Ralph “Bud” Ginrich was born in July 1919 in Emigsville [Annotator’s Note: Emigsville, Pennsylvania]. His father died in January 1919 so he was raised by his step-father, John Snyder, who worked on the railroad. This resulted in Ginrich working for the railroad too. In 1938, Ginrich graduated from high school in York [Annotator’s Note: York, Pennsylvania]. There was little discussion of war while he was in high school. He paid little attention to the events in Europe. He worked as a soda jerk until his step-father got him a job on the railroad in 1940. He worked firing locomotives. Although Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was memorable for him, it had little impact on his life. He did not know much at the time. They had to kick him out of high school [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. He knew he would have to serve when his number came up in the draft. He had no exemption for working on the railroad. He was about 22 years of age. His parents did not react adversely when he was drafted. Ginrich had an older brother in California, but they were never close, as his elder sibling being raised by an aunt. The brother was involved with Navy aircraft in San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California]. Ginrich’s brother is now deceased. Ginrich was drafted in May 1942. Four months later, in September 1942, he was deployed overseas.

Ralph “Bud” Ginrich crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary. He had completed basic training just fine. Reaching Ireland, he joined the 81st Reconnaissance [Annotator’s Note: 81st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division] as a replacement. He joined the outfit in Northern Ireland at Clough. Shortly thereafter, he went to Crew Hall in England. They stayed in Quonset Huts [Annotator's Note: prefabricated metal building] and had more training. The few local people he came in contact with were fine. He had little leave in the States or overseas. He was transported on the Duchess of York in a convoy to Oran [Annotator’s Note: Oran, Algeria] in North Africa. The seas were rough, but sleeping in a hammock eased the situation somewhat [Annotator’s Note: he motions back and forth]. The sleeping arrangement was in an enclosed area on the open deck. Ginrich became very seasick. He stuck close to his assigned fire station. He had no idea of what was going to happen. The Strait of Gibraltar was very calm compared to the Atlantic. There were submarine alarms sounded. WACs [Annotator's Note: Women's Army Corps; women's branch of the United States Army, 1942 to 1978] came in to Oran at the same time. Oran was another training location for Ginrich. He had no idea of where he was, only that he was in North Africa. He had previously met a nice young lady friend in England. He returned in 1970 and traveled the route of his stay in the United Kingdom. He revisited Crew Hall which had been converted into a factory. He was given a tour, photographs, and refreshments by an executive at the castle. After four months of training from May to September [Annotator’s Note: 1942], he was deployed to Europe. While in Oran, he saw very little while he camped in pup tents [Annotator's Note: small sleep tents often shared by two soldiers] up in the mountains and hills. Soon, his outfit started moving across Algeria.

Ralph “Bud” Ginrich [Annotator’s Note: as a private first class in the 81st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division in Algeria in North Africa in 1943] got close to Tunis, Tunisia before meeting resistance from Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel]. Ginrich was captured between Faïd Pass and Kasserine Pass at Sidi Bou Zid. A couple thousand prisoners were taken at the time. Later, 200,000 Axis prisoner would be taken in the area. Ginrich had little combat experience prior to his capture. He was with a buddy in a building with Arabs, one of whom disclosed to the Germans that the two were there [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. He was brought to a location where there were many other prisoners. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A few weeks later, the Axis would have a mass surrender in Tunisia. Ginrich’s buddy did not even have the Cosmoline [Annotator's Note: name for petroleum-based corrosion inhibitors] off his rifle yet. His officer said to surrender so it was either that or be killed. Ginrich only trained for four months as a replacement [Annotator’s Note: before overseas deployment] and then went into action and was soon captured. As a prisoner of war, or POW, he was marched to Sfax [Annotator’s Note: Sfax, Tunisia]. He then was taken by train to Tunis, and flown out of Tunis later. He was transported in boxcars while in Italy and Germany. He stayed in boxcars for days at a time. He stayed in Palermo [Annotators’ Note: Palermo, Italy on the island of Sicily] in the mountains for a couple of months. He worked on building roads in the mountains. He then moved from Palermo to Messina [Messina, Italy is on the far eastern side of Sicily] by train, and experienced an air raid there. B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] blew the train to hell. POWs were taken off the train and stayed under a culvert below the railroad track. They were then ferried to Reggio [Annotator’s Note: Reggio, Italy]. A train then took them to Capua [Annotator’s Note: Capua, Italy]. Ginrich was with a large group of prisoners. He had multiple occasions of being strafed or bombed by Allied aircraft. That even occurred in Africa before he was captured. The Stukas [Annotators’ Note: Junkers JU-87 Stuka dive bomber] would follow that by attacking Ginrich’s outfit [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. Freight trains were prime targets for friendly aircraft not realizing the passengers could be Allied POWs. He was transported by train from Capua to Moosburg to Stalag VII-A outside of Munich [Annotator’s Note: Munich, Germany]. Capua was an all English POW camp at the time. He had one buddy from York [Annotator’s Note: York, Pennsylvania, Ginrich’s hometown] that was with him until Stalag VII-A when they were separated. He lost touch with his buddy then. They reunited after the war in York and got together many times. His friend is now deceased. Ginrich never knew if he would live from day to day. The enemy could come in any time and shoot him. That was what they did to the Jewish people [Annotator’s Note: during the course of the Holocaust-- also called the Shoah; the genocide of European Jews during World War 2]. Ginrich thinks about the times he was taken into showers by the guards. It gives him pause to think about what the Germans told the Jews when they took them to the showers [Annotator’s Note: the guards told the Jews they were going to shower when they directed them into gas chambers and death]. They could have done the same thing to him.

