Vanishing Generation, Part 4 - Prisoner of War - Episode 4

Kaltura

Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, recalls the Battle of the Bulge, and says that is where he got his first combat injury. He was taken prisoner that day, after a German tank pulled up in front of the house they were in. His ammunition-bearer said they were not getting him. He then ran through a hole in the wall where a shell had gone off, and was killed.  Another who was there said the same, and ran out the same hole, but Ralph Carver reached out and brought him back in. They knew they would either be captured or killed. Grove says, "I chose not to be killed. I wasn't going to run out there and just get murdered." Continuing, Grove says that they broke in the front door, came in and started speaking in German. They were captured and made to march out in the street, and met some of the other guys who had been captured. He remembers, but wishes he could forget saying, "Oh, my God, I'm a prisoner of war."

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Carolina Stories / Vanishing Generation