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This man was the Nazi's worst nightmare Historical Legends Part 1 · Crime and Horror

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  Speaker 1: If you Google the most incredible story of all time,
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  Speaker 1: this story that I'm going to tell you today pops
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  Speaker 2: And after reading through it, I can totally understand why.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get into today's story, if you're a
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  Speaker 2: Alright, let's get into today's story. The United States formally
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  Speaker 2: entered World War II on December 8th, 1941 after the
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  Speaker 2: Japanese attacked Pearl.
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  Speaker 1: Harbor in Hawaii.
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  Speaker 2: At the time, Joseph Byerly was a senior at his high.
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  Speaker 1: School in Muskegon, Michigan, and he had a scholarship to
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  Speaker 1: attend Notre Dame University the next year.
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  Speaker 2: But after his.
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  Speaker 1: Graduation in 1942, he decided he didn't want to go
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  Speaker 1: to college so long as other kids his age were
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  Speaker 1: going off to fight the war. And so he enlisted
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  Speaker 1: in the army, and he immediately volunteered for one of
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  Speaker 1: the most dangerous units, the parachute infantry. Joseph completed a
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  Speaker 1: brutal accelerated training regimen that included exhausting PT and blistering heat,
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  Speaker 1: extended forced marches, grueling full-kit runs up mountains, as well
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  Speaker 1: as both American.
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  Speaker 2: And British jump schools.
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  Speaker 1: By 1943, Joseph was fully trained and stationed in England
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  Speaker 1: and was eager to put his training to the test.
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  Speaker 2: But the Allied invasion of.
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  Speaker 1: Nazi-occupied France, also known as D-Day, was still a few
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  Speaker 1: months away. But Joseph didn't want to wait that long,
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  Speaker 1: so he volunteered for an incredibly dangerous mission that the
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  Speaker 1: OSS was recruiting paratroopers for. The OSS was the predecessor
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  Speaker 1: to the CIA. Basically, volunteers would parachute in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of the night into Nazi-occupied France with a backpack full
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  Speaker 1: of gold. Once they hit the ground, they'd meet up
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  Speaker 1: with the French resistance and give the gold to them,
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  Speaker 1: and then the resistance would do their best to protect
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  Speaker 1: these volunteer paratroopers and hopefully give them a ride back
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  Speaker 1: out to England.
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  Speaker 2: But by no means.
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  Speaker 1: Was it a guarantee, because many of these volunteers were
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  Speaker 1: killed in the process. This was some hardcore, deep-cover spy work,
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  Speaker 1: that the OSS would tell their volunteers, if you get
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  Speaker 1: caught on this mission, you're going to get.
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  Speaker 2: Tortured and you're going to get executed.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph would successfully complete this insane mission, and then he
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  Speaker 1: liked it so much, he did it again. Shortly after
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  Speaker 1: his second successful OSS mission, word came down that D-Day
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  Speaker 1: was set to take place on June 6th. Joseph's unit
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  Speaker 1: was told they were going to be parachuted into France
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  Speaker 1: the night before in order to destroy bridges, cut power
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  Speaker 1: supply lines, and generally soften up defenses before the main
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  Speaker 1: invasion happened just a couple of hours later at Utah Beach.
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  Speaker 1: So in the dead of night on June 5th, Joseph
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  Speaker 1: and his unit were flying over France when they were
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  Speaker 1: struck by enemy fire. And so as their plane is
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  Speaker 1: literally falling to the ground, Joseph leaps out the door
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  Speaker 1: when he's only 400 feet off the ground, and he
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  Speaker 1: manages to survive the jump, his parachute inflated just in time,
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  Speaker 1: but he landed on top of a church where a
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  Speaker 1: Nazi sniper was up in the steeple taking shots at
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  Speaker 1: all of the other paratroopers. And when the sniper saw
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  Speaker 1: Joseph on the roof, he began taking shots at him,
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  Speaker 1: and Joseph managed to dodge the rounds before slipping off
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  Speaker 1: the roof and running out of sight. Once on the ground,
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  Speaker 1: he slammed a mag into his M1 carbine and then
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  Speaker 1: began a one-man mission so incredible that there is a
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  Speaker 1: plaque inside of the church he landed on that looks
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  Speaker 1: like this.
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  Speaker 2: Completely alone, with no idea where the rest of his unit.
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  Speaker 1: Was, Joseph took off running from the church, and once
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  Speaker 1: again had to dodge more sniper fire, and he eventually
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  Speaker 1: made it to the town's power substation, which he blew
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  Speaker 1: up with thermite. So he cut the power to the town,
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  Speaker 1: and from there he went building to building to building,
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  Speaker 1: killing every Nazi he came across, including an entire squad
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  Speaker 1: of Nazi infantry that he ambushed with grenades. At some point,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph made his way over to one of the bridges
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  Speaker 1: leading into this town, that if he blew up, it
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  Speaker 1: would prevent Nazis from sending reinforcements to Utah Beach.
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  Speaker 2: But as he crawled through one of the.
