Pvt Gerald Willen 37558056
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division
Summary
Gerald Willen was born in New York in 1918. He enlisted in 1943 and was involved in the Italian campaign. He parachuted into Normandy on the 6th of June 1944 hurting his knee as he landed. First captured when on patrol on 22nd of June. He escaped on the 28th when in transport and was at large until 16th of July when he was taken to the Nunnery at Chappelle sur Vire.
With Sheppard, Gillespie and Elledge he escaped again on the 20th. Aided by locals, they evaded until the 28th when they were recaptured near Villers Bocage. Via the shed and other stops Willen is taken to Limburg, then to Stalag III-C Alt Drewitz.
The camp was Liberated on the 31st of January 1945, but the Russians took some time to process them. On the release from the army Willen carried on his studies and became a lecturer in English literature at Hunter College New York, as well as a painter in the abstract style. He died in 1994.
Early Life
Gerald Willen was born in New York on the 19th of July 1918 as Gerald Lipschitz – his parents were of Russian extraction. His father, who emigrated in 1905, had various jobs – insurance broker (1905) paint manufacturer (1917) clothing manufacturer (1920). Sadly, he died in 1926. Willen’s mother was born in New York (though the 1892 New York Census suggests Russia) before moving to Atlanta, Georgia for a period.
Gerald was the middle sibling of three brothers. His brother Abner would become a doctor specializing in geriatric care. His brother Charles, who was studying in France at the outbreak of WW2, earned a Croix de Guerre with Palm for his service as an American Volunteer Ambulance Corps driver on the Belgium border of France (later he would serve with the AAF in England).
The family took to using the surname Willen – the anglicised version of his mother’s birth name Wilenski – after the father’s death.
Willen was schooled in part in Switzerland and later went to John Hopkins University. For a time, he worked at a hotel in New York with which the family was associated.
[See the Yearbook Photo – Jerry Willen]
His Draft registration card from 1940 has him working in the hotel mentioned and describes him as 5ft 10 ½, 170lb, brown eyes and hair with a light brown complexion.
He married in 1940, and a son was born in October 1942. Sadly, his wife died in January 1943 of a subarachnoid haemorrhage (brain bleed due to an aneurysm). Their son went to live with Gerald’s brother Abner.
Service Life
Willen enlisted on 8th of April 1943 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He underwent basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, before parachute training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to the 541 Parachute Infantry Regiment on about the 20th of December 1943.
Posted overseas he arrived in Ireland on about 22nd of February 1944.
He was then assigned to 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Attached to the HQ company his knowledge of French and German were utilised in interpretation duties – as well as the unenviable task of trying to give French lessons to his fellow soldiers during the build-up to D Day.
Always thirsty he took to carrying a second canteen earning the nickname “two canteens Willen.”
Time in Normandy
Willen parachuted into Normandy on D Day. Having injured his knee on landing (possibly aggravating a previous injury suffered on a training jump on the 10th of May), going against orders, he had to cut away his strapping to escape his parachute (rather than releasing the clips holding it in place)- despite this he was one of the few that managed to reach their assigned assembly point.
He was captured on patrol near Varenguebec on the 22nd of June. He gives a vivid account of this in his PoW journal – setting out at 4a.m. to take up an observation point with two others they were confronted by several Germans, one of his companions was seriously wounded, Willen lost his weapons when a mine exploded, and he and the third soldier were taken prisoner. It is odd to note that Sheppard, with three others, was hiding in a mill in that same area on that night.
Willen is taken to Vesly. He escapes on the 28th whilst being transported towards Rennes.
PoW Life
He was at large until the 16th of July when captured at Lessay (the same date Sheppard, but it is not clear if they were together at this point). In his note of his service record he says that he suffered a bullet graze to his left knee and minor shrapnel wounds to his back and neck on capture. He was then taken to the Nunnery at Chappelle sur Vire. With Sheppard, Elledge, and Gillespie, he escapes from there on the 20th (his service note says 22nd) and they are at large until the 28th when recaptured near Villy Bocage.
After a night in a barn where Harder, joins them, they are walked to “the Shed.” On the 31st with 50 or so other prisoners they are trucked away to Bagnolles Sur Orne (says Willen in his PoW journal) then marched three days to Alencon. With various stopovers Willen ends up at Limburg – Stalag XII-A- in August. Later transferred to Stalag III-C Küstrim (Alt Drewitz) arriving on the 11th of September 1944 (his service note has on or about the 15th) . Not long after was hospitalised due to his wounds becoming infected. An operation was followed by several weeks in the infirmary.
Willen created a PoW journal. In it he gives an account of his capture and a note of his journey to prison camp – the pages regarding his periods of evasion seem to be missing, there is a section regarding his roommates and, like many similar documents, much about food, and trading within the camp. In it he gives his address as Clark, South Dakota (where his brother Abner was living).
He estimated that he had lost some 60lb in weight in the period from his first capture to his release.
The camp was liberated 31st of January 1945. Initially taken to Odessa he returned to the States via Port Said, and Naples. Arriving in Boston on the 9th of April 1945.
Willen was discharged from the army on the 21st of October 1945.
Post War
On demob he took up the opportunities to take up further education studying English literature, eventually becoming a lecturer at Hunter college New York. He edited various literary texts the most celebrated being “A casebook of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw” which brings together various critical treaties on that work.
He was married several times, the last (the fourth) in 1962 to Christa Henrichsen who taught Arts & Crafts in schools. German born but living in Switzerland for many years, she had emigrated in 1957 (applying for naturalisation in 1964). He had a daughter with his third wife.
[See cover of “A casebook on Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw“]
An amateur abstract painter Willen was a member of the Phoenix gallery – which was one of the influential independent galleries that grew up in the 50s and 60s in New York that became collectively known as the East Street Galleries (after the most prominent of their number).
On retiring he moved to Nederland, Boulder, Colorado.
Willen died on the 21st of June 1994.
Research Done
We have no additional research to share at this time.
Other Links
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Signature Willen and Gerald Willen in uniform [return to info]
Jerry Willen Yearbook photo [return to info]
Willen PoW Log (01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 17, 18, 30, 38, 39, 43, 45 [return to info]
Willen PoW Postcard 1 & 2 [return to info]
Cover of “A casebook on Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw” [return to info]
