The Secret Rescue (44 page)

12. “dull and placid”
Tilman,
When Men and Mountains Meet,
360.

13. “We ate our three good meals”
Ibid., 361.

14. location of the sea evacuation
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

15. twenty-five-mile hike
Hayes, interview.

16. Smith waited at Seaview
Lloyd Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation, American Rescue Party,” RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP.

17. “We were desperately keen to go”
Smiley,
Albanian Assignment,
97.

18. a local appeared
Ibid.

19. Unwilling to wait
Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”

20. .45-caliber handgun
“Recommendation for Award,” memo, May 18, 1944, RG 226, entry 224, box 723, Lloyd Smith personnel file, NACP.

21. [description of Smith’s journey]
Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”

22. Breda 30s
Chris Bishop, ed.,
Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II
(London: Metro Books, 2002), 237.

23. “getting nervous and jittery”
Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation.”

24. A partisan guided
Hayes, interview.

25. set a brisk pace
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

26. hillside
Hayes, interview.

27. about six in the evening
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

28. Gjirokastër
Gillian Gloyer,
Albania
(Guilford, UK: Globe Pequot Press, 2007), 104; Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization, http://www.gjirokastra.org/sub_links/visiting_sub/visiting_monuments.html.

29. about twelve thousand
“Confidential Report, City and Towns, Albania.” RG 226, entry 165, box 12, folder 114, NACP.

30. Kokëdhima
Gloyer,
Albania,
104; Gjirokastra Conservation and Development Organization.

31. meeting room
Hayes, interview.

32. [description of time with Haki]
Ibid.

33. First Brigade
Ibid.; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
121.

34. decoding several messages
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

35. Mashkullorë
Ibid.; Hayes, interview.

36. member of the Gestapo
Abbott,
Out of Albania,
121; Cranson, Allen, Owen, and Ebers, statements, Roll A6544, AFHRA.

37. waited until late morning
Hayes, interview.

38. [town destroyed]
Ibid.; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
122.

39. fresh meat
Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
122.

40. Zhulat
Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
122.

41. “take all precaution”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

42. finally found them
Ibid.

Chapter 12

1. growing impatient
Hayes, interview; Lawrence O. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 129.

2. two women dressed
Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
129.

3. band of partisans
Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
129; Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124. Duffy’s report indicated that his intention for the day was Progonat.

4. Owen, Wolf, and Hayes
Hayes, interview.

5. “We’ll draw straws!”
Ibid.

6. moved to another house
Ibid.

7. Duffy and Bell had left that morning
Ibid.; Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

8. kaval
Hayes, interview.

9. attacked by a dog
Ibid.; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
127. Abbott’s memoir mentions the incident and that Owen’s hand was “torn.” Hayes believes Owen was not injured and that Abbott was not in the house with them that evening.

10. Duffy told Thrasher
Ibid.

11. found the village in chaos
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

12. badly wounded partisans
Ibid.; Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
127.

13. “two days from their goal”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

14. “We were washed up”
Abbott,
Out of Albania,
128.

15. “As events proved later”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

16. [Thrasher’s message]
“Copy of Lt. Thrasher’s Message of December 20, 1943 (Transmitted over BLO’s Cairo Link),” Roll A6544, AFHRA.

17. “Inform most urgently”
Ibid.

18. special operation in Greece
William J. Donovan to Franklin D. Roosevelt, memo, October 29, 1943, FDR’s Office Files, 1933–1945, Library of Congress.

19. Operation Halyard
Gregory Freeman,
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
(New York: New American Library, 2007); Torsten Ove, “George Vujnovich Dies at 96: Leader of Daring World War II Rescue,”
LA Times,
May 1, 2012.

20. sheep’s head
Hayes, interview.

21. [crossing river]
Ibid.

22. Karjan
Ibid.

23. [Smith’s journey]
Lloyd Smith, “Report on Mission of Evacuation, American Rescue Party,” RG 226, entry 144, box 97, folder 1023, NACP.

24. until they arrived in Dhoksat
Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen Mangerich,
Albanian Escape
(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1999), 150; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
134.

25. Williamson
Roderick Bailey,
The Wildest Province
(London: Jonathan Cape, 2008), 57.

26. diary
Willie Williamson, diary transcribed by Roderick Bailey during an interview with Williamson around 1999.

27. Qeserat
Hayes, interview; Abbott,
Out of Albania,
134–135.

28. “an excellent lunch”
Williamson diary.

29. [events at Qeserat]
Hayes, interview.

30. Christmas Eve celebration
Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
151–153; “Balkan Escape,”
Collier’s
, April 1, 1944, 66.

31. church service
Mangerich,
Albanian Escape,
153–154.

32. priest… killed
Foto Prifti, interview, March 25, 2012, Dhoksat, Albania; Foto Prifti, e-mail interview through his grandson, Klevis Haxhiaj, December 24, 2012.

33. ate chicken… records on a phonograph
Agnes Jensen, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA.

34. [meeting with Tilman]
Hayes, interview.

35. “Something special. Sheep intestine soup.”
Ibid.

36. Christmas carols
Ibid.

37. Roosevelt’s Christmas message
Franklin D. Roosevelt, “To the Men and Women of the Armed Forces,”
Billings Gazette,
December 25, 1943.

38. 807th in Sicily
Untitled and undated account, Roll A0323, AFHRA; “[807th] War Diary for November 1943,” Roll A0323, AFHRA.

Chapter 13

1. cobbler
Hayes, interview.

2. information
Ibid.; Gavan Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania,” TNA, HS 5/124.

3. “the weather was filthy”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party from Albania.

4. looted several of shops
Ibid.

5. tried to contact Cairo
Ibid.

6. “blaring in”
Ibid.

7. decoded… message
Ibid.

8. to go in exchange for a sovereign
Ibid.

9. “The airplanes are coming today!”
Hayes, interview.

10. “saw the place alive”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party.”

11. multiple planes
Hayes, interview; Agnes Jensen, statement, Roll A6544, AFHRA.

12. “three trucks and one [armored] car”
Duffy, “Report on Evacuation of American Party”; Lawrence O. Abbott,
Out of Albania,
ed. Clinton W. Abbott (Lulu Press, 2010), 144–149. Hayes did not remember seeing any trucks or a car near the road, but Duffy’s report and Abbott’s agreed.