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By Michelle Berry
Reporter
(This is the conclusion of a four-part story on the World War II experiences of Meryl Barnett, who shared his story during a recent meeting of the Hutchinson County Republican Women.) When it comes to the front lines of World War II, no one experienced it quite like Meryl Barnett.
Barnett served with the 45th Infantry Division as part of the U.S. Army during World War II. He relayed a story of the Army’s descent into Southern France. He and an army sergeant came into a little village, and found a Frenchman standing out in the middle of the road, waving his arms wildly and speaking French. He said there were Germans in his house that were ready to give up.
“We went in, and all they had was candles. The candles didn’t give much light,” he said. “This general was sitting right behind the candle, which means he can’t see me.”
He said the general had a man with him who spoke fair English, and said he wouldn’t give up unless he received the same ranking. Barnett said he took his 45 out and shucked it, and told him he was giving up or he would stay there.
The general took his sidearm out and laid it on the table, and was very indignant after that. After that, the two soldiers put him in the jeep and put him in the POW cage.
While in Epinal, France, Barnett and his captain saw some Germans going under a railroad, and took off after them. However, the Germans beat them to a nearby river there and swam across the river, dumping all of their stuff there.
One day, the men pulled up to headquarters, and he said he didn’t know why they were going there. As they parked their jeep, Audie Murphy, a decorated soldier who went on to a career in acting, just happened to be in the next jeep. He said that was the last time he saw his captain.
“We had a major that was a coward,” Barnett said. “On Anzio Beachhead that night, we got bombed. We had a bomb that was stuck in the side of the bank and some guys on the other side of the bomb. The major would stick his head and ask, ‘How ya doin’?’ One guy, of course he couldn’t help it, said ‘None of your business.’”
One of the Army captains was with Barnett and the others as they got the guys out of the bank. The next day, officers were able to get the bomb out of the side of the bank. He said that was just the kind of guy the major was, very jealous of the captain, because he and Barnett were out on the front every day.
He said the major pulled strings politically and got the captain transferred out, so Barnett began driving for a stockman, who was at the rank of sergeant. This began Barnett’s experiences at the Dachau Prison Camp.
“We went up to this bridge that was across this river to see if they needed any help in directing traffic,” he said. “There was no one there, so we went on across, and we didn’t drive half a mile, and on the side here, it’s a prison camp.”
He said they arrived at the site and heard a few shots, but didn’t get out of the jeep. They drove up on to the gate, where Barnett said they got into a big mess.
“There was a colonel there, and a major general, and they were really having a hard argument,” he said. “I found out later, it was a 42nd division general that had raced to try to beat the 45th into Dachau. That’s what you call political.”
The general said he was going into the camp whether the colonel wanted him to or not. The colonel told Barnett he was glad they were there, but they didn’t want anyone going in or coming out. He said he found out later the colonel drew a pistol on the general, and he got relieved quickly. Plans were to court-martial the colonel, but General George S. Patton refused to let it happen. By the time the colonel retired, he eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant general.
Barnett said there Polish Jews along the side of the camp’s fence. He estimated there were about 65,000 people in the camp. He saw some of the Jews being handed cigarettes, who were taking them eagerly.
“I never smoked, but I got my cigarette ration every week. I’d get Camel and trade them for four Old Golds. It dawned on me, ‘Get the cigarettes,’” he said.
He got them out of his jeep and started handing them out, with many of the Jewish people swarming around him.
The next day, Barnett had the job of marching the German prisoners, 450 of them in total. On the track on the far side of the camp were 37 car loads of bodies of camp prisoners who had been killed. He described them as skin and bones.
Nine of the prisoners were SS troopers, right in the middle of the pack of German prisoners. Barnett said they had to be marched 10 miles across the woods to the POW cage.
“I got all these prisoners lined up and a lot of them were high officers,” he said. “I marched them along the railroad track and I made them all stop and face these cars. They had to see these bodies.”
Barnett said lots of tears were shed by the prisoners, but he said he didn’t think they were ashamed of what they had done, just afraid that they were going to be killed. About a quarter of the mile from the POW cage, the nine prisoners who were SS officers made a break for it.
“I came around the corner and saw them, and I had a Thompson machine gun,” he said. “I stood up in the jeep, and we’ll stop the story right there.”
Barnett went into the prison camp the next day, and couldn’t believe what he saw. He went into the infirmary, and there was a fellow laying there with a little sheet across his midsection. He was laying on a wood slat and his pillow was a cutout timber. He said he thought he was dead, but he had his eyes open.
“I walked over to the other side of the infirmary and I looked and this guy, his eyes were following me,” he said. He told the medic he was alive, but the medic told him he wasn’t going to make it.
They were told not to give the prisoners anything, namely chocolate, because they didn’t hardly have anything in their stomach.
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