Ralph “Bud” Ginrich made a few friends in the prison camps [Annotator’s Note: he had been captured at Sidi Bou Zid, Tunisia after a brief time in combat with the 81st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 1st Armored Division in North Africa in 1943]. On the farm where he was held, there were only 28 other prisoners of war (POWs). He stayed a short time in VII-A [Annotator’s Note: Stalag VII-A was in Moosburg, Germany near Munich, Germany] before being shipped to Munich. He was there from May to August 1943. He spoke no German. There was never any notice provided before he would be transferred from one location to another. He was always under guard. He was treated best in Munich. There was only one POW with him and one guard working to reroof an old man’s house. When he heard that the guards were not going to feed him, he refused to work. He was punished for the protest. He was shipped back to Moosburg and interned with a group of Russians. Given a trial, he was found guilty of refusing to work and placed in solitary confinement for approximately two weeks. The Italians gave up at that time, in September 1943. He was shipped out of Moosburg to Hammerstein [Annotator’s Note: Hammerstein, Germany, modern day Czarne, Poland]. He was given soup or bread daily while in solitary. The POWs managed to save some food from day to day and kept them in packages. He was with a man named Snyder [Annotator’s Note: spelling uncertain, given name not provided] who could speak German. Snyder served as the interpreter and traded cigarettes for access to his package in another location. The room was searched daily so the retrieved items had to be hidden. The guards never found anything. That was the way Ginrich survived in solitary. When he looked out of the room, Ginrich could see all the Italian prisoners outside. Ginrich was allowed to walk around the grounds for an hour each day while he was being guarded. He learned to take one day at a time and adjusted to his situation. Everyone he was with seemed to do the same. While on the farm, Ginrich regularly received Red Cross packages because he worked. He also received mail and packages from home starting when he was in Italy. He could not say much in his correspondence home, only the limited selection of messages allowed by his captors to be sent to America. Ginrich still has the mail he sent home to his mother, as well as what she sent to him. A Catholic official in Italy sent a message to his mother and Ginrich still has that as well. He was glad to receive a package. He was a rich man on the farm, particularly with the cartons of cigarettes his mother sent him. Cigarettes were everything at the time. While on the farm, the POWs would start the day with roll call. Afterward, the farmer and head of the guards would take them along with the civilian workers and direct them on what they would be doing for the day. It was a large, privately-owned farm by a man named Von Wilkens [Annotator’s Note: spelling uncertain, given name not provided]. Potatoes and other items were grown. Ginrich worked seven days a week at times. It was hot during the summer. After the day’s work, the workers could cool off in a nearby lake. On one occasion, Ginrich cut his foot while doing so. He had to be taken off work detail to recover. After he did, a new guard nicknamed Carbine Pete asked the farmer why Ginrich was limping. Having been told that Ginrich had cut his foot, Carbine Pete assigned Ginrich to keep a fire going so the guards and workers could warm themselves during the cold weather. That is what he did all wintertime. Carbine Pete was good for Ginrich, but one day the German wanted to shoot him [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. The farm also made schnapps from the potatoes for the German armed forces. The POWs managed to sabotage some of their efforts and equipment they used. They did crazy things.

