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World War Two Flying Ace Who Retired to Oroville |
Born | Missoula, MT, USA | 14 March 1914 |
Transferred to 479th Fighter Group | Wattisham, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7, UK | 12 August 1944 |
Prisoner of War | Stalag Luft I | 30 October 1944 – April 1945 |
Died | Oroville, CA, USA | 30 August 1994 |
Beale AFB has a library dedicated to the memory of Hub Zemke. This library focuses on being a resource center for children and their teachers. http://www.bealefss.com/hub-zemke-library/
'Hub' Zemke's book about his life in the Army Air Corps near the end of World War II, particularly his life as a Prisoner of War in Germany.
Hub's parents were German immigrants living in North Dakota. So, he grew up a fluent German speaker, making his POW experience especially interesting. I sat with him at a kitchen table and listened to his stories about his sevice experiences. They were spellbinding to this 35 year old listener. He was candid, consistant and precise in his telling.
Hub commanded his own fighter squadron in England in his early twenties, attaining the rank colonel.
When shot down leading his air group to a target over Germany, he was captured and found himself the ranking officer in the Stalag Luft I prisoner population. With Hub's German language skills and relatively high rank, he developed an interesting relationship with the Stalag Kommandant. Any of the books published by, or about, him make an intriguing read.