Looking Back at ^News of the Men In Service^"

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May 2, 1945</strong>
Frederick Thacker, radio operator, telephoned his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Thacker from Chicago, on Tuesday and expects to be here soon. He has just returned from a nine month’s trip to the South Pacific with a merchant marine ship. He will be home for a month.
Sgt. Richard Gmur has been confined to a hospital in Germany due to illness, according to a letter received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gmur. He is expected to be able to return to his company soon.
T/4 Sgt. Nordeen Anderson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin T. Anderson, is now in Germany.
Nathan E. Figi, Bugler 2/c, has been home on leave visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Figi. He has been stationed at Bainbridge, Md., but has left for the west coast.
Herbert Wise has been promoted to Sergeant according to a letter received here by his mother, Mrs. John Marty. Herbert is with the Third Army in Germany.
Corp. Phillip Marty is now at the Base Weather Station at Great Bend, Kansas.
Pvt. Jacob Schmoker, Fort Knox, Kentucky, spent the weekend here with his family.
Pfc. Walter Kruesi was expected home on leave last week from Fort McClellan, Alabama, but wrote his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Kruesi, that his leave has been canceled.
Pvt. Maynard Hustad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Hustad, has been transferred from Winter General Hospital at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, for further medical treatment for injuries received in the Philippines. He is improving slowly. His present address is: Pvt. Maynard Hustad, Army Air Force Convalescent Hospital, Unit 14, Ft. Thomas, Kentucky.
From the Vilas County News-Review, we quote part of a story about Pfc. John Kracht, son of Principal and Mrs. E. W. Kracht, Eagle River, Wis. Mrs. Kracht is the former Anna Elmer, half-sister of Fred J. Marty.
“Pfc. Kracht is home from eight months overseas, three and a half of which were in the combat Scout Group on the Metz front with Patton’s Third Army.
The others of that original Combat Scout Group are gone. Only he returned of that entire group and he did not return undamaged. He left part of his left foot near Saarlauten, but he doesn’t regret it. He’s cheerful and looking confidently into the future. ‘Lots of fellows got it so much worse than I did,’ he says.
The boys like General Patton, he says. Gen. Patton is for the boys and sees that they get what they need. When the push starts, he wants them to keep going, and to use up their ammunition.”
<strong>From Neal Marty</strong>
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Marty received the following V-Mail letter from their son, Neil:
Somewhere in Germany, April 11, 1945
Dear Folks: Here it is Thursday night and time I was writing another letter. Since I wrote the last one I have moved around quite a bit, mostly walking. It seems as though I have walked all over Germany at least once. For a while we were in Cologne on the Rhine.
Tonight the mail came through again and I received three letters and another paper. It surely is nice to sit down and read the paper and find out what is going on around home.
I was going to write last Sunday but never quite got around to it. I went to church in the morning. Believe it or not, but services were held in an old brewery.
Will write again soon. Neil
<strong>Lt. Col. Gilbert Strickler Frees Prisoners In Germany</strong>
Some time ago, a Madison radio station broadcast a story in which the name of Lt. Col. Gilbert Strickler was mentioned. No one seems to be able to tell us much about the story and we were unable to find any such newspaper account. This week, a clipping from an El Paso, Texas, newspaper on the same story, which was copyrighted by The Chicago Tribune. The sender is unknown to us, but gives his address as K. N. Gillette, Madison, Wis.
The story tells how 49 American prisoners of war, most of them starving and scarred from beatings and lice, were rescued by the 357th Infantry division. The next day the division hoped to rescue 200 others who had suffered the same ordeal.
Five hours after they were found, they were back from the front, fed, deloused, and in clean blankets or clothes en route to base hospitals.
Says Hal Foust, writer of the story, “Lt. Col. Gilbert Strickler, of New Glarus, Wis, Executive Officer of the regiment, ordered the village combed for any of the guards who might be in hiding. One was found and delivered to the command post. “This is no ordinary prisoner of war,” said Strickler. “I will recommend that the guards be tried as criminals. We have witnesses who can testify that captured American prisoners of war were beaten, and some fatally.”