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  Speaker 1: Hedgerows, he fell headfirst into a Nazi machine gun nest,
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  Speaker 1: and when he turned around, there were a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: machine guns pointed at his.
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  Speaker 2: Face, and so he surrendered.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was marched deeper into France to a POW holding area,
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  Speaker 1: and as soon as he got there, explosions ripped out
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  Speaker 1: all around him. It wasn't clear if it was German
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  Speaker 1: artillery or American aircraft, but whatever it was, it.
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  Speaker 2: Was killing both Germans and American POWs.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph took shrapnel to the leg and was blown into
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  Speaker 1: a ditch, and despite being in excruciating pain, he took
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  Speaker 1: this as an opportunity to escape. And so he got
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  Speaker 1: up and ran away as best as he could with
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  Speaker 1: his injury, and for 12 hours he remained uncaught behind
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  Speaker 1: enemy lines before he was ultimately caught again. This time,
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  Speaker 1: they put Joseph in the back of a covered, locked
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  Speaker 1: truck to keep him from escaping, and they decided they
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  Speaker 1: would send him to St. Lowe and decide what to
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  Speaker 1: do with him there. but on their transit to St. Lowe,
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  Speaker 1: an Allied aircraft strafed the vehicle that Joseph was in,
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  Speaker 1: and Joseph survived the attack and was able to leap
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  Speaker 1: out of one of the holes in the side of
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  Speaker 1: the truck from this attack, and he attempted to escape,
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  Speaker 1: but once again, he was caught.
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  Speaker 2: The Nazis finally got Joseph to St.
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  Speaker 1: Lowe, and as soon as they got there, the Americans
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  Speaker 1: launched an all-night bombing campaign on.
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  Speaker 2: The city, but once again, Joseph narrowly survives.
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  Speaker 1: A recurring theme of Joseph's story is is that he
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  Speaker 1: is repeatedly almost killed by his own teammates. For the
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  Speaker 1: next few days, Joseph was interrogated 20 to 24 hours
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  Speaker 1: a day, but he didn't give them any information, and
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  Speaker 1: he repeatedly called them sons of bitches, until they got
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  Speaker 1: so fed up with him, they just beat him to
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  Speaker 1: a pulp. and he was knocked unconscious and kept in
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  Speaker 1: the hospital for several days.
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  Speaker 2: For the next three months.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was starved, beaten, interrogated some more, and moved to
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  Speaker 1: multiple POW camps. He'd be forced to do back-breaking labor
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  Speaker 1: all day. At night, he would survive Allied bombing runs,
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  Speaker 1: and he would constantly weather hunger, disease, and exhaustion. At
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  Speaker 1: one point, he was locked inside of his boxcar with
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  Speaker 1: 50 other guys. He could barely move inside of it,
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  Speaker 1: and once again, it was strafed by Allied planes, and
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the very few people to survive that.
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  Speaker 1: In September of 1944, Joseph was moved to a Russian
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  Speaker 1: POW camp in Poland that held about 12,000 Russian men
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  Speaker 1: and women POWs. And as soon as he got there,
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  Speaker 1: he immediately began planning his escape. Two months later, on
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  Speaker 1: a freezing night in November, Joseph, along with three other
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  Speaker 1: American POWs, managed to cut the barbed wire and snuck
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  Speaker 1: out of the camp and began making their escape south.
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  Speaker 1: They snuck into a railway station and hopped on a
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  Speaker 1: train car they believed was headed for Poland. Their plan
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  Speaker 1: was to meet up with the Soviet Red Army as
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  Speaker 1: it pushed through the region.
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  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, they got on the.
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  Speaker 1: Wrong train and they wound up in Berlin, the capital
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  Speaker 1: of Nazi Germany. One thing you don't hear much about
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to World War II is there was
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  Speaker 1: actually a large number of Germans that hated Hitler and
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  Speaker 1: totally disagreed with the Nazis. And so they organized a
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  Speaker 1: German underground resistance that was designed to help the Allies
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  Speaker 1: during the war. And so when Joseph and the other
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  Speaker 1: three American POWs arrived in Berlin, still wearing their POW uniforms,
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  Speaker 1: a member of the German resistance saw them and immediately
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  Speaker 1: grabbed them and brought them into hiding. But after only
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  Speaker 1: a week, the infamous Nazi secret police, aka the Gestapo,
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  Speaker 1: discovered them and arrested them. Over the next 10 days,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph and the other American POWs got to see firsthand
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  Speaker 1: just how awful the Gestapo really were. They were constantly
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  Speaker 1: interrogated while they were beaten, kicked, walked on, strung up
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  Speaker 1: by their arms backwards. They were hit with whips, clubs
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  Speaker 1: and rifle butts until they drifted into unconsciousness. And then
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  Speaker 1: as soon as they started to come to, it would
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  Speaker 1: start all over again. After those 10 days, the Gestapo
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  Speaker 1: turned Joseph and the other three American POWs over to
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  Speaker 1: the German army who put them in the brutal prison
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  Speaker 1: camp called the Stalag Luft III.
