“Don’t ever call me a hero. My opinion of a hero are the ones that never made it back.”
World War II veteran Guy Prestia addressed a packed room of visitors at the World War II Museum in Eldred Saturday, sharing his memories of his service with the 45th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army and his experience as a liberator of Dachau Concentration Camp. The room filled with laughter, with tears and the walls reflected the echo of three standing ovations to show appreciation for Prestia’s service before the day’s end.
“When we first came home, no one spoke about it. There were 18 million people involved in World War II, including soldiers, WACS, WAVES, nurses and pilots,” he said. “When it was over, everyone went back to their family, to their jobs and carried on. I didn’t even see a doctor when I came home.
“Today, they operate differently. People get checked over when they come home.”
WACS refers to the Women’s Army Corps, while WAVES were Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, also known as the United States Naval Reserve (Women’s Reserve).
Prestia is 97 years old and a native of Ellwood City. His service began with 13 weeks of basic training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., outside of Macon.
“In the infantry, you do a lot of walking,” Prestia explained. He also noted that basic training included a visit to a rifle range for education on various weapons.
“Before, I never shot a rifle. I didn’t own one,” he said. “But they showed us how.”
From basic training, Prestia moved on to Blackstone, Va., where he was trained in mountain maneuvers at Camp Pickett. Prestia became part of the 45th Infantry Division, a unit formed out of the Oklahoma National Guard from the American Southwest. The unit’s original patch was emblazoned with a swastika, a symbol that was an Indian omen. In light of the war they were headed into, Prestia explained the troop changed the patch to display a thunderbird, another Indian omen for the western states.
The unit was put on boats to go overseas on June 3, 1942. They reached North Africa June 22.
“We zig-zagged to avoid u-boats and submarines under the water,” Prestia explained.
Troops landed in Europe on July 10, 1943. They landed during a big storm, with heavy rain and fog.
Prestia explained his unit was supposed to aim for either of two different landing sites, sandy beaches.
“We didn’t get to either one,” Prestia said. “We were supposed to hit sandy beach, with water only up to our knees. The commander made the first mistake. He told the ones with rifles to fix bayonets. I carried a Browning Automatic Rifle so I didn’t have a bayonet. We missed the beach and hit a great big rock.”
The mistake was resolved by keeping the boat against the rock; the soldiers climbed out one-by-one and pulled the next soldier out after them. Their first casualty was one of the men who was accidentally stabbed by a bayonet. Prestia explained he died on shore within 20 minutes due to blood loss.
The unit was advised to be alert, as there might be a German paratrooper attack. They were new soldiers and unable to recognize a plane by the sound of the engine — experience they would develop as the war went on.
“The first big bomber went over, and everyone fired into the air,” Prestia said. He explained that the next morning, when daylight broke, there were paratroopers hanging in the olive trees, most dead and some injured. The men were the 82nd Airborne, killed by friendly fire.
“That is what you don’t like to see, friends dying because of those mistakes,” Prestia said.
The war continued from there, including participation in various battles, capturing military assets and taking prisoners and going into numerous small towns in Italy and Sicily.
“(General George S.) Patton and (Dwight D.) Eisenhower were my generals,” Prestia explained. At one point, Patton had a conversation with General Patton, who asked, “Soldier, where are you from?”
“Just a small town,” Prestia said.
Patton’s response was, “Look at all of these soldiers. They don’t all come from New York City.”
His advice to Prestia concerned the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) Prestia carried, “Keep it clean. It will save your life.”
Prestia’s unit was supposed to go to Munich, Germany. However, en route his commander, Lt. Col. Felix Sparks, was told, “Swing down to Dachau and see what’s going on there.”
Prestia turned 23 on April 26, 1945. Three days later, his unit marched into Dachau. The soldiers liberated 31,000 people at Dachau. The stench was powerful, and there were train cars filled with the dead.
“We saw many people get killed in different ways, but we never saw anything like that. Some soldiers sat and cried. Some got sick,” Prestia said. “We weren’t allowed to give the prisoners food. They were so undernourished, if you fed them, they died.”
Many died even after they were liberated, as the path to recovery from malnourishment and abuse was too hard.
Prestia also explained that the liberation of the concentration camp was perfectly timed.
Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the German SS and the person in charge of Dachau, fled when he discovered that U.S. troops were approaching. However, he directed his men to kill everyone in the camp. When the camp was liberated, kettles filled with soup were on the stove in the kitchen — all poisoned. That soup was going to be fed to the prisoners the next day.
“We got there just at the right time,” Prestia said.
Prestia said that, during his deployment in Europe, he and other soldiers wondered why they were there at times.
“After Dachau, we found out why we were there — to set people free,” he said.
Audience members got to ask questions, and many shared their own experience visiting Dachau or locations in Europe where their family members saw battle during World War II. Others shared about family members lost in the war or who were forever changed by their service.
“These are people, not battalions or brigades. They are regular folks who did extraordinary things,” said Museum Curator Steve Appleby. “Our young people need to know what real heroes look like.”
(Source: Joellen Wankel, Bradford Era- 29/10/2019)
