Frank William Buschmeier served with the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force during World War 2. He was asked to stay in the States as an instructor, but he eventually asked to be deployed overseas. He was born in Madisonville [Annotator’s Note: Madisonville, Ohio] in February 1923. He grew up with one older sister. He was inducted into the Army Air Corps in January 1943 and sworn in at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He had two cousins in the military. One was in the Army Air Corps and the other was in the Navy. Buschmeier did not want to go to the Navy because if the enemy blew his ship out of the water, he would not be able to swim out of the ocean. He attended bootcamp in St. Petersburg, Florida. After boot camp, he attended armament school in Denver, Colorado. While in armament school, he had to take weapons apart and put them back together blindfolded. Buschmeier was sent to bomb training and gunnery school at various bases. He always had to do KP duty [Annotator’s Note: Kitchen Patrol] the first week he got to a new base. He did very well in gunnery school and was asked to be an instructor. At first, he was going to stay, but found out that he would have to bust guys for infractions and decided he would rather go overseas. He was assigned to his crew at Moses Lake, Washington. His crew was sent to Nebraska before being shipped overseas. He arrived in Glasgow, Scotland and then transferred to southern England and was put in a pool to wait for assignment. He was sent to advanced gunnery training for about a week, and was then assigned to the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. Buschmeier became very friendly with the ground crew and respected the work they did on the planes.

Frank William Buschmeier served with the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force during World War 2. He conducted his first mission on 3 March 1944, but was later recalled. The following day, he began conducting bombing missions to Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany]. His crew went on seven more bombing missions to Berlin. His crew often drew German fighters, and many other crews did not want to fly with them. Buschmeier described how bad the flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] was when they would go on missions. It was worse than the German fighter planes. On 19 March 1944, his crew was assigned to another mission to Germany. They were told that the flak was going to be light. However, as they flew behind enemy lines, the flak became very heavy and his plane was hit badly. The whole radio room was gone and the radio operator was badly injured. Buschmeier went over to check him, but all of a sudden the radio operator fell out of the plane. They never found his body. Buschmeier’s crew mate died when shrapnel hit him in the neck and Buschmeier was hit in the leg. The plane went into a flat spin. They were able to jump out of the plane. Some of his crew members were taken by the civilians and killed immediately. Buschmeier landed in a river and was picked up by two home guards and taken to a village. He was placed in a cell in a dungeon with very little light.

Frank William Buschmeier served with the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force during World War 2 and was shot down on 19 March 1944. He was captured by German civilians and taken to a cell in a dungeon. He had been hit in the leg by shrapnel while his plane was going down. The Germans had found some of the other crew members and gathered them together. He was interrogated by Germans for a couple of days. The Germans knew more about him than he did. Many of his fellow prison mates had injuries from their crashes before being caught by the Germans. There was a black prisoner who was scared to death about what the Germans were going to do to him. Buschmeier was sent to Stalag Luft IV [Annotator’s Note: in Gross Tychow, Pomerania (now Tychow, Poland)] and remained there until the Russians began to get close. He was then forced to march until the end of the war, trying to avoid the Russians. After he was liberated, he was taken to Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. Buschmeier encounter Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force; 34th President of the United States] while he was at the camp waiting to be shipped back to the United States. On his way home, the ship came near a mine, but they were able to avoid it. It took about a week to return to Boston, Massachusetts.

Frank William Buschmeier returned to the United States after being a prisoner of war in Europe for nine months. He was sent to Camp Myles Standish [Annotator’s Note: Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts] and received new clothing and was able to call his family. He boarded a train and reunited with his family. He was given a 90-day leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time], and during this time he visited his family and friends. He went to a dance hall and met a girl and danced with her all night. They later married. While he was overseas, he often visited London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] and experienced several German air raids. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:57:17.000.] On a 10-day leave, he visited London and Edinburgh, Scotland. He spoke about the men in his squadron and how they were a rowdy crew.

Frank William Buschmeier served as a waist gunner with the 350th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force during World War 2. Many of the men in his squadron were rowdy except for a few straight-laced guys. Buschmeier was captured as a POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] and interned for nine months. His treatment as a POW was not bad, but it was very boring. He received a football, a baseball, and a bat from the Red Cross [Annotator's Note: Red Cross, an international non-profit humanitarian organization] while he was a prisoner. Before he was shot down in a plane called “Randy Lou,” he made 34 missions flying to various cities in Europe. After being liberated, he was sent to France and then went back to the United States and was discharged as a staff sergeant. After the war, he met his wife and worked in construction until he was 65 years old.

Frank William Buschmeier did not stay in the Air Force after the war because his grandmothers did not want him to continue in the military. He found a job in the construction business and stayed in that field until he retired at 65 years old. Buschmeier’s most memorable experience of World War 2 was on 19 March 1944 when his plane got shot up. He served in the military because he was drafted. Being in World War 2 made him appreciate his life more. He is glad to have met so many people and made so many friends by serving in the military. Buschmeier suffered from post-traumatic stress [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder; a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event either experienced or witnessed] through flashbacks and nightmares. He is amazed that so many young people know and are interested in World War 2. Buschmeier believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations.