Strong, George 423rd

[connie]

Strong, George W. Pvt. 423 INF HQ, POW IV-B, Slaughterhouse 5



ROSTER on Indiana Military Site- source of unit info / POW locations/ award:
Combat Infantryman Badge 12/16/44: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Rosters/REFERENCES/1945-051-CBI/251.htm

George passed away February 2, 2015 at the age of 96

CUB MEMORIAM: brief mention in Cub Memoriam listed in April- July 2015 Cub Magazine as reported by Murray Stein

Cub March 2016, 1:
STRONG, GEORGE W. 423/HQ
--Date of Death: February 2, 2015
George was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and was held at Camp IV-B and the infamous "Slaughterhouse 5." He was a long-time member of the 106th Infantry Division Association, attended many local reunions and some of the national reunions. He enjoyed staying in touch with other members and often provided input to folks like John Kline who worked so hard to assemble and document important 106th history.
Reported by his son, Howard Strong
[previously mentioned in CUB Vol. 71, No. 2]

OBITUARY, BREMERTON WA: www.findagrave.com/memorial/175694200/george-woodrow-strong
George W. Strong passed away peacefully on February 2, 2015 at age 96. He was born on December 30, 1918 to Charles and Jane Strong in Wiley City, WA. He was raised in Bremerton and graduated from Bremerton High School, Class of 1937 where he excelled in sports and was a four year letterman as the baseball team's left-handed first baseman.

George married Jean E. Anderson on October 4, 1942 in Stanwood, WA. In October 1943 he was inducted into the Army. His Infantry Division (106th) went to Europe in the fall of 1944. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and was a prisoner of war at Stalag IV-B in Muhlberg and Slaughterhouse Five in Dresden until the end of the war. His war experience left an indelible mark on his life and prompted his membership and active participation in the American Ex-Prisoners of War Association, the American Legion and the 106th Infantry Division Association. It also inspired him to write his war memoir titled "My Story" which has become an invaluable family treasure.

During George's 44 year career with Puget Power, he progressed from a meter reader to General Foreman. He worked in Bremerton, Lynden, and Olympia, WA. He enjoyed his work and valued the friendship of his many colleagues and coworkers.

In retirement, Jean and George traveled throughout the United States in their Airstream trailer. They also made several trips to Europe to visit relatives and retrace George's steps while serving in the Army. Following Jean's death in 2006, he continued to travel with his family. He was a 55 year Washington Husky Football Season ticket holder, always looking forward to each new season and attending the games. He enjoyed reading, following sporting events, and baking bread. It gave him great pleasure to share his delicious loaves with family and friends.

...He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. His happiest times were when he was surrounded by his family....


SHADOWS OF SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Ervin Szpek Jr.- mentioned in: books.google.com/books?id=nkLvXopZLRwC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=George+Strong+106th+Infantry+Division&source=bl&ots=VP7p1mVG_2&sig=naCYtfJhYDGAjpDT7iNILbWlrMY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOypullqfJAhVU5GMKHWTLBOQQ6AEIGjAB#v=onepage&q=George%20Strong%20106th%20Infantry%20Division&f=false
Link to notes on this discussion board about this book (including list of men from at Slaughterhouse 5 provided by author : 106thdivision.proboards.com/thread/326?page=1


TWO VETS RECALL... stream.org/two-wwii-vets-one-pow-battle-bulge-recall-experiences-serving-country/
"George Strong saw action (in the ETO), including the Battle of the Bulge. It began on December 16, 1944, and ended on January 25, 1945. As part of the 106th Infantry Division of the First Army, his unit of around 100 soldiers along with several other units were deployed with Allied forces in the Ardennes Mountains in Belgium. Nazi forces in German tanks surrounded the troops in the front of the deployment, known as the “bulge,” capturing them. They were sent first on a forced march and then by cattle cars to Dresden, Germany, where they were imprisoned in the basement of a slaughterhouse (made famous in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five). George spent Christmas there as a POW. Miraculously, most of them survived the bombing of Dresden by Allied forces, which began on Valentine’s Day with the Americans bombing by day and the British by night. George, weak and undernourished, was able to escape the “liberating” Russians and walked many miles alone westward to the American lines. When George and the other American prisoners were on the streets of Dresden working to clear bomb rubble, a civilian woman with a young child passed him, and, being careful to not let the German guards see her, placed a piece of bread with marmalade on the street for him to retrieve. George did this carefully, knowing that if they were caught, the woman and her child would be shot. He has never forgotten this human kindness."

LINK TO POST ON IV-B: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4946/thread

[connie]

From a 2015 Cub Magazine:
Learn More About Golden Lion George Strong (423/HQ)
Submitted by Ervin Szpek, Jr., son of Ervin Szpek Sr. (423/I)

(note, there are a few skips in the language here and there due to copying configurations...)

