American Stalag Luft III survivors reunion.

[David Layne]

WWII POW survivors have a strong bond By Alison Beshur The Daily Times Published April 24, 2007 It was near the end of World War II, and Kerrville resident Bob Weinberg was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, a German prison camp for allied airmen. Weinberg’s POW file was marked with a green triangle, a symbol used to identify Jewish prisoners. One day, guards lined up the more than 3,000 captives held in the center compound and asked those who were Jewish to take one step forward. All 3,000 prisoners took a step forward. “They certainly weren’t all Jewish,” said Weinberg, president of the Stalag Luft III former prisoners of war organization. “I cried like a baby, right there.” Weinberg and his wife, Nina, will get on a plane today and head for Kansas City, where they’ll meet up with dozens of other “Kriegies,” a nickname for POWs held in German camps. The gathering — 62nd annual reunion of Stalag Luft III survivors — will be met with hugs, exaggerated stories and a heart-felt good-bye. It will be the last formal reunion. “Sad, but necessary,” said Weinberg, 85. “We’re getting older. Our ranks are getting thin. We don’t know where our members are. It’s pretty hard to get them, and so many have passed away.” The reunion will coincide with the anniversary of the POWs’ liberation by Gen. George S. Patton and the 14th Armored Division. Weinberg enlisted in April 1942 as an aviation cadet, and he was put on reserve until March 1943. He graduated from navigation school a few months later and in March 1944 went overseas. On Aug. 24, 1944, he was with the 464th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, on a B-24 headed for Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, to bomb a synthetic oil successfully dropped the bombs and turned to go home, when enemy fighter planes attacked and shot them down. Hitler youth captured the first lieutenant and dragged him through several towns, where people spit and threw rocks at him. He ended up at Stalag Luft III in early September 1944 and stayed there until late January 1945, when the POWs were cleared out and marched for 16 days to Spremberg, a German army installation. Then, they traveled in cramped box cars to the southern German town of Moosburg, where he was held in a prisoner camp built for 10,000 men. It was cold and primitive and there was little food to share among more than 85,000 POWs. POWs often are called the “forgotten heroes of WWII,” Weinberg noted. “It’s hard to tell,” Weinberg said. “You went through an experience that no one else has. It’s that, that makes the comraderie. That we shared those hardships and survived.” Once a month, Weinberg and his wife meet with other area POWs and their spouses. They have lunch, exchange information about veteran benefits and catch up on the lives of other area survivors. They compare time spent in German or Japanese prison camps and support members during difficult times. “We’re like a family,” said Isabel Gerhart, 75, spouse of a late POW. “I help with some of their prescriptions, do paperwork. I’m there if they’re sick.” Another local member, Colin Jones, flew a B-24 and was shot down over a WWII POW survivors have a strong bond By Alison Beshur The Daily Times Published April 24, 2007 It was near the end of World War II, and Kerrville resident Bob Weinberg was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, a German prison camp for allied airmen. Weinberg’s POW file was marked with a green triangle, a symbol used to identify Jewish prisoners. One day, guards lined up the more than 3,000 captives held in the center compound and asked those who were Jewish to take one step forward. All 3,000 prisoners took a step forward. “They certainly weren’t all Jewish,” said Weinberg, president of the Stalag Luft III former prisoners of war organization. “I cried like a baby, right there.” Weinberg and his wife, Nina, will get on a plane today and head for Kansas City, where they’ll meet up with dozens of other “Kriegies,” a nickname for POWs held in German camps. The gathering — 62nd annual reunion of Stalag Luft III survivors — will be met with hugs, exaggerated stories and a heart-felt good-bye. It will be the last formal reunion. “Sad, but necessary,” said Weinberg, 85. “We’re getting older. Our ranks are getting thin. We don’t know where our members are. It’s pretty hard to get them, and so many have passed away.” The reunion will coincide with the anniversary of the POWs’ liberation by Gen. George S. Patton and the 14th Armored Division. Weinberg enlisted in April 1942 as an aviation cadet, and he was put on reserve until March 1943. He graduated from navigation school a few months later and in March 1944 went overseas. On Aug. 24, 1944, he was with the 464th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, on a B-24 headed for Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, to bomb a synthetic oil successfully dropped the bombs and turned to go home, when enemy fighter planes attacked and shot them down. Hitler youth captured the first lieutenant and dragged him through several towns, where people spit and threw rocks at him. He ended up at Stalag Luft III in early September 1944 and stayed there until late January 1945, when the POWs were cleared out and marched for 16 days to Spremberg, a German army installation. Then, they traveled in cramped box cars to the southern German town of Moosburg, where he was held in a prisoner camp built for 10,000 men. It was cold and primitive and there was little food to share among more than 85,000 POWs. POWs often are called the “forgotten heroes of WWII,” Weinberg noted. “It’s hard to tell,” Weinberg said. “You went through an experience that no one else has. It’s that, that makes the comraderie. That we shared those hardships and survived.” Once a month, Weinberg and his wife meet with other area POWs and their spouses. They have lunch, exchange information about veteran benefits and catch up on the lives of other area survivors. They compare time spent in German or Japanese prison camps and support members during difficult times. “We’re like a family,” said Isabel Gerhart, 75, spouse of a late POW. “I help with some of their prescriptions, do paperwork. I’m there if they’re sick.” Another local member, Colin Jones, flew a B-24 and was shot down over an island near Holland’s North Sea coastline. “Birds of a feather tend to flock together,” said Jones, who travels from Boerne to Kerrville to have lunch with local POWs. “Everybody understands each other a lot better.” While the local WWII prison survivors definitely share a friendship, respect and some sense of comraderie, the connection is stronger for the Kriegies who shared the barracks at Stalag Luft III, a camp made famous by an escape of dozens of air officers. “That’s the biggest thing that happened in my life,” Weinberg said. “I’m not going to let it go.” n island near Holland’s North Sea coastline. “Birds of a feather tend to flock together,” said Jones, who travels from Boerne to Kerrville to have lunch with local POWs. “Everybody understands each other a lot better.” While the local WWII prison survivors definitely share a friendship, respect and some sense of comraderie, the connection is stronger for the Kriegies who shared the barracks at Stalag Luft III, a camp made famous by an escape of dozens of air officers. “That’s the biggest thing that happened in my life,” Weinberg said. “I’m not going to let it go.”