Arthur Staymates was born in 1925 in Murrysville, Pennsylvania which is about 20 or 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. He grew up in the small town and had an idyllic youth. People knew each other and took care of one another. Family life was great. His mother was very sweet. She never said anything bad about anyone. She died too young [Annotator's Note: Staymates breaks up a bit when he talks about her]. His father was a carpenter. Times were rough but he felt well taken care of by his parents. His family is all gone now. Staymates was not affected much by the Depression. He attended school, played sports for good coaches, and always had enough to eat. If he needed something, he knew his parents would get it for him. He did realize not to ask unless it was critical. As he grew up, he began playing sports with older young men. When war came, he felt left out when they were all getting drafted for service. Staymates was about a junior in high school when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. He did not know what war was all about, but he was excited by the idea of going into the conflict. Until he reached draft age, he was content to just play ball in school. [Annotator's Note: a phone call interrupts the interview momentarily.] There was not much discussion of the war at school. Two of Staymates' coaches voluntarily entered the Navy V-12 program [Annotator's Note: the V-12 Navy College Training Program was used to increase the numbers of officers in the Navy] as officers advising on military physical training and exercise methods. The coaches were both great guys who kept up with Staymates and committed to assisting him in obtaining athletic scholarships or starting professional sports after his graduation. Meanwhile, Staymates never paid much attention to the war or its progress. He was just anxious to get into the action. Staymates turned 18 years old in March [Annotator's Note: March 1943] then his draft notice came in June after his high school graduation. He took the notice to Greensburg, Pennsylvania where the induction center was. He saw a friend who was a recruiter there. His friend asked Staymates where he wanted to go. Staymates wanted to go into the Air Force. His friend said that it was overbooked. Consequently, they would not accept him. The recruiter advised instead that Staymates sign up for the infantry. No one wanted the infantry but it was to be a ruse for Staymates to complete basic training successfully and afterward request a transfer to the Air Force from his company commander. Staymates agreed but thought afterward that he was perhaps naïve for doing so. After basic, Staymates told the company sergeants that he would like to request a transfer from the company commander. The non-commissioned officers all laughed at Staymates for his idea. The company commander heard the laughter and wanted to know what was so funny. When the sergeants revealed Staymates' request to the commander, he laughed and told Staymates that he had better just get back to work. The way that Staymates now sees things, that was the best that could have happened. There are things that are experienced and learned about life that can never been taught or understood unless you experience combat as an infantryman. An infantryman sees things that are a matter of life or death, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Arthur Staymates had a typical, hard training before he left the States but it was not too difficult for him. He enjoyed learning all about the various weapons. He rated expert in the use of those weapons. He enjoyed the experience, including meeting the nine guys in his barrack room at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. He became close to all of them. It was sad to lose any of them in combat. His preference was to be assigned to combat in Europe. The first taste of combat in Europe was not what he anticipated. He was shot at and then instinctively shot back according to his training. The young man that he shot was as young as Staymates. It made him a nervous wreck for a few hours. He was not taught to take a life but his training took over. It never got easy shooting others but he learned to accept it. On the firing line, there were multiple individuals so it could not be pinpointed who shot the individuals on the opposing side. Prior to his deployment, Staymates was ready to go overseas to get into the action. Prior to going overseas, he was sent as a squad leader over 12 men to a training school in Miami, Florida for Air Force personnel. The men were to acclimatize the airmen in shooting their pistols and small arms for self-defense in case they were shot down. They trained hundreds of men in four or five weeks. Next, he and his squad were sent to Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. They were to train medics on the use of small arms because when they were sent to the Pacific they would be facing the Japanese who had not signed the Geneva Conference. [Annotator's Note: In the interwar period, the Geneva Conference conventions were agreed to by most major powers. The terms established acceptable protocols for waging war between belligerents. Conversely, prohibitions such as not attacking an enemy with noxious gas, not mistreating prisoners of war, and avoidance of targeting medical personnel or facilities were also defined.] After that assignment, Staymates returned to Camp Shelby, but the 69th Division had left so he was sent to New York as one of thousands of replacements for the loses in the North African and Sicilian campaigns. He arrived in England in April [Annotator's Note: April 1944] and stayed through May. He joined the 1st Infantry Division. It was always cold and wet and miserable during his two months in England. That made good training for his future in the infantry. While in England, the training mostly involved maintaining physical fitness. There would be much walking ahead of them in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. There were long marches every day. Right before D-Day, exercises in the English Channel involved climbing down ropes to the LCI or Landing Craft, Infantry. Men were hurt when they accidentally fell or slipped while climbing down from one vessel to another. It was good training for future use of the LCI to attack the beach. It was nasty weather during that time.

Arthur Staymates was too young to be frightened by the impending D-Day invasion [Annotator's Note: on 6 June 1944]. When General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower] sent the message about the assault potentially resulting in serious casualties, the men became nervous about the prospect of being killed. They managed to convince themselves that it would not be so bad, but it was. The 1st Division lost 2,000 men alone on D-Day. It was a terrible experience that made him grow up quickly. He had no choice. It was not very good. He first got off the larger ship into an LCI [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry]. It was made to hold 31 men, but with the added gear, only 24 could fit in one vessel. That split Staymates' platoon of 48 men in half. It was rough to gather his men together after reaching the beach. The water was rough on the trip in and tossed the small vessel. Everyone seemed to be sick. The boat was a mess. It was unworldly. They learned a lot about each other in that tight condition. There were no atheists on the front line. Some men were actually scared stiff. They had to be dragged forward. Fear treats each individual differently. A man had to accept the fact that as an infantryman, he was going to be hit or killed. Everything was thrown at them 24 hours a day. There was no place to hide on the beach. If they stood on the beach, they would be killed. If they fought forward, they stood a chance of surviving. In the infantry, they had the risk of being killed at any time. When they were getting off the LCI, there were machine guns up on the cliffs that raked the ramps back and forth [Annotator's Note: Staymates gestures and simulates the sound of incoming automatic weapon fire]. The men had to make a decision what to do. Staymates chose to get off the ramp to avoid the fire. He and others leapt over the side into water over their heads. They had to shed their heavy packs to be able to make it through the deep water. Some men drown. The ones who were scared stiff did not make it either. Those who stayed on the ramp were killed. The troops tried to help each other by dragging men out of the water until they could help themselves. It quickly taught them that they had each other's back. It was something that they had to do. They were not in the midst of a game. The fighting was for keeps. Staymates had to do his share to get the enemy before they got him. He started to become a soldier when he learned that. After hitting the beach, there were problems. The Air Force had been ordered to bomb the beach the day and night before the assault. That would have resulted in bomb craters that would provide some cover for the incoming troops. Bad weather prevented the bombers from flying. There were no bomb craters, just flat beach. The men could not hide from the machine gun fire. The survivors learned the cadence of the fire of the machine guns and managed to go slightly forward when the guns were aiming away from them. They would then dive into the sand and hope the fire would miss them again before they scrambled forward another five or ten steps. It took the men all day to make the 250 to 300 yards between the water's edge and the cliffs they had to scale to reach the Germans. The distance seemed a mile long. They advanced eight or ten yards at a time. It was a bad time all around. Some of the men managed to get through it. While aboard the LCI, a good friend of Staymates named Larry Brown said he did not want to be hit and become a burden to his family back home. They both agreed that if one were seriously wounded, the other man would terminate their life. After hitting the beach and initially surviving the heavy German fire, Brown called out to Staymates by his nickname, Lucky, that the bet was off. Staymates was glad [Annotator's Note: he chuckles]. Only five of those hitting the beach for the 1st Division were still alive in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war. Many replacements came in and survived along with them and became friends. All five of the men were wounded during the war. Now, only Wally Morgan and Staymates are still alive. Morgan is 94 and in a wheelchair. He is getting a little forgetful, but he says he is ok. His daughter lives with him, but he no longer has his wife. Having gotten through combat, life is beautiful for Staymates. Nothing could be worse than wartime. Staymates is happy. During the beach assault, his world as an infantryman was 120 yards to the left and right and in front. Nothing was noticeable behind because he was advancing. It is always necessary for the unit to stay split up and not stay together. When he talked to Brown about calling off the bet, they were close to one another. Brown, or Brownie as Staymates refers to him, was hit later that day. There is nothing nice to talk about concerning going through combat. It is just war. After the experience, anything else can be handled.

