Ed & Ray Hersman in WWII - Robert Marks.org

8.3. TRAIN TRANSPORT Ed & Ray Hersman in WWIIa friend whom had survived the Malmedy massacre. I have no idea what thisgentleman’s name is.8.2.1 German SS UniformJust days prior to his surrender, Dad had captured a German SS colonel whowas wearing a fleece lined leather coat. Since they had not been issued anycold weather gear, Dad “appropriated” the coat and was wearing it at thetime of his capture. He was taken to Aachen, Germany for processing andwas questioned by the SS. He was severely beaten because of the coat, andwas hit in the lower back with a rifle butt. I remember that Dad sufferedfrom back aches and headaches, but, it wasn’t till the early 1960’s that thedoctors noted that Dad had bone and disc problems in his lower back at thesite of the beating. The Germans thought that Dad might be Jewish andassigned him to a special POW unit.8.3 Train TransportThe Americans in the special unit were stuffed into boxcars on a train thattraversed Germany and Poland to the Eastern Front. They went from tento fourteen days without food and water and had no heat even though thetemperatures dropped well below freezing. As G.I.’s died, their bodies werestacked at one end of the boxcar giving the living more room to sit downand even lay down at night. The G.I.’s would huddle together for warmth,and the poor guys on the outside of the huddle often died from exposure. Asthe men died, their bodies were stripped of coats and clothing to allow theliving to keep on living. Even so, there weren’t enough coats to go around,and men who didn’t have coats would try to steal coats from the others whilethey slept.Lane and I had learned early on not to wake Dad by touching him on theupper torso. It was much safer to touch one of his toes since he would throwhis arm violently when awakened suddenly. Once after hitting me in such an106