Earl Daniels, Company L, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division

Hello,

I am Dennis Daniels my father was a German POW.
I have fully retired and now have plenty of time to research his military service history.
I grew up in Central Illinois but now reside in Colorado (we retired here from USAF)
I enjoy Bowling and Golf

Thanks for letting me join this group.

v/r
Dennis

 

Lou,

Thank you for reaching out.

I recently received a copy of his WD AGO 53-55 Discharge Document (predecessor to the DD 214) from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. His discharge date was 17 Aug 45, Place Of Separation was Percy Jones Hospital Center, Fort Custer Michigan. His place of entry was Camp Grant Illinois (11 Aug 1943). He had a dual MOS 745, Rifleman (Combat Infantryman) and Squad Leader. He is listed as a Private at discharge.

His Campaigns were Normand, Northern France and Rhineland. Decorations/Citations: Purple Heart (4 Nov 44, Battle of the Hurtgen Forest), Combat Infantryman Badge,
Good Conduct Ribbon, Unit Citation (I don't know the degree of the citation) and European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon (with 3 Bronze Campaign Stars).
In 1953 he was awarded the Bronze Star and promoted to Corporal. I have his medals and Purple Heart/Bronze Star Certificates.

Quite honestly I did not know that he had been a POW until I was in Junior High (Middle School). During our literature class we read some stores (Flanders Field among them and one about a POW) and my 8th grade teacher mentioned that I should be familiar with that since my father had been captured and held as a POW. Needless to say I was quite surprised as Dad never talked about his time in the Army during WWII. In later years after I joined the USAF he began to open up with random bits and pieces.

He mentioned that his unit followed along Gen Patton's trek north from France, even being in the parade down the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triumph. When he was injured/captured he was taken to the German Field Hospital in the Cologne Cathedral. Dad stated that he was operated on by a French doctor who used a piece stainless wire to repair a nerve in the top of his head which kept him from being paralyzed. For the longest time portions of the German grenade would work their way out of his scalp and my Mom would pluck them loose with a pair of tweezers.

He often mentioned that he was in two POW camps (his POW ID Tag shows Stalag VI G, #13048). When he and my mother came to visit us in Germany in 1986, He was talking with my German neighbor and mentioned the Stalag that he recalled and my neighbor just blanched and said it was not accessible then.

Several years ago I happened to come upon a Red Cross web site that indicated they had POW records but I lost that site information. If I can find it again they might be able to tell me if my father was in more that POW camp (or maybe the Field Hospital was considered a camp and he was transferred to Stalag VI G from there).

I think I have about depleted my memory at this point.

Thank you for any assistance you and others may provide.

Dennis

P.S. The Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene Kansas is only about a 6 hour drive from me if anyone need assistance in that arena that I can provide.

 

Lou,

Thank you for reaching out.

I recently received a copy of his WD AGO 53-55 Discharge Document (predecessor to the DD 214) from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. His discharge date was 17 Aug 45, Place Of Separation was Percy Jones Hospital Center, Fort Custer Michigan. His place of entry was Camp Grant Illinois (11 Aug 1943). He had a dual MOS 745, Rifleman (Combat Infantryman) and Squad Leader. He is listed as a Private at discharge.

His Campaigns were Normand, Northern France and Rhineland. Decorations/Citations: Purple Heart (4 Nov 44, Battle of the Hurtgen Forest), Combat Infantryman Badge,
Good Conduct Ribbon, Unit Citation (I don't know the degree of the citation) and European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon (with 3 Bronze Campaign Stars).
In 1953 he was awarded the Bronze Star and promoted to Corporal. I have his medals and Purple Heart/Bronze Star Certificates.

Quite honestly I did not know that he had been a POW until I was in Junior High (Middle School). During our literature class we read some stories (Flanders Field among them and one about a POW) and my 8th grade teacher mentioned that I should be familiar with that since my father had been captured and held as a POW. Needless to say I was quite surprised as Dad never talked about his time in the Army during WWII. In later years after I joined the USAF he began to open up with random bits and pieces.

