During July Dascoulias continued to take part in air raids over France, Germany, and the Netherlands. On July 14, 1943, the target was Villacublay Airport in France. The B-17Fs of the 423rd Bomb Squadron caused extensive damage to the repair hangars of the FW-190's and He-111's but were severely attacked by German fighters. During the fierce air battle, S/Sgt Dascoulias shot down a Messerschmitt 109, which was credited as confirmed, but in his narrations, the veteran aviator does not mention more details about this incident. Instead, the details of the downing of his own aircraft and the odyssey of captivity that followed were etched deep in his memory for the rest of his life. In the fatal mission of July 26, 1943, the target was a factory complex in Hannover, Germany. Dascoulias was flying that day with Lt. Norman Armbrust, his regular co-pilot, who had now been promoted to pilot. Armbrust had received his pilot's license before the outbreak of WWII and he was very experienced. He loved flight and airplanes. In this mission, the crew used the B-17F, 42-29900, "Unbearable II". Unfortunately, over the target, the flak was heavy and accurate and the aircraft, shortly after dropping their bombs, received hits in the No.2 engine, which stopped running. Also, the No.1 and No.3 engines were damaged by fragments and started to malfunction, losing speed. The speed of the aircraft began to decrease and as a result, it could not follow the formation. Dascoulias narrates:

“They hit us! I saw the No. 2 engine losing oil incessantly and slowly dissolving. Small pieces of it began to come off and swirl in the air. Our speed had dropped so much. We were at a standstill, like. I could see the other planes gone. We were just sitting there. I said, "This is it." Suddenly I saw the tail gunner S/Sgt Robinson coming out of his turret. The same scene was repeated as then about a month ago. I was looking anxiously towards the front of the aircraft, and I was wondering why we had not received yet the order to bail out. In the intercom I did not hear anything, nor did the characteristic bell that was the signal for abandonment ring. As soon as I looked back, the exit hatch was open and the gunner was gone. This time he had already jumped out. I saw the radio operator coming from the front in a hurry and gesturing he shouted: "Go, go!". His position was close to the cockpit and I assumed the pilot had given him the order. I went to the exit hatch but before I jumped, I told him that the ball gunner had not yet come out of its turret. He grabbed a wrench and started tapping this metal thing to warn him to get out. I later learned that he got him out but he got shot in the leg and eventually died in a German hospital. Probably from gangrene. Eventually, I landed in a cornfield, and almost immediately I was arrested by a German national guard. He wore an old-World War I helmet with a spiky tip on the top. I raised my hands but when he came near me, he hit me hard, with an old rifle he had. I was so mad, if I had a gun, I would have shot him. Then they took me to a building where I met the radio operator and the flying engineer, of my crew."

As the "Unbearable II" was almost out of control, the pilot, Lieutenant (I) Norman Armbrust, was trying to hold it in the air until his men could abandon it. The last to remain inside the bomber was the wounded ball turret gunner, Sgt Nelson Huston, and the radio operator T/Sgt Robert Myllykoski, who finally managed to free him. While all this was going on, a German Ju-88 attacked the stricken bomber hitting the No.4 engine which caught fire. Everyone felt that they would soon be dead, as the risk of an explosion was very high. Myllykoski helped Huston to bail out, while Lt Norman Armbrust was the last who abandoned the plane, literally at the last minute. All 10 men of the crew were taken prisoner by the Germans, shortly after their landing. Three of them were injured and were treated in German hospitals. These were the bombardier Lt. Charles I Wallin, the navigator Lt. Robert Ellwood and Sgt. Nelson Huston. Ellwood remained in the same hospital for three months with the severely injured Huston. Sgt. Huston, before his death, had repeatedly expressed his gratitude for his unknown mate who helped him escape from the stricken aircraft. Unfortunately, because he was almost unconscious, he could not understand who helped him. In addition, Huston confessed to him that he was diabetic and this hindered the healing of his wounds. 

Dascoulias was also slightly injured but his condition was not a cause for concern and he was not treated. Shortly after his capture, the Germans mounted Peter and two of his crew against a wall, and American aviators believed they would be executed. However, the Germans simply did a search and removed their individual survival kits, taking whatever money was in their pockets. Then they left them fasting for two days with only water and some tea and then they started interrogating them. After the interrogation, they stripped them and took their uniforms, showing a particular preference for their leather jackets and boots. The prisoners were given old tattered clothes which they were forced to wear. The next day they were put in separate train boxcars and Pete was transported to Stalag 7-A near the town of Moosburg in southern Bavaria. The living conditions in terms of hygiene and nutrition were miserable, throughout their two-month stay there. As the veteran aviator recalled, the first two weeks passed without even basic care, such as shaving.

In early October 1943, Peter was transferred to Stalag 17-B in Krems, Austria, where he was held for 18 of the 21 months of his captivity. Living conditions there were slightly better than in the previous camp. As Peter recalled, the first thing they did was to take their clothes and put them in ovens to delouse them. Also, the barbers cut all their hair off and make all the prisoners bald so they don't get lice and fleas. In the second half of 1944, afflicted men were allowed to receive once a week a packet of food and cigarettes, which were distributed to them through the International Committee of the Red Cross. The prisoners noticed that the German guards were picking up the American cigarettes to smoke them. So, they developed with them a system of spare economy. With a few cigarettes and soap, they could find various goods, such as eggs and cheese, as many of the guards visited neighboring farms. The camp was huge and the prisoners, a total of 4.000-5.000 men, lived in sectors, divided by nationality, Americans, British, French, Russians, etc. In one case, Peter and some of his colleagues hid two Russian soldiers in their own barracks, because their German guards behaved inhumanely, often releasing dogs against them. During a night escape attempt, the Germans located two fugitives near the barbed wire and killed them in the cold, while not knowing how many more prisoners were involved in the operation, they opened fire on the barracks. The morning they were taken out to be counted, Peter spotted a dead man with 10-12 bullets in his body. In the early days of April 1945, everyone could now hear the sound of the Soviet artillery shells, as the Russians approached. The Germans evacuated the camp, separating the American prisoners, who forced them to form a large column, heading west, towards the American lines. The course in the cold in rugged terrain and with minimal food, lasted several weeks. During that time, their guards announced the death of President Roosevelt on April 12, 1945.

Finally, in early May, after an exhausting march through the mountains, Peter and his colleagues met with the vanguard of General George Patton's Third Army. The prisoners had been abandoned at night by their German guards, during sleep! So, the nightmare of the young aviator's captivity came to an end. He was initially hospitalized to fully recover, because he was malnourished and then, after receiving a 30-day discharge leave, he was able to return safely to his family in the United States in June 1945. For his service in World War II, S/Sgt Peter Dascoulias was awarded the Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, and the Prisoner of War Medal. After the war, he worked for the Water Department in Warren, Ohio, from where he retired. In 1952 he married his beloved Bessie V Dascoulias with whom he had three children, John, Frank, and Christina. In 1968 and 1970 he traveled to Greece and visited the village of Mavria and in a highly emotional environment, he met his uncle Christos, his father's brother. He was a member of the 306th Bomb Group Association, the Mahoning Chapter of Prisoners of War, and the Disabled American Veterans. Peter J Dascoulias died on May 16, 2005, at the age of 84. May his memory be eternal!