{"id":177579,"date":"2025-12-26T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=177579"},"modified":"2025-12-25T14:36:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T19:36:24","slug":"valor-friday-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=177579","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pilot Officer Roland “Bud” Wolfe, RAF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During World War II, Ireland remained neutral. This has become a hallmark of Irish foreign policy since they split from Great Britain. Some Irishmen, both from Ireland proper and Northern Ireland (which remains part of the United Kingdom) joined the British military to fight in the war.<\/p>\n

Today’s story isn’t about any of those men. It’s about an American, who likewise joined the British to fight, but did so because the United States wasn’t entering the war any time soon. Roland “Bud” Wolfe, from Nebraska, lost his American citizenship for enlisting with a foreign power, but that wasn’t the most dramatic thing he did. He enlisted with the RAF in 1939 after being recruited, as he was already a trained aviator.<\/p>\n

While flying an RAF Spitfire in November 1941, just days before Pearl Harbor would thrust the US into the conflict, his engine overheated. Knowing the plane was doomed, he radioed “I’m going over the side” and bailed out. He came down in a peat bog in County Donegal, Ireland.<\/p>\n

Wolfe was soon “captured” by Irish militiamen and turned over to the civil authorities. He became a prisoner of war in a neutral country. Many airmen were similarly interned in other neutral countries, most notably Switzerland, throughout the war. Neutral nations tended to treat their prisoners well, certainly better than the German prison camps. In the case of Ireland, they operated less like a prison and more like a boarding school. Prisoners were sworn to a gentleman’s agreement that they wouldn’t try to escape, but they were largely free to come and go as they pleased.<\/p>\n

So it was that Wolfe “escaped” by taking a train back to his RAF station, creating an international incident. He was re-interned and held for two years before escaping again. This time he was turned over to American authorities were upon he was transferred to the US Army Air Forces and continued to serve throughout the war. He made it a career and served in Korea and Vietnam before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.<\/p>\n

Military Times<\/a> has the story if you’re looking for some reading on this Boxing Day;<\/p>\n

Roland \u201cBud\u201d Wolfe\u2019s yen to fly hot airplanes for the British against Nazi Germany before the U.S. declared war landed him in an Irish jail \u2014 twice \u2014 making him the only American held in what was one of the strangest internment camps of World War II.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Nebraska native was flying over neutral Ireland on Nov. 30, 1941, eight days before Pearl Harbor and 12 days before the U.S. declared war on Nazi Germany and Italy, when the engine on his Supermarine Spitfire conked out as he sent a radio message that said \u201cI\u2019m going over the side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolfe bailed out and landed in a peat bog on the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal in Eire, the official name of Ireland from 1937 to 1949 until it became the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

His fighter, assigned to the American-volunteer 133 Eagle Squadron out of Royal Air Force base Eglinton \u2014 now Northern Ireland \u2014 crashed nose first and buried itself in the soft earth of the bog.<\/p>\n

Locals attending Sunday mass in Donegal came out at the sound of the sputtering engine overhead as Wolfe came to ground. The landing would thrust him into the legal, diplomatic and dangerous intersection of British and Irish politics, as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to work their way around Irish neutrality to win the battles of Britain and the Atlantic against Nazi U-boats.<\/p>\n

When Ireland declared its neutrality in what was called \u201cThe Emergency\u201d on Oct. 22, 1939, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was reportedly furious. After being calmed by his cabinet, he commented on the Irish to his secretary of foreign affairs, Lord Halifax, quipping, \u201cLegally, I believe they are at war but skulking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roosevelt\u2019s response was more restrained in public, but he did ask in his Dec. 29, 1940 \u201cArsenal of Democracy\u201d speech: \u201cWould Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing pet exception in an unfree world?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Dec. 12, 1941, speech after the U.S. declared war, Ireland\u2019s then-Taoiseach \u2014 or the prime minister \u2014 \u00c9amon de Valera gave his reasoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can only be friendly neutral. From the moment this war began, there was, for this state, only one policy possible \u2014 neutrality,” de Valera said. \u201cOur circumstances, our history, the incompleteness of our national freedom through the partition of our country, made any other policy impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that stance, some 60,000 Irish citizens would enlist in the British armed forces to fight against Germany. About 4,500 of them were killed. Eight earned Victoria Crosses, Britain\u2019s highest award for valor.<\/p>\n

The running joke at the time was that English soldiers puzzled at the presence of Irish recruits would be told, \u201cWe know whose side we are neutral on.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of that was lost on Pilot Officer Bud Wolfe of the RAF, who had no idea he had run afoul of international law when his plane went down in Donegal.<\/p>\n

Wolfe\u2019s daughter, Barbara Wolfe Kucharczyk, would later say in an oral history for the University of North Carolina-Greensboro that her father\u2019s main motivation for going to Canada and then England to volunteer for the RAF was that \u201che wanted to fly the hot rod airplanes and England had them at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any protection of U.S. citizenship was gone due to his joining the armed services of a foreign country in a war that the U.S. had not yet joined.<\/p>\n

In addition, the 1907 Hague Convention V, Article 11, stated, \u201cA neutral power which receives on its territory troops belonging to the belligerent armies shall intern them,\u201d according to the textbook \u201cThe Law of Armed Conflict\u201d by Gary Solis, a former Marine Company commander in Vietnam and Judge Advocate General.<\/p>\n

A \u201cCommandant J Power,\u201d the intelligence officer for Western Command of the Irish Army, filed a report on Wolfe being taken into custody on Dec. 3, 1941, according to the Irish website ww2irishaviation.com, which quoted from Irish military archives.<\/p>\n