Arthur Staymates had crossed the beach and felt he had reached safety when he made it to the cliffs [Annotator's Note: he was with the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division that assaulted Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944]. He knew the Germans could not shoot their machine guns down toward him any longer [Annotator's Note: Staymates uses his hands to simulate a downward crossfire from the machine gun positions on the cliffs above the landing beaches]. The Germans began dropping their potato masher looking grenades down on the Americans. Mortar fire was also used against the American assault troops. The salvation for the troops on the beach was the Navy ships which fired at the Germans. The ships fired rounds that exploded above the German machine gun nests on the cliffs. Additionally, the 101st Airborne had jumped the night before and although they were sustaining heavy casualties, they managed to keep the Germans pinned down from behind. There were many other reasons for the success of the invasion, but the coordination efforts of the assault troops, the Navy and the airborne was important. Staymates is alive due to everyone doing their job. Going up the cliffs was hard to get started. Grappling hooks were used to climb the cliffs. The Germans soon cut the ropes. Someone came up with the idea of using something that looked like a booby trap on the ropes to prevent the Germans from cutting them. That worked for a while, but the real aid came from the offshore naval fire that forced the Germans out of their fixed positions. Some men came up the side of the cliffs. Other specially trained men reached the top. That was what all the training was about. The next hill was some 30 yards away. It was protected by six feet of barbed wire. The engineers had given the troops bandoliers [Annotator's Note: bangalores] to blow up the wire. The men advanced upon the small rise, but they had to go through mine fields that included Bouncing Bettys. Those mines would fly up after activation and explode at a man's waist and blow him in half. Mines had also been installed on the obstacle posts on the beach used to keep the ships out. One of Staymates' buddies was hanging on a post to get his breath after getting through the water when a bullet hit the post and exploded the mine on it. There were no remains of the man left. Not even a dog tag could be found. Another pal was running with Staymates when the machine gun fire approached them. They hit the ground, but Staymates' buddy fell on a mine. The explosion completely obliterated the man. Nothing but blood was left. Mines were terrible. The troops hated them. The Germans were great at setting up mines. When an American soldier was killed, the Germans learned to set a booby trap under the dead man so that if he was moved an explosion would kill the individual moving him. The Germans had been at war since 1936 [Annotator's Note: since the Spanish Civil War] and knew some of the dirty tricks. It made the Americans cautious about moving a dead friend in order to get his dog tags. The Americans learned the tricks as they went along. They soon learned to play the same game with the enemy. It was uncomfortable not being able to handle a dead buddy to obtain his dog tags. Mines were everywhere right up to the end. They unexpectedly caused many deaths. A man stepping on a mine usually meant the end of the individual. No matter how much a medic tried, there were just too many wounded. On D-Day there were bodies flying everywhere. The medics were wonderful young men. They tried to save as many as they could, but there were just too many wounded. Staymates never talked much about these experiences to his children. They did not ask and he did not offer the details of what he had seen.

Arthur Staymates fought through the Normandy hedgerows [Annotator's Note: after capturing the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day Operation on 6 June 1944]. The hedgerows were used to separate plowed fields but were also useful to the enemy in keeping tanks from making progress across open country. They spanned the Norman countryside. They were as little as four and as much as six feet high. The enemy had planned to use the obstacles and knew where the access points were. The Americans had no idea where those obstacles were. Sometimes progress would be good until the enemy was suddenly right there in front of the troops. The Germans were waiting for the Americans to make a mistake. The Americans were inexperienced in the terrain. They had not yet figured out the best way to continue their advance. The hedgerows seemed to go on forever even though it was only several hundreds of yards. The advance would take the troops into small towns where villagers would welcome them. In one village, a young girl, perhaps seven years old, was handing out flowers to the liberating troops. They would pat her on the cheek as they snuck by and went on their way. In a recent reunion with the same female, now an elderly lady, Staymates had the opportunity to give her a bouquet of flowers in gratitude. He was in the region on a promotion for a movie. The reunion was captured in photographs. He thought that was nice. While he was in the region again, the landscape had changed so that it was difficult to capture his memories of what happened there. Some incidents gave him chills when he remembered what had happened. It was, nevertheless, nice to be there and be reminded of what occurred there. City fighting was awful. His platoon never hurt a woman or child nor did they mean to hurt them. Whenever Staymates advanced through a town, he would separate his unit [Annotator's Note: Staymates was a squad leader in Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] in two halves. One would take one side of the street and the other go with him along the opposite side. When Staymates spotted a concern above the men on the opposite side of the street, he would tap his helmet with his rifle to get the other leader's attention. He would then point up above that leader to show where the enemy was positioned. The door of that building would be forced open with the butt of a rifle, and a grenade would be tossed in. On all the occasions of having to do this, his men never hurt a woman or a child. Only German troops were taken care of with that operation in those towns. No civilians were hurt during their process of cleaning out the towns.

Arthur Staymates and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Staymayes was a squad leader in Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] took the first major city in Germany - Aachen. That took a lot of days before the Germans surrendered. Other smaller villages would take less time. It was necessary to let the Germans know when the Americans were advancing on them. Many times the enemy troops would leave. When the Americans entered the German homes they would use an interpreter to inquire as to whether there were enemy troops present. If the occupants did not roll their eyes to some position in the house, the Americans would impress on the civilians that they would not hurt them. Many times, the soldiers outran their supplies. On some occasions, the men had to live off the land. That even included eating the inside bark on trees in the Hürtgen Forest when rations completely ran out and no farm vegetables or other food was available. It was terrible, but they had to live like animals. They did not prefer to do that, but no food was available, not even from the civilians. The troops would eat anything under those circumstances. Sleep was not easy so when they found a farmhouse or building that they could shelter in, it was wonderful. They would be out of the rain and had a chance to get warm and get some good sleep. As Staymates' division approached Germany from Luxembourg, they encountered the Siegfried Line of defense established by Germany. It ran 400 miles north to south across the western border of Germany. After penetration of that line of defense, the objective was Aachen. When they captured a town on the way, a friend named Wally Brown found a radio. They overheard Göring [Annotator's Note: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was second only to Adolf Hitler in command of the Nazi Party] telling Aachen's population that the 1st Infantry Division would never be able to get through the Siegfried Line. He guaranteed that the division would never take Aachen, even if they penetrated the Line. If either of those promises were not kept, Göring committed to changing his name to Snikelgruber [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. Later, Staymates was commander of the guard at the Nuremburg Trials for war criminals. Remembering the broadcast, he teased Göring by calling him Snikelgruber. The taking of Aachen was door to door fighting. The city was taken street by street and apartment by apartment. Some of the apartments were three floors high. It was a tough battle because it was Germany's first major city to fall. The Americans lost a lot of people. The German colonel in charge of the city's defense wanted to surrender to General Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander US Army General, later Preisdent of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. The Americans rejected that request saying that Eisenhower was too busy in England to come up and take the surrender of Aachen. The German ultimately decided to surrender to those American officers in place at Aachen. Staymates was so certain of victory that he told his men that they should be home by Christmas. His men were joyous, but little did Staymates know that his prediction would not hold.

