The Herald, Sharon, Pa. - As old soldiers fade away, others step in to keep memories alive

Sat, Nov 21 2009

Milestones | Health | Food |

Resources

Print this story

Post to del.icio.us

Photos

The re-enactment ended, soldiers flash the victory sign to the crowd in Tidioute during an August re-enactment of a World War II battle for control of the last standing German bridge over the Rhine.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

Hempfield Township resident Claude Musgrove talks about his World War II experiences -- including those at Remagen -- during a recent interview. People like Musgrove, who is 94, are growing increasingly rare as time passes by.
Tom Davidson /

Claude Musgrove poses along the banks of Germany's Rhine River in 1945.
Contributed /

WWII re-enactor Pat Tarasovitch participates in a re-enactment of the siege of Remagen, Germany, that took place in August in Tidioute, Pa.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A Jeep full of American soldiers makes its way into downtown Tidioute in August, when the small Warren County borough hosted a World War II re-enactment.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

soldier cleans his weapon before the battle reenactment in August at Tidioute.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

This German re-enactor wears goggles as he drives a motorcycle and sidecar common during World War II.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A column of World War II re-enactors cross the Tidioute Bridge as if it were the Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany during a re-enactment this August in Tidioute.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

Pyrotechnics on the Tidioute bridge over the Allegheny River simulate the attempted demolition of the Ludendorff Bridge. The organizers of the re-enactment convinced PennDOT to close the highway and bridge for the hour-long event.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A young German soldier dodges fire behind a pole as he reloads during a re-enactment in August in Tidioute.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

The German-occupied end of the bridge was a scene of smoke, chaos and carnage as the American re-enactors advance across the bridge.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A German re-enactor helps his wounded comrade to safety during the battle.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

The ?ead?on both sides piled up at the re-enacted battle for Remagen played out on American soil August.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A crowd of about 1,000 people fill a hillside above the bridge over the Allegheny River at Tidioute where a group of World War II re-enactors replayed the battle for at Remagen during the war in Europe? final surge.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

A young re-enactor drinks from a canteen during a re-enactment of the siege of Remagen held in August in Tidioute.
Tom Davidson/Herald /

American re-enactors meet before the battle to discuss the proceedings.
John Zavinski/Herald /

German solders surrender to American G.I.s at the conclusion of the battle re-enactment.
John Zavinski/Herald /

Two enthusiasts watch for their father, who is one of the World War II re-enactors that made the trip to Tidioute to re-enact the battle in Remagen during World War II that provided at least a moral victory to Allied Forces who finally made it across the Rhine River in Germany in 1945.
John Zavinski/Hera /

German and American re-enactors set aside their differences and share a brew in a Tidioute bar after the battle. When asked why they choose to play Nazis, some cite ancestral connections, while others note that not everyone gets to play the cowboys; someone has to be the Indians.
John Zavinski/Herald /

Claude took this picture of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. The smoke under and behind the bridge is from German artillery rounds.

Published November 11, 2009 03:57 am - World War II veterans are disappearing each day in numbers sometimes resembling the bloodiest of the war days. With their passing, there’s less and less first-hand understanding of what nearly tore the world apart 70 years ago.

As old soldiers fade away, others step in to keep memories alive

By Tom Davidson
Herald Staff Writer

TIDIOUTE, Pa.; HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP —

World War II veterans are disappearing each day in numbers sometimes resembling the bloodiest of the war days. With their passing, there’s less and less first-hand understanding of what nearly tore the world apart 70 years ago.

Authors Kurt Vonnegut, who memorialized his experience during the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, in ’Slaughterhouse 5’ and Joseph Heller, who did the same about the Army Air Force in ’Catch 22’ are both among the dead.

They tasted fame and fortune after their World War II escapades.

Others led quieter lives in small-town America, but they retained the memories of war. Many are living among us. They’re stooped and wrinkled fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They’re retired steelworkers and electrical engineers who spent their post-war working years at places like ’the Malleable,’ Sharon Steel, and ’the Westinghouse.’

It’s tough to imagine them as young men on a tour of the world, their destination unknown, their objective mostly to protect and defend the rest of the Allied troops waging war against Germany, Italy and Japan.

’Your whole life can hinge on a matter of a few yards,’ 94-year-old veteran Claude Musgrove of Hempfield Township remembered.

That’s the distance that could separate someone from triggering a mine explosion or getting hit by hostile fire.

’War is an atrocity,’ said Musgrove, who served as photographer for the 164th Engineer Combat Battalion.

The images Musgrove captured of Americans and Germans proved to him that on both sides were just other people, he said.

’I could not shoot the Germans,’ he said.

But the young soldiers did what they were ordered to do.

’The veneer of civilization almost completely disappears when you’re in the Army,’ Musgrove said. ’I hated this about the war. They were people like us.’

He remembers the small things that impressed German prisoners.

’They hadn’t had coffee in years,’ he said.

’ ’ ’

Popular business directory searches