Information on Robert L. Watson, 423rd Infantry

[ww2researcher]

Hi. I am researching my father's WWII/POW experience after reading some college English essays from 1948 that we found after he passed away. In one of the essays, he mentions being a POW held in Leipzig-Wahren, Germany at POW camp/lazarette Stalag IV-G with a soldier who was really badly wounded -- his name was Pvt. FC Robert L. Watson from the 106th/423RD INF. Through some additional research on my own, I determined that Pvt. FC Watson (ASN 36 837 740) was with 1 BN/Company B. He appears to have been captured during the Battle of the Bulge (12/21/44) and was liberated from Stalag IV-G on 4/20/45. His place of entry was Milwaukee, WI and his place of separation was MGH Galesburg, IL.

If anyone has any information or whereabouts on Pvt. FC Watson or whether he is still alive, I would like to reach out and talk with him. Thanks for any assistance or pointing me in the right direction.

Pete 

[jrwentz]

Pete - This is a tough one. When you say place of entry was Milwaukee, WI, is that where he was inducted? In an older issue of the Cub I see you mentioned he may have gone on to be a doctor. Was he in the Army Specialized Training Program? When the Army pulled 100,000 or so students out of the ASTP I think they let the ones studying to be doctors continue, but perhaps he was just getting started at that point. If we know he was in the ASTP it would narrow down his possible age range. I have checked Ancestry and Find a Grave - there are a lot of Robert Watson names that were in the service, including three in the 106th on the roster.

I found a record on Fold 3 searching for his ASN, but it does not provide a name at all. First time I have ever seen that. IF this is your Robert L Watson, he was in pretty bad shape when he got out of the Prison Camp - Gangrene and more.

Full Name
[Blank]
Gender
Male
Race
White (includes Mexican)
Admission Age
19
Admission Date
Apr 1945
Admission Type of Injury
InjuryType: Disease; InjuryType2: Not a traumatism
Military Service Number
36837740
Rank
Enlisted Man (includes Aviation Cadet or Student)
Unit
4
Branch
Infantry, General or Unspecified
Length of Service
1-2 yr.
Medical Diagnosis
Diagnosis: Peripheral vascular disease, other (L); Location: Foot, generally; Diagnosis: Gangrene, not elsewhere classified; Diagnosis: Food Poisoning or Intestinal infection due to Staphylococcus
Medical Treatment
Debridement (removal of all foreign matter and dead tissue) without closure; Penicillin therapy (treatment with penicillin)
Discharge Type
Disposition: Discharged or Retired for Disability, Line of Duty, Yes; FinalResult: Discharge/retirement: med reasons--but not for any residual condition w/ a code
Discharge Date
Nov 1945
Discharge Place
General Hospital
Notes
Repatriated Prisoner of Germany repatriated during current year
Conflict Period
World War II
Served for
United States of America
Views
0

Publication info

Publication Title
U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954
Content Source
Ancestry.com iconAncestry.com
Last Updated
16 Jun 2020
Description
U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954

[jrwentz]

This Robert L Watson has a draft registration card, born Dec 31, 1925, and he would have been 19 in 1945, matching the age on the hospital record. He has census records for 1930, 1940 and 1950 living in Milwaukee. In 1950 he was married and had a young daughter. I will start a research tree for him on Ancestry and see if we can get more info. Census records after 1950 are not public yet.

Name Robert L Watson
Age 24
Birth Date abt 1926
Gender Male
Race White
Birth Place Wisconsin
Marital Status Married
Relation to Head of House Head
Residence Date 1950
Home in 1950 Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Street Name N. 29th St.
House Number 2135
Apartment Number Upper
Dwelling Number 59
Farm No
Acres No
Occupation Stock Clerk
Industry Trucking co
Occupation Category Working
Hours Worked 50
Worker Class Private
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Robert L Watson 24 Head
Jeanne S Watson
25 Wife
Bonnie J Watson
1 Daughter

[jrwentz]

That was fast. This Robert L Watson died in 2008. From his obituary: Robert was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps in WWII, serving in the Pacific Theatre. Definitely not the one in the hospital record above.

