"Then they came up with the mission to Sicily. And 36, well more than that, volunteered to fly as copilot with the British into Sicily, which we did. Out of the 36, 16 of us got back. And the reason for that is, the American tow pilots went into…

"It was in Genoa. We were in Genoa, Italy, and we were in a big hallway and we heard all kinds of firecrackers going off. I went outside and said, 'La guerra è finito,' the war is ended. I was happy for that. We were going to go to…

"We were way up. All we had to worry about were the shells coming. They couldn't come over the mountains, so when they hit one side, the rocks would come flying onto our side. That's the only thing we had to worry about... Staying…

"So we applied to go to the United States. When the captain found out, he said, 'Look, I can’t give you anything that’d be more valuable for you, more precious for you when you go to America than education.' He said get some education…

"So a few weeks later when we were in town, this fella tells me, 'Hey, I saw your buddy Oskar.' I say, 'What are you talking about?' 'I know, I know, they stationed in the school over there.' So I run over to that…

"So we were sitting there, we started [to] crazily dance. First of all we were shocked. We were free. It was over. The nightmare was over. And we couldn’t react to it. One of them, all of a sudden dancing and jumping up and down in the hay. We…

"There was a road leading to the liberation. The last camp that we were in was finally bombed by the P-51 Mustangs on the 16th... of April. On the 23rd of April, that camp was closed. And we were put on what was later known as the Ganacker…

Editor's Note: At Natzweiler, Friedman encountered French prisoners for the first time. As a weekly "treat," the inmates were issued jellied snails on Sundays. Friedman, and some other inmates not familiar with this food item, would…

"The second thing checked out: what kind of food do they give you. When and how much. And of course, you’re sleeping accommodations, etc. And what labor, what kind of work, you know, was least exposed to physical, you know, punishment, etc. So…

Editor's Note: After Friedman left Horgau, he went to Leonberg where he worked in another airplane factory. There, he made cigarette boxes from aluminum scraps for a time, at the request of his German supervisor, in exchange for extra rations.…