\u201cA British Spitfire \u2018Single Seater\u2019 crashed at Moneydarragh, Gleneely, Moville, Donegal, at 12:30 hrs on the 30th November, 1941. People coming from mass heard the plane but, owing to a heavy fog, nobody sighted it. A Mr. Kelly from Moneydarragh saw the parachutist floating down but he disappeared from view before he reached the ground,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sole occupant, Pilot Officer R L Wolfe baled (sic) out and came down uninjured. William Doran, L.S.F. (Local Security Force), apprehended him at Moneydarragh at 13:30 hours and took him into Moville Garda (Police) station. He was handed over to Lt. Crawford at 18:00 hours, having been searched by the Garda, and accommodated in Rockhill that night. He was taken to Athlone on 1\/12\/1941 and sent to the internment camp in the Curragh the same date.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Derry Standard newspaper edition of Dec. 8, 1941, said that Wolfe was \u201cbeing treated as an internee and will remain in internment for the duration of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolfe, however, had no intention of staying long at the internment section of the Curragh Army camp in County Kildare, which sat about 20 miles southwest of Dublin and housed both allied internees and Germans who had crash landed in Ireland or washed ashore from German ships and submarines.<\/p>\n

The camp ran on a curious honor system which required internees to state that they would not \u201cmake or endeavour to make any arrangements whatever or seek or accept any assistance whatever\u201d to escape, and that they would not \u201cengage in any military activities or any activities contrary to the interests of Eire,\u201d according to the Irish Legal News.<\/p>\n

The guards at the Curragh had blanks in their weapons and the internees, both allied and German, were allowed to visit local pubs, go to evening dances and join fishing and golfing trips, and even fox hunts. The German internees were also allowed to attend parties and receptions at the German embassy in Dublin.<\/p>\n

According to the records of the Curragh Golf Club, the honorary secretary of the club was to consult with the commanding officer of the camp \u201con the question of the officers of the belligerent nations being permitted to play golf, either as subscribers to the club or honorary members. It was later decided to permit German and British internees to play golf for 5 shillings per month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Club officials also later decided to let enlisted personnel play.<\/p>\n

Paul Stormer, a German pilot whose Junkers JU-88 twin-engine aircraft was shot down by Spitfires over Ireland\u2019s County Waterford in August 1942, described life for the German internees in the book \u201cLuftwaffe Eagles Over Ireland,\u201d by Justin Horgan and Paddy Cummins.<\/p>\n

\u201cParties together with Irish friends and receptions at the German Embassy in Dublin were a welcome change to the life in the camp,\u201d Stormer said. \u201cOne could play tennis or golf and some were members of local clubs. Highlight of the social life in Curragh were the horse races.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolfe, meanwhile, was having none of it. On Dec. 13, 1941, only two weeks after his Spitfire crashed, he made an escape \u2014 actually, he just walked away after pulling off a ruse with the camp\u2019s parole system.<\/p>\n

By some accounts, he stopped first at a hotel for a meal and skipped out on the bill before boarding a train in Dublin bound for Belfast. He then made his way back to his RAF base in Eglinton.<\/p>\n

To his great surprise, he was not welcomed back. Instead, the British quickly sent him back to the Curragh in what was seen as an attempt to maintain good relations with neutral Ireland.<\/p>\n

There are varying accounts on how many allied and German internees were held at the Curragh, but most estimates put the number of Germans at about 250. They were held until the end of the war, while around 45 allied internees, including Wolfe, were released in October 1943 as it became more clear that the allies were gaining momentum in the war.<\/p>\n

In a debriefing after he was released, Wolfe told of two other unsuccessful escape attempts he made, according to the WWII Irish Aviation website.<\/p>\n

He was part of an escape attempt in February 1942, \u201cwhich was unsuccessful,\u201d and during which he was \u201csomewhat severely beaten up by two Irish corporals\u201d who captured him. In August 1942, \u201cI managed to get outside the wire, but was caught almost immediately,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

Wolfe eventually got his citizenship back and went on to fly combat missions in P-47 Thunderbolts for the 78th Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces. He also served in Korea and Vietnam, logging a total of 12,000 hours and nearly 900 combat missions across three wars before retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He died in Florida in 1994.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 30, 2011, 70 years to the day after Bud Wolfe bailed out of his Spitfire, his two daughters \u2014 Betty Wolfe and Barbara Wolfe Kucharczyk, along with 12 other members of the extended Wolfe family \u2014 came to the spot on the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal where excavations were underway to recover Wolfe\u2019s Spitfire from the bog.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be standing on the very spot where my dad\u2019s plane came down 70 years ago almost to the very hour was certainly poignant,\u201d Betty Wolfe told the Belfast Telegraph. \u201cLooking around us at the rugged countryside and viewing the surrounding hills, especially on such a windy day, gave me a real understanding of the strength my dad would have needed to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The excavation work crews were able to recover Wolfe\u2019s helmet from the wreckage and gave it to Betty Wolfe to hold briefly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was especially moving for me to be able to hold his helmet,\u201d she said. \u201cIn his last days, dad was very sick and all we were able to do was touch him and touching the helmet reminded me of those final moments with him so that was quiet poignant for me as well.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wolfe had been awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air Medals during his years in the Air Force. According to his obituary, he logged more than 18,000 hours, and had flown such aircraft as the legendary Spitfire, P-47, F-86, F-105, and F-4. His daughter Barbara Kucharczyk followed him into the service. She also retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During World War II, Ireland remained neutral. This has become a hallmark of Irish foreign policy … Valor Friday<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":177580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,389,217,649],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-force","category-valor","category-we-remember","category-wwii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=177579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/177580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=177579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=177579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=177579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}