Bernard "Ben" Guild (1924–2003), was an authority on Alaska mushrooms and a supporter of the founding of Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve.

World War II

Ben was part of the

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

57th Air Division The 57th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the Fifteenth Air Force, based at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. It was inactivated on 24 June 1991. History "Established as the 8th Pursuit W ...

, 321st Bomb Group (see 321st Air Expeditionary Wing), 447th Squadron. He was shot down on 6 February 1945 on a mission to

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

Station to attack the rail bridge in

Crema, Italy Crema (; Cremasco: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Cremona, in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is built along the river Serio at from Cremona. It is also the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Crema, who gave the title ...

. The plane was called ''May Be'', and Guild was a radioman. Ben was captured and became a POW held by Germany in

Stalag Luft III , partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...

Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser

Stalag XIII-D Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp built on what had been the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, northern Bavaria. Camp history In September 1939 an internment camp for enemy civilians was ...

) 49-11. The story of Guild is discussed in the book The Story of the ‘Maybe’ The B-25J Mitchell bombardier that crashed on the 6th February 1945 at monte Brugnolo between valle di Gresta and Arco (first edition) publication date Sep 2014. Maybe book cover

Alaska

Bernard Guild was a microbiologist by training, and an ex-teacher of science and ecology, who moved to Alaska in 1970 to hunt and fish and photograph and write—mostly to write. Bernard Guild was a teacher and writer by profession, adopted Alaskan by avocation and a muzzle-loader for the pure sport of it.

On an investigative trip out to the Caldera in August 1976,
alph Alph may refer to: * Alpheus River, a river on the Peloponnese *Alph River, a river in Antarctica * Alph Lake, a lake in Antarctica *Alph, a fictional river in the poem ''Kubla Khan'' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge *Alph, a character from ''Luminous Arc ...
Root encountered one of Aniakchak's first non-hunting visitors since Hubbard, a mycologist and former hunting guide named "Ben" Guild. Root described Guild as 'very pro-park' in his 1976 report. He also noted that Guild had exchanged his rifle for a camera. Guild had spent six weeks in the Caldera three years earlier....Although the NPS appreciated his knowledge of the area, local residents in Port Heiden found it odd that anyone who was not there to hunt or trap would choose to live under such extreme conditions. Because of his apparent devotion to the wilderness, local villagers called Guild the 'Wild Man of Aniakchak.'

Publications

The Alaskan Mushroom Hunter's Guide (Paperback)
(1977)
The Alaska Psychoactive Mushroom Handbook (Paperback)
(1979)
Home Grown Mushrooms in Alaska (Or Anywhere Else) And How To Cook Them (Paperback)
(1979)
Cooking Alaskan (Paperback)
(1983) One recipe included from Ben.
Beyond Gorp: Favorite Foods From Outdoor Experts (Paperback)
(2005) One recipe from Ben for "Boiled Fiddlehead Ferns" is on page 171.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guild, Benard 1924 births 2003 deaths Deaths from cancer in Alaska World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century American male writers American military personnel of World War II