My mother's memorial to my grandfather

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. 

Happy birthday!

The mail

Home, sweet home

On the march

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.

Stalag Luft IV room

POW WOW

German camps and hospitals where American POWs were held

Moosburg camp layout

Seattle Daily Times: NAZIS QUIT!

Stalag Luft IV camp map

We can take 'em!

Wartime humor

Stalag Luft II camp map

Stalag artwork

Death march routes

A Sad But True Story, Stalag Luft 1

The Stalag newsletter, Barth Hard Times

Map of Kasserine Pass

Stalag IIB

Deciphering the inscriptions / Décrypter les inscriptions

If anyone could help decipher the inscriptions on the backs of these photos (especially the French), please comment with what you think the correct inscription is. It's not that easy to decipher script anymore either.

Si quelqu'un pouvait aider à déchiffrer les inscriptions sur le dos de ces photos (surtout le français), s'il vous plaît commenter ce que vous pensez la bonne inscription est. Il n'est pas si facile à déchiffrer scénario plus non plus.

Red, Bev, & Ed in North Africa 1942

Red, Bev, & Ed in North
Africa 1942

Blanc Louis

Affecteux souvenirs à ?  (With fond memories of ?)
Stalag IIB le 14/10/43
Signed, Blanc Louis

R. Olson, B. Pigg, D. Timmerman, A. Traupman, A. Stankiewicz, M. Trivette

R. Olson
B. Pigg
D. Timmerman
A. Traupman
A. Stankiewicz
M. Trivette

Standing by the remains of one of the assault boats now buried in the sand.

Standing by the remains of one of the assault boats now buried in the sand.

On our way to chow in North Africa 1943

On our way to chow in
North Africa 1943.
Cpl. Ivan Russell and jes me.

L to R:
I. Russell, "Chief" Youngbear, "Ze Count"
Von Taussig, me, Frank Sanacher,
and Buske
Everybody works
in North Africa
Ecole Normal
Algiers

Looks like a W.P.A. Project

Cleaning a machine
gun in North Africa
1943
Looks like a W.P.A. Project

Sandman, Throckmorton, Russell, McCarthy, Taussig

L-R Kneeling:
Sandman
Throckmorton
Russell
McCarthy
Taussig

Standing:
Youngbear
Hartman
Buske
Henry
Capt. Herring
Page (Pigg)
Sanache
Nagle
Nystrom

Nov. 16
1942
No. Africa

Eddie and I November 1942

Eddie and I
November 1942

Ed and I holding a piece of shrapnel from a German bomb

Ed and I holding a
piece of shrapnel from a
German bomb. It's
time to dig in when
this stuff starts flying.
Weight -app. one pound.

Window black out

L to R
"red" McCarthy, N.Y; "Bill" Tanasig, PA;
"Kentuck" Russell, KY; "Hoggy"; "Ed"
Henery, W. Va; "Red" Clemiston, Iowa.

No inscription

No inscription

No inscription

Bev. with French P.O.W.

Bev. with French P.O.W.

No inscription

Center Vital Gravet

Center Vital Gravet
Belgique
Prov. Namdr

France, Vital Gravey (Belgium), Belgium

France, Vital Gravey (Belgium), Belgium

Stalag VB geprüft 26

Received 4/4/44

Algeirs

Buying presents two francs per bag

Washing clothes, Algiers

Washing clothes, Algiers

Part of convoy invasion of North Africa

Front: "Part of convoy invasion of North Africa"
Back: Convoy 1942

No inscription

To my friend Beverly as remembrance of fateful day,... but soon forgotten... I hope.

To my friend Beverly as remembrance of fateful day,... but soon forgotten... I hope.
[signature]
Sept. 42


a

Pvts. Ed Henry, Bill Nystrom, and Red McCarthy

Pvts. Ed Henry, Bill Nystrom, and Red McCarthy
Algeria, N Africa
Nov. 1942

No inscription

Red, Ed, and I

No inscription

Heard, Volberding, Pigg, Prescott, Lunn, Rebold, Novak, Huss, Beam

Coy Heard - Ed Volberding - Bev Page (Pigg)
Hubert Prescott -- Wilbur M Lunn - "Zarko"
Morris Rebold - Steve Novak
Delburt Huss - Reese Beam

Had Stalag IIB Censor
stamp on back of my copy

Stalag IIB geprüft 35

Stalag IIB geprüft 35

Pvt. B. Nipton & Cpl. Goodwin making a fox-hole in Algeria

Pvt. B. Nipton & Cpl. Goodwin
making a fox-hole in Algeria
11/42

Time for chow in Algeria, Nov. 1942

Time for chow in Algeria
Nov. 1942
Pvts
Carpenter, Henery, Batthow, Yours Truly, Cpls.
Hanson and Goodwin

Avec toute ma [?]