Arthur Staymates was told by Hermann Göring that Hitler ordered 60,000 troops from the Eastern [Annotator's Note: Russian] Front to drive the 1st Infantry Division out of Germany. The operation was a complete surprise to the Allies [Annotator's Note: the Battle of the Bulge started on 16 December 1944 and ended 25 January 1945]. The 1st Division was shorthanded and the Germans beat them up and drove them back almost to France. Replacements were being rushed in as quickly as possible. The bulge was created before the 1st fought back and Hitler permanently lost 40,000 troops. That enabled both the Russians and the Western Allies to move into Germany. The 1st Division had lost some 4,300 men during the December and January fighting known as the Battle of the Bulge. Other divisions lost many casualties as well. The war ended in May [Annotator's Note: May 1945] as a result. The forest was deceptive. Although a beautiful setting, the Germans seemed to know every tree. When the Americans advanced, the Germans would step out and cut them down. The Americans would have to retreat and then start up again. The Bulge and the Ardennes Forest was slow progress. It was hard to fight in the region. The enemy would sometimes let the Americans pass them and then attack from the rear. There were more men lost during the Battle of the Bulge than there were on D-Day [Annotator's Note: the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944]. D-Day was only one day while the Bulge lasted four or five weeks. There were 2,000 at the Bulge and the 4,300 was a big loss [Annotator's Note: the last portion of Staymates’ statement was lost at this point].

Arthur Staymates was presented the Bronze Star for actions performed early in his combat. He earned his first Bronze Star while trying to move forward on a blown out building. He and his men [Annotator's Note: Staymates was a platoon leader in Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] were being fired upon by an unseen sniper. Several men were wounded before the sniper was spotted about a mile away. Staymates was the leader of the shorthanded platoon. The men wanted to rush the sniper, but Staymates decided it was a one man job. Not wanting to send any of his men into harm's way, he decided to trade his Thompson submachine gun for his buddy Wally Brown's BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] which had fewer rounds in the magazine but was far more accurate than the submachine gun. The Thompson had a good rate of fire but the rounds would fall short compared to the trajectory of a round fired from a BAR. Staymates had been a good athlete so he ran from one cover position to another toward the sniper avoiding being seen. He went behind and through buildings and woods. He had to get within a 100 to 150 yards to accurately fire on the German rifleman. He crossed a river and got wet but he was wet all the time so it did not matter. He encountered no Germans though he knew the woods were full of them. He felt he would be killed at any time. As he got near enough, he spotted the shooter peering out of the window enough that he could get an aim on his head. The next time the sniper looked outward, Staymates pulled the trigger and got the enemy soldier. Staymates ran back to his men. Not a German shot at him. They must have thought he was crazy running through the two miles or so. When he reached his men, he was physically and mentally whipped. He had to take a break and have some time to himself. He asked Brown to give him some time to pause. Instead, Staymates' friend went inside and returned with a camera and took a picture of him. The men then gathered to plan their next move since the sniper had been eliminated. They carried on. Later, after the war, Wally Brown sent Staymates the picture he had taken of him at rest after taking out the sniper [Annotator's Note: Staymates becomes emotional]. The photograph reflected Staymates still alive with the BAR. It's a great picture. He received the Bronze Star for that action. As the platoon leader, he could not have asked anyone else to take the risk under such perilous conditions. It furthered the respect his men felt for him. They were his buddies prior to the incident, but they were not going to let anything happen to him after he did what he did. Just 30 minutes afterward, Staymates was wounded for the first time. A German mortar round exploded and shrapnel hit him. He was hospitalized despite his desire not to go back. The wound was such that he had to have it treated. When he returned to his men after hospital, the platoon was still in the same general area as when he was wounded. Progress was slow in that area prior to the Battle of the Bulge. The men moved forward slowly on foot. The speed accelerated when they could get aboard tanks. In Verviers, Belgium was a repple depple [Annotator's Note: GI slang for replacement depot] where he was picked up after the hospital. He was given a lift on a truck only part of the way. He traveled the remainder of the distance on foot. It was a good feeling to be away from the front. He had dry clothes, slept in a clean bed with a roof over his head. After a brief period, he realized that he belonged back with his men. He knew he would like to go home but something made him want to finish the job. The platoon did well at that. After returning from the hospital, the truck stopped near Aachen so some of the recruits could take a bathroom break. While the truck was stopped, Staymates took a walk around Aachen. While doing so, he discovered one of his buddies who had gone missing in action. The man had been shot and was dead, but Staymates feared taking his dog tags because he might be blown up [Annotator's Note: the Germans were notorious for placing bobby traps on American dead in an attempt to cause additional casualties among those recovering bodies]. Staymates put the bayonet on the man's rifle and stuck it into the ground. He placed the man's helmet on top of the rifle with a dog tag. He returned to the truck and informed Graves Registration [Annotator's Note: military units assigned to recover remains along with personal affects so that temporarily internment of the corpse away from combat zones could be accomplished] where the body was located. Staymates experienced a series of contradictory feelings. At first he did not want to return to the front, but then he changed his mind and wanted to return to his men. While on the way back, he discovered a dead buddy and was not certain of his decision, but he knew he had to rejoin his platoon. The deceased buddy had been missing since he fell while it was snowing. He probably had been covered until near the time Staymates discovered his remains. Funny things happen in war, but it is great when it is all over. Nowhere else could one experience those things. Staymates is happy he made it through those difficult times.

