Sunday, April 26, 2015

A Prairie Salt


Editor Note: Glenn Hoplin was the 2nd of 4 Hoplin brothers to enlist in the Navy during WW II.  (Oliver 1941, Glenn 1942, Donald 1942, Paul 1945).  None of them had ever seen an ocean.  

Glenn joined the navy after graduating from Augsburg College in 1942. He was inducted and sworn in at the Federal Building on Washington Ave in Minneapolis and sent to Great Lakes, IL for boot camp.  What follows are his reminiscences of those war years.










Glenn's Story 1942-1945



... We went through the medical line again after being issued hat and shoes – no other clothing -  received shots, scared to death by the old salts with stories of square needles to sensitive areas. I had my chest painted red with ‘HOSPITAL’, to be sent for hernia repair. Regulations allowed 40 days for return to duty. After spending about a month in Outgoing Unit (OGU) and several weeks’ kitchen duty, washing dishes, peeling potatoes and shining garbage cans, I was assigned to Electrical Training School in Moorhead, KY on the campus of Moorhead State College, where the Navy had taken over part of the campus. This was a 3 month course of classroom study. We lived in a dorm – 4 sailors to a room. 

After this course, I was assigned more electrical training at Consolidated Edison Power Plant on the East River in New York City. This was an ‘in-plant’ session, observing the production and distribution of electrical power. This was a huge generating plant with many boilers and turbine generators. The coal for the stokers would come up river on barges, and was elevated to the top of building and distributed to stokers. This was a six-week stint and we lived on Pier 92 on the Hudson River. 


Next step was to the commissioning crew of the battleship BB62 USS New Jersey, which was being built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. We were billeted in a Navy building for a few weeks, going on board in daytime to work – standing fire watch for welders, etc. Commissioning day was in May 1943. After a shakedown cruise down the Delaware River and into the Caribbean to test equipment, make speed runs, target practice – and a brief liberty in Trinidad - we returned to Philadelphia to fix the various flaws. Then to Boston where BB62 anchored for a few days and finally shipping out from Portland,MA to join our sister ship the BB61 USS Iowa.  Apparently the Iowa had gotten into trouble and gone aground. (The Iowa class battleships were armed with three turrets of 3 16” guns.)




We proceeded south and entered the Pacific through the locks of the Panama Canal. The Jersey and its class were the last naval ships designed to fit in the canal locks. The locks are 110’ across and the Jersey was 108’. The operation of the locks is fascinating, with water levels raised by gravity flow from the created lake above. The reverse is done on the Pacific side, with water from Gatum Lake discharged into the Pacific, lowering the ship in 3 locks to sea level. We anchored in the Gulf of Panama and took on fuel. The oil kings miscalculated and flooded a sleeping compartment with 6” of #5 black fuel. All openings between compartments have water-tight doors and 8” thresholds, so the spill was contained. But it was a mess to clean up. 

We left Panama City for the South Pacific and in a few days anchored at Funafuti, a small island in the Ellis group, just south of the equator. A couple days later we were part of the 5th fleet under the command of Admiral Spruance. None of knew where we were going, but the harbor was filled with ships – aircraft carriers, cruisers, battleships, destroyers, destroyer escorts and dozens of supply ships – an awesome sight. Our mission was to prepare the Marshall Island Group for a Marine invasion. For about a week, we shelled and bombed these atolls until the palm trees were nothing but stumps. How anyone could survive such shelling? Of course, the Japanese did and the fighting was fierce. A week after the landing, we anchored at Kwajelain Island in the Marshall Island group. Most of these islands are coral reefs. 


From here began a series of island hopping, bypassing Japanese occupied atolls cutoff from supply and eventually securing an anchorage at Palau and Ulithi and neutralizing the Japanese base on Truk Island in the Carolines. Then north to the Marianas, Guam, Saipan & Tinian. These islands are volcanic and valuable for airfields that put the new B29’s in range of Japan. Then we went south to New Guinea in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines. We also participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima, famous for its flag raising photo on Mount Surabachi. During the Marianas campaign, the Japanese were desperate and planned an attack on the 5th fleet from their carriers and go on to Guam which was still in their hands, refuel and return to their carriers. The battle became known as the Marianna’s turkey shoot. Over 400 Japanese planes were shot down. Admiral Spruance ordered the fleet to flank speed to attack the Japanese fleet. The distances between the target was calculated to so our carriers would be available when the planes would be nearly empty of fuel. Many US planes had to land in the water as the carriers could not land the planes fast enough and they ran out of fuel. That night every search light in the fleet was burning, something never seen in a war zone. Most of the pilots were recovered but many planes were lost. 

