In the summer of 1944 I was inducted into the army - I was sent to Camp Roberts near Salinas in California for my basic training. After 16 weeks of training I was shipped as replacement personnel to Fort Meade, near Baltimore, MD.

I spent about three weeks as temporary cadre at Fort Meade while waiting for my shipping orders. On December 31st, 1944 I was transported to Boston, Mass. I was ordered to report to the USS Sea Tiger Victory for departure to France on January 1, 1945. We spent New Year's eve on board the Sea Tiger. I was bunked on the top bunk in the forward hold. There were 5 or six bunks one on top of each other.

On the morning of January 1st, 1945, I awoke to find the ship about 50 miles outside Boston harbor and part of a very large convoy heading to France. There were so many ships in the convoy that you could not see the horizon without seeing ships from the convoy. Thus started my trip to La Harve, France. The convoy traveled the North Atlantic route and experienced 17 days of a Nor'easter storm. We had two days of submarine alerts and one sub attack. I don't know if we lost any transport ships or not.

On about the 18th of January we arrived at Le Harve and immediately were placed on boxcars for the trip to Northern France and the front. I learned that the Reppl Depot had assigned me to the 70 Division, 1st Battalion, Company A, 275th Infantry regiment. I finally ended up in the first squad, company A, 275th Infantry regiment and was immediately sent to the front.

We had been issued 30 cal. M1 rifles. I arrived at a little village about three miles south of Etzling. Our company was holding a large front with limited personnel. Our company strength was about 88. The first night I was assigned outpost duty on the hill south of Etzling. We were in a blockhouse and I couldn't help peering over the top of the bunker, which was a mistake because a stream of tracers was fired from the German positions that hit a tree only a foot above my head. That stopped my curiosity about what the front looked like. I learned to keep my head down after that. It was very cold - below freezing. The next morning I was told to go back a couple hundred yards from out outpost and bring up some breakfast. I got two issues of oatmeal for my buddy and me. It was hot when they poured it into our canteen cups but by the time I got back to the outpost it was frozen solid. Anyway, it was food. Later that day we were relieved and I returned to Company HQ. I was assigned a 400 radio and instructed in its use.

A few days later we were given orders to advance down the slope and attack Etzling. It was to determine the strength of the German forces holding the town. We left in the fog and took the village with only a few causalities. We were given orders to withdraw that same day and returned to Company A HQ.

We only had patrol duty for the next few days. When they gave me the 400 radio they told me that I would not be able to carry a M1 rifle because the metal in the gun would interfere with the reception of the radio. I was told that I would be able to carry only a 45 cal pistol. I said OK but they didn't have any available for me. I asked for a carbine and they told me that it also had too much metal. So the next attack I went into combat with the radio and no weapon. Some days later I found a carbine and used that. It didn't affect the reception at all. That was the weapon I had when I was later captured.

We did have an alert that German paratroopers may have infiltrated behind our lines. We conducted patrols all day and night in the village we were in but found no enemy paratroopers.

There was an alert and my buddy and I were assigned to a 50-cal. machine-gun emplacement just west of the village. It was in the center of a large valley and the only gun defending the valley. We were supposed to be relieved the next morning but a snowstorm hit and we were stranded there for three days without food or support. The temperature was near 10 degrees. We had a loaf of bread and about 6 or 8 oranges. The first morning after we were in position we discovered that the bread and oranges were frozen solid. We checked the gun and found out the action was frozen. We took off part of our outside clothing and massaged the bolt action and warmed it up so that it eventually cleared. Thank God the Germans didn't know that. We had no action and three days later we were relieved. Cold but alive. It had snowed almost two feet while we were out there.

When we returned to HQ we were told that we were going back to the rear for replacements and further training for an assault that was planned. We stayed in the rear area less that two miles from the front for about 10 days. I was given training in laying wire under combat and stringing communications on telephone poles or trees. I was given a pair of climbing irons and was taught how to get up a pole and more importantly how to get down fast when under enemy fire. It's amazing how fast you can get down from a 30 or 40 foot pole when under fire.