Arthur Staymates fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The Americans were constantly advancing through and fighting over towns and wooded areas. At the time, he did not see the necessity in losing so many people in the fight for woods or small towns. It was only after the war and his study of the strategy of the battle that he came to realize the significance of the combat. The new information made him admire the Army leaders in light of what they accomplished. He assumed a whole new positive feeling about what they did and his role in that success. Staymates is now a consummate reader of history so he can better understand what happened. When the Americans pushed the Germans back during the Battle of the Bulge, they became cocky. It seemed that advancing became easy. Staymates' birthday [Annotator's Note: 26 March 1945] came after his unit had taken a railroad crossing, bridge and small town. Replacements joined them. One of the new men could speak German. The men were all casually standing around when one of the men informed Staymates of the date. Staymates said it was his birthday. Just then a German motorcycle driver came by and one of his men shot the enemy soldier. The shooter offered the vehicle to Staymates as a birthday gift. The men all laughed. Next, a shot was heard as one of the platoon members shot a chicken with his M1 [Annotator's Note: .30 caliber M1 rifle, also referred to as the M1 Garand]. The shooter said he had provided a birthday dinner for Staymates' 20th birthday. Staymates replied that there was not enough of the bird left to eat. Finally, another man discovered a horse in a field and returned it to Staymates as yet another gift. A camera was retrieved from a house and a photograph was taken of Staymates with his gifts. Staymates took the camera to take a picture of his men but before he did, he saw the shine off the barrel of a German grease gun [Annotator's Note: submachine gun]. He told his men to drop to the ground. The German dropped his weapon and ran to the bridge. Staymates fired his pistol in front of the fleeing German. That stopped the enemy in his tracks. The platoon had captured a prisoner, but there were too few men to return the single enemy soldier to the rear. They checked him for an SS tattoo [Annotator's Note: members of the SS had their blood type tattooed under their upper left arm], but he had none. Staymates was not going to shoot the young soldier. The American translator inquired where the soldier was headed when he was running. He said his home was a short distance away. He had planned to get there and hide until the war ended. The German knew the war was over. It was 26 March and 8 May was the actual end of the war. Staymates told the prisoner to go home, but if they caught him again, it would be his end. The German wanted to hug Staymates but Staymates refused because they were still enemies. The 1st Infantry Division book says exactly where Staymates was on his birthday in 1945. Staymates told Timmy Davis who runs TGGF [Annotator's Note: The Greatest Generation Foundation] and Donny [Annotator's Note: no surname provided] that it would be difficult to locate that enemy survivor today. Nevertheless, they possess a photograph of the individual, and he could possibly be found. The next time Staymates goes to that region of Europe, he will attempt to find the man he set free. That was the best thing he did while in combat. Through the weeks ahead, the Germans increasingly surrendered after firing just a few rounds at the Americans. After some 1st Infantry boys had been executed in the Malmedy Massacre [Annotator's Note: the massacre of unarmed American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge], the 1st Division gave orders that no more prisoners would be taken. That was after the division had taken over 150,000 prisoners. The order prohibiting prisoners was against the Geneva Conference [Annotator's Note: in the interwar period the Geneva Conference conventions were agreed to by most major powers and established acceptable protocols for waging war between belligerents]. Staymates did not break rules but he decided to take prisoners. When a group of about 30 Germans surrendered, the platoon checked them for SS identification. They separated the non-SS soldiers and a single armed American escorted them to the rear. Meanwhile, Staymates told one of his men who did not mind the assignment to take the SS men "back to Eisenhower's headquarters." Since Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower] was headquartered in England, the order was indirectly telling the soldier to dispose of the SS men. The man willingly did so and said he had a good trip after he returned. The SS were bad and cruel. They ran the concentration camps. The Americans felt no mercy toward them. They thought they were doing something good if they could get rid of the SS guys. It worked well for Staymates and his men by taking prisoners until the end of the war. Staymates would have been less likely to reveal this story in past years because his officers might have been angered by it. His superiors treated him great. Staymates was hit by shrapnel at the end of the Battle of the Bulge. Most casualties were due to shrapnel. The German 88mm cannon [Annotator's Note: the multi-purpose 88mm artillery piece] was a great weapon. At first, the Americans would take cover near trees, but the enemy soon changed to a tree burst above the men. The shrapnel showered down and there was no place to hide. That was how Staymates sustained his second wound.

Arthur Staymates thought General Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] was a great general even though he was arrogant, self-loving, and only went to the front after the fight was over. He was an egomaniac. Patton slapped a 1st Infantry Division boy and called him a coward while the man was in a hospital suffering from battle fatigue. The 1st Division had no love for him after that. Patton made a statement that he would rather lose 145 men than one tank. To the infantrymen in the 1st Infantry Division, that did not resonate well. That cinched the division's dislike for the general. The division was doing its job anyway. Staymates had orders to cover several checkpoints on a beautiful hillside. The platoon could not communicate up the line to determine any further orders so they elected to take a small country town so that they could sleep under a roof that night. Staymates meant to follow orders even though he did not always strictly do so. The men convinced Lucky [Annotator's Note: Staymates' nickname] to take the town. They saddled up and fired a few shots to alert the inhabitants that they were advancing. The few German soldiers left the town. The Americans told the civilians in one of the homes that they would use the building as their headquarters. They had no intention of harming the inhabitants. The men alternated guard duty and sleep. Staymates slept on some comfortable bedding. He fell deeply asleep. He woke up to the rumble of tanks. He recalled all his men to prepare a defense although infantry versus tanks was problematic. They listened and discovered the sound from American tanks. They were excited that they could welcome some fellow Americans to the captured town. As the vehicles approached, Staymates and his men observed a jeep in front of several tanks. A man in the jeep was turned backward. Staymates could not figure what was happening. Then General Patton popped out of the turret of the tank behind the jeep. It was a simulation of the General taking the town. Meanwhile, Staymates and his men were standing around watching what was going on. Patton angrily addressed Staymates, inquiring why he had not stayed at the checkpoint where he was assigned. Staymates stated that they had taken the little town the previous night. That did not satisfy Patton. In Staymates' mind, Patton was the commander of the 3rd Army while General Hodges [Annotator's Note: US Army General Courtney Hodges] was in command of the 1st Army to which the 1st Infantry Division was attached. Hodges technically gave the orders for Staymates to control the checkpoints. Patton could only know about that if there was collusion to protect his advance on the town. Staymates figured that he had screwed up the venture. Patton continued to tell Staymates he was in trouble. He even said that the misadventure was the end of Staymates' service. Staymates felt very bad. Then it came to him that he might be sent home. In that case, it might not be so bad after all. Next, he thought he might be sent to the stockade. He cleared his head of these conflicting thoughts and decided he had to watch out for his men. The next day while still in the town, Staymates received a call from General Cal Benedict who had played ball for West Point and who would eventually become Staymates' friend. The General wanted to know what Staymates had said to Patton. Staymates admitted he was wrong but only did what he thought was best for his men. Benedict said he would get back to Staymates. Soon after, he called back and told Staymates that he was lucky. Ike [Annotator's Note: the nickname for US Army general Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander and later President of the United States], Hodges and Benedict all disliked Patton and especially what he had been independently doing with his forces. Patton was out of favor and had been demoted for excessive casualties he caused. Staymates felt he got away with getting the best of Patton. He learned never to talk back to generals. Staymates' friend Wally [Annotator's Note: Wally Brown was a member of Staymates platoon during the war and remained a lifelong friend afterward] would often ask him if Staymates had heard from his old friend Patton. To that, Staymates would reply that he had not heard from Patton since the General died.