In the latest CUB I was saddened to read about the passing of George Strong 423/HQ. I knew him well from working on Shadows of Slaughterhouse Five. I put together this article for George and to tell the general story of his fellow POWs of Slaughter House Five. I knew George quite well while working on the book. He was among the most eloquent of the 150 Ex-POWs October 4, 1942. In the fall of 1943 he was inducted at Fort Lewis and sent to Boise, Idaho for basics.

George also appeared in the 1998 History Channel documentary, "Inferno" The True Story of Dresden." I had the pleasure of meeting him at a 106th reunion in recent years. He was truly an amazing man. George Strong took the time to put down on paper his war experiences in "Touring -- The Hard Way" Unpublished Memoir 1989–1991. He updated his memoir after subsequent return trips to Germany. The following is a short summary of his memoir with additional information I have added.

Joining Up
George was born on December 30, 1918, lived and retired in Bremerton WA and was with 423/HQ. When his draft number was called up in 1941 he was rejected due to failing the eye examination. His number was called again in 1942 when the requirements were lowered but again he was rejected although he noted his girlfriend Jean did not reject him. They were married laundry at Hammer Field in Fresno and also worked with civilian power line crews on the base. In June 1944 he was ordered to Camp Atterbury to join the 106th where his past experiences had him assigned as a field wireman. As a three man crew he "strung wires on trees, poles, in ditches, and under some roads. We practiced splicing wires until we thought we could do it in our sleep!

"When arriving in Cheltenham, George recalled going into the city and shared chocolate bars and gum with neighborhood kids, riding double deck buses, and attending mass each Sunday with four others at a Methodist church. The pastor welcomed the Yanks because they added much to the hymn singing. After crossing the Channel on the LST his Jeep crew, loaded with equipment and wire made their way with a convoy to the front lines. His wire section of thirteen men bunked in a woodshed near the 423rd Regimental HQ on a hill in Buchet. His crew was responsible for keeping lines open to


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First Battalion HQ. With the artillery barrage that began the Bulge, the wiremen were busy repairing and restoring lines often after they had just been put back in service. By the 17th they were aware regimental HQ was surrounded. The convoy of vehicles attempted to meet up with a relief column from St. Vith but many vehicles were destroyed during the shelling.

On the night of the 18th they were ordered to string a new line to the First Battalion's new HQ. George noted that the Germans were close and the wire reel squeaked so much he felt they would be spotted until a crew member traded for a can of 3 in 1 oil to quiet the noise. George had earlier received a box of fudge from his wife that he kept in his toolbox. He shared the last two pieces with his crew at this time.

Taken Prisoner
On the afternoon of the 19th word came down from Colonel Cavender to surrender. The Germans were quickly on top of them but George was able to slip his wallet and watch into his trousers which were tucked in his boots. He marched first to Prum and then Gerolstein where they were loaded on boxcars and were among the POWs bombed the night of the 23rd and 24th at a railroad siding at Diez/Limburg. The next day was Christmas. They received some Red Cross parcels divided among many for their "Christmas dinner."

On New Year's Eve they arrived at Stalag 4B outside of Muhlberg, one of the largest POW camps with 25,000 prisoners of every nationality. The camp was built in 1939 to hold only half that number, initially Polish and later Russian prisoners. Due to the crowding many of the new arrivals had to sleep on the floor. A British sergeant named Bill Taylor spoke to George and finally said, "Come on Yank, you can share my bunk." Each barracks was built to hold 250 POWs in three-tier bunks. With two to a bunk a barracks could hold 500, and did.

Ten days later George was randomly selected and sent to Dresden for a new Arbeitskommando, work camp, known as Schlachthof Funf, later known as the infamous Slaughterhouse Five popularized by fellow POW and future writer Kurt Vonnegut in his 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Bill Taylor and the other Brits told George and the other POWs they were lucky since Dresden was untouched in the war. Bill promised to send a letter to Jean letting her know that her husband was safe. Bill also gave a keepsake to George that he saved his entire life. It was a handmade program from the play "You Can't Take It with You" which had been performed at the makeshift Empire Theater at Stalag 4B. On the back of the program Bill added a personal message referring to the meager food at 4B: "To George from Bill ‘Muscles': It's easy ‘nough to titter we'en de stew is smokin' hot, But hit's mighty ha'd to giggle we'en dey's nuffin' in de pot."

Arrive at Slaughter House Five
The 150 POWs were loaded onto boxcars for the 35 mile trip to Dresden. The slaughterhouse complex alongside the Elbe River was the largest of its kind in Germany but by this time late in the war there was hardly enough cattle or hogs for a facility that covered manyacres. They were housed in Schlachthof Funf where hogs were slaughtered.

