| Whitaker, William B. |
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Real fast I noticed that William B Whitaker had no info listed,
he is my grandfather and I can send you his burial location and
what we have found of his service record and medals he was
awarded in the 50's-80's... He ended up a preacher after the war
.. he was with HQ as listed but was TAD to the special unit and
was involved in Normandy before the division arrived.. he was a
T/4 at the time and a combat engineer.. he was captured in July
and escaped in late Nov-Dec I forget... Anyway the Krauts sent
in the 70's his German POW records and picture and camp I'd tag
which he left on his cot when he escaped ha-ha!! Anyway the
Germans kept in, he was is Stalag 12A and there were US citizen
English speaking Germans there, aged guys mostly that he
befriended and I think is how he escaped with two other guys..
funny story but when he was blown over a hedgerow into a German
mortar pit the infantry supporting the mortar took him prisoner,
why? In combat, when on the move? I don't know, divine
intervention I guess... Anyway the guys who captured him spoke
English and were US as well, Pennsylvania Dutch to be exact and
had came back to Germany in 35 mostly, they enlisted to kill
communists originally in Spain and volunteered to stay on in 39
but in 40 they were invited to stay in the army "indefinitely"..
anyway most were older... 30's and 40's and a couple WW1 us
vets.. anyway they took him and that's how he became a POW for
awhile.. his records were nearly completely lost in the 60's in
the annex fire and he was unable to get VA services until 75-79
because randomly one day in the mail a boat load of documents
showed up from Germany where the old German guards apparently
had most of the camps records still and sent a ton to families
across the states, it's really a great story... Anyway if you
are interested in more, please let me know..
Have a great day
Sincerely
D Clemmons
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| Source: Grandson D. Clemmons -4/22/2023 |
Page last revised
04/22/2023James D. West Host106th@106thInfDivAssn.org www.IndianaMilitary.org |