We were then ordered to Pearl Harbor to be fitted with new radar and receiving Admiral William “Bull” Halsey as commander of the 3rd fleet. [The 3rd and 5th fleet were essentially the same ships, except for the command. I suspect it as an attempt to make the Japanese believe we had a 3rd, 5th and 7th fleet in the theatre. The 7th consisted of older battleships and carriers.]

Brothers in Hawaii
During the battle for the Philippines, the 3rd fleet was supposed to support General MacArthur’s invading forces. A typhoon arose and the fleet was dead in the middle of it. The violence of the sea is indescribable. It lasted so long that many destroyers ran out of fuel. We made several attempts to refuel them but the destroyers were like corks and uncontrollable without engine power. It was impossible. We never arrived to support MacArthur. 

Bogus story
There was a report in the Minneapolis paper in 1944, stating that Oliver’s ship, the USS Nassau and the Jersey were both anchored in Kwajalein. Oliver recognized the Jersey and negotiated a whale boat trip across the harbor. Stopping the war so two brothers could meet. There were pictures of Oliver, Glenn and Elise in the article. Never happened. Navy propaganda exercise. 

After the invasion of Saipan, the B29 super fortress bombing campaign began in earnest. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and the second on Nagasaki, August 9. The Japanese surrendered. The formal Japanese signing of the surrender terms took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. There was some resentment at this, as the Missouri had served a very short time in the war theater, however, Truman was now President and from Missouri, so that was that.  A tragic side story. The atomic bomb was transported by the cruiser USS Indianapolis from the USA to Saipan. She then proceeded to the Philippines and was sunk by a Japanese submarine. The survivors were in the water for several days as their distress signal was ignored. Only when she was late arriving in Manila, was a search initiated – a tragic event. 



In May 1945, we were ordered to Bremerton, WA Navy Yard for repairs and improvements. I was granted 10 days leave and traveled to Minneapolis, where I married Ruth Pearson on June 4, 1945. We had been engaged for some months and this was a very happy time. I reported back to the ship on June 13. Flights were usually full or overbooked and someone with rank could bump you. This happened to me in Great Falls, MT. I was worried I would be AWOL. Luckily, I got on the next flight and arrived in Seattle in time. We left Bremerton at the end of June for the Philippines. We were anchored in Manila Bay at the time of the surrender, and were given liberty there. We had to anchor far out into the bay because of all the sunken ships. We rode a motor whale boat to see a bombed out city. What a mess. Kids in the streets, peddling and begging. We left Manila and arrived in Tokyo Bay a few days after the surrender ceremonies on the Missouri. 

The Navy had a point system to qualify for discharge. It was based on length of service, number of engagements, marital state and who knows what. I had many more points than I needed for separation so was transferred to a Kaiser built transport ship bound for Bremerton. Enroute, we ran into a typhoon. The ship bounced like a cork and many old salts became quite penitent. I spent a couple days in Bremerton and then to Minneapolis for discharge at World Chamberlain Naval base. We were given a gold discharge pin, called a "ruptured duck" and $100 mustering out pay. No longer sailors – Hallelujah. It was a happy time as my wife of four months met me. 

BB62 in 2014 - Camden, NJ (Philadelphia Harbor)

Appendix for WW II buffs
USS New Jersey Official History

The second New Jersey (BB-62) was launched 7 December 1942 by the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Edison, wife of Governor Edison of New Jersey, former Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned at Philadelphia 23 May 1943, Captain Carl F. Holden in command. {Editor note: Glenn Hoplin was a member of the commissioning crew.} 

New Jersey completed fitting out and trained her initial crew in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. On 7 January 1944 she passed through the Panama Canal war-bound for Funafuti, Ellice Islands. She reported there 22 January for duty with the Fifth Fleet, and three days later rendezvoused with Task Group 58.2 for the assault on the Marshall Islands. New Jersey screened the carriers from enemy attack as their aircraft flew strikes against Kwajalein and Eniwetok 29 January-2 February, softening up the latter for its invasion and supporting the troops who landed 31 January. 