Avec toute
ma [?]
a mon ami Beverly
Pigg
[signature]
2.4.44

Gordon

(This photo is of my grandfather's brother, Gordon, who was back home in the states)

Gordon
Oct. 42
Feb 20 Sfax Tunisia
Feb 26 Tunis "
March 4 Flew to Naples via Sicily
Mch 18 Stalag VIIA
Mach 23 Stalag VB
24

Feb 23, Left Luft 4 by box car

Feb 23, Left Luft 4 by box car
Feb 27, Arrived Luft 1 Hospital
Doc says pneumonia
May 12 - Left Luft 1 in B-17
May 13 - 242nd AH Sissonne
(Aisne) France
June 6 - Hosp. train to Rheimson
223rd GH (Marmakone)
June 8 - Paris 203rd GH
in C-47 transport
June 26 - From 203rd GH
to

to Mon Ami Pigg, P Bottois

to Mon Ami Pigg, P Bottois

A mon cher ami Beverly, Vilus

A mon cher ami Beverly, Vilus
Le [?] 1943

I never forget my friends from the states

Stalag IIB geprüft 25
I never forget
my friends from
the states
[unreadable]

9 Rue Malmaison

Boy Reué (Reuc?)
9 Rue Malmaison
(Nord) France

Antoine Dubs, Route de Laval, Bruyeres (Vosges) FRANCE

Antoine Dubs
Route de Laval
Bruyères
(Vosges)
FRANCE
x-note Wooden Shoes!
#23952 - Stalag VB -Deutschland
Mars 1943
Stalag VB
26
Geprüft

Wood shoes

12-12-43

Stalag IIB Gepruft

[same photo, different print:
Prisoner of war
Hammersetin, Ger
Ray Bupres
(France)]

Loulou, Vital, et ses deux enfants

Loulou
Vital
[?] et ses deux
enfants

Ferdinand, Belg

To my best friend
Beverly in souvent
of our captivity
in Hammerstein 14th [?] 43
Ferdinand Delineé
Vodelée
[?] Namur
Belgium

Stalag IIB

Stalag IIB was a POW camp near the German village of Hammerstein, Germany.

"Treatment was worse at Stalag II-B than at any other camp in Germany established for American POWs before the Battle of the Bulge. Harshness at the base Stalag degenerated into brutality and outright murder on some of the Kommandos. Beatings of Americans on Kommandos by their German overseers were too numerous to list, but records show that 10 Americans in work detachments were shot dead by their captors."

My grandfather was there from 1942, until the Russians began to advance, and the Germans emptied the camp in the dead of winter, and forced the prisoners to march, most of them to their deaths. 

Villard, French Priest, IIB

Front: Villard, French Priest, IIB
Back:
[cross]
A mon
ami
Beverly
bien amicaliment
[unreadable]

L to Right - Beverly M. Pigg, La Verle H. Hopkins, Ivan Leroy Russell, Edgar M. Henry

L to Right - Beverly M. Pigg
(You know where, Darling!)
La Verle H. Hopkins
Bruning Nebraska
or
Pocahontas Iowa
Ivan Leroy Russell
Poole, Kentucky
Edgar M. Henry
Huntington, W. Va

And on an identical print:
Taken on November 10, 1942
in Algeria, North Africa
"Happy", "Kentuck" and "Eddie".

Stalag IIB entertainment

Stalag IIB Gepruft

Meur Bollore Paul, Rue Guersant, Saint Pol de Leon, [?] Morlaix, Finistere, France

Meur Bollore Paul
Rue Guersant
Saint Pol de Leon
[?] Morlaix
Finistere, France

Blanc Louis, 28 Boulevard Gariel, Chutes Lavie, Marseilles, France

[Unreadable] comrade [unreadable] pour notre [unreadable]
on Stalag IIB
Blanc Louis
Stalag IIB 23/10/43

Blanc Louis
28 Boulevard Gariel
Chutes Lavie
Marseilles
France

Mr. GRAVET Vital, Rue St. Rock 132, Mazée (Treignes), Prov. de Namur, Belgique

A mon ami Beverly,
Vital
Mr. GRAVET Vital
Rue St. Rock 132
Mazée (Treignes)
Prov. de Namur
Belgique

Joseph Verteneuil, rue colonel Van Gele. 43 Bruxelles

Neilluies Souvenirs
à mon Ami Beverly
Stalag IIB le 15-22-1943
Joseph Verteneuil
rue colonel Van Gele. 43
Bruxelles

Stalag IIB entertainment (undated, names not listed, but signed)

"To an american brother, with the hope to visit one day his beautiful country, when it will be possible to sing again! «Happy days are here again» Germain sept. H3"

Stalag IIB entertainment (undated, names not listed)

En Français

Photos de l'expérience de prisonnier de guerre de mon grand-père en Afrique du Nord, la Pologne et l'Allemagne, de 1943 à 1945 inscriptions sont affichés en un endroit lisible, avec l'intention que les parents de ses camarades prisonniers de guerre trouveront leurs propres parents. Codétenus indiqués incluent Français et les Belges.