Thanks for sharing.
You're welcome!
Dad had only been deployed for a few days. It was almost Christmas and he was looking forward to a cigar and whiskey but didn't get the chance. They could hear tanks approaching and were told it was deception with loudspeakers and not to be concerned, but it wasn't and then "all Hell broke lose".
The soldiers scattered in the dark woods and my dad found a small group of other Americans who asked him "What's the password". He replied "there is no password" and they knew he was one of them. But they were surrounded and soon captured.
Most of the soldiers were shipped off to a work camp in Poland but dad was an officer so he was sent to Germany. He was a doctor and enlisted fresh out of med school. He was in the 106th Infantry known as "The Golden Lions". On the POW train he had to amputate a mans leg without proper tools or anesthesia.
At the camp there were German peasants on the other side of the fence. He spoke to them in French and asked for the weeds being cleared from their vegetable garden. "You want the weeds?". He shared the dandelion greens with the other POW's to supplement the gruel they were fed.
Dad was an amazing man and I wouldn't be here if the SS officer hadn't rescued him from the firing squad.
Cool story.
Fwiw, my dad was a 20 year old farm boy when he was drafted. He told them he couldn't shoot anyone, and they told him since he had been raised on a farm, he could sign up for the cavalry and take care of the horses. And since this was a war of machinery, he would probably just stay stateside. A few months later the cavalry was disbanded, and they sent my dad to the Pacific, where his job was repairing guns.
He never talked about it with me, except once. He told me there was an incident on an island where some civilians had been killed, and a baby remained alive. He and the other soldiers drew lots to see who would have to kill the baby, as the child would've starved to death.
He had nightmares.
I think he knew at the end of his days that we had fought on the wrong side, but he never said it.
Wait, so he's literally a baby killer?? Tough break, but All's fair in love and war something something ....
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