Claire E. Swedberg’s book Work Commando 311/I chronicles the personal accounts of several soldiers at the German POW (Prisoner of War) compound at Stalag XII-A, including Kentucky native Private James “Jimbo” Bruton.
The book opens with the men of the 502nd Regiment of the 101st Airborne loading into a C-47 on the night of June 5, 1944, in preparation for a jump into France. Although Bruton was onboard the USS George Washington about 30 miles away from England when D-Day began, he would soon find himself being held captive with other men that survived the invasion into Normandy.
A graduate of Bowling Green High School who lettered four years in football, basketball and baseball, Bruton joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and went to jump school to become a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.
Bruton said he could recall routinely jumping with ninety-eight pounds of equipment on his back, including “forty-two pounds of parachute,” going up “seventeen times before I realized one [a plane] could land.”
Unfortunately, a jump into Holland would prove to be the one that led to his capture. Bruton was one of many American paratroopers that were seized and held as POWs at Stalag compound in Linburg, Germany.
Bruton’s son Kevin said, while his father waited to share the stories of his WWII service and POW capture until Kevin and his brother were older, Kevin admires his father’s commitment to service.
“I think Dad was a little ashamed he was a POW,” Kevin said. “Getting together with Commando [the Prisoners of War] for him — they all just kind of leaned on each other — it was pretty amazing really. They fought until they didn’t have anything to shoot with.”
Jim spent over eight months at the prison camp, repairing railroads that had been damaged by Allied bombs. He also earned the prestigious Purple Heart the day he was captured by suffering a minor wound to the leg.
Jim credited his Kentucky upbringing with helping him to escape from the German POW compound.
“I was born in the hills, so I was good at that [running],” Jim said. “When they weren’t looking—I just slipped off.”
After being declared MIA (Missing in Action) for over eight months, he managed to escape over the course of eleven days and nights.
“I’ve been through all that stuff…and I’d go again tomorrow,” Jim said of his military service.
Following his discharge from the Army, Jim returned to Bowling Green where he met his future bride and, after working in the steel mills of Detroit for a short period of time, he returned to Owensboro to become the first non-management employee of Green River Steel.
After retiring as assistant superintendent of electrical maintenance, Jim was an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 696. He was instrumental in the reorganization of the VFW Honor Squad, with which he participated in well over 130 funeral services for veterans.
Kevin said that when his father got out of the military, Jim became a sounding board and impromptu counselor for young soldiers coming home. Kevin believes his father may have even been influential in saving some of their lives.
“Dad was really good with these guys coming back,” Kevin said. “A lot of those guys wanted to come to see dad because he was really good at ‘talking em’ down.’”
Jim died on January 25, 2016, at the age of 90, but his memory and his service live on with Kevin, other members of the Bruton family as well as the veteran community.
“I miss Dad an awful lot — I always try to do things to keep Dad’s memory alive because he touched a lot of lives,” Kevin said. “Both he and mother were great parents, they instilled a work ethic in us and a commitment to community and country.”
