David Westheimer papers

David Westheimer was part of a bomber crew that spent most of the war in a POW camp in Germany.  He was shot down over Italy and later transferred to Germany where he spent the remainder of the war in German Pow Camps including Stalag 7A. After the war, he wrote a book about his experiences titled Sitting it Out.  In his interview, he compares his experiences to many Hollywood movies. He also describes being Jewish and a part of a Young Men's Hebrew Association in the POW camp in Germany.

Born on April 11, 1917, in Texas, David Westheimer graduated from San Jacinto High school in 1933 and worked for the Houston Post as a journalist from 1940 to 1960. Moving to Los Angeles to write full time, he was the author of fifteen novels and one non-fiction book. He is well known for his best sellers Von Ryan's Express, a 1965 20th Century Fox Oscar-nominated movie and My Sweet Charlie, a 1966 Emmy Award television movie. In the Army Air Forces during World War II, he served as a navigator on a B-24 bomber. He was shot down in 1942 and spent 28 months in POW camps. He also served in the Korean War and left the service as Lieutenant Colonel, recipient of an Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross. The Greast Wounded Bird is his recollections of World War II. His last novel, Delay En Route, was published in 2002 and is a lighthearted tale of an American POW. He passed away on November 8, 2015, of heart failure. He was survived by his wife Dody and son Fred D. Westheimer.