While descending in my parachute I saw German soldiers on the ground watching me as I came down. We were taught that you could somewhat change your course where you came down by pulling on the shroud lines. By doing so you would drop faster or slower, which would bring you down in a different spot. This didn't prove too successful, as when I changed course the soldiers merely changed theirs.

The moment I hit the ground, a pasty-faced individual pointed a Luger at me. It was very obvious that he had probably never handled a weapon before. I was afraid he would shoot me accidentally and no one would care, and he would get a medal for it.

In several minutes a German Major came up and said:

"My friend, for you the war is over".

They confiscated my personal belongings, including the pen and pencil set my parents had given me when graduating from high school. The Major started to open the pen, then looked at me, then handed it to me and told me to open it. I did so but it didn't dawn on me that they had been told that we were dropping such things out of planes. They believed that we put booby traps in them, and when they removed the top they would be killed.

All my personal belongings had been taken from me with one exception, the dime I used the day before to release the bomb that hung up in the rack. I hid it in my mouth when I was searched. Later, in POW prison, people would look me up and want to see my dime and touch it. It remained with me the entire time I was a POW. I lost it when back in the USA.