European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes july 1985 a Bataan survivor won by Dave i evil Bureau hell made its Way through Norman so cars life during world War ii while he was fighting the japanese in the but most of his fight didst include weapons it was a fight for the will to and it proved his ability to those Days seem to have etched a grim memory on the face of the 75yearold its As if the effects of the malaria and disease that emaciated him four decades ago have returned to his face As a he Doest remember but he does recall the brutality and death that surrounded him during and after the death on the Peninsula of Bataan to the prisoners War he Doest get excited about those Days when he Back to them is a task for me rubs his brow when he tries to remember dates and names of places Hes been to and what rings Clear in his mind Are the pain of not having enough to eat and the sight of Brothers in arms sick and dying beside him As he struggled to it was said now the housing Supply officer at High the recruit left for the Pacific in late at he he was one of the older privates in the army air but he believes his age and the Outlook on life he had developed helped him get through the Rigours he was to face As a prisoner of now retired after 25 years in the air volunteered for the army air corps because he didst want to get drafted and put in the infantry and be nothing but a sitting but his leaving his Job As a craftsman to join the service would soon put him on the Island of which the japanese would Lake with relative ease a few months after his so cars the 34th Pursuit arrived in the Phil photo for by staff Kevin Koellin Norman Sherr nine tenths of it was i Pines less than a month before the bombing of Pearl a few Days after the Japa Nese attacked the United Sherry unit moved to Bataan after its Airfield at Del Carmen was we used to Lay in our Foxholes and watch the bomb Bay doors open and watch the bombs come trickle he we didst have any we had just gotten our rifles were still packed away in he soon after on april the Ameri cans at Bataan and along with other american and filipino fighting men on the was taken the sheer number of prisoners prevented the Japa Nese from treating them thousands of men died from the effects of fight by living starvation and hunger along the death March that extended from Mariveles at the tip of Bataan to the concentration Camp at san a retired master describes the conditions he lived under with a Little More ease than would be he said he marched in searing heat about 10 Miles every Day for nine or 10 he saw thou Sands die along the there was no Way of no he said men had to defecate along the and disease and hunger started to take their toll on the he survived the 12ounceaday Rice a along with bouts with lice and he said his 155 pounds wasted to he still int sure How he survived its a hard thing to he i think nine tenths of it was and the rest was the will to he said Many of his comrades suffering from disease or hunger died on the March or in the Camps because they had lost the will to losing the will to live would have been easy Sherr but it was some thing he refused to i hated the thought of dying that Way of starvation or you get shot you get killed you expect that in a he but to die from starvation or Dis ease that a hell of a Way to Fagerman pos Hope to see Annemarie again by Dan wolla1vi Stuttgart Bureau chief Germany the prisoners called her that was a famous German girls name at that said Walter a Sportive Young girl and we called her when we came Home from the Cotton Fields everybody is Annemarie Home it had been two years and we had seen just soldiers and and she was a Beautiful Spaney was a 21yearold Pri vate first class and artillerymen in Field marshal Irwin Rommel afrika Korps when he was captured by the British on May the British didst have enough ships to transport so he found himself in american he spent 18 Days in the hold of a cargo ship with about other with out any bunk travelling from to in the prisoners boarded a train headed Spaney was shocked by americas but other sur Prises awaited him at Camp Joseph Robinson near Little when they it was dark and Young american soldiers guarded and Many of them had lights and and they kept the shotguns right to our Stom he sometimes i stumbled and i really got afraid if somebody would have we end the War the prisoners were divided into three compounds of men we got new and no one will forget the first morning in the mess he we had milk and butter and bread and oranges and things we had not seen in we had our own and trucks came in with Beans and flour bags and after a few months he was moved to a smaller Camp at West German prisoners and Amer ican guards stayed in opposite ends of the county fair the Camp had one House near it the House where Annemarie she went to school carrying her schoolbooks tied in a strap Over her Shoul he we talk to her because of the Fence and the when we played soccer in the Back we tried to kick the Ball Over there and she brought it one time we brought a Puppy Back from the Field that we could t so we asked the guard if we could give the Puppy to she took but we never knew each Annemarie was the first girl the germans had seen wearing Bobby socks and in the style of the she wore her jeans with one leg cuffed and the other Annemarie was one of the few distractions the prison ers had from their farm i worked there for about two chopping driving Mak ing Hay and Corn just working on a farm or sometimes Spaney working in ditches or something like Spaney of we haunt been used to the he the american farm work ers didst work Between noon and 4 but we had to be out in the but we were he the prisoners worked by the we had to do four or six acres of sugar beets or we picked 100 pounds of i finished usually at 2 he but he stayed in the Fields to help the older in the one guard stood Vigil Over 10 to 30 i had one guard called and he came out and said take my gun and in going to get a horse from the Farmer and ride Spaney said very few of the German prisoners tried to where should we go we had clothes painted with pow on the legs and wed Learned some but we had and you cant swim across the Spanes life soon settled into an acceptable we went to the after a Short people got used to the sight of and we got used to All the people sitting on the saturday nights we brought out our piano and Gui we played German and peo ple outside the sometimes they hollered Louis blues or of we didst know what that we had to stick together 24 hours a seven Days a that the same As your army and the russian army have to live you can enjoy this Way of living because you really know whats behind each of your Spaney if you Are prisoner in a foreign coun you stick together even Spaney said the prisoners ate Well and were treated although rations were Cut near the end of the some Farmers wanted to give us beef or a whole cow for he but the Captain let you Many people had to live with much worse conditions than we two years after Spaney was the War we were told that everybody went Spaney said All the prisoners whose Homes were in zones occupied by the British and russians he expected to leave for Germany any but instead was taken to Colorado to work in sugar beet we Why do the americans punish us and leave just the american occupied zone Here then president Truman said the War is and the last German prisoner had to leave by the 15th of Spaney returned to his in june he married and started a fam ily and took up his old Craft in he returned to the United states on business and visited West Hele the county fair building still but Annemarie House was he found West Helena who showed him an article in a pamphlet titled pow Camp from rear the author was Imogene i was a Young girl of 13 that the article and it told of watching the German prisoners play soccer and of receiving a Puppy from Spaney found Teters phone number and called i a lady it was difficult but i Are you Teter have you been living in West Helena have you been living on the rear Side of the prison Camp and have you been writing articles in historical then you Are Annemarie you dont know me but in trying to Tell you you Are i told her All my comrades in Germany Are looking for news of Spaney after he returned to Teter sent him a letter packed with old photo graphs torn from a photo they were pictures of the girl the prisoners had known As Spaney wants Annemarie to come to Germany for the annual reunion of the if she would come Over she need one he
