251275 Staff Sgt. Reuben Horace Summerhill US Army 1st Armored Division from:Leslie, Arkansas Rueben Summerhill was captured in February of 1943 at the Battle of Kassarine Pass in Tunisia.
He was good friends with -- Deaton. They were separated at the battle, but reunited in Stalag 3B.
Rueben was first sent to Italy and used as forced labor. Then he was sent to Germany to Stalag 7A. Soon he was in Stalag 3B where he spent most of the war. He was a POW for 26 months.
Just before the Russian Army liberated Stalag 3B, a Russian Sergeant made friends with Rueben because Rueben had shared food with Russian POWs. The Sergeant helped arrange for Rueben and a few others to take a firewood wagon out of the camp, escaping before the Russian Army held American POWs for barter power.
It took Rueben three weeks of walking at night west across Germany and hiding in the day to reach the American forces. He stayed in France, recuperating and then returned to the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to further recuperate, having lost more than eighty pounds.
He remained in the Army for his career, retiring in 1951 having spent 21 years in.
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