By Ellen Sirianni Frank
VP EVL Historical Society
What do you do when your speaker calls and says she can’t make the meeting. She was going to talk about a German soldier during World War II. So what do I think of, my father Dan Sirianni. He was a teacher, principal, and superintendent at Ellicottville Central School. He was the president of the Ellicottville Historical Society for 10 years. He was also a Prisoner of War during World War II. World War II or the Second World War, was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to1945. The vast majority of the World’s countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The United States joined the War after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. President Franklin Roosevelt called the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor a “date which will live in infamy,” in a famous address to the nation delivered after Japan’s deadly strike against U.S. naval and military forces in Hawaii. He also asked Congress to declare war.
Dan entered the Service in September 1942 at Fort Niagara, New York. He went over to England by a boat called the Athelon Castle. He landed at Liverpool, England on August 17,1943 and from there they went to Kimbolton, England. That is where he was stationed and became a member of the 179th bomb group of the 8th Air Force at Kimbolton, England. The name of the plane which Dan flew on was called the” Iron Maiden”, the aircraft 42-29511. There were ten crew members on that plane. Dan’s crew had nine raids over Europe. The 10th mission was the raid on Schweinfurt, Germany. This was known as Black Thursday, October 14,1943 due to all of the planes and crew members lost during this raid. The “Iron Maiden” was hit by emery fire, but it completed its bombing mission of Schweinfurt. Shortly after dropping their bombs the Iron Maiden lost all engines. So, Dan and 5 other crew members bailed out of the plane. The other four members of the plane landed the plane in a field near a little town called Gerlozforhen. Dan was taken to a farmhouse by two German women while getting a drink from a stream. This is where the German soldiers came and got him. He was taken to a prison cell and after that he got on a bus and there were two of his crew members. They helped Dan around for the next few weeks because he had some broken bones in his foot. They were taken to Frankfurt. After that he was taken by cattle car to Staglag 17B in Kelms, Austria. He spent almost two years there. In April of 1945 the prison camp went on a forced march until they were liberated. Dan was awarded purple hearts and an Air medal plus other citations.
In March of 2005 a German Journalist by the name of Norbert Vollmann who was writing a newspaper article about the “Iron Maiden” and Dan and his crew from WWII contacted him and in August 2005 Dan had the opportunity to meet Norbert Vollmann and his family. Also, after 62 years, Roland Martin, the pilot that flew with Daniel came to Ellicottville for a reunion. It was a wonderful experience seeing a man he hadn’t seen in 62 years, since the day he bailed out of the “Iron Maiden”.
In April 2006, Dan returned to Germany. He had the opportunity to return to where his plane went down, go to Schweinfurt and meet with other German Gunners from WWII. He was treated as a hero. Every place he went people would come to meet him. He met with several Mayors of the surrounding towns and people who were in the field the day the plane landed. All 10 crewmembers survived but were taken to prisoner of war camps.
If you would like to hear more about Dan’s story come to the Ellicottville Historical Society meeting on Wednesday, September 6 at 7pm at the Ellicottville Memorial Library. The meeting is free to everyone.