New Jersey began her distinguished career as a flagship 4 February in Majuro Lagoon when Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Fifth Fleet, broke his flag from her main. Her first action as a flagship was a bold two-day surface and air strike by her task force against the supposedly impregnable Japanese fleet base on Truk in the Carolines. This blow was coordinated with the assault on Kwajalein, and effectively interdicted Japanese naval retaliation to the conquest of the Marshalls. On 17 and 18 February; the task force accounted for two Japanese light cruisers, four destroyers, three auxiliary cruisers, two submarine tenders, two submarine chasers, an armed trawler, a plane ferry, and 23 other auxiliaries, not including small craft. New Jersey destroyed a trawler and, with other ships, sank destroyer Maikaze, as well as firing on an enemy plane which attacked her formation. The task force returned to the Marshalls 19 February. 

Between 17 March and 10 April, New Jersey first sailed with Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's flagship USS Lexington (CV-16) for an air and surface bombardment of Mille, then rejoined Task Group 58.2 for a strike against shipping in the Palaus, and bombarded Woleai. Upon his return to Majuro, Admiral Spruance transferred his flag to USS Indianapolis (CA-35). 

New Jersey's next war cruise, 13 April-4 May 1944, began and ended at Majuro. She screened the carrier striking force which gave air support to the invasion of Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt, Bay, New Guinea, 22 April, then bombed shipping and shore installations at Truk 29-30 April. New Jersey and her formation splashed two enemy torpedo bombers at Truk. Her sixteen- inch salvos pounded Ponape 1 May, destroying fuel tanks, badly damaging the airfield, and demolishing a headquarters building. 
After rehearsing in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas, New Jersey put to sea 6 June in the screening and bombardment group of Admiral Mitscher's Task Force. On the second day of pre-invasion air strikes, 12 June, New Jersey downed an enemy torpedo bomber, and during the next two days her heavy guns battered Saipan and Tinian, throwing steel against the beaches the marines would charge 15 June. 

The Japanese response to the Marianas operation was an order to its Mobile Fleet; it must attack and annihilate the American invasion force. Shadowing American submarines tracked the Japanese fleet into the Philippine Sea as Admiral Spruance joined his task force with Admiral Mitscher's to meet the enemy. New Jersey took station in the protective screen around the carriers on 19 June 1944 as American and Japanese pilots dueled in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. That day and the next were to pronounce the doom of Japanese naval aviation; in this "Marianas Turkey Shoot," the Japanese lost some 400 planes. This loss of trained pilots and aircraft was equaled in disaster by the sinking of three Japanese carriers by submarines and aircraft, and the damaging of two carriers and a battleship. The anti- aircraft fire of New Jersey and the other screening ships proved virtually impenetrable. Only two American ships were damaged, and those but slightly. In this overwhelming victory but 17 American planes were lost to combat. 

New Jersey's final contribution to the conquest of the Marianas was in strikes on Guam and the Palaus from which she sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 9 August. Here she broke the flag of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., 24 August, becoming flagship of the Third Fleet. For the eight months after she sailed from Pearl Harbor 30 August New Jersey was based at Ulithi. In this climactic span of the Pacific War, fast carrier task forces ranged the waters off the Philippines, Okinawa, and Formosa, striking again and again at airfields, shipping, shore bases, invasion beaches. New Jersey offered the essential protection required by these forces, always ready to repel enemy air or surface attack. 

In September the targets were in the Visayas and the southern Philippines, then Manila and Cavite, Panay, Negros, Leyte, and Cebu. Early in October raids to destroy enemy air power based on Okinawa and Formosa were begun in preparation for the Leyte landings 20 October 1944. 