We were then ordered back to our village at the front and conducted patrols. On or about the first part of February we were ordered to take Eltzing again and this time to hold it. Another company was going to attack Grosbliederstroff just east of us. The attack started the next morning. My buddy, Wilde, and I were assigned the job of laying wire to Etzling before the attack started. We had a role of wire and a pole that we carried between us and began to lay wire at 0200, about four hours before the company was to jump off Wilde and I began laying wire in the dark as close to the German lines as possible. We were within 20' of the Germans when we ran out of wire. On the way back I slipped on the mud and sprained my left leg and hip. When it happened I let out a groan that the Germans couldn't help hearing but we did not get an enemy fire. By the time we got back up the hill to where the company was going to start the attack. The battalion commander, Colonel Pierce, asked us if the wire was laid all the way to the village. We told him we ran out of wire and he asked for some volunteers to finish the job. It was now about 0600 and daylight. He got no response and because Wilde and I were the only ones that knew where we had left off, we "volunteered" to do it again. We got a new bail of comm wire and started out. We immediately ran into heavy machine-gun fire and zigzagged down the hill. We were about 300 yards down the hill and in the open when the machine gun fire made us hit the ground. I landed in a shallow ditch with the cold rainwater. While waiting for the machine gun fire to stop I heard a German mortar open up. The first round landed about 50' short. I held my breath and hoped I would not hear another round coming. No luck. The next round landed about 50' long. We knew the next round would be close. We heard the sound again (the flutter of birds) and knew the next round would be close. It landed within 10' of us. We didn't wait any longer - we grabbed the wire spool and took off again. That mortar convinced us to try the machine guns again. Neither of us was hurt and we laid the rest of the wire and actually got to within 30' of the village. Our first wave had taken bad casualties but had taken the village. We scrambled down a short ravine and got into one of the houses in the town.

One of the casualties was a NCO who had taken a hand grenade in the hip. He was dying and groaning but a medic ran out to him under heavy fire and gave him a shot for the pain. He died later that morning. By this time the second wave had arrived and Colonel Pierce ordered the last part of the wire to be laid. We had no wire so we cannibalized the wire from the buildings. We ripped enough wire from the walls to permit us to complete the job. I was then ordered to the second floor of one of the buildings to keep a lookout for German tanks that we expected to come to retake the village.

Later that day we heard that the attack on Grosbliederstroff had failed and that our right wing was not protected. We were given orders to withdraw. We recovered our wounded and dead and started up the muddy hill (600 yards). We carried them on doors that were ripped off the buildings. It was about 2400 when I got back to our lines. Because our wire was connected from the village to our main phone lines I was ordered to secure. I groped along the hill in the dark until I found my connection to our phones and cut the connection. It wasn't until later that morning I found out I cut the right line.

I had left HQ about 0200 and didn't return until 0300 the next day. I was so tired when I got back to HQ I just slumped in a chair by the fire and fell asleep. Everyone thought I was a casualty until someone found me asleep that morning. I made my report and went to bed and slept 10 hours.

We did routine patrol and line holding until the middle of February. We then were ordered to attack Etzling one more time. We captured the village again and stayed in the village for about one day and then moved forward to attack Alstiniz. We stayed at Alsting one day and at midnight, on February 20th, we moved out to infiltrate the German lines to a hill overlooking Saarbrucken, about three miles behind the German lines (I never did find out its name). Our mission was to dig in behind the German lines and disrupt communications and stop reinforcements when the Battalion attack was to start at 0800 the next morning. Our Company strength was less than 100.

We jumped off at midnight and started up the long hill to the north toward Saarbrucken. We walked all night in the pitch dark of the woods until we arrived at our area about 0500 in the morning on the 21st. We dug foxholes and waited for dawn. We had an Intelligence officer with us and he dug his foxhole next to mine because I had the 400 radio. We put pieces of branches from the trees over our holes to protect us from airbursts, etc. He put his pistol and canteen on the top of the wood over his foxhole. I was the control officer for the radio network and was in contact with battalion in the rear. I also had the frequency of Charlie Company who had infiltrated to a spot about 1,000 yards to the east of us.

All night we heard that special sound the German Tiger Tanks make when they are on the move and we just knew that there were a lot more Germans on the hill besides us. We had been told that there were only a few Germans holding the hill. We later found out that there was a full division of the 19th Volksgrenadiers and supporting tanks on the hill.

We waited for dawn and then sent a small patrol out to a blockhouse nearby. The patrol began receiving small arms fire on its return. About that time it was light and we saw four Tiger tanks at each corner of our position. We were receiving small arms fire and the tanks were getting into position to shell us.

