Cavendish and Dow

Robert J. Cavendish James Dow Harrelson Prisoners of War
Robert J. Cavendish, from Huntington, West Virginia, was a navagator on a B-24 Liberator. On December 20, 1943, while on a mission near Verona, Italy, German anti-aircraft fire shot down Cavendish's plane. The 22-year-old navigator spent the next 16 months at Stalag Luft 1 located near the town of Barth on the Baltic Sea. Cavendish shared a 12" x 16" room with 23 other prisoners.	Robert J. Cavendish
James Dow Harrelson	James Dow Harrelson, born April 25, 1919 in Sumter, entered the Army Air Corps on February 13, 1942. Harrelson went overseas in June 1943. Since no American planes were available at the time, Harrelson flew British Spitfires until he was shot down and captured by the Germans on December 22, 1943. He spent the remainder of the war in Stalag Luft 1, a German prisoner of war camp near the Baltic Sea. Harrelson received his honorable separation from the Army Air Corps on December 28, 1946. He had earned the rank of Captain and had been awarded the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle East-Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and three Service Stars for his service in Sicily, Naples-Goggia Air Off. and Europe.
According to the Geneva Convention of 1929, prisoners of war were to be treated humanely; given medical care, provided adequate housing and food, be allowed to write to family, and not subjected to excessive punishment if found trying to escape. All major powers except the USSR and Japan signed and ratified the treaty. The actual treatment of prisoners, however, varied greatly.
The fate of American prisoners of war depended on where they were captured, by whom they were captured, and when they were captured. Historians estimate that as many as 27% of British and American soldiers captured by the Japanese died in captivity. Unless imprisoned by the Gestapo, British and American prisoners held in Italy and Germany fared far better, thanks in part to food and clothing supplied by the International Red Cross. Nevertheless, after the invasion of Normany and the Allied advances, life for the prisoners of war changed drastically. In Stalag Luft 1, after October 1, 1944, the Germans gradually dropped the daily ration from 1230-1800 calories per man to less than 800 calories. At the same time, Red Cross supplies were also limited. Food shortages continued until April 1, 1945. Punishments for infactions of the rules also became harsher - one camp commander authorized his guards to use firearms to "avenge" insults to German honor.	Prisoners in Stalag Luft 1 with a Red Cross parcel.
	Families learned the fate of prisoners in many different ways. The U.S. government had listening stations that picked up radio transmissions that mentioned the fate of servicemen and women. Civilians with shortwave radios also monitored German stations to learn the names of people captured. Some of these civilians then sent postcards or letters to the families with the news of their loved one.
The capturing power also provided form letters like that on the right for prisoners to communicate their capture to their families. Unfortunately for anxious families, it could take as much as six months for news from prisoners to reach them. In the case of James D. Harrelson, his family did not hear news of his fate for many months after his plane was shot down over Germany.	Dow was captured in December 1943, this letter is dated March 1944.