As the war was coming to an end, Arthur Staymates and his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company B, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division] were heading for Czechoslovakia. Intelligence revealed that about 150,000 German soldiers were in the Central European pocket near the Czech and Polish border. If the pocket could be taken, the war would end. That meant either killing or capturing those enemy troops located there. Staymates and his men were ready to go and do it. The other American troops were also anxious to bring the war to an end. The men were not going to walk to the pocket, but were going to be transported on tanks. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton] volunteered his tanks as transport vehicles and had personally requested the 1st Division ride them. Staymates' men were disappointed when they heard that because they anticipated that Patton would treat them poorly. He did not. Patton was not in the action but only arrived afterward for the show. His tankers treated the riders great. The infantry would advance before the tanks when roadblocks were established by the enemy. After clearing the opposition, the tanks would advance behind the ground troops. In a short time, the pocket was surrounded. The enemy began surrendering in large numbers. A huge German column came to the American lines. It was six men across as far as could be seen. The enemy was searched after they gave up their weapons. The weapons were loaded onto trucks for removal. The Americans called the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] to come pick up the mass of prisoners. There must have been 100,000 by Staymates' estimate. That occurred on 4 May [Annotator's Note: 1945] and just three days later, word came down that the war for all practical purposes was over. Nevertheless, the Americans were told to stay ready because the word may not have been completely disseminated through the German communications system. On 8 May, the message was received that the surrender document had been signed and the war was over. There was a great celebration for a day or two in Czechoslovakia. There was singing with Staymates playing guitar. They men acted like the 19 or 20 year old kids they were. They drank beer and reacted with significant relief. Each platoon took over a German house. The men were provided with hot food. A few days later, trucks were slated to pick up the men. They assumed they would be returned home since they had sufficient points [Annotator’s Note: The point system was the military rating system to prioritize the discharge of the more veteran troops before releasing recent inductees]. The men anticipated a trip to Bremerhaven where they would board ships for the voyage home. Staymates got on a truck and asked the driver how long the trip to Bremerhaven would take. The driver replied that they were not destined for the port. Instead, they were ordered to go to Nuremburg. Upon arrival, the men were told the 1st Division had been placed on alert to go to Japan to finish the war there. They were not headed home but were going to be trained on a former SS training ground called Grafenwöhr. The 1st Infantry Division was to be the trainers to prepare new troops who would be assembled there prior to shipping out to Japan. That was in early May. After a few weeks of that, Staymates was asked if he would be willing to command the guards at the Nuremburg war crimes trials. Staymates was more interested in going home so he initially refused the offer despite a financial incentive tied to it. The offer was 100 dollars per year for every year of service. The 330 dollars was not enough to sway him. He was asked what it would take for him to stay. Staymates had met the girl he would later marry, even though there was a prohibition against American and German fraternization. He wanted to stay in Germany as a result. He asked to call his parents to tell them that he was all right. He then inquired as to how long the assignment would last. The response was six months. Staymates thought that would not be bad so he accepted. He was discharged out of the 1st Infantry Division and then reenlisted in the regular Army for six months. The trial lasted 19 months so he reenlisted several more times. His future wife could not speak English. Since he could not speak German, they had to have interpreters to communicate. It took awhile for her to trust him because he carried a gun and looked like the enemy. She overcame her fear of him, and they eventually married and had a good life together for 65 years. He first met her in an off-limits location. Staymates seemed to always do something wrong. He entered an off-limits cafe in Fürth near Nuremburg. He was accompanied by an Indian friend he called Chief [Annotator's Note: no given or surname provided]. The friend was a great soldier but a crazy individual under normal circumstances. Staymates did not worry about the potential for getting in trouble. The two men entered the establishment. The café had several elderly people in it. They were drinking something they called coffee. It smelled terrible and was likely ersatz coffee. Staymates noticed a beautiful girl sitting in a booth that faced him. She was with another girl. The owners were attempting to get the two Americans to leave. Staymates was not in the mood to be treated badly by any German and refused. Instead, he told Chief that they needed to sit with the girls. Staymates sat with Maria and Chief sat with Leni. Neither girl spoke English. The Americans tried to communicate with them, but the females did not understand. Staymates told Chief to talk Indian with them, but he refused. Staymates planned to return the next day, but Chief said he would not. Leni was not attractive to Chief, but Staymates had his eyes on Maria. He wanted to know more about her. Over the course of several weeks, the two finally managed to meet again and ultimately grow more comfortable with each other. Staymates' German girlfriend lived in a bombed out building in a two room apartment under the rubble. Her father had died on the Russian front. She was an only child. At first, she would not invite Staymates into her home, but that changed. She had him meet her mother and things improved between them. Soon the non-fraternization restrictions ended. The war in Japan ended soon afterward. At that point, the men that were with Staymates had girlfriends and would join each other for after duty entertainment. Staymates eventually opened a nightclub with a German band because the American troops were getting into trouble in other establishments. They had been in war too long and were constantly fighting as a result. Staymates ran the club at night with his future bride accompanying him. They would then take food to her mother afterward. It all turned out well as the couple would finally marry and spend 65 good years together.

Arthur Staymates studied with the MPs [Annotator's Note: military police] prior to leading the guards during the Nuremburg Trials. The MPs were going to do a good job, but there was a concern up the line of authority that discharge of the masses of American troops from Europe might leave the remaining Americans vulnerable. The Germans might have weapons that were hidden away. They potentially could disrupt the trial proceedings or even attempt to free the prisoners. Consequently, a well-supplied cadre of infantry needed to be in-place as a contingency. Staymates was to be Commander of the Guard. He wanted to study the responsibilities of the MPs before taking over. He took over command after knowing what was being done. When Göring [Annotator's Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was second in command only to dictator Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany] came in, he was five foot six inches tall and weighed 260 pounds. His toenails and fingernails were all painted red. His belongings were carried in five vehicles. His wife and daughter along with her beautician, his valets, and two chefs accompanied him. He had a real caravan with him. Göring anticipated that the end of the war would be like the end of a soccer match with everyone shaking hands. Staymates clarified that Göring had made a mistake in his judgment of the situation and that the former Nazi leader was in real trouble. Göring was restricted to a small cell compared to his former high life style. In one of the boxes that Göring carried was 40,000 pills. He was taking 30 per day. It took one German and two American psychiatrists nearly seven months to get Göring off the dope. Nevertheless, the former Nazi leader was a genius. He was interviewed to find out why people would do the evil deeds that the German regime perpetrated. Four of the 21 imprisoned German leaders tested as genius with Göring being the smartest of the four. Staymates was told by some of the guards that, in the courtroom, Göring appeared to be running the proceedings. The Allied and Russian judges and justices like Supreme Court Justice Jackson [Annotator's Note: Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Robert H. Jackson] and English Supreme Court Lord Geoffrey [Annotator's Note: Geoffrey Lawrence was the President of the Nuremberg justices during the Trials] were leading the process until Göring had an opportunity to take over. Staymates was advised that Göring was also trying to take over the cellblock. Staymates said he would do his part to contain the situation in the cellblock. He took time to study the situation and then made his move. Each morning, Staymates would put 125 men on duty with 21 at a time assigned individually to the 21 defendants. The guards had two hours on duty and four hours off duty rotated around the clock. Outside, there were men manning machine gun positions and tanks in case of a German attack. The men in the white helmets and gear in the courtroom were under Staymates' command. They would be rotated in and out of the courtroom with the MPs. Their accoutrement would make them less noticeable when there was a personnel rotation. That made for a smooth transition from the MPs to the men under Staymates. When Staymates took over command from the MPs, he decided to introduce himself to all the prisoners. Göring was to be the first because he was apparently the most troublesome of the defendants. Lieutenant Staymates introduced himself to Göring and told him that he was there to help him in any way he could. That was not telling the whole truth, but he felt it was a good place to start. The guard at the door was Sergeant Danny Upchurch who was a good Indian soldier in Staymates' outfit. The cell doors were six inches thick with no lock on them. There was a 16 inch cutout that folded outward and was chained so that the guard could lean on the deployed window and observe the inmate [Annotator's Note: Staymates gestures to show the way the observation window functioned]. The job was not boring for the guard because he was assigned to look at the prisoner every ten seconds, but a buddy was doing the same thing just five or six feet away. They could easily talk with each other to stay alert. It was not a bad job. It was just monotonous for two hours on and four hours off. Staymates was talking to Göring through the 16 inch window while the sergeant who had the duty was standing to the side. The non-com looked at Staymates quizzically after he heard the reassurance given to the Nazi leader. Staymates told him not to worry and that it would be all right. It was a phony little speech that had been given. Prior to leaving the window, Staymates observed a scrap of yellow paper on the floor of the cell. He told Field marshal Göring that he would have to clean his cell floor. That rigor had been embedded in Staymates since his earliest military training. Göring sternly refused. He said in English that it was below his rank. That set Staymates back. He walked away. The sergeant asked if Staymates was going to let that response stand. The officer said he would not, but proceeded on to address Rudolf Hess in the next cell. He gave Hess and the other inmates the same phony speech that he had given to Göring. By the time Staymates had finished addressing the inmates, he smelled coffee. He began to think of not only the coffee but how he could handle Göring. Besides the 21 guards, there were two runners who could relieve the guards as needed or carry messages if required to or from Staymates' nearby office. Below the prisoner cells, there was a food service for the inmates. The personnel from there were not allowed in the cellblock. They brought the food on carts up to the runners for dispersal to the incarcerated. Staymates told the runners that there would be no food in cell number one [Annotator's Note: Göring’s cell]. Staymates figured he should not be doing that but stood by his decision to reconcile a little problem he had. While making out reports in his office, Staymates was told by one of his runners that Göring was making quite a fuss about not getting breakfast. Again, Staymates stood by his decision. Göring attempted to intimidate the new Commander of the Guards by shouting in German and English that he was going to annihilate the new commander. Staymates went back to Göring and said that there would be no lunch if the floor remained dirty. Each man formed an instant dislike for the other. Soon after Göring got to the courtroom, two officers that Staymates had been in combat with visited him. They questioned Staymates for not feeding Göring. They all agreed that the Americans had won the war and should not have to clean Göring’s cell for him. The officers soon left and told Staymates to take care of the cellblock while they took care of the court. Prior to lunch, the Field marshal removed the paper. Staymates inspected his cell and agreed to the acceptability of its condition. Göring did not even honor him with a response. Staymates felt he had evened the score with the German leader. He tried to keep it that way. When the Allies got close to the German border during the war, Göring had promised that if their border was breeched, he could be called Snikelgruber [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. Whenever Göring would get smart with one of Staymates' guards, they could not physically mishandle him. Instead, he would be addressed by Staymates as Snikelgruber and things calmed down. Göring was very smart. He could win over an individual before the person noticed what was happening.

