Arthur Meyerowitz enlists in the U.S. Army and is inducted at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Arthur’s request to transfer from the Infantry to the Army Air Force is approved.  He is accepted as an Aviation Cadet.

Arthur takes a trip off base to ride horses with some of his fellow cadets. He suffers an eye injury which ends Arthur’s hopes of  becoming a pilot.

Recently discovered audio of Arthur sending best wishes from Fort Bragg to his family back in the Bronx

Transcript:
[Announcers Voice] How ya doing Mrs Rose Meyerowitz of the Bronx NY. This is Paul Haggerty [inaudbile] and I’m greeting you now from Fort Brag North Carolina. [blades and razor advertiser] is mighty happy to send you the voice of your favorite soldier, Arthur S Meyerowitz…

[Arthur’s Voice] Hello folks, this is Artie, I just want to say hello to you, dad and Seymour. I just came out of the service club(?) and this gentleman asked me if i’d like to make a recording of my voice to send home to you all. I want you to say hello to everybody at home for me and tell them I’m all, I’m ok and will write them every time I have a chance. I’m putting in for the air core again and if I do pass it i’ll be sure to let you know about it. We’re having a large inspection down here Tuesday and I don’t have much time to write but every time I do have a chance i’ll be sure to write you all. So say so long to everyone for me and i’ll see them the first chance I get. Sign off with love, artie

Arthur’s request that he be allowed to train as a B-24 Flight Engineer and Top-Turret Gunner is granted by the Army Air Force.

Staff Sergeant Arthur Meyerowitz completes his bomber flight-training and is assigned to the 715^th Bomber Squad, 448^th Bomber Group.

Aboard B-24 Maid of Tin, Arthur departs Morrisson Army Airfield, West Palm Beach, Florida.  His destination is England.

After refueling stops and layovers in Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Dakar, and Marrakesh, Arthur arrives at Seething Airfield, near Norfolk, England.

Arthur completes his first bombing mission, aboard B-24 Consolidated Mess.  The target is a Nazi V-1 Missile site at La Broye, France.

Arthur takes off for his 2nd mission aboard Harmful lil Armful [shown below]. The mission was a bombing run over the south of France. When HLA is shot down, Arthur seriously injures his back while parachuting into Nazi-occupied France. He spends the day/night hiding in the woods.

After hiding in the woods from Nazi patrols, Arthur is helped by a French farmer and his wife. He is handed over to Resistance leader Marcel Taillandier and hidden with another farmer, Jean Barbot.

Arthur hides out with the help of Barbot and meets Charlotte and Christiane Michel, of Lesparre. He is with Bartbot from Jan 2-4, 1944.

The Resistance sneaks Arthur to the Lesparre home of Dr. Pierre and Gisele Chauvin.  Members of the Resistance unit Brutus, Gisele and Pierre provide Arthur with fake identification papers and a new identity, Georges Lambert. George is from Algiers and is “deaf and mute”. This allow Arthur to avoid speaking to Nazi agents or police (as he didn’t speak French). He also meets Brutus fighter Pierre Delude.

 

The Michels and Brutus operative Jean-Pierre Dupin escort Arthur from Lesparre to Bordeaux, where he meets Resistance agents Robert Ardichen and Georges Tissot.

January 16-February 12, 1944:  Arthur is concealed in Beaumont-de-Lomange in the home of Mimi Dumas, where he also meets Resistance sympathizers Madame Rigal and Dr. Rey.

Marcel Taillandier – leader of Resistance unit Morhange – arrives in Beaumont-de-Lomagne with his top aide, Andres Fontes, to take Arthur to Toulouse.

Arthur stays at the Toulouse home of Monsieur Thoulouse, hiding in plain sight as “Georges Lambert.”

Arthur is arrested and tortured by the Gestapo.  Marcel Taillandier rescues him though a Morhange agent named “Jeno” and takes Arthur to a maquis, a Resistance hideout, in the woods outside Toulouse.

Arthur recovers from a brutal beating during his arrest/interrogation while hiding out in the maquis.

 

April-May 1944:  Arthur is brought back to the house of Tholouse.  In mid-April, Arthur meets downed R.A.F. bomber pilot Lieutenant R.F.W. Cleaver.

With the Gestapo closing in, Marcel Taillandier arranges a dangerous escape from Toulouse across the Pyrenees Mountains to neutral Spain.  Arthur and Cleaver are driven by Morhange to Perpignan, near the Spanish border.

By truck, Arthur and Cleaver endure an eight-hour drive to the Pyrenees foothills.

Arthur, Cleaver, and their mountain guide make a nightmarish crossing of the Pyrenees and reach the Spanish border just before their German pursuers.  The two escapees are brought to the town of Figueres.

Arthur and Cleaver are taken from Figueres to Barcelona.  There, they are issued identification papers.

Arthur and Cleaver are brought to Madrid.

Arthur and Cleaver are driven 332 miles from Madrid to Seville.

By car, Arthur and Cleaver are transported to the port of Algeciras.  They board a fishing boat for a risky seven-mile trip to the British fortress of Gibraltar.  Arthur arrives safely in Gibraltor. He is back on Allied controlled territory for the first time in more than 6 months. He sends a telegram home to let his family know he is alive and well.

DEAR FOLKS AND SEYMOUR EVERYTHING OKAY HERE  HOPE TO BE SEEING YOU ALL VERY SOON  MY LOVE TO EVERYONE  LOVE – ARTIE MEYEROWITZ

Arthur is debriefed after arriving in Gibraltar. Here is some of the pages from that debrief where Arthur details his life for the last 6+ months. The places he went, the people he went, the trying times he lived through, etc.