Call Of Duty
By JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH City editorArticle Photos
Editor's Note: For generations the people of the Ohio Valley have been quick to answer the call to serve the nation during times of war. The region has sent men and women to battle during World Wars I and II, in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and in many other places around the globe.
WOODSFIELD - Herman Zerger has no regrets about sacrificing his youth in exchange for others' freedom more than 60 years ago.
In fact, he recalls his military days fondly and readily shares memories of everything from eating "grass soup" to marching past the Coliseum in Rome and casting his first ballot in a U.S. presidential election from a foxhole in France. He said he voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt - perhaps a portent of his lifelong involvement with the Democratic Party.
"I'm proud I served and, if need be, I'd do it again if I was able," the 85-year-old World War II veteran said.
Known as "Zerg" to many of his friends, the Woodsfield native volunteered for the U.S. Army in the summer of 1942 after graduating from Woodsfield High School. After undergoing the required physical examination at Clarksburg, W.Va., Zerger left home by bus Jan. 6, 1943, bound for Fort Hayes in Columbus, Ohio.
"I thought it was my patriotic duty to go," he said.
Following Basic Training at Camp Croft in South Carolina, Zerger returned home for 10 days before reporting to Fort Meade in Maryland. He shipped out for Europe in June 1943, assigned to the 36th Texas Infantry Division.
Zerger first saw combat in the invasion of Salerno, Italy, on Sept. 9, 1943. As a platoon sergeant for one of three rifle companies with the 141st Regiment of the 36th, he sometimes had as many as 50 men serving beneath him as they fought north through Italy and across France.
"We had hard fighting in Italy," he said, citing obstacles like thick mud and massive mountains. At the Rapido River crossing, we lost almost 2,000 men."
Zerger said casualties were high for the "36th Hard Luck Division" as it headed into southern France in September 1944 and throughout the war. He noted he dedicated 300 days to frontline, foxhole fighting.
"I left so many of my men over there," he said, tearing up slightly.
Shrapnel from a "German 88" artillery piece tore into Zerger's shoulder on Dec. 6, 1944, in the Vosges Mountains near Lavel, France. He spent five days recovering in a hospital close to the front. But when superior officers came to the facility seeking replacements for casualties, Zerger returned to the battle.
"Either surrender or be killed" was the choice Zerger and some of his men faced as they approached the banks of the Rhine River about a year later. The German SS troops who surrounded them were " tall, blond, blue-eyed fellas - mean and vicious," he said.
Realizing his fate was to become a prisoner of war, Zerger removed the Lord Elgin gold watch his mather and father had given him and placed it in the arch of his boot. The "tall, lanky lieutenant" who searched Zerger failed to find the watch, which Zerger said he still has to this day.
The SS officer also passed over something else Zerger had in his possession - a lone, 2-ounce chocolate bar in his left jacket pocket. Zerger still wonders if the lieutenant intentionally overlooked the candy because he knew it was likely the prisoners would starve to death.
Zerger spent 95 days as a POW. In that time, he was prodded at gunpoint to march from one camp to another; forced to labor on behalf of the German army; crammed into railroad cars so crowded with men that they could not lie down; and starved and kept in basements populated by rats.
It was the 143rd Regiment of the 36th Division that liberated Zerger and his fellow prisoners in May 1945. He said Russian prisoners held at the same location "were just skeletons" by the time their rescuers arrived, and many of them died from gorging themselves with food after being freed." Zerger and the Americans were instructed to only eat small bits of food at first.
After traveling by plane and train back to LaHarve, France, Zerger sailed for home on June 5, 1945. He still vividly recalls his arrival at Newport News, Va.
"I knelt down and kissed the ground and thanked the Lord," Zerger said. "Then I went to the PX to get some ice cream."
Zerger received many medals for his service, including a Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart and more.
"I tried to be a good soldier, and I got several citations," he said.
The French government also has recognized Zerger's contribution to the Allied victory in WWII. Earlier this year, he was presented with France's highest honor - the Knight of the Legion of Honor medal. It was bestowed upon a total of 10 U.S. veterans in honor of their service.
Of seven WWII POWs from Monroe County, Zerger is the last remaining survivor. After leaving the military, he married Margaret "Peggy' Norris of Woodsfield, who died about 20 years ago. They never had any children.
But Zerger said remaining active in politics and veterans organizations has kept him going strong. He is a charter member of VFW Post 5303 in Woodsfield and was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in November 2008.
He is the oldest and longest-serving county chairman for the Democratic Party in Ohio, having spent 45 years at the helm of the party in Monroe County. He also is chairman of the county Democratic Executive Committee.
Zerger has been named a state Democrat of the Year. Nationally, he attended the 2003 Presidential State of the Union Address and was on hand for the 2004 dedication of the World War II National Monument in Washington, D.C.
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Wheeldog
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11-09-09 12:42 AM
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Walksabout, As hard as it seems for you to believe, Democrats love their country as much as do Republicans. People are individuals regardless of their religious, political, racial, economic or cultural backgrounds. Heros and patriots come from all walks of life and represent the full spectrum of our nation. Those who preach otherwise and claim that only people who conform to a narrow political or social agenda are "True Americans" try to divide our nation and set one group against another. That is the same tactic used by the Nazi in Germany in the 1930s.
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walksabout
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11-08-09 11:03 PM
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I typed GOD pless this man. the I read the democrat thing. How could a man go through all he has and miss the teachings of freedom. well. just to be fair. Bless him.
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