The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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234078 PFC. Frank Pecoraro US Army 29th Division Frank Pecoraro was captured outside St. Lo after securing a crossroad without resistance. His captain thought they should go in further but by doing so they were cut off and surrounded. He was in a foxhole with his buddy waiting for dark when a sniper shot his friend with the bullet whizing past his chest. He was captured by the regular German army not the SS. Eventually they were sent to Stalag 4 by railway (he described them as cattle cars with many soldiers getting sick from rain water seeping into the cars as it was mixed with soot from the train). He lost weight down to about 120 to 130 lbs (usually he was around 180 but he wasn't sick bargaining saw dust bread for cigarettes and chocolate from his Red Cross package. He worked a work detail clearing streets in Dresden after the bombings. He took a fellow GI named Hans under his wing as Hans would eat all his Red Cross package at one time making a sort of stew and then complaining it was all gone. My father would hold Han's package giving it out so it would last. My father remembers a waste food container being upend and a mob of POW'ss swarmed in. And, a vivid story of a GI being shot by the commander of the camp after refusing to say Hiel Hitler and then spitting on the commander who then took out his Luger and shot him in the head. Food was difficult but on Christmas the Germans gave them some horse meat and potatoes. He said toward the end of his confinement the Germans didn't have much food either. One day a guard handed him his gun and said I am now your prisoner as he didn't want to be taken by the Russian army. Christopher Pecoraro Add to this record.  Related Content: Stalag 4A Prisoner of War Camp Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

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