They've Never Forgotten Us

By

Barry Courter

Tom Qualman doesn't think of himself as a hero.  In fact, he winces at the mere mention of the word.

"A lot of guys had it worse," he said.

To the people of Liptal and Troubky, Czechoslovakia, Mr. Qualman and the nine other crew members of a B-24 Liberator shot down nearby are heroes of the tallest order.  In fact, Mr. Qualman didn't know exactly how highly he was thought of until he re-visited the towns after almost 50 years.

Though a burning quest for more than four decades, it was supposed to have been a relatively quiet and simple family vacation when the Qualmans and their two sons began planning the trip to Troubky.  Tom had told Charlotte, Roger and Bill of the night his plane crashed, killing six crew members, and the subsequent weeks spent on the run and then in prison camps.

The family was well aware of the details of his adventures through a 19-page recounting of the events written while Mr. Qualman was a prisoner in a German camp.  He told them of his week of hiding out and the people who helped him.

He told them of how he, a 19-year-old soldier, and his co-pilot, Lt. Ed Kasold, slept in barns and dense forests in the freezing cold before their eventual surrender to the Germans.

They knew of the poor farmers who risked their lives to help them along the way.

The family knew all about the young niece, her English-speaking aunt and the sister and husband who helped young Tom and Ed, giving them food and clothing that they could not afford to spare.  Mr. Qualman's recounting included the plentiful Christmas Eve meal and warm bath and wonderful feeling of soaking his feet in warm water in the Czech family's farmhouse.

Mr. Qualman himself was aware that the citizens of Troubky had erected a graveside monument to the six soldiers who died in the crash.

It was, in fact, this monument that he very much wanted to visit during the trip.  He figured he would take the family over, maybe see one or two of the people he had corresponded with following the war, pay his respects to his fallen friends and return home.

The last thing he expected was to be welcomed as a returning hero.

For 20 years following the war, Mr. Qualman kept in touch with Fan Mrnustikova, the aunt he referred to in his writings as "my Czech mother."

He also received letters from the Rev. Jan Valis, the man who convinced the two soldiers to surrender to the Germans rather than risk trying to survive the harsh winter on the run.  The Rev. Valentin Nepustil, the man who fought hard to give the six dead soldiers a "decent burial," also had sent correspondences, as well as returned Tom's and Ed's belongings through family members of the fallen soldiers.

However, he hadn't heard from any of them since 1964.

After returning to his family home in Saginaw, Mich., Mr. Qualman met his current wife and they married shortly after.  His job brought the family to the Chattanooga area and he worked with Rossville Mills until his retirement in '92.

Earlier this year, the current mayor of Troubky printed a letter Mr. Qualman had sent requesting help in finding any of the above people.  Within days, the niece had contacted Mr. Qualman and plans were set into motion for the family to make the trip over in early May.

"She said she would take care of everything," he says.  "All these years I wanted to go and when I retired in 92, my wife encouraged me to go."

All of the years remembering, dreaming, hoping and playing out scenarios of what he would do upon his return did not come close to preparing him for the reception he received.

"The whole town turned out," he says.  "The mayor spoke.  It was very emotional and there was a lot of crying.  The fellow who cut me out of the tree when I landed with the parachute was there.  The old farmer who let us sleep in his hayloft the first night was there."

"We went to his house.  The same stove and the same table were there.  This is almost 50 years later.  His wife came up and told me, I have been saving this for you.  She handed me a silk blouse she had made from the parachute I gave her, then she turns around and gives me two beautiful vases."

"Why did she go and do that?" he asks.

"The kids and grandchildren knew every step I took there better than I did.  It's unbelievable.  They would say, 'You stopped at this house and they gave you bread and milk and then you walked here.'  They passed it down two or three generations."

"There were only a couple of people who had actually seen us, but they all knew us."

Saluting the beautiful marble monument which had been purchased a year after the war by poor farmers who had very little was an overpowering feeling for Mr. Qualman, but visiting his "Czech mother" in the nursing home where she now lives was "very emotional."

"She is alive and doesn't see or talk so well, but she did recognize me.  She kept holding my face.  There were no dry eyes in the room.  I don't cry, but I was very choked up."

"That woman saved my life and gave us so much when she didn't have it.

During the visit, the Qualmans visited the sites where Tom and Ed stopped, including the prison where they were eventually taken.  All along the way, they were treated as visiting celebrities.  It seemed everyone wanted to see and talk to the visiting American who had snuck through their towns and fields 47 years ago.

The same people who had risked their lives to share a new pair of shoes, an only pair of gloves or food and shelter were once again opening their homes and cupboards for an American soldier. 

Send mail to webmaster@461st.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2008 461st Bombardment Group
Last modified: 02/27/2008