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  Speaker 2: Upon arrival, Joseph was immediately sentenced to 30 days.
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  Speaker 1: Inside of a four by five foot pine box that
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  Speaker 1: was too small to stand up or lay down in.
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  Speaker 1: Fortunately for him, he only had to endure seven days
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  Speaker 1: because a Red Cross operative from Geneva intervened on his behalf.
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  Speaker 1: It would take months for Joseph to get his strength
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  Speaker 1: back after being inside of this box, but as soon
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  Speaker 1: as he did, he began plotting his next escape. One night, Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: along with his three American POW buddies, managed to break
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  Speaker 1: through a prison wall and made a mad dash for freedom,
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  Speaker 1: but the Nazi prison guards saw it and opened.
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  Speaker 2: Fire on them.
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  Speaker 1: All three of Joseph's friends were killed as they ran,
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  Speaker 1: but Joseph got away, only to hear the faint barking
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  Speaker 1: of the German shepherds the Nazis had sent to hunt
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  Speaker 1: him down. So in the freezing cold of Poland in January,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph leapt headfirst into a partially frozen river, and swam
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  Speaker 1: over two miles down it before getting out and running
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  Speaker 1: blindly into the woods. Somehow, miraculously, he managed to reach
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  Speaker 1: Soviet lines before he froze to death. And there, he
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  Speaker 1: spoke with battalion commander Alexandra Samisenko, a woman who holds
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  Speaker 1: the distinction of being the only female tank commander in
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  Speaker 1: all of World War II. Even though Joseph spoke very
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  Speaker 1: little Russian, he convinced her to let him join her unit.
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  Speaker 1: And so she gave him a gun and some ammunition,
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  Speaker 1: and she told him what their next objective was. They
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  Speaker 1: were going to liberate the same POW camp he had
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  Speaker 1: just escaped from. And so Joseph, alongside the Soviet Red
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  Speaker 1: Army that he now fought for, turn around.
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  Speaker 2: And go smash this POW camp.
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  Speaker 1: And after the dust had settled, Joseph raided the main
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  Speaker 1: camp office and stole his defiant official POW photo that
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  Speaker 1: the Germans had taken of him on the first day
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  Speaker 1: he got captured. Joseph continued to fight alongside the Soviets
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  Speaker 1: across the Eastern Front for a couple of months. But
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  Speaker 1: when a German dive bomber blew up the tank that
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was riding on, he was evacuated to a Russian
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  Speaker 1: field hospital. There, he received a visit from Georgy Zhukov,
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  Speaker 1: the most important Soviet military commander in World War II,
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  Speaker 1: who was intrigued by the only non-Soviet in the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: He sat with Joseph and learned his story through an interpreter,
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  Speaker 1: and then afterwards, he provided Joseph with official paperwork that
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  Speaker 1: would allow him.
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  Speaker 2: To rejoin American forces.
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  Speaker 1: And so, in February of 1945, Joseph was sent to
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  Speaker 1: the US Embassy in Moscow, but unfortunately, when he finally
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  Speaker 1: met a friendly American face, after nearly a year of
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  Speaker 1: fighting behind enemy lines, they didn't believe his story. They
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  Speaker 1: told him that Joseph R. Byerly had been killed in
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  Speaker 1: action on June 10th, 1944, and that they'd already had
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  Speaker 1: a funeral mass in his honor in Muskegon, and that
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  Speaker 1: his obituary had already been printed in the paper.
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  Speaker 2: But despite Joseph painstakingly.
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  Speaker 1: Going through his story over and over again, the ambassador
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  Speaker 1: just could not believe what he was hearing. And so
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  Speaker 1: worried Joseph might actually be a well-trained German spy, the
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  Speaker 1: ambassador sent him to Odessa to have his credentials verified.
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  Speaker 1: But Odessa had the same problem and couldn't verify him,
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  Speaker 1: so they sent him to Egypt. Egypt had the same
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  Speaker 1: problem and they too could not verify his credentials. And
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  Speaker 1: so they sent him to Italy where they finally used
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  Speaker 1: fingerprints and they confirmed that yes, this is in fact
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  Speaker 1: Joseph R.
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  Speaker 2: Byerly. And so on April 11th, 1945, Joseph returned home
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  Speaker 2: And needless to.
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  Speaker 1: Say, his parents were very surprised to see him because
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  Speaker 1: they were convinced he died 10 months earlier. One year later,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph would actually get married in the same church that
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  Speaker 1: held his funeral mass when everybody believed he was dead.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph was given the Purple Heart and then in the
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  Speaker 1: 1990s was given additional presidential awards from US President Bill
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  Speaker 1: Clinton as well as the Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Joseph
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  Speaker 1: was also given a custom-made AK-47 from the guy who
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  Speaker 1: invented the AK-47. Joseph died in 2004 at the age
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  Speaker 1: of 81 and his son would go on to become
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  Speaker 1: the U.S. ambassador to Russia under George W. Bush and
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  Speaker 1: Barack Obama.
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  Speaker 2: So that's going to do it, guys.
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  Speaker 1: know in the comments what it is and where you
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