The intelligence officer ordered me to get out of my foxhole and stand up to get his pistol and canteen which he had left on top of his foxhole. I jumped up real quick and got it for him, bullets were flying heavy and the next time I looked over to his position, he and our company commander were gone. By this time I had contacted battalion and reported that we were under heavy attack by infantry and tanks. I was ordered to contact Charlie Company to support us. We tried to hold out until Charlie Company arrived but we were taking heavy casualties.

My foxhole was dug under a large tree (about 50' long). Battalion asked me for a report how close the tanks were. I raised up to see and at that very moment a tank, less that 100' from me swivelled its gun around and pointed it right at my tree and fired. I swear I could see the rifling on the 88. I was talking to Battalion at the time and the concussion was so great I yelled "Its damn close". Battalion told me to hold our positions until Charlie company got there. We tried, but when we were down to 18 men the medic said "we got to surrender". I told him to hold off for about 5 minutes until Charlie Company arrived. I waited about ten minutes with no sign of Charlie Company and finally told the medic OK. I advised battalion. The medic got up and yelled "comrade" and waved his arms. There were only 18 of A Company alive and I had just become a prisoner of war.

The German attack started about 0800 and was all over by 0820. It was hot and heavy. I turned and put a round in the guts of my radio so that the Germans would not know our frequency and got up alongside of him. I saw a company of German soldiers and the four tanks and the German officer in charge ordered us to get into a bunker. While inside we took care of our wounded. I bandaged a gunshot wound in the upper left arm of one of our group. It was a clean wound - about the size of a dime going in the front of his arm and a nice clean exit wound about the size of a nickel. I put my bandage on him and some sulfa and he was OK. Another of our squad had received a shrapnel wound in his thigh that was pretty bad. It had taken a chunk of meat out of his right thigh. The medic was trying to help him stop the bleeding. I heard later that he died.

After we were in the bunker for about ten minutes, I heard Charlie Company arrive and begin a firefight with the Germans. The Germans ordered us out of the bunker and had us climb upon the tanks. We thought they were going to use us as live shields for the tanks but the tank turned around and went down the road from the heights toward Saarbrucken. All the way down the road to Saarbrucken we saw thousands of German troops and tanks.

Despite that we were told the day before that there were only a few Germans on the hill . We discovered during our tank ride down the hill that there was an entire division. It turned out that the entire battle for Saarbrucken was fought the next three days on "our" hill. A German officer with an English accent who had studied in England and had an uncommon fascination for American cigarettes interrogated us. He told me that our intelligence officer and company commander were caught about « mile from the hill and executed. He showed me their dogtags and ID cards.

We were held in a large building for three or four days. For the next three days we talked to newly captured American troops that had fought on the hill. We learned that Charlie Company had driven off the Germans. The Germans then committed a regiment and drove off Charlie Company. Our first battalion was then committed and recaptured the hill. The fighting went on for four days before the Germans withdrew and opened up the way to Saarbrucken. When A Company arrived at the first detention yard there were only 17 of us left.

Thus began my life as a POW. We were taken on 40 & 8 boxcars away from Saarbrucken and eventually were ordered to get out and start marching. We seemed to walk forever and finally got to Heidelberg. There were about 200 of us. We were billeted in a large building in Heidelberg for about two or three weeks. We heard that if we did not sleep on straw we wouldn't get lice, so we slept on the floor. The Germans gave us one blanket apiece. The food consisted of potato soup or when we were lucky, potatoes.

The farther back from the German front lines we got, the meaner were the German people. They would curse us and throw things at us. I traded my $100.00 watch for a head of cabbage and thought I made a good deal. When they heard that the 70th Division was moving toward our stalag, we were ordered to move out and they marched us toward Dachau. They gave us all their remaining supply of potatoes and we started off. We ate all the potatoes they gave us and immediately got sick during the march because of overdosing on starch. One of our group collapsed and another GI and I carried him the last few miles on the first day of our march. We started at about midnight and walked about 15 miles before we stopped.

We stopped at a farm and placed in a large bam (full of straw). From that day on all of us had lice big enough to ride. The next two weeks or so we marched about 15 miles each day. One day we discovered that the original 200, or so, had increased to about 500. It seems that our captors had combined other POW camps to head east to avoid the American advance. One day, we were told that because the British had bombed Frankfurt, there was no bread. They gave each of us a cup of flour and told that was our bread for the day. Most of the POWs didn't know what to do with it. I showed them how to mix it with water and heat it on hot rocks and make 'Indian bread'. It wasn't too good but when you are hungry, it's not too bad.

