Ewell Ross McCright (4 December 1917 – 24 April 1990) of Benton, Saline County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

who was famous for maintaining secret journals detailing information about fellow

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

while held captive in a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

prison camp. For his actions, McCright was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

posthumously in 2004. McCright was a bombardier on a

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bomber that was shot down over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 23 January 1943. McCright was captured by German forces and taken to a German prisoner of war camp at Zagan, Poland. McCright remained a prisoner until 29 April 1945, when his camp was liberated by the

Third United States Army Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

under General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

. During his captivity, McCright detailed the personal backgrounds and wartime injuries of 2,194 of his fellow prisoners in four journals, which he hid under the floorboards of the prisoner barracks. When he was transferred to another POW camp, McCright secretly carried the journals on a 34-mile forced march in place of food. McCright's ledgers contained prisoner accounts of the gas chambers at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, as well as details of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

atrocities such as the use of dogs to attack prisoners, and medical

experimentation on prisoners Throughout history, prisoners have been frequent participants in scientific, medical and social human subject research. Some of the research involving prisoners has been exploitative and cruel. Many of the modern protections for human subjects ev ...

. McCright's journals were presented as evidence before the allied war crimes trials at

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. The ledgers were published in 1994 by Arnold Wright of

Benton, Arkansas Benton is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Arkansas, United States and a suburb of Little Rock. It was established in 1837. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 30,681. In 2019 the population was estimated at 36,820. ...

under the title ''Behind the Wire: Stalag Luft III, South Compound''. McCright's work provided comfort for many families seeking information about the status of their loved ones. In 2004, McCright was the first recipient of the

to receive the award for activities conducted while a prisoner of war. McCright became an

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

after the war and served in the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the ...

from 1951 to 1953. He died on 24 April 1990 at the age of seventy-two. He is buried at Salem

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

in Saline County.

References

Arkansas Democrat Gazette, September 5–6, 2004 MS 517, US Air Force Academy McDermott Library Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:McCright, Ewell Ross 1917 births 1990 deaths American aviators Arkansas lawyers Members of the Arkansas House of Representatives World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Air Force officers People from Benton, Arkansas 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians