Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972 Page: 45
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Cronin
45Before we got to Frankfurt, something happened.
I told my family this story. We were coming out of a
tunnel--the train was--when all hell broke loose, and
there were aircraft shooting at the train we were on,
and there was about eight of us, and they knew we were
Air Corps, and I remember people started shaking fists
at us in the train and so forth, and the train stopped.
There were civilians on this train?
Oh, heck, yes. It was full of civilians, and there were
a lot of soldiers, and we jumped out and everybody ran
back to the tunnel, and three things happened that were
very, very vivid to me: one was, "God, I hope those
fools up there shoot at this engine only," because we
were through if they strafed the train. And there were
two P-47's that were . . . we finally saw them come
back, and they hit the engine only, and this is important.
They did not strafe that train, and they blew that engine
up. They didn't blow it up. Steam was coming out of it.
They hit it. I think one of the greatest things I ever
noticed in the war . . . this and something that happened
in PW camp were two things that if I were a man of words,
if I had the type wherewithall to put what I saw in
writing, I know that I could have a best-seller. There
was a mother with two children. First of all, they got
us off the train, and we had to stand there and let every-Marcello:
Cronin:
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Marcello, Ronald E. & Cronin, Eugene R. Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972, book, February 1, 1972; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1529237/m1/47/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Oral History Program.