Early each morning the men were marched into the city for an array of work details. George unloaded boxcars at the massive marshalling yards in the Friedrichstadt part of Dresden, which would later become one of the main targets of the firebombing of Dresden. At night they received their one meal which consisted of skilly, ersatz coffee and a slice of black bread of which sawdust was an ingredient. Before the lights went out George would look at the photos in his wallet of family and home and passed them around to fellow POWs and even guards. He was one of the few who still had his watch and wallet.

Most of their guards were older and some wounded on the Russian front like "One-Eye" who lost an eye. Most treated the prisoners fairly well as long as they didn't cause trouble on work details. The exception was a young Hitler youth known as "Junior" or "Blondie" who went out of his way to antagonize the prisoners until some months later the prisoners had enough. One of the prisoners took away his gun. Junior was never seen again and rumors circulated as to the reason.

Dresden
"Florence of the Elbe" due to its Baroque architecture with many breathtaking churches, theaters, palaces and the world famous Semper Opera House.It was considered the center of art and music for Germany. It was also a key transportation center with its extensive marshalling yard, vital formoving military supplies to the Eastern Front. Dresden was untouched by the bombings that devastated other German cities only because fighter support could not make the distance. That all changed in the closing months of the war. Warning fliers were dropped over the city demanding the rail lines stop shipping military supplies otherwise Dresden would be bombed. On February 13th and 14th the threat was carried out. Dresden was bombed in two night waves by the British and a

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Dresden was an 800 year old city, the capital of Saxony and was known as "The George Strong at the Schaumburg IL 106th Reunion. Left to right are five survivors from Slaughterhouse 5, all departed. Ervin Szpek, Sr. 423/I, George Bloomingburg 423/I, Wayman "Bud" Troxel 423/I, Norwood Frye 81st Eng/B and George Strong 423/HQ. (If you noticed three are from the 423/I, that is because of all units in the 106th, the unit with the most POWs at S-5 was 423/I)

daytime raid by the Americans. Over 1,000 tons of heavy explosives were dropped on the city including 4,000 pound "blockbusters" which tore open the buildings allowing 1,000,000 two-foot long, time delayed incendiary bombs to tumble deep into structures before exploding. The end result was a firestorm that sucked oxygen out of the center of Dresden creating a firestorm with high winds and intense heat that melted metal and even crumbled stone. The city burned for a week. Some areas could not be entered for a month due to the heat. 35,000 civilians perished. The 150 POWs survived in a deep meat locker levels below the street. When they surfaced Dresden was no more and the night skies glowed orange.
Life as a POW changed.
The following morning they were forced to salvage meat from the main storage building as it burned.
Slaughterhouse 5 had taken a hit so they were marched to the suburb of Gorbitz and housed in a South African Arbeitskommando. From there each morning they marched into the center of Dresden to begin the gruesome task of digging out bodies from the mountains of rubble. George recalls one of his first jobs was to clean out a bomb shelter where all the victims suffocated. He noted they were difficult to pull apart because the intense heat cooked them together. George cut new holes in his belt so his pants would stay up. The starvation diet was taking a toll on all of them. To supplement their one small meal they ate food they found in cellars and got to the point where they could eat with one hand and drag a body with the other. They did this to survive. If caught plundering they would be executed. The older guards showed some compassion, warning the prisoners to eat anything they found in the cellars. Never bring anything onto the street or back to camp. The endless removal of bodies was done without any protective gear that guards had. They had little opportunity to clean up and had no change of clothes. Many fell ill including George. "One night I got so sick I was afraid I was going to die. The next day I was so sick I was afraid I wouldn't die."
At one time or the other many of the POWs were caught plundering food but little was done other than threats.
That changed in March, 1945 when Michael Palaia 423/I was caught with a jar of beans taken from a cellar. He planned to take it back to the camp but was stopped not by one of their guards but by a Gestapo officer in Dresden to inspect the bombing. He was given a trial and executed by firing squad on Palm Sunday with four POWs present as a burial detail to share the horror with the other prisoners so as to put fear in them that plundering would not be tolerated. However their survival instincts meant they would continue to steal food whenever an opportunity arose. Michael Palaia was the basis for Vonnegut's character Edgar Derby in "Slaughterhouse-Five."

