407th Bomb Squadron92nd Bomb GroupFlight Officer (and Bombardier) Irving Baum 8th Army Air Force
407th Squadron,
92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force
Flight Officer (and Bombardier) Irving
              Baum
1942-1945; 1950-1953
1923-1997


On March 16, 1944 Flight Officer (F/O) (and Bombardier) Irving Baum and his crew were shot down over Nazi occupied France.

On 29 April 1945, on the same day as the liberation of Dachau, the German POW camp Stalag Luft VII-A in Moosburg, 51 kilometers/32 miles northeast of Dachau, was liberated by by Combat Command A of the 14th Armored Division. Newly liberated Stalag Luft VIIA "Moosburg" POW and 8th AF bombardier

F/O Baum could have gone home. Instead, a
t an unknown date, Flight Officer (and Bombardier) Irving Baum toured Dachau where he observed children being fed by Army nurses. Since he spoke English, Yiddish and German he volunteered helped feed the adults.

The doctor carefully explained to us to put one drop of glucose on their tongue and then turn our back and put two or three moderate drops of glucose on white bread that you are given and hold it and do not let them grab, only just a dot of bread at the time because it doesn't take much for them to instantly die in your arms. We did that but they were so weak they couldn't stand. They had to lie down. At the same time they used a death grip to pull your hand down and you had all you could do to break their grip. Finally, we finished that portion. There were no more left to be fed.

 He did that at personal risk as 80% of the liberated prisoners suffered from some form of tuberculosis and typhus had broken out among the liberated prisoners with up to 400 dying everyday.

In Yiddish, F/O Baum is what is known as a mensch, a person of outstanding kindness, empathy, honor, decency, and integrity.


Baum Exhibit at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

Irving Baum on Ex-POW Biography


Grave
<< U.S. Army Medical Units at Dachau

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The 45th Infantry Division in World War II: An Unofficial Guide to Resources

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