2nd Lt.

Leslie Otho "Les" Amundson

Pilot 

547th Bomb Squadron

384th Bombardment Group (Heavy)

Serial Nr O-677214

POW 26th November 1943

Missions credited - 1

Leslie Otho Amundson was born 16th June 1920 in Sunnyside, Washington to Albert and Nettie Amundson. Leslie was the youngest of their children and he had eight siblings. Together, they enjoyed hunting, fishing, and camping trips. 

In 1938, Leslie graduated from Sunnyside High School and took some college courses. After taking four semesters of college, Leslie was very unsure of what to do with his life and decided to return home. Upon returning home, he worked at a local gravel bunker. Shortly after, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941. Leslie was drafted within the days following the attack. 

Later in life, Leslie spoke of being drafted and said, “Sometimes I think the best thing that ever happened to me was the day I got drafted. I would recommend anybody who got out of high school and didn’t know what he wanted to do to get into one of the services.” 

After getting his draft notice, Leslie went to Texas where he attended nine months of Cadet Training. Later, he earned his pilot’s wings and was sent back to his home state of Washington to Moses Lake Army Air Base where he trained in B-17s. After completing his training, Leslie was assigned to the 547th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group on 5th November 1943. 

On 16th November 1943, he arrived at Grafton Underwood. Leslie noted that 600 men and 60 aircraft had already been lost in combat by the time he arrived. He and his crewmates arrived on a rainy day and had to wait outside their barracks while the belongings of the men killed or missing in action were cleared out of the barracks. Unknowingly to Leslie, this was a grim and ominous look at things to come.  

On 26th November 1943, 2nd Lt. Leslie Otho Amundson was assigned to his very first combat mission. This was the 384th Bomb Group’s 37th mission. Their target for the day - the city centre in Bremen, Germany. 22 aircraft were assigned to this mission. 16 completed the mission and returned back to base, one was a flying spare and also returned to base, one returned early due to supercharger failure, one ditched in the North Sea, and three failed to return. 

Of those aircraft that failed to return was B-17F #42-29987, piloted by 2nd Lt. Amundson.

His aircraft was damaged by enemy aircraft and he had to make a forced landing in the Netherlands. All ten crew members survived the crash. Amundson was injured and awarded the Purple Heart, but he turned it down because he did not feel he deserved it. 

Amundson and his crew were able to evade capture for about a month thanks to help from the Dutch Underground. In 2002, he got to reunite with one of the men from the Dutch Underground who helped save his life. The two never forgot each other. 

After about a month of evading capture, Amundson was eventually captured by the Gestapo. He was violently interrogated, beaten, threatened with being shot, and even beaten. He was sure he was going to die, but a few days later, he was sent to Dulag Luft in Frankfurt where the Luftwaffe interrogated him. There, he spent three days in solitary confinement. By then, it was New Year’s Eve, and the Luftwaffe gave him a rock-hard cookie and half a mug of hot cocoa to celebrate. The Luftwaffe often treated prisoners better than other branches of the German Army because they respected the prisoners’ role as Officers and airmen. From there, Amundson was sent to Stalag Luft 1, where he would spend the next 17 months as a Prisoner of War.  

After the war had ended and Leslie was liberated, he worked at his family's hardware store, Amundson Hardware, and he bought a farm with his POW backpay. In 1946, he married his wife, Helen, and they remained married for 71 years. 

Leslie also served in the Air Force Reserves and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. Additionally, he worked with his local Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans organization, the American Legion, and he even served on the board of his local American Red Cross. The American Red Cross was dear to Leslie’s heart because of the food parcels they provided to POWs during the war. 

Leslie and his wife went on to have a big family: four daughters, one foster daughter, one son, 12 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild! 

In 2011, Leslie was the 34th veteran from the 384th Bomb Group to sign the wing panel for the 384th Bomb Group Heritage Association's wing panel project. The wing panel is displayed at the Hill Aerospace Museum in Utah. 

Leslie said of his life, "I may not be very smart, but I sure have been lucky!”

Leslie Amundson lived to be 97 years old and he lies in rest in his home state of Washington. 

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website (384thbombgroup.com) for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of the Group’s activities during World War 2.

Research courtesy of Mikayla Leech on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.