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World War II vet recalls horror of Buchenwald
BOARDMAN
The stench was the first thing that hit Carmen Vecchione when he entered Ohrdruf concentration camp in April 1945.
Then he began to see the prisoners.
“In the barracks, all you saw were eyes and elbows and knees. They were so starved. If they ate a full meal, they died,” he said of the concentration camp survivors.
Vecchione’s memories of Ohrdurf, which was part of Buchenwald, a huge Nazi forced-labor and concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, remain vivid 65 years later.
Vecchione’s unit, Battery “A” of the Army’s 773rd Field Artillery Battalion, had been attached to the United States 1st, 3rd and 7th Armies and even the French 1st Army on the Allied Forces’ drive through France and Germany.
The 773rd arrived at Ohrdurf about two weeks after the camp was liberated April 11, 1945, by the 6th Armored Division of the U.S. 3rd Army commanded by Gen. George S. Patton.
The 773rd was to provide security and help the remaining prisoners.
“You just can’t imagine how one human being could treat another human being like that. It was terrible ... not nice. We couldn’t wait to get out of there,” said Vecchione, 86.
He sat in his Afton Avenue home, World War II memorabilia scattered over a table, and talked about the war and his brief duty at Buchenwald.
Included in the memorabilia is a journal in a three-ring binder with pictures from Buchenwald and an account of his experiences during World War II and his return to Buchenwald last spring.
“I dedicated my journal to my children and grandchildren ... so they never forget that history can and does repeat itself ... and to tell them you must question every political move your country makes and have the wisdom to see the possibilities of destruction a few men can cause,” Vecchione said.
From April 9 to 14, 2010, Vecchione, along with about 30 other U.S., Canadian and Australian military men and several Jewish Holocaust survivors, attended ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald.
They were there as guests of the Free State of Thuringia, Germany, and the International Committee of Buchenwald.
Vecchione and the others were honored for their participation in the liberation of Buchenwald and for their bravery and courage in dealing with the survivors, said Karin Campana, who along with her husband, Joe, accompanied Vecchione.
Buchenwald was a labor camp. But many prisoners died of malnutrition, from punishment, or were strangled or shot, and then tossed into the crematorium, Vecchione said.
While he was there, Vecchione gave several interviews to German youths about his experience at Buchenwald.
“I give those young people in Germany credit for keeping the memory alive. They don’t want people to forget. Some people don’t want to believe it happened. They should have been there,” he said.
Vecchione said he probably would not have gone to Germany without the encouragement of Karin, a longtime friend to whom he refers as his niece.
“I think Carmen was very surprised that he was invited and very honored, too. Maybe he was thinking it wasn’t important, but once he got there, I think he realized the significance of what he had done. I encouraged him to go because I thought it was important that he be recognized for it,” she said.
Campana, a 1969 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School and a junior high school teacher in Colorado, invited Vecchione to speak to her history class.
“Our country is so isolated from these kinds of things. We take so much for granted. It was a treat for me and the kids, and I think it gave Carmen a little more sense of what he was going to see in Germany,” she said.
When the war in Europe ended May 5, 1945, Vecchione’s unit stayed at the concentration camp for another few weeks until they were relieved by Russian troops.
Before Buchenwald, while going through Europe, Vecchione said he saw a lot of things that stay with him even though he wasn’t in constant combat “like a lot of the other boys.”
“You saw bodies here and there, and when you saw planes shot down, you knew there was somebody in there. I’ve been fortunate. I’ll tell you the truth. I can’t complain. I’ve had some problems. I still have nightmares. But I get along pretty good,” he said.
Vecchione, a 1943 graduate of South High School in Youngstown, entered the Army on April 1, 1943, and was a sergeant when he was discharged at 21.
He said he arrived home (on Wabash Avenue) at 11:30 a.m. Christmas Day 1945 “just in time for dinner.”
For his military service, Vecchione was decorated with five Bronze Star medals denoting participation in five campaigns; and the D-Day, Sharp Shooter and Good Conduct medals.
He is the son of George and Celeste Vecchione. His first wife, the former Dorothy Purash, is deceased. His wife is the former Donna Young Guerino.
“I was fortunate to marry two good women,” he said.
He has four sisters, Anna Monroe, Angeline Palombaro, Jean Cohen and Mary Rondinelli, all of Boardman, and a brother, Henry of Struthers, who served in the Army in the Korean War.
“Henry was cut off behind enemy [Chinese] lines. He should have gotten the congressional Medal of Honor,” Vecchione said.
A fifth sister, Thomisina Marsco, is deceased,
He has a son, George of Boardman, and two stepdaughters, Debbie Nicholas and Donna Fain, both of Struthers. A daughter, Paula Repko, is deceased. He also helped raise two granddaughters, Robyn Waller of Florida and Rachael Repko of Nevada.
After the war, Vecchione worked in a steel mill for five years, for a biscuit company for 15 years and then about 23 years for Schwebel Bakery as a delivery-truck driver, retiring in 1986.
He was a member of Teamsters Local 377 and is a member of VFW Post 91.
“I’m not active anymore. All the old-timers are gone,” he said.
Age has also affected his favorite pastime — golf. He has three holes-in-one but doesn’t golf much anymore.
“To play golf with the guys I played with, I’d have to die,” he said.
But just as with the war, he still has his memories.