Stalag XVIII survivor remembers

Antipodean Andy · Aug 18, 2008

Central Ohio - www.centralohio.com - Central Ohio, OH

ASHLAND -- The day in May, 1945 when guards started setting up machine guns outside the wire of Stalag 18 was the day U.S. prisoners of war started to worry.

"We heard Hitler had ordered that all prisoners of war be killed," Noel Mooney recalled. "We were looking for ways to get out. Then, one morning, the guards were gone. We were excited because we knew then we were going to live."

Mooney, 83, of Ashland, was a private first class in the 3rd Infantry when he was wounded and captured on New Year's Eve of 1944 near the Rhine River city of Strasbourg in Alsace-Lorraine.

"The German who shot me was in his 60s and said he didn't like the war at all. He was sorry he had to shoot me," Mooney said.
It was the second time Mooney had been wounded, but this time he ended up in a German hospital in Austria.

The bullet was removed on New Year's Day.

"It went into my pelvis and just missed hitting my bladder," Mooney said.

Once healed, he joined the men behind the wire at Stalag 18.

Hitler's "kill all prisoners" order wasn't the only thing Mooney and his buddies feared.

"Our own bombers were flying over -- maybe 300 to 400 of them at a time -- and they were dropping their bombs all around us to lighten their loads so they could get back over the mountains to Italy," he said.

Camp conditions were bad, Mooney said.

"The potato soup was the best food we got, and it was mostly water. There were also turnips. To this day I can't eat a turnip."

Sanitary facilities were primitive and the most valuable items in Red Cross packages were toilet paper and cigarettes.

Because he had been a hospital patient, Mooney said he was spared the routine beatings that prisoners on work details received.

Once the guards left, Mooney and other prisoners wandered out of the camp.

"We wound up meeting a German tank battalion that had run out of gas," he said. "Their war was over. They were just standing around and then starting to head for their homes. We found a lot of souvenirs there. Then we walked back to our prison camp and found the men from my own outfit, the Third Infantry, had arrived. They fed us and, of course, we all got sick."

Before long, the prisoners were taken to France and eventually shipped home.

Mooney said he sailed home on the USS General Mann, the same ship he had taken from the United States to North Africa more than a year before.

A native of Akron, Mooney had finished high school when he was old enough to be drafted in August 1943.

After basic training, he was sent to a replacement depot in Casablanca, and then was shipped to Italy, where he joined Company G of the 30th Infantry Regiment of the Third Infantry Division.

He spent four months dodging German fire in the flatlands of Anzio. He said he was part of the breakout that resulted in the capture of Rome.

The Third Division was part of the landings in Southern France.

"My landing craft hit a mine, and 24 out of the 27 men in my platoon were killed," Mooney said.

He was literally blown out the side of the damaged craft and managed to reach the beach. He had shrapnel wounds in his neck and back.

"I was hit in four or five places. Some of it is still in there," he said.

After time spent in a military hospital near Naples, Italy, Mooney was shipped north to rejoin his unit as it fought its way to the Rhine River.

After the war, he returned to Akron and married Marjorie. She died 18 months ago.

The couple had two sons, Milton, of Ashland, and Michael, of South Barrington, Ill. There are seven grandchildren.

Using the G.I. Bill, Mooney took courses in electricity. He eventually got into sales for Hartman Spreng Co. Inc. in Mansfield and settled in Ashland in the 1950s.

His community involvement and leadership included being a five-time Past Commander of American Legion Post 88 in Ashland. He was the Sergeant at Arms in charge of all military burials in Ashland.

He took part in all Memorial Day parades and attended every opening of the Ashland County Fair.

He was part of a special veterans detail that welcomed Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to Ashland.

He is a Past Commander of Chapter 81 of the Disabled American Veteran and the present chaplain. He was also a Past Commander of VFW Post 1067.

A licensed amateur radio operator, Mooney was a member of the Ashland Area Amateur Radio Club and was a past president of the Inter-City Radio Club of Mansfield.

He was also a past president and 25-year member of the Ashland Noon Lions Club and a Cub Scout Master for six years at Osborn Elementary School in Ashland. He was active in Boy Scouts, Little League, Pony League and American Legion baseball.

Mooney flew to Washington, D.C., in October 2007 on an Honor Flight, a program that takes World War II veterans to view the World War II Memorial for free

He also was honored as Ashland County Senior Volunteer for 2007 and recognized at a luncheon in Willard sponsored by the District 5 Area Agency on Aging.
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Kyt · Aug 18, 2008

Sheame the article doesn't specify which camp:

Stalag XVIII-A Wolfsberg
Stalag XVIII-AZ Spittal
Stalag XVIII-B Oberdrauburg
Stalag XVIII-C Markt-Pongau
Stalag XVIII-D Maribor

Antipodean Andy · Aug 18, 2008

Shame the original poster didn't think of that either! :lol:

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