Joe Maloy's guiding philosophy in life has always been, "Do

the right thing, no matter what." His sense of what is right guided

him through his youth in Alabama, service in World War II, almost

a full year as a POW, a successful career and retirement.

For many in Fayette County, Joe Maloy's name is

synonymous with the Olympics. Maloy was one of the representative

torch bearers for Fayette County. More importantly to many, he was

the representative for the veterans of World War II. Maloy, an avid

runner since 1967, held the names of fellow POWs and others

written on a piece of paper in the palm of his "torch" hand while he ran.

Maloy was born on Nov. 8, 1923 in Montgomery, Ala. He

will celebrate his 75th birthday on Sunday. He grew up in

Montgomery, going straight from high school into the Air Corps in

1942. Maloy was anxious to be a pilot like most of the boys at that

time. However, he opted for Gunnery School as it was faster and

he didn't want to take a chance the war would end before he

finished school.

In 1942, many, if not most, of the news stories centered on

the 8th Air Force in England.

"It seemed that all of the real action in the air war in Europe

was being done by the 8th Air Force," Maloy said. "I hoped to be a

part of it." He became part of the 8th Army in Dec. 1943.

At the end of the war, the 8th Air was the largest single unit

and the most highly decorated unit. Also, more people were

ultimately killed in the unit than all the Marines killed in battles in

the Pacific. "I didn't know that or I might not have been so

gung-ho to join them," Maloy noted.

swelled from 12 bombers to 1,000. Weather permitting, about

44 heavy four-engine groups, sometimes together, sometimes

split, would fly to various targets in Germany and occupied

Europe. Maloy would rise at 3 a.m., eat breakfast, get ready to fly

then wait on the weather. There were two types of planes, the B-17

and B-24. Maloy's position on the plane was on the "underbelly"

in an aluminum and plexiglass turret. It was too cramped for a

parachute leaving him dependent on someone to get him out if

something serious happened.

With a one-in-four chance of surviving a mission,

"something serious" happened frequently

on missions. Forty percent of the airmen were shot down before

their fifth mission. Maloy was shot down on his fourth.

The planes flew at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet.

A round trip mission from Wendling to Berlin and back took

roughly eight hours. When the planes reached their destination, the

sky might be black with the smoke from anti-aircraft guns.

The German's would send 100 to 200 planes up to counter the

American attack.

On his third mission, the plane lost an engine over their

target. Maloy noted he could hear the shrapnel bouncing off the

planes, sounding like hail on a tin roof. They started falling back behind the

formation, continuing to be strafed. Finally they lost another engine

and both the pilot and co-pilot were mortally wounded. Maloy was

also wounded, having shrapnel in his shoulder and back. The

remaining crew finally had to jump out. Luckily Maloy landed near the

navigator and the two hid out together.

Thinking they had made it into Holland they talked to some

children, asking them if they were Dutch. The kids said,

"Yah, Deutch." What the navigator and Maloy didn't realize was

that "Deutch" meant German. Shortly after hiding in a ravine they

were surrounded by German soldiers the children had hailed. Maloy says

he likes to tease the navigator that he wasn't that good a navigator

since he didn't know they were still 10 miles from the Dutch border.

They spent the night in a nearby town, being transferred by a bus

and train to Frankfurt, Germany. "Everyone in the Air Corps went there

for interrogation," he indicated.

One incident stood out in Maloy's mind, the German sergeant

checking dog tags yelled at them in English with a Brooklyn accent.

"You had to be careful. A lot of Germans from the States went back.

They'd stick one in with you to try and find out as much as they could.

We learned to trust only those we knew personally."

"One guy in my squadron was called out," Maloy continued.

"We thought something serious was going to happen. It turned out the

reason was one of the officers had recognized his name. He had

worked for the soldier's father in Milwaukee before the war."

