Written by my mother, after my grandfather's death:
http://lascauxreview.com/2014/04/secrets-in-the-landscape/
Secrets in the Landscape
by Cathy Herbert
He looked like a hungry baby bird, gasping for breath, eyes watery and unfocused. At that moment, shortly before his death at age 92, I realized that my father’s face was absurdly long and narrow, almost pointy at top and bottom. In old photos, his black curly hair broadened the crown, and a prosperous life filled out the cheeks and chin. Once, he had been movie-star handsome. No photographs marked his return from World War II after more than two years as a prisoner of war. Behind the barbed wire, he ate bread made with sawdust and beet pulp. His robust six-foot two-inch frame withered to 120 pounds of skin and bone. When the war ended in a forced death march through a blizzard, he survived—barely. If a farmer had not come along…if the farmer had not stopped…if the farmer had not been willing to allow the scarecrow of a man to be placed upon his cart…if the cart had not stopped at the barn…if there had not been other Allied soldiers in that barn…if one of those soldiers had not had soup to share…if there had not been straw and rags to help ward off the cold…if…that day would have been his last.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
The timeline
Beverly Pigg
April 22, 1941: 21st birthday, eligible for draft. Several months later, draft notice arrives. Ordered to report to a physical exam at Washington-Lee High School
Oct. 4, 1941: ordered to report to Union Station for trip to Fort Lee, Va. Pay is $21 per month, less $1.50 for laundry and $6.40 for a $10,000 insurance policy. Training at Camp Croft, South Carolina for 3 weeks of basic training.
December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor. Sent for the end of basic training to Fort Dix, N.J. Issued a BAR ad assigned as Asst. Gunner and Ammunition Carrier.
April 12, 1942: Address changed to APO 34, New York for overseas delivery. Sailed on the Aquitania from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Then to Scotland, where they were transferred to tenders bound for Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
July 21, 1942: Orders came to report to Enniskillen. Issued M-1. Ferried to Invernary, Scotland to train with British Commandos. Motor convoy to Paisley, near Glasgow, Scotland. Lived in tents through Sept. Motored to Liverpool, lived aboard the Otranto. Passed through Gibraltar, at dawn attacked by German fighters.
Nov. 8, 1942: three landings made, is Northwest of Algiers. Motor convory to Tunisia. Desert retreat/attack. Combat in Senede and Zidi Bou Sed, small desert villages. Fiad Pass. Stanley Stepanek shot in the leg.
Feb. 14, 1943: Stuka dive bombers attack an hour before dawn. Surrounded, stranded on a hill 800 feet high with no cover. 3 days later, ordered to destroy all equipment and march west.
Feb. 19, 1943: Germans attacked, they surrendered.
Feb. 20, 1943: Marched back through the pass. 70 miles to Sfax. Outside Sfax, adjacent to RR tracks, held in enclosures and 300 men were loaded into boxcars.
March 4, 1943: in Junkers JU-52 tri-motor plane to Sicily and then Naples.
March 18, 1943: reached Moosburg to Stalag 7A.
April 21, 1943: 500 Americans sent to Villingen to Stalag 5B. Worked in Friedrickschafen, a 10-mile walk from camp.
What was in a Red Cross parcel
Note: One full Red Cross parcel was a box about 3" deep and 12" square and contained the minimum amount of food required to sustain a man for one week at approximately 1700 calories per day. In an American box were small portions of spam, corned beef, powdered eggs, jelly or jam, powdered milk, soda crackers, dried raisins or prunes, powdered coffee, cigarettes, sugar, a chocolate "D" bar, salt and pepper.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)