Arthur Staymates thought Hess [Annotator's Note: Rudolf Hess was one of the highest ranking Nazi leaders under German dictator Adolf Hitler] was loony. Hess had flown an airplane from Germany to England in an attempt to make peace. Göring [Annotator’s Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was second in command only to dictator Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and commanded the German Luftwaffe, or air force] hated him for that because he said he had stolen one of his airplanes in order to make the flight. Staymates had a good situation with the two Germans fighting each other. Hess was mentally unstable. The guards observed him in disbelief when he tore up large yellow note paper sheets into small pieces. He would place the pieces in a stack and then blow them all over the floor of his cell. When Staymates talked to him, Hess would just smile at him. There were headphones in the courtroom for language translations, but Hess would never wear one. He, like all the other inmates, spoke English. Göring spoke English best of all of them. Hess could speak but he rarely did. Staymates thought Hess was flakey but harmless and a pain in the neck. During the course of the 19 month Nuremburg Trials, Hess had to be taken to a nearby psychiatric hospital multiple times because he got just too far out. He would be there for a few days each time. Staymates had to get six of his men to go to the hospital to keep continuous surveillance on him. In order to accomplish that, Staymates had to get six additional men attached to his Nuremburg guard outfit. Those additional men had to be withdrawn from those assigned nearby to train troops [Annotator's Note: the 1st Infantry Division had been assigned near Nuremburg to train raw troops for anticipated combat in the Japanese Home Islands]. At a later time, Hess was assessed as largely not knowing what was going on during the Trials. It was proposed at one point in the Trials that Hess did not have command of his mental faculties and thus should not be tried. The English and Russian judges squashed that attempt because they felt Hess had done some really bad things. Hess was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment instead of hanging. He was sent to the Russian controlled prison at Spandau and ultimately became the only prisoner there for years. It costs over a million dollars a year to keep him there. Despite requests by the Allies to release Hess, the Russians said they would keep him incarcerated until his death. He would die of uncertain circumstances at age 96. Although Staymates prided himself on never hating anybody, there was one prisoner whom he could not help but hate. Julius Streicher was known as the Jew baiter. Given that situation, Staymates did not mind Streicher knowing that he hated him. The rules invoked for the guards prevented touching the prisoners. In Streicher's case, the rule was not always followed. He would do flakey things like running around his cell in the nude. The hated Nazi spoke derogatorily toward the American guards asserting that their sexual prowess was inferior to the Germans. There were things Streicher did that Staymates would not discuss in the interview. Göring would not speak to Streicher. The other prisoners disliked him, too. The guards would be extremely infuriated by him. Staymates would try to intercede and get Streicher to settle down on occasion. After seven months of this, Staymates was in a bad mood when he was told by one of his runners [Annotator's Note: the runners communicated between the guards and their commander, Staymates which allowed the guards to continually observe each inmate even when issues arose] that Streicher was acting up again. The guard was fed up with Streicher's antics. He could have stepped into the unlocked cell and physically abused the inmate, but he chose to tell Staymates instead. Streicher, like Göring, was not a particularly large man, but he viewed himself as being tougher than the Americans. Staymates attempted to reason with Streicher to no avail. He then told his assigned guard to step away from the area and let him handle Streicher. When Streicher was near the 16 inch viewing window for his cell, Staymates told him he had to straighten up. While listening, Streicher tried to turn away. Staymates reached in and grabbed Streicher by the throat and pulled his face violently toward the window. Staymates' emotion was up causing the reaction to be extreme. Streicher's face hit the door and he dropped like a rock. Staymates thought he had killed him and feared being put into stockade [Annotator's Note: military prison]. Staymates called the guard back to observe the fallen man and told the guard to relay Streicher's status to him every 15 minutes. After awhile, Streicher rose up and staggered around his cell. He was bleeding profusely and saying things that the guard did not understand. Finally, Streicher put on his pajamas and got into bed. Staymates felt at that point that Streicher would be all right. The next morning Staymates stayed in his office and avoided Streicher. After breakfast, the inmates were brought to the courtroom. Shortly after, Staymates' superior officers, Cal Benedict and Colonel Massey [Annotator's Note: names not certain] came to him and inquired what he had done to Streicher. Staymates told them that Streicher would sometimes run around his cell and beat his head on the wall. The officers told him that Streicher accused him of beating him up. Benedict asked Staymates if that story was the best he could come up with. Staymates acknowledged that it was [Annotator's Note: Staymates is chuckling during the recounting of this story]. Benedict said he would do the best he could with the response to Streicher's charge. An hour or two later, Benedict came to Staymates and laughingly told him that he was lucky. Staymates had managed to be cleared of any wrongdoing. As Streicher was telling his story in the courtroom, the whole assemblage including his fellow inmates and defense attorney were smiling. Everyone hated Streicher. The judges told Benedict that he could tell Staymates that they understood the situation. Staymates felt relief with that and felt he got away with something [Annotator's Note: Staymates continues to chuckle at the recounting]. Staymates and his guards did various tricks to make the inmates feel uncomfortable despite his phony story [Annotator's Note: on initial assignment as Commander of the Guards, Staymates had personally addressed each of the 21 Nazi prisoners and assured them that he would do everything possible to assist them]. Staymates made a simulated hangman's noose out of a shoestring and showed his guards how to do the same. Staymates planned along with them to inspect the cells late at night and make sufficient noise while he did so to rouse the inmates. Next, he suggested that each guard hold up the shoestring noose at the open cell observation window. The lights would have gone out in the cell block at nine o'clock. When that happened every night, a spotlight would shine against the cell observation window. Thus, a projection of the noose on the inmate's wall could be created. That wall would be seen by the inmate if he was awake. Staymates described the layout of the cell that enabled the prank. The prank initiation would be for Staymates to violently cough during his inspection. Each of his guards would hold up their noose and swing it so as to project on their inmate's wall. The inmates complained in court about this, but the guards and Staymates would only be mildly reprimanded by Benedict who saw the humor in the trick. The American guards had multiple tricks like that. Another antic was to roll one or more ball bearings down the cellblock corridor floor. With the tile spaced at 12 inches, the sound replicated the firing of a Thompson submachine gun. They did that when they had nothing better to do. Staymates has not talked about this until now. He realizes that anyone he reported to is either dead or does not care anymore.

