BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — A Bloomington veteran of World War II joined other veterans and President Joe Biden at the official ceremony recognizing the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France.
Les Schrenk attended the event at the Normandy American Cemetery as part of an experience sponsored by Old Glory Honor Flight and American Airlines. For Schrenk, who's also a Long Prairie, Minn. native, the trip represents a poignant opportunity to honor veterans of this signature battle and the overall war.
“Well that was where the beginning of the end started,” Schrenk reflected two weeks ago from his current home at Friendship Village of Bloomington, where he alternates between water aerobics and coffee conversations.
He added: “Every one of us did a little part to win the war.”
Indeed, Schrenk, who says he’s now “a hundred years and six months” old, has more than played his part from the day he joined the military on his 19th birthday in November 1942.
‘I had a good idea that a lot of people weren’t coming back home’
Schrenk’s decision to join the military amid a raging war wasn’t well received on his family’s Long Prairie dairy farm. Already, his older brother was serving in the U.S. Air Force as a waist gunner on a B-24 in the Pacific.
“My mother and father tried to talk me out of it. But they weren’t successful,” Schrenk recalled about that fateful decision.
“I had a very good idea that a lot of people weren’t coming back home,” Schrenk said, adding, “But I promised my mother I would.”
Schrenk was delighted when he, too, was “assigned” to the U.S. Air Force. And he was also delighted when a B-17 pilot chose Schrenk to be part of his 10-man crew. Later, he learned “the only position left open was for the ball turret” – a position that called for him to sit in a small, separate space with two “massive machine guns” that would help ward off enemy planes.
Schrenk expounded on what was “by far the most dangerous” position within the plane: “It’s very, very crowded – your head [is] almost between your knees,” he said, adding: “You are outside the plane, and [if] you’re shot down, you have to first get inside the plane before you can bail out. And not only that, it’s so crowded in that turret you couldn’t wear your parachute. You had to leave your parachute in the plane.”
On Feb. 22, 1944, Schrenk’s plane – the Pot O’ Gold – was returning from a mission with other B-17 airplanes when enemy planes attacked the squadron.
“I saw the plane just to the right of us get hit and crash into the ocean. And about two minutes later, there was a real loud explosion,” Schrenk said about the moment a German pilot hit the plane.
Schrenk recalled seeing and hearing: “flames about 20 or 30 feet long, and there is one explosion after another.”
Miraculously, the German plane didn’t continue firing, which allowed the Pot O’ Gold to make it to land. Schrenk recalls how the crew then “all bailed out” of the plane.
“That 20 minutes that we were on fire actually saved my life. Because during that time we were on our way down – and no use being in the turret – so I got permission to leave the turret, and I had ample time to put my parachute on,” Schrenk said, adding, “If not for that, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Of the four planes shot down on that day – with a total of 40 men on board – only nine of the men survived. And those nine were from Schrenk’s crew. The only person who didn’t survive on that day was his dear friend, the pilot, William R. Lavies of Birmingham, Ala.
“[Lavies] had the misfortune of landing in a frozen lake. He broke through the ice. He was calling out for help. There was some Danish people (who) wanted to rescue him, but the Germans wouldn’t allow it,” Schrenk said about the fate of a friend, who “was like a brother to me… In fact, I say a prayer for him every night.”
The other nine crewmates were soon rounded up by the Germans, Schrenk said, which officially started their experience of being American POWs.
‘Interrogation was horrible’
For the next 15 months, the crew would endure starvation, beatings and disease as they were moved from prison camp to prison camp, all within Eastern Europe.
Schrenk recalled listening to the suffering of other service members before he experienced the interrogation for himself.
“In the background, you had screaming. You heard cursing, you heard begging for mercy. You heard every horrible sound you could hear and even occasional gunshots,” he said.
But Schrenk persisted – despite those beatings, disease and starvation – in part, he says, because of the fortitude of his fellow POWs.
“They knew we hadn’t had water for four or five days, and they were throwing water at us and just taunting us,” Schrenk said about his arrival to one of the camps, before he added: “And all of a sudden, a prisoner started singing ‘God Bless America,’ and we all chimed in and oh, that just absolutely infuriated the Germans.”
Schrenk also persisted by writing poetry as a prisoner: He seized the chance to document his feelings with a stub of a pencil and under low light.
But perhaps most of all, Schrenk believes he persisted because he was determined to keep his promise.
“Pure will. Remember, I promised my mother I’d come back,” Schrenk said about how he survived those long months of imprisonment.
In May 1945 – and after enduring months of a Death March – a unit of English soldiers approached Schrenk and his fellow prisoners to inform them they’d been liberated. But Schrenk still had to wait until July 30, 1945, to return home and finally fulfill his promise.
“Oh, she was just elated. It was middle of thrashing time,” Schrenk said about his mother.
He then added: “That’s the key to everything is don’t give up.”
Life after World War II
Upon his return to Minnesota, Schrenk remained determined to live, work, even build his own family. He married Bernice, his wife of 75 years on May 17, 1948. Bernice and Les had one daughter, Virginia. And while the family was busy with careers and travel – living primarily in Edina, Minn. – Schrenk also managed to research more about his own military history and that of other members of The Greatest Generation.
In 2008, a documentary crew followed Schrenk as he visited his plane’s crash site in Denmark and found the actual data plate from the “Pot O’ Gold.” Schrenk calls that discovery “the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack.”
And Schrenk also managed to meet the very German pilot – Hans Hermann Müller – who’d shot the American plane but chose to not keep firing, giving Schrenk’s crew a chance to survive.
“We’d turned back away from the formation. We were no longer much of a threat to him. He could’ve just kept on shooting at us, and just let us die in the ocean. He didn’t do that,” Schrenk recalled before he recounted Müller’s own words about his fateful decision that day: “He said, ‘I knew you were already out of the war, so I quit firing. Why should I?’”
And Schrenk’s passion to learn more about other battles and those who fought them hasn’t subsided. Which brings us back to the opportunity to travel to Normandy, France.
‘It’s a wonderful feeling’
Schrenk himself was not involved in the D-Day invasion. He was instead still being held as a POW elsewhere in Europe. But Schrenk welcomed the opportunity to honor the anniversary of the war’s turning point. And he also welcomed the opportunity to connect with fellow WWII veterans.
“It’s a wonderful feeling. Everybody has their own story. Everybody has, it’s wonderful,” Schrenk said.
Schrenk’s wife, Bernice, passed away just last year. His daughter, Virginia, died of cancer in 2018. But fortunately for Schrenk, he’s found a new sister within the military family: Mary Jo Rohrbacher – herself a 20-year veteran and retired master sergeant – joined Schrenk as his travel companion on the trip to Normandy.
Rohrbacher shared pictures of Schrenk’s historic visit and experience at the D-Day ceremony, including when he met U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D- MN, 3rd District) and one of the last living Tuskegee Airmen.
Rohrbacher said the day was "indescribable," as Schrenk also maintained his humor, charm and energy.
As for Schrenk, he predicted weeks ago the day – and opportunity to honor a pivotal moment of our collective past – would be profound.
“I like to relive the past,” Schrenk said about how he believes in reflecting, researching and remembering.
He added: “It’s part of history, and I think trying to keep history alive is very important.”
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