[connie]

Pete,

Appreciate your sharing info on the badly wounded POW friend of your father's named Robert L Watson, PFC (ASN 36 837740) 423rd FAB Company B, POW IV-G. I have added Watson's name and info to the Site Soldier's Index with a link to your post.

I did find his name and some info in the 106th Roster, with much of the info originally compiled by Jim West of the Indiana Military site, the Roster now maintained by the Division Association: 106thinfdivassn.org/roster106/rosterw.html
You have to hit the W and then begin scrolling down alphabetically,

One interesting note found in the Roster listing is attached in this screen shot (click to enlarge).



The roster listing contains the same IV-G POW camp you noted, as does the reference above from this fellow POW, although another source listed in this roster (# 62- the 423rd POW Manifest) gives IV-B as his POW location-- perhaps an earlier site before assigned to IV-G. Here's the link to the POW Manifest.
www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/62%20-%20423rdPOWs/62.htm

Under the POW Experience, I have also begun a segment on Stalag IV-G with a link to your post. It may not add anything to what you already know, but it may keep connections happening:
106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5237/thread



Connie

[jrwentz]

Hi Pete,

Have you looked at this Robert Lee Watson? Age is right and discharge date is right (Nov 1945) to match up with that hospital record. Single and living at home with his parents in Racine, WI 1950. Attaching his Registration Record. There is an obituary available that lists his parents, but no wife, and will have to investigate further to see the full obituary. I am not saying this is definitely the RLW you are looking for but an obit might tell us>

Robert Lee Watson
1925–1994
BIRTH 23 SEP 1925 • Kenosha Keno, Wisconsin
DEATH 28 OCT 1994 • San Francisco, Calif

Obit Info:

Name Robert Lee Watson
Gender Male
Death Age 69
Birth Date 23 Sep 1925
Birth Place Kenosha, Wis.
Residence Place San Francisco, Caiif
Death Date 28 Oct 1994
Death Place San Francisco, Calif
Obituary Date 17 Nov 1994
Obituary Place Racine, Wisconsin, USA
Newspaper Title The Journal Times
Parents Joseph Watson; Rose Watson
The facts in this collection were found using artificial intelligence technology and may contain errors.

[jrwentz]

Pete, You can see the obituary for a fee at this link. I think it would be $7.95 for a month of access to their files, which might be worth it if you think this is the right person. You could spend time searching for other news stories about Robert L Watson. There could be stories about his service years, his return home, feature articles articles around Memorial Day, etc.

journaltimes.newspapers.com/search/?query=Robert%20L%20Watson&ymd=1994-11-17

[ww2researcher]

Jim and Connie: My thanks to both of you for the quick response and research on my inquiry. You found my inquiry from years ago related to my father Ted. Good research. I was afraid that I was too late and Pvt. Robert Watson was gone, but if he had a daughter, I would be interested in reaching out to her. I will share with you tomorrow some additional information on Stalag IV-G in Leipzig-Wahren. That POW camp was not Stalag IV-B which was POW camp Mühlberg (Stalag IV B). There was a Stalag IV-G in downtown Liepzig, but that was different that Stalag IV-G in Leipzig-Wahren. I was able to research and locate the POW camp/lazarette that my father was sent to because he had mentioned that there was a "Lever Brothers Soap" sign inside the building. It was not on any POW camp lists that I reviewed back in 2005 when I started my research. I am not sure if it was considered a "shadow camp" or not, but it was the place were badly wounded POWs were sent because it was part lazarette. That's likely why Pvt. Watson was sent there. Pete

[jrwentz]

Photo of Robert Lee Watson with his parents Joseph Watson, and Rose Josephine (Jardny) Watson. The photo is on family Search. I added the caption, but Pete, you can change it if you want to create a free account with Family Search. The photo was added by a John Watson in 2016. In recent years Teri Lydiard has been adding facts to Robert's tree, most recently March 31, 2023. I have no idea if she is a relative or not but she may be good person for you to talk to. You can get an account and message her, or I can message her with your contact info. Also, I had to reduce the size of the image to post it here because of a 1 MB limit on attachments. It is a nice size photo on Family Search. (Click to expand this one to to read the caption.)