Arthur Staymates had nearly daily conversations with Göring [Annotator's Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was second in command only to dictator Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany] and found him to be a genius. Staymates' education was limited to high school so he was somewhat in awe of Göring's intellect. Once they reached a certain point of trust and boundary limitations, the two men got along with each other. The exception was when the Nazi got out of line and Staymates consequently called him Snikelgruber [Annotator's Note: Staymates stated previously that as the Allies neared the German border during the war, Göring had promised the German people on a radio broadcast that if their border was breeched, he could be called Snikelgruber]. Göring would posit to Staymates that he would not be hung to which Staymates would laughingly reply that he most assuredly would be executed. Göring was not be hung. Instead, he committed suicide just before his scheduled execution time. Staymates and Göring almost had fun together. A person had to be careful because Göring was very persuasive. Staymates often rotated the guards on Göring's door. No man spent multiple adjacent shifts or days assigned there. A naïve person could be swayed into helping Göring. With his intelligence, Göring could get a guard into trouble. Staymates would personally have limited contact with Göring. They often involved discussions about planned visitations by Göring's wife and daughter. The family members could not physically come in contact with the inmates. One day, one of the guards got sick prior to the visitation. Staymates opted to take the duty. A picture was taken of that visitation occasion. Göring liked to be in charge. It bothered him that Staymates had the upper hand on him as his captor. Göring denied personal responsibility for things done during the war. Staymates usually avoided going up to the courtroom because the proceedings were so slow. When Göring testified, Staymates would sometimes attend. Göring denied responsibility for misdeeds. Göring had a way of taking over the courtroom when he had the opportunity. He had the habit of answering a question with a question. When he did, the Justices would simply call a 15 minute recess. Göring could tie up the court that way. Justice Jackson [Annotator's Note: Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson] almost lost it one day. Göring sat in his position in the docket and could be observed influencing the answers of other defendants [Annotator's Note: Staymates gestures with slight nods to indicate yes or no answers that Göring would offer to the other defendants]. In one case, that of Admiral Dönitz [Annotator's Note: German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz was commander of the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy, and was the final ultimate leader of Nazi Germany after Hitler committed suicide], Staymates specifically saw Göring influence a response made by the admiral. Göring did the same for all defendants except Streicher [Annotator's Note: Julius Streicher was universally hated by all the participants in the Nuremburg Trials]. Staymates queried his superior office, Cal Benedict, as to whether the court realized what Göring was doing. Benedict acknowledged that it was noticed but nothing could be done about it. Staymates felt the judges in the courtroom had the ultimate responsibility for what went on there. Göring would talk to Staymates on a good day but if he did not feel like doing so, he would just turnaround and go to his bed a few feet away. Staymates could perk his interest by talking about Göring's wife, Emma, coming for a visitation. Staymates would ask if Göring wanted anything special for the visit. The inmates' clothes were next door to Göring in cell number one. Göring was retained in cell number two, but because of his importance, his cell was referred to as number one. Göring would sometimes change clothes three times a day. The Americans thought he was either cocky or just wanting to be a pest. All his insignia were removed from his uniforms. A guard had to retrieve the clothes and observe Göring changing. They then withdrew the previously worn clothing. Staymates asked Göring why he wanted to change so much. He said it was to look his best. Staymates replied that he looked as good as he would get. Göring would give his captor an off the side smile at the response. Göring was not all that bad [Annotator's Note: Staymates smiles during the recounting of his encounters with Göring].

Arthur Staymates had too much to do to talk to Hitler's [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] friend and architect, Speer [Annotator's Note: Albert Speer was Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production for Nazi Germany during the war] for long and extended conversations. Speer wanted to talk all the time. Staymates would become so aggravated at himself for wasting 20 minutes listening to Speer talk in circles and saying nothing. Staymates would walk away as the inmate continued his discussion. Dönitz [Annotator's Note: German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz], commander of the Navy, was the cleanest of the prisoners. Dönitz took a small brush and cleaned his cell. He did not complain about things. Staymates admired him for that. Each of the inmates had peculiar but unimportant habits. Near the end, the prisoners were allowed to visit with their family. During the last month, the inmates were allowed to visit with other defendants. They had to send a letter requesting the meeting with a specific other inmate and have it authorized through Staymates. Staymates would verify that the other inmate accepted the invitation prior to agreeing to the two defendants meeting. There were hundreds of request letters written. Staymates loaned the letters to an aunt who was a school principal. She wanted to show the letters to her schoolchildren. Staymates lost the letters with the death of his aunt. The inmate visitation had to be under the observation and physical presence of Staymates' guards. They were never left alone. There was a physical exercise area which allowed the Germans to go outside and walk singularly. They never talked to each other during the exercise period. They all seemed to walk in a similar fashion with their hands behind their back. The inmates felt the accusations against them were just American propaganda. They asserted that the concentration camps never existed but were just part of the propaganda. When letters showing their direction to construct those camps were shown to them, they still said they were not guilty of the charges. They claimed to have signed so many things that they could not remember any details. They claimed no guilt. In the end, they kept reasserting that they could not remember any details.