From Frankfurt, Maloy went by train to his next destination,

Stalag 17 in Austria. He and about 40 other soldiers were crammed into

two-thirds of a small box car. A German soldier with a machine gun

laid claim to the other third of the car. For three days they had to take

turns standing and laying down due to the shortage of space. At intervals,

the train stopped and some watery soup and "cardboard" bread was

thrust into the car.

Stalag 17 held around 4,500 American airmen and 30,000

Russians, Serbs, French, British and other nationalities. The

Americans were segregated from the rest of the POWs due to the extreme

suspicion and fear of the Germans.

The German propaganda painted Americans as "Flying

Gangsters." The German press capitalized on a number of incidents when

portraying the airmen as "Luft

Gangsters." A B-17 with "Murder

Incorporated" painted on it had crashed in

Germany, leaving the picture intact. "Murder Incorporated" had been

the name of a group of American gangsters specializing in murder for

hire in the 30s. According to the German press, the "Luft gangsters"

destroyed schools, hospitals, churches and nursing homes on every

mission.

"We must have destroyed every church, hospital and school in

Germany the way they wrote it," said Maloy.

In May 1944, the Russians were only about 50 miles from

Vienna. The Germans decided to transfer the Americans to Hitler's home town

in Bavaria. Hitler's "last grand scheme" was to get as many

allied prisoners to one location then use them as bargaining chips. While

this never materialized, Maloy's troop was one that made the trip.

They broke the soldiers into groups of 500 and marched

them across the length of Austria, over 200 miles in 18 days. They had

practically no food on the trip and had to resort to eating grass, tree

bark and a few precious stolen apples. They drank water out of ditches

and horse troughs. On the trip they were strafed by Russian airplanes on

occasion, even though they would display small homemade

American flags. To make matters worse, it rained or snowed all but two

days of the trip.

Asked about his mind set during this experience, Maloy stated, "As

I grew up I was highly patriotic. People deferred to the vets of

World War I, they were held in awe. We didn't really want to go off to

war and get killed. However, when the war started, my worst fear was

that I wouldn't get in and be able to do my part for our country. Once I

was at war, in the place where I was, I couldn't let my buddies down. I

really didn't think about being patriotic or about any philosophy."

"Somehow it never dawned on me that I wouldn't make it back. I

didn't see myself getting killed."

On the long trek to Bavaria, Maloy said two incidents stood out in

his mind. On about the eighth day the German guards came running

in screaming "The war is over. The 'Jew' Roosevelt is dead." The

POWs explained to the guard that they still had to worry about Patton

and Eisenhower and, even if the President was dead, the war wasn't over.

About three days later as they left a small Bavarian village, they

started hearing what sounded like pistol and rifle fire. Coming around a

blind area they encountered about a 1,000 people coming toward them.

"They looked like someone went into a biology lab and stretched some

skin across bones. They were wearing striped outfits with a large

yellow star on the chest. German soldiers in trucks were running them

down, shooting them in the head and killing them. The roads were

littered with bodies."

As it turned out, they had erroneously strayed close to

the Matuhausen Camp near Lentz, Austria. While it was not a

well-known camp, Maloy later discovered that between 30,000 and 40,000

people were murdered there.

He noted the incident gave many the incentive to live. That was

the first that any of the POWs knew of Hitler's plan to exterminate all of

the Jews. They spent close to two hours sitting in front of the camp while

the German's decided whether to put them in the camp or continue on

to their destination.

"We maintained a military organization, always operating just

like we were in regular service. We decided we would fight rather than

go into the camp," Maloy said.

Luckily, the Germans chose to continue on to their original

destination. They arrived in late April to a beautiful area on the Inn River.

The guards herded the POWs into a one-acre grouping of trees and set

up artillery around them in cleared areas.

On May 3, American troops came across the one remaining bridge

in a jeep brigade and freed the POWs. They were sent down the road

about five miles to a town the Americans held. They were there helping

for one day before being put on a plane to France, then on a "rusty boat"

to the United States.

