I wrote this about my friend "Snuffy" in April when he passed away and posted this.
A couple days ago a man I greatly admired and was proud to call my friend passed away.
When I was a kid I worked at a golf course and I got to know Snuffy who was a member there. I was honored that he took the time to share with me stories about his experiences in WW II. He was a survivor of the Bataan death march and saw and experienced unimagined brutality by the hands of the Japanese soldiers. One of the remarkable characteristics of Snuffy was his kindness. He had a deep love of God and country. He often stressed to me that you have to learn to forgive and not let hatred ever get a stronghold in your life...............
"He was born May 18, 1918 in St. Paul. He was drafted into the Army April 14, 1941, assigned at Fort Lewis, Washington as a medic in the 194th tank battalion and sent to the Philippines. After the American surrender, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese April 9, 1942 on the Bataan Peninsula. Survived the infamous Bataan Death March. From April 1942- Sept. 1944, he survived the brutal conditions and treatment at POW camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan. He stayed at Bilibid Prison in Manila until Dec. 13, 1944, where 1,620 American POW's were crammed in the hold of the "Hellship" Oryoku Maru for the journey to Japan. He was one of the 402 who survived to the end of the war. After the "49 days in hell", he arrived Jan. 29, 1945 at the slave labor prison camp Fukuoka 17 in Omuto Japan across the bay from Nagasaki. There he worked 12 hour shifts at the Mitsuimiike Tankuo coal mine until the end of the War in Aug. 1945. Harold was also a member of the organizations: Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Veterans of Foreign War, American Ex-Prisoners of War, and the Knights of Columbus."
I am sad and will miss Snuff, but also I rejoice because I was honored to know him and was a better man for it. I too rejoice because I believe he is in Heaven with the Lord.
I was told my Great Uncle Benjamin and his family were killed in Austria but he went down fighting because he would not give up his farm and fought to the end.
Ops, sorry some think there was no such thing as the Holocaust. I bad
Band of Brothers- Liberation of Concentration CampThis is why Israel's motto is
NEVER AGAIN!