My Daddy, Grover Humphreys was drafted as a very young man leaving family, wife and "Baby Sandy" behind. I have no recall of that time period, only what I was told and later read about in newspaper articles and personal effects. While reading a local newspaper article today, June 6, 2011 marking 67 years since more than 160,000 Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy France, to fight Nazi forces in WW2, I was taken back in time. Although my Father was not part of that dreadful invasion, he was later captured by the Nazi's during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944 and taken by rail to the infamous German Prisoner of War camp known as Stalag 13C. He remained there for 4 months in a German Labor Battalion. My Daddy didn't like those arrangements very much, so he and 25 other Americans decided to "make a break for it"! Having heard American artillery fire for 2 weeks, the prisoners divided into small groups to make their way to the American lines.
My Daddy along with two other GI's made their way to a railroad tunnel, where French forced laborers gave them civilian clothing and they were able to hide for six days from the Nazi soldiers searching for them. They waited in the tunnel until they knew the artillery fire was close. With the aid of directions from the French, but "mostly on their own" (men don't like to ask for directions, you know), they were able to make it safely to the American lines. They had no idea how very close they actually were, as it took only 45 minutes to walk to freedom at the American line! Hungry, weary, frozen and injured, they were exhilarated beyond belief to see their own. My Father's statement to the newspaper states,that he "shook hands with a Major and then the next thing I remember is eating some good food!"
My Mother received a cablegram from him on April 11th letting her know he was well and safe. Up until that point, all she knew was that he was reported as Missing in Action and then as a POW.
With other prisoners, he arrived in New York April 21, 1945 on a ship. As he and the other men stood at the railing and gazed at the light burning in the Statue of Liberty, they were "too choked up to say anything, but we were all very happy!". He earned the Combat Infantryman's badge, Good Conduct and a Purple Heart.
This entry is just a small tribute to our very brave young Father, Mother and family and all who served and died in that world changing war.
