Saturday, November 4, 2023 | Country Acres South • Page 1 PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #278 Madelia, MN 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave Sauk Centre MN 56378
SOUTH Saturday, November 4, 2023
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 2, Edition 11
A hero’s recollections World War II veteran Staub shares his stories BY AMY KYLLO | STAFF WRITER
ROCHESTER — When Richard ard Staub fought with the Allies during Worldd War II, he was on the opposite side of the fox holes than his father had been some 30 years earlier duringg World War I. Staub, a 100-year-old WWII veteran eteran livingg in Rochester, was born in Baden-Baden, aden, Germa Germaa any along the French border in 1923 and came too the U.S. in 1928 and lived in Chicago. go. He later went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge and fight as part of the 12th 2th Armoredd Division. On April 27, 1945, the 12th th Armored Division helped liberate one of the subcamps off the Dachau Concentration Camp. Today, he lives in a senior living ng apartmentt and recalls his days with the military, ry, talking about his most important memories and a perso person o on he met who changed his life. It was about 1943 when Staub was drafted ou out ut of a defense plant. “After we had enough parts, then drafted en they draft ftted me,” he said. He went to basic training at Camp Blandingg near Starke, Florida and thought he was going to t be sent to the Pacific because he had trained in swamps. Instead, he was shipped to Naples, Italy ly ly and the European Theater. December 1944 brought one of Staub’s most important memories from WWII when he was sent to Belgium where he fought as armored infantry in the Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Battle of the Ardennes. Staub said they fought from fox holes. He had just come from Italy and said they did not have warm clothes. According to the Associated Press, the average temperature during the battle was 20 degrees with approximately 8 inches of snow. The Battle of the Bulge began Dec. 16, 1944, and lasted until Jan. 25, 1945. The Allies suffered over 80,000 casualties according to a Dec. 18, 2019, article. “All I can say is scary,” Staub said. After the Battle of the Bulge, Staub went into Germany. “That was the last real push that the Germans had left,” Staub said. “They put everything into it there, and after that, they didn’t have anything left. So, we went through Germany pretty easy after the Battle of the Bulge.”
PHOTO BY AMY KYLLO
Richard Staub smiles Oct. 27 outside the senior living apartment building where he resides in Rochester. Staub is a 100-year-old World War II veteran. U.S. ARMY PHOTOGRAPH. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES CATALOG
(Below) Members of the 75th Infantry Division cross a bridge leading to the town of Vielsalm, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Battle of the Ardennes. Richard Staub fought in the battle after being sent from Italy to Belgium.
O od ds into the wo during ad n hea io is iv D y, th an 94 m e A patrol of th fried Line in Nochern, Ger fought from fo fore the Sieg the Bulge. Richard Staub the Battle of ng the battle. th foxholes duri fo TESY PHOTO COUR
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Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on November 18, 2023
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