This invasion brought on the desperate, almost suicidal, last great sortie of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its plan for the Battle for Leyte Gulf included a feint by a northern force of planeless heavy attack carriers to draw away the battleships, cruisers and fast carriers with which Admiral Halsey was protecting the landings. This was to allow the Japanese Center Force to enter the gulf through San Bernadino Strait. At the opening of the battle planes from the carriers guarded by USS New Jersey struck hard at both the Japanese Southern and Center Forces, sinking a battleship 23 October. The next day Halsey shaped his course north after the decoy force had been spotted. Planes from his carriers sank four of the Japanese carriers, as well as a destroyer and a cruiser, while New Jersey steamed south at flank speed to meet the newly developed threat of the Center force. It had been turned back in a stunning defeat when she arrived. 

New Jersey rejoined her fast carriers near San Bernadino 27 October 1944 for strikes on central and southern Luzon. Two days later, the force was under suicide attack. In a melee of anti- aircraft fire from the ships and combat air patrol, New Jersey shot down a plane whose pilot maneuvered it into USS Intrepid's (CV- 11) port gun galleries, while machine gun fire from Intrepid wounded three of New Jersey's men. During a similar action 25 November three Japanese planes were splashed by the combined fire of the force, part of one flaming onto USS Hancock's (CV-19) flight deck. Intrepid was again attacked, shot down one would-be suicide, but was crashed by another despite hits scored on the attacker by New Jersey gunners. New Jersey shot down a plane diving on USS Cabot (CVL-28) and hit another which smashed into Cabot's port bow. 

In December, New Jersey sailed with the USS Lexington (CV 16) task group for air attacks on Luzon 14-16 December; then found herself in the furious typhoon which sank three destroyers. Skillful seamanship brought her through undamaged. She returned to Ulithi on Christmas Eve to be met by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. 

New Jersey ranged far and wide from 30 December 1944 to 25 January 1945 on her last cruise as Admiral Halsey's flagship. She guarded the carriers in their strikes on Formosa, Okinawa, and Luzon, on the coast of Indo-China, Hong Kong, Swatow and Amoy, and again on Formosa and Okinawa. At Ulithi 27 January Admiral Halsey lowered his flag in New Jersey, but it was replaced two days later by that of Rear Admiral Oscar Badger commanding Battleship Division Seven. 

In support of the assault on Iwo Jima, New Jersey screened the USS Essex (CV-9) group in air attacks on the island 19-21 February, and gave the same crucial service for the first major carrier raid on Tokyo 25 February, a raid aimed specifically at aircraft production. During the next two days, Okinawa was attacked from the air by the same striking force. 
New Jersey was directly engaged in the conquest of Okinawa from 14 March until 16 April. As the carriers prepared for the invasion with strikes there and on Honshu, New Jersey fought off air raids, used her seaplanes to rescue downed pilots, defended the carriers from suicide planes, shooting down at least three and assisting in the destruction of others. On 24 March 1945 she again carried out the vital battleship role of heavy bombardment, preparing the invasion beaches for the assault a week later. 

During the final months of the war, New Jersey was overhauled at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, from which she sailed 4 July for San Pedro, Pearl Harbor, and Eniwetok bound for Guam. Here on 14 August she once again became flagship of the Fifth Fleet under Admiral Spruance. Brief stays at Manila and Okinawa preceded her arrival in Tokyo Bay 17 September, where she served as flagship for the successive commanders of Naval Forces in Japanese waters until relieved 28 January 1946 by USS Iowa (BB-61). New Jersey took aboard nearly a thousand homeward-bound troops with whom she arrived at San Francisco 10 February. 

After west coast operations and a normal overhaul at Puget Sound, New Jersey's keel once more cut the Atlantic as she came home to Bayonne, New Jersey, for a rousing fourth birthday part 23 May 1947. Present were Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, former Governor Walter E. Edge and other dignitaries. 

Between 7 June and 26 August, New Jersey formed part of the first training squadron to cruise Northern European waters since the beginning of World War II. Over two thousand Naval Academy and NROTC midshipmen received sea-going experience under the command of Admiral Richard L. Connoly, Commander Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, who broke his flag in New Jersey at Rosyth, Scotland 23 June. She was the scene of official receptions at Oslo, where King Haakon VII of Norway inspected the crew 2 July, and at Portsmouth, England. The training fleet was westward bound 18 July for exercises in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic. 

