Former Saratogian composing room worker Perez
talks about fighting in World War II 
By PAUL POST, The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Manny Perez couldn’t even speak English when he first moved to America and had to repeat kindergarten to fit in with young children his age.

By the time he was 20, the Mexican-born immigrant was fighting to defend America’s freedoms and wound up spending four months in a German prison camp, captured during the Battle of the Bulge.

Now 86, Perez quit high school during his senior year, in February 1943, to join the service.

“In 1942 the United States was in bad shape and so was England,” Perez said. “The Germans were sinking our ships off the coast of New Jersey with U-boats. I felt it was my duty to enlist. Everybody was doing it. You’d be surprised to see the enthusiasm there was on the part of young people. They didn’t wait to be drafted. They volunteered. After what happened at Pearl Harbor, the sneak attack, everybody wanted to do their part.”

Sent to Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., for basic training, Perez was assigned to the newly created 106th Infantry and in 1944 was sent overseas to join the 30th Division about a month after D-Day. “They needed replacements,” he said.

“D-Day was on June 6. We were still in Normandy when I got there on July 17, fighting in hedgerows. It was tough going. Every individual hedgerow had to be taken.”

“On July 25, thousands of Allied planes bombed the front lines in Normandy. That’s when the breakthrough occurred. It killed a lot of our own people, though. Our division suffered a lot of casualties.”

In early August, the 2nd Battalion he belonged to was surrounded. With no supply lines, the soldiers got sulfur and morphine fired to them in artillery shells, with the explosives removed.

“The Germans sent armor, paratroopers and everything else to get us,” Perez said. “The only thing that saved us was forward observers that would call artillery strikes to repulse the Germans. Finally, after seven days, the 31st Division broke through and saved us.”

Wounded during the ordeal, Perez was awarded the first of two Purple Hearts and was fortunate enough to be in Paris when Allies liberated the city on Aug. 25, 1944.

“I had a very good time there,” he said. “Once I got back to the front lines, life expectancy was nil.”

While in Paris, he also made a promise that he fulfilled more than 60 years later.

“I went up to this chapel on a hill and told the Lord, ‘If you see me through this I’ll come back here some day to thank you,’ ” Perez said.

A few years ago, he and his daughter took a trip through Europe to visit many of the places he’d seen under less pleasant conditions as a soldier. During the journey, Perez went back to the chapel in Paris to give thanks for a rich, full life.

In October 1944, after recuperating from his wounds, Perez rejoined the 30th Division and was in Heerlen, Holland, when the Battle of the Bulge began on Dec. 16.

“The Germans were able to penetrate 26 miles into Belgium,” he said. “We were assigned to the northern flank. We got down there about Christmas time.”

On Jan. 15, 1945, while fighting in Belgium, a German soldier tossed a hand grenade inside a small stone building where Perez and a handful of other Americans had sought shelter. “It killed the lieutenant,” he said. “I was wounded (a second time) with shrapnel in both legs. We had no choice but to give up. The Germans put me on a toboggan and took me to their first-aid station. If it was the SS I probably would have been shot. The SS was merciless.”

Perez was also fortunate enough to be a radioman.

“The attendant said if I had been in the air corps he would have killed me right then and there,” he said. “The (Allied) air corps was strafing and bombing. The Germans hated them.”

Assigned to Stalag 11B near Hanover, Germany, Perez spent the next four months as a prisoner of war — one of 20,000 U.S. soldiers taken captive during the Battle of the Bulge. The battle claimed 20,000 American lives, with another 40,000 wounded. Stalag 11B was liberated by the British on April 19, 1945.

“The first meal they gave us was pea soup,” Perez said, smiling. “Ever since then I’ve been fond of pea soup. We were freed by the Desert Rats, the same outfit that had done so much in North Africa.”

During his ordeal, soldiers kept in touch with the outside world on radios smuggled in by other prisoners.

“It’s amazing how much you could do if you had the ambition or motivation,” Perez said. “If I had to do it again I certainly would. Those were the best years of my life. I’m happy I was able to do it.”