Ralph “Bud” Ginrich had little to do for entertainment as a prisoner of war (POW). Some men played cards. There were no books to read on the farm [Annotator’s Note: along with 27 other POWs, Ginrich was assigned as a farm laborer while being guarded near Hammerstein, Germany]. Most of the time, he worked six days a week on the farm. Occasionally, at harvest time, he had to work on Sunday. During Sunday morning roll call, Carbine Pete [Annotator’s Note: a German guard who looked after Ginrich because he had injured his foot] allowed Ginrich to stay in bed. The POWs did not seem stressed where Ginrich was held. He had a friend named Vince [Annotators’ Note: no surname provided] with whom he shared his feelings. That was the only individual with whom he was close. There were 27 other captives when Ginrich reached the location. Vince made room for Ginrich to sleep close by so they became buddies. They later slept in double decker bunks. The two men shared food, Red Cross packages, and cooking duties. They cut firewood in the winter. War news was limited. When the assassination attempt on Hitler was made [Annotator’s Note: the failed assassination attempt on German dictator Adolf Hitler occurred in July 1944], Von Wilkens [Annotator’s Note: spelling uncertain, no given name provided for the owner of the large farm to which Ginrich was assigned] was taken away. The POWs heard about the invasion [Annotator’s Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. The captives managed to make a still. The prisoners knew the Allies would win the war. It was only a matter of time for them to get home. There was always a concern that SS [Annotator’s Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] troops would come in and kill them. Ginrich was on the farm from September 1943 to January 1945. That was when the march across Germany started. He was liberated outside a place called Hildesheim [Annotator’s Note: Hildesheim, Germany]. That was when he discovered a tank and a jeep on the hill above where they were. The American Captain in the jeep asked Ginrich about the location of any Germans. Ginrich explained that the enemy was nearby in large numbers. The officer offered a ride to the POWs aboard the tank back to the American lines. Ginrich and Vince took advantage of the offer. The Russians were also nearby. Ginrich knew the Russians were coming ahead of that because of the fleeing Germans who were leaving before the Soviets reached them. The Germans were trying to reach the Americans. That was why he left the farm. He made it clear across Germany. Hammerstein is in what is now Poland [Annotators’ Note: former Hammerstein, Germany is today’s Czarne, Poland]. Ginrich aids people trying to find information on former POWs. He is disappointed that more people do not keep in touch with him or show more appreciation for his efforts.

Ralph “Bud” Ginrich was not changed by his POW [Annotator’s Note: prisoner of war] experiences. Some Germans were miserable and some were not bad. While working in Munich [Annotator’s Note: Munich, Germany], a woman would supply sandwiches for the American POWs along with the guards. She had banners in her apartment from New York [Annotator’s Note: New York City, New York] where her husband ran a taxi. Another woman wanted chocolates for her mother [Annotator’s Note: Ginrich received Red Cross packages because he was working albeit as forced labor]. She was friendly [Annotator’s Note: he laughs]. He was stupid at that time [Annotator’s Note: he refused to work and was taken off the easy work detail and punished with solitary confinement for about two weeks]. After liberation at Hildesheim [Annotator’s Note: Hildesheim, Germany], he was put in a C-47 [Annotator’s Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft] and flown to a place in France. Next was Camp Lucky Strike [Annotator's Note: one of the transit and rehabilitation camps in France named after popular cigarette brands; Lucky Strike was near Le Havre, France]. He took a Liberty Ship back home. He stayed in a camp in New England and then to Fort Dix [Annotator's Note: now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey] and then home. He neglected to call his mother until he was two blocks from home. He should have called sooner [Annotator’s Note: he shows emotion recollecting his inaction]. He went right back to work. He wanted a job. Seniority was everything on the railroad [Annotator’s Note: he had worked for the railroad prior to being drafted]. Coworkers complained that Ginrich got his seniority back. They were going to fight it, but that never happened. He fired a steam engine, but it was a job.