The Russians Are Coming
Early April, 1945 as the Russians pressed to occupy Dresden it was decided to move the prisoners south to the Czech border as pawns for unknown purposes. They departed Dresden on April 14 and walked the 30 miles to the small mountain village of Hellendorf,

two miles from the Czech border. Sadly "Joe" Crone, also from 423/ HQ as George, passed away two days earlier from the effects of starvation.
He was the basis for Vonnegut's main character, Billy Pilgrim, in the novel. In the small village was a Gasthaus where the prisoners slept on the dancefloor of the upper level using straw from the nearby barn for bedding, which had lice. There was no food so the men relied on eating dandelion soup from cans using water from the adjacent creek that they heated on an open flame. During the final weeks of the war the elderly guards were more worried about their own fate which enabled daring prisoners to make night raids of nearby farms for potatoes, eggs and an occasional chicken. The young owner of the Gasthaus, Hanni Hippe cared for the sickest of the POWs in her living quarters.

The War in Europe Ends
It was May 8 and rumors spread that the war had ended. The mostly Serbian guards decided to continue south with the POWs into Czechoslovakia to stay ahead of the Russians and hopefully find American lines for some type of bargaining. Hanni Hippe watched the prisoners leave and took note that many now had red knapsacks. Later, when she went in the dancehall she realized where they got the material. The red curtains were gone except for a small piece for which she noted, "They were good boys and left me enough to make a dress." She never had children of her own so always considered these POWs her children.
Many years later some like George Strong and Gifford Doxsee 423/HQ 3rd Bn went back to visit and thank her for her kindness.
Despite the end of the war pockets of fighting continued. The road to Czechoslovakia was dangerous and jammed with refugees, POWs and remnants of the German army moving in all directions. Before they could cross the border Russian fighter planes indiscriminately strafed the area. Jesse Benavides was killed and later Richard Rickard 423/I died from friendly fire. Ironically the Slaughterhouse 5 POWs were at one time or the other strafed or bombed by the Americans, British and Russians but never the Germans. In the chaos the POWs were separated and wandered in small groups in search of friendly lines. Some backtracked to Hellendorf and even Dresden while most eventually continued to Czechoslovakia where many ran into American lines in Pilsen.
Amazingly of the 150 POWs all but 4 to 6 eventually made it to Camp Lucky Strike in La Havre, France which was one of a number of large repatriation camps, "tent cities", named after popular cigarette brands. From there they returned to the States on numerous Coast Guard Liberty Ships including USS Admiral Mayo where actor Victor Mature served as the Chief Petty Officer. George returned on the USS William Black on a ten day ocean voyage to Boston, then a short train ride back to camp Miles Standish and from there through New York and then Fort Lewis where he received 60 days of recuperation leave. Being reunited with wife Jean, family and friends

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was emotional but happy times. He recounted his harrowing experiences. He was reassigned and moved around quite a bit before finally receiving his discharge which was delayed three days waiting for paperwork because he had not been promoted after being in the Army more than two years. Newly promoted PFC George W. Strong made it home in time for Thanksgiving.
George returned to his job at Puget Power as a truck driver and later became a lineman. He soon bought a first home where he and Jean Strong raised their children, Janie Strong and Howard Strong. Life was good although George wrote, "In my spare moments when I was alone, it was amazing to me how often my mind wandered back to my Army experiences, and to the people who reached out to touch me in circumstances I believed were extenuating." There was British POW Bill Taylor who took him under his wing, shared his bunk and wrote to his wife Jean that he was safe. While in an aid station in poor physical health a POW Belgian officer brought him food and later intervened on his behalf with a guard while working on the streets in Dresden. Then there was a young mother and her son who slipped him a piece of bread and butter, all the time waiting when the guard wasn't looking. There were many more angels.
George Returns to Germany
George and family made five return trips to Germany starting in 1976.
I think these trips were his ongoing closure to come to terms and understand what he had witnessed and experienced. He revisited places he had been during the Bulge and when captured, like Prum, Gerolstein and Stalag 4B. He retraced his steps at Slaughterhouse 5 and the many areas in Dresden he was made to work as a prisoner. In Hellendorf at the Gasthaus he likely found some tranquility as this was the place that reminded him of the day the war ended. The old Gasthaus stands today as it did May 8, 1945.
"I maintain that the temptation to revisit places where you have drunk the water, breathed the air, become familiar with the sounds and smells, and above all, struggled with love and hate and turmoil and peace is irresistible. You have paid rent on that ground. You own a piece of it, and it owns you." – George Strong
You are missed George. Rest in Peace.
Erv, Jr.

Final Note: With the passing of time, only about a dozen of the 150 Ex-POWs of Slaughterhouse 5 are alive. My father, Ervin Szpek, Sr. 423/I recently passed away on June 24, 2015 at the age of 89. For some, they chose to keep to themselves those memories of what they experienced and survived in Dresden and hence when contacted for "Shadows of Slaughterhouse Five" we ended up knowing little of their stories prior to publication in respect of their privacy.