After serving at New York as flagship for Rear Admiral Heber H. McClean, Commander, Battleship Division One, 12 September-18 October, New Jersey was inactivated at the New York Naval Shipyard. She was decommissioned at Bayonne 30 June 1948 and assigned to the New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. 

Korean Conflict - New Jersey was recommissioned at Bayonne 21 November 1950, 
Vietnam War - New Jersey's third career began 6 April 1968 when she recommissioned at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, the only active battleship in the world. 

October 2001: Arrives at her final destination on the Camden Waterfront in New Jersey, and opens to the public for tours 


Copyright © 2015 Dave Hoplin





Sunday, April 19, 2015

VIII. Othelia's Story: 95th Evac: Homeward Bound


VIII. Othelia's Story - 95th Evac Hospital:  VE Day / VJ Day / Home

Lt Rosten & Lt Peterson

Editor note:  After VE Day and duty at Dachau, the 95th was staging for transfer to the Pacific Theater when the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were dropped in August 1945. During the staging period, there was time for some R&R & sightseeing. Finally, in October 1945, the 95th boarded the troop ship USS West Point and were homeward bound, landing at Hampton Roads and on to Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia for demobilization.









Editor note:  After VE Day and duty at Dachau, some sightseeing & R&R






Munich

Enemy Equipment

Lt. Othelia Rosten timeline


1943 Jan 5            Entered army at Fort Snelling, MN
1943 Feb 22         Left Fort Snelling for Clinton , IA training
1943 Mar 5          Left Clinton, IA for Camp Breckinridge, KY
1943 Apr 2           Left Camp Breckinridge for Camp Shanks, NY
1943 Apr 15         Left Camp Shanks and sailed aboard USS Mariposa
1943 Apr 24         Arrived Casablanca
1943 May 16        Left Casablanca for Oudja, Algeria by truck
1943 Jul 7             Left Oudja for Ain El Turck, Algeria
95th Odyssey
1943 Sep 1            Left Ain El Turck aboard British ship Duchess of Bedford
1943 Sep 3            Transferred to Hospital ship Acadia
1943 Sep 5            Landed at Bizerte
1943 Sep 10          Boarded HMHS Newfoundland
1943 Sep 12          Entered Salerno harbor (Paestum)
1943 Sep 13          HMHS Newfoundland bombed - lost everything.  Boarded British ship St. Andrew
1943 Sep 14           Returned to Bizerte
1943 Sep 23           Left for Italy on Landing Craft (LC)
1943 Oct 7             Left Paestum for Naples by truck
1943 Nov 27          Left Naples for Capua by truck - 1.5 hours
1944 Jan 5              Celebrated my 1st year in the army
1944 Jan 8              Left Capua for Naples by truck (Ferme di Agnano)
1944 Jan 27            Left Ferma via LC for Anzio
1944 Jan 31            Left Anzio for Netturna.  Foxholes, air raids, more shelling
1944 Feb 12           Left Netturna for Naples and to area near Riardo
1944 Mar 13           Left Riardo for Corinala via truck
1944 May 23          Left Corinala for Itri - night duty
1944 June 2            Left Itri for wheat field near Cisterna di Littoria
1944 June12           To Rome for several days
1944 June 13          Setup at Montalto
1944 July 15           Left Montalto for staging area at Sparanise near Naples
1944 August 6        Si was married
1944 August 15      Landing in Southern France (Operation Dragoon D-Day)
1944 August 16      Left for France aboard Hospital Ship Marigold - cakes, candy, food, more food
1944 August 19      Landing in So France - red dust, very tired, dirty, hungry
1944 August 18      Setup at Gonfron
1944 September 5   Setup at St. Amour - hospital setup 7 hours, arrived noon, received patients @ 8
1944 September 19  Left St. Amour via ambulances for setup at Saulx
1944 October 8        Setup at Epinal - tents
1944 November 20  Moved to a building in Epinal
1944 December 5    Setup at Mutzig, near Sarbourg
1944 December 22   Retreat to Epinal (Battle of the Bulge)
1944 December 24   Back to Mutzig
1945 January 8         Setup at Sarraburg, France via trucks
1945 March 27         Setup at Dressen, Germany
1945 March 30         Crossed the Rhine - Setup at Bensheim
1945 April 9             Setup at Kist
1945 April 29           Setup at Ebermergen