While on leave, the war ended and Maloy returned to civilian life.

He attended the University of Alabama, receiving a Masters in

Engineering. In his second year of college he married Ida.

Prior to going overseas, Joe had a "sort-of" girlfriend. While he was

a POW and out of touch, her family moved away. By the time

Joe tracked down his "sort-of' girl friend, she had met another

soldier and gotten married.

Maloy said, "I think her father felt some sort of obligation to me

because he introduced me to Ida who worked for him in his

insurance business."

After graduating, Maloy went to work first for St. Regis in

Florida, then for Dupont. When the couple's son, Bruce, was born, Joe

decided it was time to find a job which didn't entail a lot of travel. In 1955,

he started work for Kimberly Clark, retiring in 1988 after a very

successful career. Joe was instrumental in assisting many in attaining

their goals and is proud of his accomplishments.

The Maloy's had planned to retire in North Carolina as they had

spent a considerable amount of time there. However, family obligations and

the colder winters motivated them to move to Georgia. Their first

choice destination was Newnan. Joe said it was ham sandwiches that drew

him to Newnan.

When he returned to the States after the war, he took a bus from

Atlanta to Alabama. One of the stops the bus made was in Newnan.

In small towns lacking restaurants it was customary for vendors to

come onto the buses to sell drinks and sandwiches to travelers. In

Newnan, a lady brought sandwiches on the bus not to sell, but to give to the

soldiers. When she saw Joe, she said, "Honey, you better take two."

The warm impression Joe had of Newnan stayed with him

through the years.

However, when Joe and Ida reached the intersection at Ga.

Highway 34, they decided to go left to look at Peachtree City. They

liked the city, "especially the cart paths for running purposes," noted Joe.

When Joe first started running in 1967 there were no "running"

shoes and it was considered strange. Recently, Joe has had to curtail his

running due to the potential heart problems. He continues to walk six

miles every day but Sunday and is a member of the Peachtree City

Running Club. He will receive his "10,000 mile jacket" this Christmas. To

be awarded the jacket, it is necessary to run or walk at least 1,000

miles in a one-year period.

Maloy was chosen as an Olympic torch bearer more because of

his concern that veterans be represented than his long-term running

skills. Coca-Cola, the organization responsible for the torch bearers, had

asked for heros to be nominated. When Joe looked at the final list of

chosen torch bearers, he saw many community "heros" but noticed there

were not any veterans. He wrote to the president of Coca-Cola stating

the importance of recognizing the group that had given so much to our

country.

As a result, Joe was asked to be a torch bearer and to represent his

fellow prisoner's of war and other veterans.

"I thought some might think it was a little corny to carry the names

of my friends and fellow POWs in my hand, but it was important to

me," said Maloy.

The Maloys attend the First Baptist Church of Peachtree City. Ida

is a volunteer with the Fayette Community Hospital. The pair plan

to stay in Peachtree City, near their son, his wife, Leslie and

grandchild, 13-year-old Whitney. Bruce and Leslie are both attorneys and live

in Morningside in Atlanta.

Joe B. Maloy, Jr.

Born: Nov. 8, 1923, Montgomery, Ala.

Family: Wife Ida Weston, son and daughter-in-law

Bruce and Leslie, granddaughter Whitney

Record of Public Service: U.S. 8th Air Force, 392

Bomb Group, 557 Squadron, Ball Turret Gunner B-24

(Liberator) Bomber

War stories: P.O.W. from April 29, 1944 to May 3,

1945 at Stalag 17

Former Occupation: Manager of Personnel and

Public Relations for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Professor

of Engineering and Engineering Management at

Pensacola Jr. College, University of Tennessee (Nashville

and Memphis) and Augusta College

Accomplishments: "Stalag 17," a Broadway play,

1950-52; Movie with William Holden, 1953; Carried the

Olympic Torch to honor veterans in 1996

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