[jrwentz]

Temporary immigration to Brazil.

[ww2researcher]

My father Pfc. Justus T. "Ted" Schreiber, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron Mechanized, 7th Armored Division, was badly wounded and became a POW. He was ultimately sent to a POW camp and lazarette located in Leipzig-Wahren, Germany. Through a 1948 college English essay and some oral history, I was able rebuild some of the history of Stalag IV-G in Leipzig-Wahren, Germany.

Ted indicated that the Stalag was a concrete reinforced building located in someplace called "Leipzig-Warren," and that he noticed a Lever Brothers Soap sign affixed to one of inside walls of the camp. Lever Brothers Sign.pdf (212.77 KB)So, my research began by working with a Unilever archivist who confirmed that Lever Brothers had built a factory in that area of Germany to make and sell soap during the pre-WWII era. As political tension grew in Germany, Lever Brothers decided to divest itself of the property and ended up selling the factory to Elida AG, a perfume company.

Working with the City of Leipzig archivist, he was able to share with me a pre-WWII photograph of the Elida AG factory which had a major railroad line running behind the factory.

   

When WWII broke out, the Nazi's commendeered the factory and turned it into a small arms manufacturing facility. This is a photo of the front gates leading into the factory.



More information on next post.

[ww2researcher]

Then later in the war, the factory was turned into a POW camp and lazarette that became known as Stalag IV-G. The two story building near the front gates on the upper left hand side of the Elida AG photo is where the POWs were detained. Russian POWs were on the first floor, and Allied POWs were on the second floor. Conditions were very poor. Medical assistance worse. This Stalag is not to be confused with the Stalag IV-G administrative building and Leipzig Hospital that were located in the City of Leipzig proper. 

 

Stalag IV-G is where my father met Pfc. Robert Watson as a fellow Allied POW. Pvt. Watson was badly banged up and had numerous medical conditions to contend with. The Allied doctors thought he was going to die within the week of arriving. My father wrote one of his college English class essays about PFC. Watson's "will to live." The POW camp was liberated on April 20, 1945 by the 69th Infantry Divison after two forward 69th infantry men in a jeep were on a scouting mission and happened on this factory. As I was piecing together my father's WWII story, I was hoping to track down this Pfc. Watson and have a chance to speak with him about that POW experience at Stalag IV-G.

More information to follow in next post.

[ww2researcher]

After doing the historical research, I was curious as to whether this factory was still standing today. I used satellite imagery and a couple of Google searches on the street address to find a modern day business that was on that street. I sent the business a cold-call email asking if they would mind looking down the street and let me know if the old Lever Brothers/Elida AG factory was still standing. A couple of days later, I received an email back from the business owner who told me "I do not need to look down the street to look for the building. My business is in the building that you are describing! I had no idea of the history of this building. Thank you for informing me." A German telecom company had moved into the building some 60 years after the fact.

  

As best as my research could piece together, that's the history and backstory of Stalag IV-G located in Leipzig-Wahren, Germany, and how Pfc. Watson crossed paths with and ended up in one of Pfc. Schreiber's post-WWII college English essays.

Pete

[connie]

Pete,

Wow you have done some hard work on this subject!

One quick question. I looked up the word lazarette and found several-- some definitely unrelated. But the one related to a hospital or medical unit was what I had been guessing you were referring to.. Is that right?

So, the POW camp and lazarette located in Leipzig-Wahren, Germany where your father and Robert L. Watson met as wounded POW's was at least partly a hospital. Makes sense.

I hope as you and Jim apply your family research skills, you will be able to connect with someone from Robert Watson's family. If I were a member of that family I would be excited to learn what you know and to exchange any WWII info on Watson that could help flesh out your wartime knowledge.

Here one again is a link to the site on IV-G 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5237/thread

[ww2researcher]

Connie:

Yes, a "lazarette" is another name for a hospital in German military speak. Stalag IV-G was a combined POW camp and lazarette that contained both ambulatory and non-ambulatory wards.

Here's a link that speaks to the issue - www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196827/german-camps-and-hospitals-holding-internees/

I agree that it would be nice to connect with someone from Pfc. Watson's family and share information/stories.

Pete