213919 Pvt. Sam Jesse Nelson US Army from:Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA My father, PFC Sam Jesse Nelson, Jr., US Army Infantry, was captured in December, 1944, in the Vosges Mountains of France. He was very briefly held at Stalag 4A before being taken to Stalag 4B/Muhlberg. There, he was strafed by British pilots going to Dresden. Of course, they had no way to know who was on the ground. Since my father was an enlisted man, he was put to work. He had no fond memories of the work that was required of him and his buddies, mostly moving rocks from rubble, I believe on railroads tracks.
Although I don't know for sure, I believe that the camp was liberated by Russians as my father described many Russians in the area and he encountered no American or other Allies.
Dad always told us that a few days before the end of the war in Europe, the POWs from Stalag 4B were put on the road marching. Although it was obvious that the guards were hopeful that they'd be able to surrender to the Americans rather than the Russians, there was also talk that Hitler had given a command to execute all POWS. The guards were not vigilant as they were concerned with surviving themselves, and so my father and a friend lit out from the group. Dad said they encountered Russians and others on the road but he figured that he and his friend looked too pitiful to even detain. They were allowed to pass with no interruption.
Sometime later, they made their way into Czechoslovakia where they eventually met up with a British unit. They were given baths and new British uniforms as theirs were in taters and infested with lice.
Eventually, my father was taken, along with many other liberated POWs, to a staging area in France where they awaited transport back to the States.
One of the strangest things he related was that German POWs were serving in the cafeteria. When the liberated Americans came into contact with these Germans, who were in much better condition than the Americans, not surprisingly a fight broke out. I gather it was quite a ruckus. You wonder who thought that would be a good idea?
Also, at the staging area, the liberated American POWs were allowed and encouraged to eat as much as they wanted. Having been practically starved, they ate large quantities of food, including multiple milkshakes every day. When my father was liberated, he weighed less than 100 pounds. He was 6'2". As a result of his starvation and the subsequent lack of nutritional knowledge available at that time, he had stomach and digestive problems for the rest of his life.
Sam Jesse Nelson, Jr. got transport on a ship back into Boston Harbor. He turned the ripe old age of 20 somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
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