1945 May 8 VE Day

1945 June 12          Heilbronn, not in operation - (nurses detailed to Dachau)
1945 July 9             Detailed to the 102nd Evac @ Griessen
1945 July 31           Left Griessen for Marburg
1945 July 10           Staging for Japan at Bretten


1945 September 2   VJ Day

1945 September 18  Left Marburg for Camp Carlise, Reims, Fr
1945 October 5        To French "Cigarette" Camp Philip Morris - Le Havre
1945 October 16      Boarded USS West Point 10 AM
1945 October 16      Sailed for the USA from Le Havre 4 PM
1945 October 23      Landed at Hampton Roads, VA 7 AM & then to Camp Patrick Henry, VA



Editor Note: The "cigarette camps" of Le Havre were the staging areas for embarkation for the USA. Othelia (in Camp Philip Morris) departed on October16, 1945, aboard the USS West Point from Le Havre, France. The "cigarette camps" were so named to hide the actual location.  

Camp Home Run - Le Havre, France



Le Havre - leaving France


Homeward bound aboard the USS West Point

USA - Camp Patrick Henry, VA


Post War

95th Evac reunion

Happier nursing duties


95th Evacuation Hospital Record
Theaters of Combat:  North Africa, Italy, France, Germany


Total Admissions:  41,663 Combat troops, civilians & POWs
Medical Admissions: 20,617
Mortality  0.95%


95th Evac Hospital Unit Commendations



End

Further Reading



Copyright © 2015 Dave Hoplin

Sunday, April 12, 2015

VII. Othelia's Story - 95th Evac: Unholy Stuff

#7 Othelia's Story - Operation Dragoon and on to Germany



Lt Rosten & friends
Operation Dragoon














Editor note:  "Operation Dragoon", the forgotten invasion of France, took place on August 15, 1944, with elements of the US 7th Army landing near Toulon.  Some claim the operation name was chosen by Churchill who opposed it and was "dragooned" into it.  The landings were overwhelmingly successful and a rapid advance up the Rhone Valley ensued.  The southern 2/3 of France was liberated in a timespan of 4 weeks. Advances were so rapid, the hospital was moving nearly weekly.

Six months later we left Italy. Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France had begun and the 95th joined them on August 15, 1944.  A U.S. hospital ship, the “Marigold”, took us to southern France. The crew of the Marigold were aware of our other “unfortunate” crossing, so they went all out to make this trip as pleasant as possible. We landed at St. Maxine and travelled by truck convoy to our first setup in France, near Gonfaron. Our tents were put up but for a week we had no cots, so slept in our bedrolls on the ground. One night they brought us litters, but at midnight they took them from us. They were badly needed in the wards.


Operation Dragoon
And that other invasion of France

Rations






















The French people were most pleasant and hospitable. They came to visit and brought us gifts of wine, grapes, melons, peaches, cheese and sometimes eggs. Every ward had 2 French boys and a French girl working for us.  

95th nurses in France
Calmer times





There were not many air raids in France, not as constant and frightening as in Italy. And artillery fire was at a distance.


Better digs



Liberation of Paris
95th @ Arch de Triomphe






































Odyssey of the 95th

95th Evacuation Hospital stations in France
Cavalaire, Southern France – 15 August 1944 > 17 August 1944 (bivouac)
Cogolin, Southern France – 17 August 1944 >18 August 1944 (not operational)
Gonfaron, Southern France – 19 August 1944 > 27 August 1944 (closed awaiting movement orders and necessary transportation 28 – 31 Aug 44)
Beaumont, Southern France – 3 September 1944 > 4 September 1944 (bivouac)
Saint-Amour, France – 5 September 1944 > 17 September 1944
Saulx, France – 20 September 1944 > 6 October 1944 (most forward Seventh US Army Hospital)
Renauvoid, France – 9 October 1944 > 19 November 1944 (officially transferred to ETO 1 Nov 44)
Golbey, France – 20 November 1944 > 2 December 1944 (established in buildings)
Mutzig, France – 6 December 1944 > 31 December 1944 (set up in buildings)
Epinal, France – 3 January 1945 (return to Mutzig)
Sarrebourg, France – 8 January 1945 > 23 March 1945 (set up in buildings)}

May 4, 1945 Stars and Stripes

Dachau


Editor note: From accounts by Nurse Mary Fischer & Zachary Friedenberg and others. Viewer Discretion Advised - there are some difficult sentences to read here.