Arthur Staymates asked Göring [Annotator's Note: German Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring] why he committed the deeds he did during the war. Göring steadfastly denied any culpability. He said the assertions of misconduct were all the result of American propaganda. He denied responsibility even for the letters he had personally signed. He never admitted guilt. Nevertheless, when Göring committed suicide, Staymates felt bad. He and his guards had the task of watching over the inmates even though they would have liked to kill them. Their job was to keep them alive. They had already taken two cyanide capsules from Göring but did not suspect that he had a third one. The first one had been in his coat pocket when he was captured. The second was placed in his commode seat. He could not keep it on his person because it would melt if he took a shower with it. The one place in the cell where the guards had obscured vision was behind the toilet. The room was arrayed such that no other area was hidden. Göring had hollowed out a niche in the wooden commode seat with his fingernail. He always went to the toilet before taking a shower. No one wanted to watch him then so that was when he hid the vial. The groove was finally found but Göring never admitted that he did it with his fingernails. The third capsule could have been provided by any of four people. Staymates would never reveal the names because three of the four were not guilty. He feels strongly that one of the four provided the cyanide capsule to Göring. There were no guards among the four. [Annotator's Note: Staymates requests that no further definition be made of the potential providers of the capsule.] Staymates had the duty for 19 months because of the extended courtroom proceedings. The guards were very bored standing at parade rest for their two hour posting. There were replacements available if necessary. It was not like combat but was extremely boring. After the hangings, Staymates' assignment was completed. He witnessed none of the executions. There were only limited representatives present besides the executioners. After the deaths, the bodies were removed by Staymates' guards and taken to a truck for transit to Dachau. The trip to the concentration camp had a large military police escort. The bodies were cremated at the same location where all the prisoners had been. The ashes were thrown in an undisclosed small pond somewhere near Munich. The location was never revealed. The outcome was wonderful as far as Staymates was concerned. He fears that today the country might not be strong enough to do what would be necessary in a similar situation. The war trials were supposed to stop all wars. Afterward, Staymates went home. The third floor of the Nuremburg prison included other prominent Nazis such as Colonel Skorzeny [Annotator's Note: SS-Obersturmbannführer, or Lieutenant Colonel, Otto Skorzeny]. Ilse Koch, who was referred to as the "Bitch of Buchenwald," was also on the third floor. Staymates and his guards had nothing to do with those 15 or 20 inmates. There was a new set of trials for them with new judges and everything. Some were hung and others got life in prison. Ilse Koch was terrible. She was disgusting for the horrible things she did to inmates in the concentration camp. She was an evil person. There were bad actors, but they were not responsible for the initiation of the war. Skorzeny was assigned by Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] to kill Eisenhower [Annotator's Note: Supreme Allied Commander, US Army General, later President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower]. He did many other bad things. Staymates left at that point. He had enough. He did not want to see any of the executions. The executioner was an inefficient individual who botched the hangings. Some hung for ten to 12 minutes before they died. The hangman was given the fictitious name of Sergeant Black. He thought he was great because he hung people. Staymates did not want to even shake his hand. None of his guards seemed impressed with him either. The men with Staymates were all 19 or 20 year olds. Even though the duty was not enjoyable, they found ways to have fun. The hangman's noose was an example [Annotator's Note: Staymates and his guards would intimidate their prisoners by making a simulated noose out of shoestrings and then shine a shadow of it on the prisoner's wall at night to disturb their sleep]. When Staymates told the prisoners that he would do his best to make them comfortable, he was not telling the truth. When the prisoners would complain, Staymates found a way to avoid punishment. He had a good rapport with his superior officer, Cal [Annotator's Note: Cal Benedict's rank and name spelling could not be confirmed]. They joked about the pranks he and his men pulled on the inmates. [Annotator's Note: the phone rings with the interview briefly interrupted.]

Arthur Staymates was relieved of his duty in Nuremburg [Annotator's Note: he had been Commander of the Guard during the Nuremburg Trials]. He got married twice in one day to his German girlfriend in Nuremburg. They were married in German and then in English. Not speaking the other's language, each would bump the other when it was time to reply in the affirmative. They had a good life together. Staymates had a scholarship to play football at Pitt University in Pittsburg so he did not use the G.I. Bill. He did not go back to school because he was married and needed to get a job to start his family. His first job was with his father immediately after his arrival home. He began working as a carpenter with his father. His father was an excellent builder, but he was reluctant to bill people for his work. He wanted his son to take over the business. Staymates had no inhibition about going to the customers and requesting their payments. His father was a hard worker who would not even stop when he injured himself. Staymates had to take him to the doctor forcibly to get his injury treated. It took two injections for the doctor to get his father rested enough to transport to the hospital for treatment. It was a fast journey to the facility that was 25 miles away. After his father's operation, Staymates was approached by his mother with a concern about paying the hospital bills. She had no money and was not aware of their financial situation. When she gave Staymates the business books, he immediately saw there were unpaid bills for the construction of homes for multiple friends. When Staymates queried those friends, they responded that they were wondering when Staymates' father would ask for payment. Before long, Staymates had visited enough friends to receive a sizeable sum of money from them. Staymates told his father that he would help with collecting the payments. His father did not like the idea. When a man suggested to Staymates that there was an opportunity for him to become an investment advisor he reluctantly agreed, even though he had no training. The firm trained him, and he had a successful career with them. He stayed with them until he decided that he was so successful that he should try it on his own. He had a 50 year career and enjoyed working successfully with some wonderful people.

Arthur Staymates had posttraumatic stress disorder but did not know what it was. The memories usually involved some battle that he could not get over. He and his buddies Bert, Wally, Mac [Annotator's Note: no full names provided], and others, would call each other in the middle of the night when they were troubled. It was their way of being each other's psychiatrist and getting through the trauma. There were dreams of something that had actually happened. He would be trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. The bad dreams continued throughout the years until the majority stopped about ten or so years before the interview. The calls to his friends continued even though the bad dreams subsided. They were calling him so he would take his turn and call them. They had all been hit and beaten up pretty badly. They just had to talk to somebody. Only an infantryman could understand what they went through. Not even military members outside the infantry could appreciate what he and his friends had experienced. There often was no food and little ammunition. They were cold and wet with no roof to sleep under. They did not know whether they would survive. It was comforting if they could sleep warmly with overhead protection. He does not think the experience hurt him, though. His most memorable point in the war was marrying his wife. That was one of the greatest things that ever happened to him. He did not decide to fight in the war as he was going to be drafted anyway. He wanted to get in on the excitement because he did not know what war was. He got what he wanted, but it was more than he could handle sometimes. The war enabled his wonderful life afterward. Once he finished with the war, nothing else could be as bad. He was scared from January 1944 until May 1945 and admitted it to a young man in a recent gathering. After being shot at continually during that time, nothing afterward could scare him. Everything else is easy after that. After the war, Staymates was happy to be home safe and alive. For 60 years, no one talked much about the war. At that point, the requests came in for veterans to talk about their experiences. His friends Wally and Bert decided to talk along with Staymates on behalf of those who did not make it back. Bert died and Wally is in a wheelchair so Staymates presses on. He is blessed to be able to do it. He hopes that World War 2 means as much to Americans as it does to people in Belgium, France and Luxemburg. They treat American veterans wonderfully. Youngsters there wear simulated American uniforms. Staymates was told by an 80 year old local inhabitant that it was because the Americans liberated them from the German oppressors who occupied their country for years. [Annotator’s Note: interview briefly interrupted by a phone call.] It is important to have institutions like The National WWII Museum, but Staymates is concerned that too many museums are being built. He is constantly requested to contribute to new facilities. We should continue to teach World War 2 to young students. Staymates recently spoke before 700 school children in Pittsburgh who knew about the war. They even knew about the war crimes trial. Most children are not familiar with either the war or the war crimes trials. He limits his discussion to one hour to prevent audience boredom. Staymates was in service for seven years and tells anecdotes to his audiences. He tries to keep the discussion light to avoid boredom. That is his story and he is sticking with it.