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June 14, 1945
HARTINGTON— “The most wonderful thing I have ever seen was when the Stars and Stripes went up over Moosberg, Germany.”
That is the way Lt. Gerald Kathol, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kathol of Hartington, described his release from the German prison camp April 29.
Lt. Kathol, a Flying Fortress pilot, returned home Monday on a 60-day leave. He looks much the same as he did when he was playing end for the Nebraska University football team in 1940-41-42, and has regained most of the sixty pounds he lost while in German prison camps.
A prisoner for seven months, Lt. Kathol was shot down over central Germany last September 27 on his second mission. His Fortress was almost blown to pieces when 200 German fighter planes jumped a group of American bombers.
Five of Lt. Kathol’s crew of nine were killed. A large caliber shell exploded in the midsection of the bomber and one shell struck it; three engines immediately burst into flames and the engines fell off. The lieutenant said his life was saved by the armor around the pilot’s compartment. He received a slight flak wound on the forehead and was slightly burned before he was able to get away from the stricken bomber.
Lt. Kathol said his plane was flying at about 23,000 feet when it was attacked. He himself bailed out at about 21,000 feet.
“I was so anxious to see if my parachute worked that I pulled the rip cord a little too soon and nearly passed out because of the lack of oxygen,” he recalled. “It seemed ages while I floated down to earth.”
Lt. Kathol got a birdseye view of the battle between the fighters and bombers as he floated down. He saw many planes catch fire, explode and plummet to earth.
He landed in a field with such force his hips were spread and his groin muscles torn loose.
About 30 German civilians immediately surrounded Lt. Kathol and one old man drew a gun and threatened to shoot him. Another struck him with a stick.
“I didn’t even feel it and it didn’t bother me a bit because I was so mighty glad to be on the ground alive,” he said.
Lt. Kathol said he was taken to a nearby town and then loaded into a truck with the dead and the dying. They traveled in the truck for six hours before reaching their destination. He was then sent to a prison camp hospital where he was treated by English doctors for six months.
Lt. Kathol was in three different prison camps. When he landed in Germany he weighed 190 pounds. His weight dropped to 148 pounds, but before he was liberated he had gained at another camp and weighed about 170 pounds when he was released.
The Hartington pilot was among the American prisoners who were forced to march about 75 miles through zero and below zero weather when they were transferred from one camp to another. He said many of the prisoners suffered extremely. Many died and those who reached their destination were semi-conscious from the cold.
He told of the Americans being packed into box cars so small that half of the men had to stand up while the other half reclined. The trip lasted four days and four nights.
Lt. Kathol said the prisoners were not mistreated in the camps but were almost starved to death.
“At one camp our only food for six weeks was black bread, wormy soup and occasionally some potatoes,” he said. “We were constantly cold because of the lack of fuel and clothing. We stayed in bed most of the time to conserve our strength.
Some of the men became so weakened that they could not walk a block without passing out.”
When Red Cross packages got through the prisoners’ diet was not too bad, Kathol said. This additional food kept many men alive.
All the camps varied and near the end of the war the prisoners were given more to eat.
After being in England, Germany and France, Lt. Kathol says there is no place like the United States.
June 14, 1945
HARTINGTON - Vincent E. Rossiter was reelected grand knight of the Hartington council of the Knights of Columbus at the annual business meeting of the organization Tuesday night. Fred Lubeley was elected deputy grand knight.
Other officers elected were: F. G. Bruening, chancellor; C. J. Dendinger, recording secretary; Al Sudbeck, treasurer; Fred R. Zimmer, advocate; Gus Walz, warden; J. F. Walz, inside guard; Julius Burbach, outside guard; and George Beste, A. J. Lammers and Alex Schulte, trustees.
Rossiter announced that the council would resume regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
June 14, 1945
HARTINGTON - Several days of sunshine came to an end here today (Thursday) as another rain dumped .51 of an inch of moisture over this area Wednesday night. Precipitation for the week totaled 1.11 inches, with the heaviest fall, .55 of an inch, coming last Saturday.
With the advent of sunshine, temperatures climbed during the week and reached a high of 86 degrees yesterday. The low for the week was 52 degrees recorded last Friday.
The southern part of the county received a heavy rain Tuesday afternoon, which extended from the Randolph and Magnet areas east across the county.
