SHEFFIELD — As World War II drew to a close, many people in the Netherlands were close to starvation after years of German occupation.

IF YOU GO WHAT: Veterans including Robert T. Smith will be recognized on Armed Forces Day. WHERE: Cleveland Wing Confederate Air Force hangar, Lorain County Regional Airport, 44050 Russia Road. WHEN: Open house activities are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; Smith will be honored at 11 a.m

Among those who didn’t have enough to eat was 16-year-old Jan Van Galen.

“It was really bad — people were dropping dead in the streets,” he said.

Van Galen would gaze skyward as American and British bombers flew towards Germany.

“It would seem like there were 1,000 planes, and we would pray for them,” Van Galen said.

But in April 1945, those planes flew a different kind of mission dubbed “Operation Chowhound.” Food was flown in and dropped near Amsterdam and other cities where the food shortages were most severe.

“It was amazing when the planes came in so low, the bomb bay doors opened and manna came from heaven,” Van Galen said.

One of those ration bombardiers was 20-year-old Robert T. Smith, who will be honored Saturday as Veteran of the Year by the Cleveland Wing of the Confederate Air Force.

The two men happened to meet several years ago at a breakfast for residents of Wesleyan Meadows. The talk turned towards the war, and the pair discovered they had a special bond.

“Jan was talking about the food that was dropped near Amsterdam, and I said, ‘Jan, I was on a B-17 that day,’ ” Smith recalled.

“Jan said with tears in his eyes, ‘Let me shake your hand — you saved my life that day,’ ” Smith said. “I said, ‘No, I didn’t — I was just a member of the 8th Air Force.’

“It was a humanitarian action, and we felt good about it,” said Smith, who was with the 388th Bombardment Group, stationed in Knettishall, England.

Van Galen said the Red Cross made good use of the food, using it in soup kitchens.

Smith said the desperation of the Dutch was obvious as hundreds of people ran towards the food, which was wrapped in fencing wire to cushion its fall.

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had exacted a promise from the Germans that they would not fire on the planes during the humanitarian mission, and they kept their word.

The winter of 1944-45 had been very difficult, according to Van Galen, whose brother was in a concentration camp as a result of his work for the Dutch resistance. His brother had taken photographs of German fortifications safely to Switzerland before his capture. Both brothers survived the war.

Smith, who had enlisted in the Army Air Corps in June 1943, following high school, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in August 1944.

He flew about a half dozen combat missions in addition to Operation Chowhound.

After the war, Smith and his wife, Lorraine, were married. They were married for 56 years before she died in 2003. They had four daughters and nine grandchildren. Smith was the vice president/controller at Lear Siegler, Romec Division, in Elyria at the time of his retirement.

Van Galen, who came to the United States with his wife, Truus, as legal immigrants in 1959, taught foreign language in a number of school districts, including Solon, before his retirement.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

 

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