn't gain enough flying speed so we crashed in a meadow, just clearing a river. We all got out and survived. The pilot and copilot were injured and had to be carried off the plane, which caught fire and burned.
"'A week later, another plane came in and we were flown to Bari, Italy. After arm surgery and three months in a hospital, I was sent back to the U.S. on a passenger ship. I found out later that the underground was paid $500 in American money for every airman they rescued and, if it were not for this, I don't think I would have made it back."
He serviced in Northern Apennines, Italy; Southern France, Northern France, Rhineland, and Air Combat Balkans. He was wounded in action on November 18, 1944, in Italy.
Mr. Norlund was awarded the following: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with five bronze battle stars, World War II Victory Medal, and Air Crew Member Wings.
He was honorably discharged October 30, 1945, at San Antonio, California.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The St. Louis County World War II Project. 223.
