Liberation of prisoner of war camps

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Hirsekorn, Fred Liberating Dachau and POW Camps
[Annotators Note: Fred Hirsekorn served in the army as a gunner, then tank commander, and finally tank platoon...
Hoff, Russell D. Liberation
Russell Hoff never thought he would die in a prisoner of war camp. There was a secret crystal radio kept in the POW...
Fitts, Charles "Charlie" Liberation and VE-Day
[Annotator's Note: Charles Fitts, Jr. served in the Army in the mortar squad, 2nd Platoon, Company C, 66th Armored...
Leibold, William Omori and the End of the War
[Annotator's Note: William Leibold served in the Navy as a Chief Boatswain's Mate and made all five war patrols aboard...
Martello, Dominic Segment 1
Martello served with the Service Company [Annotator's note: early Cannon Company, before they established them] 39th...
Zawada, Robert Segment 10
They crossed the river at Burgson to continue moving towards the camp [Annotator's Note: during the Hammelburg raid as...
Rogers, Ernest Segment 10
They [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] let some of the Red Cross packages go to pot. They would put them in store house...
Brooks, Howard Segment 10
1 morning the prisoners were called out. They were usually called out every morning so the Japanese could do a head...
Zawada, Robert Segment 11
After he lost his rifle, Zawada grabbed the grease gun [Annotator's Note: M3 submachine gun] from behind the driver. He...
Kalil, Louis Segment 11
When the Germans unloaded the prisoners of war from the trains, Kalil remembers British medics helping them. He recalls...
Rogers, Ernest Segment 11
They [Annotator's Note: the Japanese] called the officer over and told him that the war was over. About a half hour...
Baum, Abraham "Abe" Segment 11
A Serbian doctor in the hospital hid Baum. By this point, he had discarded his dog tags because if the Germans had...
Jefferson, Alexander Segment 11
Alexander Jefferson returned to the United States on ships, picking up men in England and spending eight days across...
Zawada, Robert Segment 12
Zawada said the POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoners of war] did not look that bad. He remembers that there were about...
Bouck, Lyle Segment 13
They were putting the gas into the vehicles that were selected to make the rest of the trip. Lyle Bouck recalled seeing...
Zawada, Robert Segment 13
Zawada realized the mission was a failure when they were under tank fire outside of Hammelburg and when he drove the...
LaPorta, Edward Segment 13
One morning a German officer who spoke English entered the room and told Edward LaPorta and the other POWs to gather...
Spivey, Leonard Segment 13
Leonard Spivey notes that the Germans managed to get all of the prisoners out before the Russians came. All of the...
Bouck, Lyle Segment 14
There were two black soldiers at the door yelling that the Germans were coming. Lyle Bouck and Kriz [Annotators Note:...
Zawada, Robert Segment 14
Zawada tried to run when he got hit, but he no idea how badly injured he was [Annotator's Note: during the Hammelburg...
LaPorta, Edward Segment 14
Edward LaPorta and the other POWs did not hear them [Annotators Note: the German guards] leave and did not know what...
Spivey, Leonard Segment 14
Leonard Spivey was at the airfield for a few days. They were at the airfield on V-E Day. All hell was breaking loose on...
Baum, Abraham "Abe" Segment 14
Baum recalls the POWs at Hammelburg and the concentration camps victims they encountered. They brought their...
Noack, John Segment 15
John Noack was able to keep a fair distribution system set up in his barracks to ensure everybody got a decent share....
Kanaya, Jimmie Segment 15
During that period, the Russian prisoners got along with the American prisoners. One of them made a cigarette case for...
Noack, John Segment 16
John Noack was flown out of Barth, Germany and taken to a camp in France. They stayed there for about three or four...
Kanaya, Jimmie Segment 16
Kanaya had no idea if everyone made it back. They got off of the train in Chicago; there was a train from the Pacific...
Kaylor, Emmett Segment 2
That was as close as Kaylor ever came to getting hit [Annotator’s Note: during a Japanese attack in the Philippines]....
Weber, Rosemarie Segment 2
Weber went to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in the camp but didn't learn very much. She didn't finish 8th grade....
Sabol, Emil Segment 3
Stalag Luft was for airmen only. Luft is the German word for air. There were 8000 or 10000 of them there. There were...
Kaylor, Emmett Segment 3
It took them 12 days to get back to California [Annotator’s Note: returning from Japan after the war’s end]. They was a...
Corbin, Robert "Bob" Segment 3
They were taken across the Rhine River on a streetcar then put into an underground dungeon [Annotator’s Note: American...
Kaylor, Emmett Segment 4
The Airborne soldiers who were rescuing the civilians came in by sea as well [Annotator’s Note: during the Los Banos...
Corbin, Robert "Bob" Segment 4
They were told that they had to march about 60 miles [Annotator’s Note: as American prisoners of war in Poland]. Corbin...
Jefferson, Alexander Segment 4
Alexander Jefferson came in the middle of the Tuskegee program. The first program was March 1942 and the last class was...
Chuck, Harris Segment 5
Chuck recalls being stripped naked with his hands locked behind his head. The Japanese would hit them with a giant...

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