Man captive for 9 months
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| Elwin Haak of Sterling shows his scrapbook full of memories from his time spent serving in World War II. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@svnmail.com) |
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Note to readers: This is the seventh in a series of Sauk Valley Newspapers articles on some of the World War II veterans who are going to Washington, D.C., Tuesday on the Whiteside County Honor Flight.
STERLING – On Sept. 29, 1944, Carl and Winnifred Haak received a frightening Western Union telegram: “The Secretary of War desires me to inform you, your son Private First Class Elwin H. Haak, has been reported missing in action since 7 August in France. If further details or other information are received, you will be promptly notified.”
Further information came Oct. 16, 1944, also in a telegram: “Report received through the International Red Cross states that your son, Private First Class Elwin H. Haak, is a prisoner of the war of the German government.”
“I know they were worried,” Haak said. “It’s just a waiting game then.”
Haak, now 86, of Sterling, was a messenger for the 298th Engineer Combat Battalion. His unit was moving through France at 3 a.m. on Aug. 7, and his job was to make sure no trucks straggled behind.
The battalion commander’s vehicle was in the lead when they ran into a German unit – four tanks and 150 men. Both sides retreated. “They were surprised, and hollered in German and backed up,” Haak said.
As shots were fired, Haak jumped into a ditch. He fired back, but the flash of his submachine gun exposed his position.
He jumped back onto the road, and as his commander’s vehicle sped away, Haak grabbed on to the bottom.
Then it made a sudden turn and ran over his leg. He lost his grip right in front of six German soldiers.
By then he also had lost his gun and helmet.
“It was a good thing, because they probably would have shot me,” said Haak, who was captured along with about 30 other men.
The Germans moved their prisoners from farm to farm in the French countryside. After about 4 weeks, Haak arrived at the 85-acre prisoner of war camp in Moosburg, northeast of Munich in southern Germany.
By the end of the war, the camp held 80,000 English, Serbian, French and American soldiers.
Haak worked on a farm 8 to 10 hours a day, part of a 15-man group that harvested potatoes and beets used to feed the German army. He learned to use a thrasher, a skill that came in handy later, when he was back on the family farm in Sterling.
The Germans were hard on the POWs. Once, as he worked on top of a thrasher, his captors decided they wanted the prisoners to work overtime. The GIs refused, and a young guard threatened Haak with a saber.
Haak glared at him and turned away, and the guard hit him in the hip with the butt of his gun.
There were kinder moments. Haak was allowed to send two postcards a month back home to his family, but they were screened by German censors first. “You couldn’t give them a hint of where you were,” Haak said.
On Jan. 5, 1945, his parents received a note from their son, written Sept. 11, 1944.
“ ... I just want to let you know I’m OK. I’m really seeing the world ... Dad, I had some real German beer yesterday. Don’t you envy me. I hope you all are OK. Regards to all.”
In April 1945, the Germans started marching prisoners away from the camp. The farm’s owners sprinkled holy water on the POWs as they passed, afraid the Germans were marching them to their deaths.
“We knew something was up when they pulled us off the farm,” Haak said.
What they didn’t know was that the Allied forces were closing in.
As they crossed the Inn River, the German soldiers blew up the bridge to slow the Allied advance.
A few days later, on May 3, 1945, the prisoners discovered half of the guards were gone. He and about 60 other prisoners walked to a small town near the river.
Turns out the 13th Armor Division was there. A division sergeant was so surprised to see 60 POWs come walking up to him that “the cigar just dropped out of his mouth,” Haak said.
On May 26, 1945, and Haak’s parents received their third Western Union telegram: “The Secretary of War desires me to express his pleasure that your son PFC Elwin Haak returned to military control.”
The final telegram, dated June 2, 1945, read:
“The chief of staff of the Army, directs me to inform your son, PFC Haak, Elwin H., is being returned to the United States within the near future and will be given an opportunity to meet with you upon arrival.”
The Honor Flight file
Elwin Haak
Age: 86
Town: Sterling
Rank: Promoted to corporal before his discharge
Branch: Army
Terms of Service: March 1943 to December 1945
Medals: Prisoner of War Medal, World War II victory medal, and Army of Occupation medal.
Employment after the war: Owner, Rock River Vending.