A few days later we again had no bread, however, the Germans dragged in a horse that had been killed that morning by aircraft fire (or so we were told) and we would have to eat that or go hungry. One of our POWs had been a butcher at home and he agreed to butcher the horse if I would help him. We cut up the horse and rationed it out in approx. one pound hunks. Any POW who was hungry enough could get all he wanted. I took my share and boiled it in my helmet liner, added some dandelion greens and a frog that I had caught and made my self a fair stew. No salt or anything but I found out that when you are hungry enough, you can eat anything.

Our group was divided into marching units of about 100 or so four abreast. From the air we must have looked like a marching army. Later that day we were strafed by the French air force that believed the column was German soldiers. They hit the front of the column and we took some casualties. When they started their strafing run we all jumped into a ditch along the road.

There was a German guard along side of me when we were marching. Before he was inducted into the German Army he taught violin in Heidelberg. He was about 5'8", and weighed about 190lbs and seemed to be completely out of place as a guard. In fact, that morning, he shared some of his sandwich with us. He hated the Nazis, hated Hitler and all he wanted to do was get home and teach the violin again. Well, anyway, when the planes started to shoot, he hit the ditch and I and about 5 of us landed on top of him. After the pass, we all got up and handed him his rifle back. He was so meek and such a sad sack that this seemed natural at the time.

The planes then came back for another pass. Everybody was saying "don't hit the ditch this time". We prayed that they would realize something was different and report back that this was a POW column, not the German army. When the planes lined up we stood our ground and the planes noticed that and started another pass taking pictures. This was the first time that the Red Cross knew about the group. Two days later we received our first (and only) Red Cross package.

It was now about April 19th and we arrived in the town of Augsburg. We spent the night there and enjoyed our Red Cross packages. I saved enough of mine for my attempted escape the next day. I figured that I should have enough food for at least three days before I could get back to the American lines.

The next morning we started out early and marched through Augsburg. I complained about my feet and kept dropping back in the column. They even assigned a guard with a dog to watch me. I tried to leave the column twice that morning but was always brought back. I wasn't mistreated or beat up, but I was given special attention. This was probably due to the fact that the Germans knew that the war was almost over.

I even hitched a ride on a farmers fertilizer wagon. When he turned off the road and the column went straight, I didn't get off. I got over a block away before the guards came after me. This time they pushed a bit and brought me back in line.

Some time later we left the city of Augsburg and came to the suburb of Dillingen. When we got to the suburb, I told Almar Fraley and Lawrence Sanchez that I was going to make one more try. They agreed to go with me, just outside Dillingen we saw a group of Australian POWs taking a march break. There were about 100 of them. When we got to them I just started off the road, as naturally as possible, and walked through the Aussies and over the rise of a hill and out of sight. All the time we were walking we expected to hear the word "alto" or get shot or something, but nothing happened and after we got over a slight rise and out of sight, we dropped down and started to pray. It wouldn't get dark for about 2 or 3 hours, so we just laid there and prayed. The column moved on and out of sight.

We were laying on the ground about 50' from a farmhouse. There was a German farmer sharpening a hand ax on a grindstone. We were there for about an hour when we heard his wife, from the second story of the farmhouse yell, "Americanish Kreigsgefagener (sic)" which means American Prisoner of War. We held our breaths until we heard him look up and yell at her "shut up". She did and we waited for awhile. It was now dusk and I crawled over to him and asked for help and a place to stay overnight. He said to go to the third house along the highway. It was now dark. I went to the house but the woman there could not help us. I went back to Fraley and Sanches. We started out to find a place to hide during the day.

About two houses down and in back we found an old shed that was apparently used to store grain cutting equipment. It had two doors and was padlocked. We took the doors off on one side and went in and closed the door from the inside. From the outside there was no change. We scrounged for food and water for a few days. On April 24th, we heard the First Division starting their attack. There was a German 88 battery across the road from us which was taking fire from American artillery. When we saw the shrapnel coming through the thin wood walls of our shed, we decided it was time to get out of there and get some cover and try to reach the 1st division and our own lines.

A German farmer, by the name of Woerner helped us. His son, Franz, was 14 years old. Thirty-five years later, 1981, I went back to Augsburg and found him and we had a great reunion.

Later that afternoon we started to walk into Augsburg. While on the road we had to hit the ditch a few times when we saw German staff cars leaving and heading east fast. We got into Augsburg and reported to the Intelligence Company of the First Division. When I was captured I weighed 180 lbs. When I reported to the 1st division, I weighed 112.