By: Jake Bruder, Public Affairs Volunteer
The feeling must have been horrifying. A loud explosion, the sound of bending metal, and hot smoke rising in the air around him. 20-year-old bombardier and B-24 navigator, Herman Cranman, strapped a parachute to his back, brought his toes to the edge of an open plane door, and jumped out into the gunfire. It’s the mid-1940s, and this young man has just parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe.
Now, something you have to understand about Herman is that what he lacks in years, he makes up for in professional military experience. When the United States was pulled into World War II, he dropped out of high school in Savannah, Georgia, left his sweetheart Helen, and enlisted in the military. Eventually, joining up with the 15th Air Force, and flying more than 35 missions with the Tuskegee Airmen as an escort. However, it was near the end of his tour that he found himself falling into the woods, captured by farmers, turned over to local police, and eventually the Nazis. He was now a prisoner of war.
His new home, the German camp Stalag Luft III, where he and his fellow prisoners sought every opportunity to escape. They dug tunnels and holes, carrying the dirt away in their pockets to dump it into a field and edges of the camp. The group maintained these efforts despite the hard and difficult conditions. “You got to understand,” says Herman’s son, Paul Cranman. “They gave them potato soup with little potato and bread with no bread. They used sawdust as filler for the bread.” As a Jewish prisoner, Herman felt an even greater sense of urgency than many of his fellow prisoners.
Back in the US, his sweetheart Helen was doing her part for the war effort. Volunteering her time and helping the community and our troops abroad. And even though she exchanged letters with Herman while he was overseas, she knew that something had happened to him.
As time went on, the group of POWs Herman found himself with began to also find hope and support through Red Cross care packages.
Herman’s son, Roy Cranman, describes the Red Cross “Parcels” of food, chocolates, hygiene, and other items as “one of the only joys of his existence.”
Although the boxes did not arrive on a regular schedule, they were frequent enough to help keep the members of the camp going. The food in them provided the calories necessary for survival, and medical kits provided supplies to keep the group healthy. Most importantly, the packages, sometimes including accompanying letters, reminded the POWs of their lives back home, the fight to end the war, and hope that someone was coming to rescue them.
As the Nazis began to lose the war, Herman and his fellow POWs were transferred to other camps via forced marches across the country in the coldest winter months, eventually ending up in Nuremberg, Germany. He remained there until liberated by American General Patton and his army on April 28th, 1945.
Through that dark time, it is said that those troops never lost hope or strength, due in large part to the Red Cross parcels and the creativity of the POWs in using the contents.
“He turned 21 while in the camp. If you can even imagine, he turned 21 while he was a POW,” Lynn, Herman’s daughter, recalls a story that stands out to her. His crew, who affectionally called him “Junior” because of his young age, “made a birthday cake out of that dental powder for him so that he could blow out the candle on his 21st birthday.”
After liberation, Herman began to regain his strength on a “triple ration of white bread” until he boarded a boat to return to America. In a case of serendipity, Herman encountered an old friend on the boat who gave Herman his meal ticket every day so he could eat a full meal from the chow hall. Herman also received the news that both families arranged for Helen and Herman’s engagement while he was away. The couple married shortly after being reunited and spent over 70 years together, sharing the mantles of husband & wife, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, providers, and volunteers.
Herman and Helen were lifelong Savannians, and their story reminds us why they were part of the “Greatest Generation.” They did tremendous things to help the world with humility, honor, and respect. Their service did not stop after the war, serving as role models for family and friends while embodying the qualities of real-world heroes.
It is easy for little things to go unnoticed or feel that they are just a drop in the bucket. But those small actions make all the difference to those experiencing or going through hardship and difficult times.
That is the power of the Red Cross and its network of volunteers. The support and resources help those when they need it most.
Roy encourages others to share the story of his parents if there is ever a doubt of the impact made by the little things we do for others. Just as the Red Cross’s war parcels were made possible through time and donations from volunteers across the country, so too does the organization’s efforts today to alleviate human suffering by relying on the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Herman and Helen believed in that mission, continuing to donate to the Red Cross until he passed in 2017 and Helen passed in 2022. With them both gone, the two agreed to leave the American Red Cross of Savannah a financial donation of more than $27,000. Ensuring that their generous contributions, and dedication to helping others, will continue to spread to those in need through the Red Cross.