He mentioned that his unit followed along Gen Patton's trek north from France, even being in the parade down the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triumph. When he was injured/captured he was taken to the German Field Hospital in the Cologne Cathedral. Dad stated that he was operated on by a French doctor who used a piece stainless wire to repair a nerve in the top of his head which kept him from being paralyzed. For the longest time portions of the German grenade would work their way out of his scalp and my Mom would pluck them loose with a pair of tweezers.

He often mentioned that he was in two POW camps (his POW ID Tag shows Stalag VI G, #13048). When he and my mother came to visit us in Germany in 1986, He was talking with my German neighbor and mentioned the Stalag that he recalled and my neighbor just blanched and said it was not accessible then.

Several years ago I happened to come upon a Red Cross web site that indicated they had POW records but I lost that site information. If I can find it again they might be able to tell me if my father was in more that POW camp (or maybe the Field Hospital was considered a camp and he was transferred to Stalag VI G from there).

I think I have about depleted my memory at this point.

Thank you for any assistance you and others may provide.

Dennis

P.S. The Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene Kansas is only about a 6 hour drive from me if anyone need assistance in that arena that I can provide.

 

Date and location of capture? Is he Earl E. Daniels 36684603? Stalag 6G was near Bonn in the Rheinland. He was a Pfc. Private First Class and not a Private.

 

Date and location of capture? Was it 4 November in the Huertgen? Is he Earl E. Daniels 36684603? Stalag 6G was near Bonn in the Rheinland. He was a Pfc. Private First Class and not a Private.

 

Rich
That is correct. My mind was thinking faster than my typing. His Purple Heart Certificate reflects 4 Nov 44 so that is when I am guessing he was injured and captured.
His Bronze Star Certificate actually says Corporal (Previously Private First Class). I have a request in with National Records Archive to see what they can locate. It would be great to read the citations that go with the medals.

Dennis

 

After I gather as much information as can be found I plan to put it together into a Shadow Box and present to my nephew who was medically discharged from the Army after to many shattered bones from jumping out of perfectly good aircraft. He and my father developed a tight bond prior to Dad's passing.

 

I suspect he was a Pfc. when he was captured. The Red Cross notified the US that he was a PW on 8 November, which given that time in the war was remarkably prompt. He was presumably promoted retrospectively, since his last report date in his PW Record, 8 March 1946, still lists him as a Pfc.

I can refer you to a number of sources on what the 112th Infantry was doing when he was captured on 4 November if you like.

 

Did he ever mention his time in England before going to Normandy ?

28th Division were at Chiseldon just up the road from me.
http://ww2f.com/threads/american-units-at-chiseldon-camp-wiltshire.28070/

 

112th Infantry was at Ramsbury. One of the oddest unanswered questions of NEPTUNE is why the 28th Infantry Division, which was amphibious assault trained, was not used in the amphibious assault on Normandy. It was instead attached to FUSA and held under SHAEF control as theater reserve, ready to conduct a subsidiary amphibious assault in support of the Normandy landings if it was thought necessary. SHAEF released the Reserve to FUSAG – effectively General Bradley – on 26 June, but still with the stipulation it could only be used in an amphibious assault. SHAEF finally released the restriction 13 July.

 

Owen,
He did not mention any time in UK, but that is not surprising since he did not talk about it much for my first 25 years or so. Thank you for the information. I will store it with everything else I have gathered so far.

 

Rich,
Thank you. I am very appreciative of all sources and information that I can get. How did you gather the Red Cross info?

 

Here is a link for others who are interested in Pennsylvania Army National Guard Units through the years - Pennsylvania State Archives. I am still working on the the process of getting to the actual public documents. When I burrow down to the level of the actual document I want to review it does not have a hyperlink to open. My past conversations with one of the POCs indicates that they have no issues with us printing the documents.

 

That was the standard notification. The Germans notified the Swiss Red Cross representative of a prisoner and they notified the US. At the end of the war, all Recovered Allied Military Personnel (RAMP), released prisoners of war, were recorded as well. For the US Army, they may be searched in a database at the National Archives. NARA - AAD - Series Description - Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947, documenting the period 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946