95th Evacuation Hospital stations in Germany
Bensheim, Germany – 29 March 1945 > 6 April 1945
Kist, Germany – 8 April 1945 > 25 April 1945
Ebermergen, Germany – 29 April 1945 > 21 May 1945
Oats (left), Mary Fischer (center)
Bretten, Germany – May > June 1945



ETO Patch (European Theater of Operations)
We were in Germany when the war ended and we were anxious to go home.  Before we were to go home, there was an unpleasant tour of duty in store for us. In May 1945, we were sent on temporary duty to Dachau Concentration Camp , near Munich.




Although the nurses had witnessed on nearly a daily basis mangled bodies from the battlefield, they were shocked by what they saw at Dachau - men, women, children in the final stages of starvation, covered with sores crawling with lice and fleas, infected with typhus, tuberculosis and so weak they could not move. 

There were no Americans in the camp, but practically all other nationalities were represented. They were the most pitiful sites one can image. Words cannot describe the situation. There were a lot of women patients. All were suffering from malnutrition and other nutritional diseases. As a rule, they did not seem to be appreciative, but in reality they were probably unaware of what was happening. They were full of despair.

Dachau

The two main diseases were typhus and tuberculosis.  All were suffering malnutrition and starvation.


The first procedure upon arriving at Dachau was getting sprayed with DDT powder. We all got a big laugh over it, although it wasn’t really funny. They squirted us with a big squirt gun on our bodies and clothes.

When we got on duty, we were wondering why everyone dreaded the feeding time so much. We soon found out. Supper came at 4:30 PM. When the U.S. Army first took over the camp, they fed the patients G.I. rations, but for some reason these were cut off and they had to draw from German warehouses. The patients were then fed 2 meals a day. Breakfast at 10:30 consisted of one thick slice of dark bread with butter, a serving of scrambled eggs and coffee. The next meal came at 4:30 PM and usually consisted of vegetable soup, one slice of bread with peanut butter, a cup of mashed potatoes and coffee. While we were there we forfeited part of our own rations so patients could have milk and graham crackers at 9:00 PM.


Dachau
We dished out the food in the hall, then put it on trays and carried it into the dining room or wards. All patients who were able came dashing into the hall when they smelled the food or heard the rattle of the food cart. It took several of our men to keep them under control. They had to be watched or they would steal food. They began to shake all over as if they were going into convulsions. The look in their eyes was wild when they saw food. We tried to tell them to eat slowly, but we might as well have saved our breath. They just gobbled their food as fast as they could and begged, pleaded and cried like children for more to eat. Many of the patients vomited after eating. Some inmates would die no matter what we did. We would spoon food into their mouths. But they had been starving so long, they couldn't absorb food anymore.


There were approximately 16-20 patients in a ward. In the center of the ward there were 3 latrines. Many had diarrhea or dysentery.


When the Americans came they gave the patients a bar of soap, a toothbrush and a comb. These people just stared because they couldn’t believe it. The patients were so thin they looked like skeletons - almost unbelievable they could still be alive.

We visited the infamous crematorium and gas chamber. There were 2 huge ovens, they looked like fireplaces where the bodies were burned. Apparently they couldn't burn the bodies as fast as they gassed them. When the American troops arrived there were box cars filled with bodies awaiting the crematorium. The place hadn’t been properly cleaned and it still reeked of unholy stuff.

Some of the patients would just stare into space and wouldn’t talk. We never encouraged them to talk. There were others that were eager to talk about their experiences. Two brothers told us that when they went to bed in the concentration camp, it was always 2 or 3 to a bed and finding one of them dead in the morning was not uncommon. Their wooden beds were padded with on a mattress ticking and they had one blanket per bed for cover. The blanket would get soiled from the constant dysentery, but it was never washed.

While at Dachau we had the pleasure of telling the French and Dutch patients that they were going home. How they cried for joy. Some of them knew they would die on the way home, but they preferred that to dying in Dachau.



To be continued ...


Copyright © 2015 Dave Hoplin