Thirteen/WNET New York WLIW 21
New York War Stories : Your Memories. Your Words.

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Submitted by: Norman H. Kass

A few days past VE Day, I was in Winterburg (Vimperk) Czechloslavakian with my outfit - Headquarters company, 1st Battalion 10th Infantry Regiment, Fifth Infantry Division, Third Army. I walked through the village and happened upon a convent turned hospital in which there were 22 young Jewish women in a deplorable state of famine resulting from a forced march of 200 KMs from Poland when the war ended and the nuns took care of them. To relieve their situation I took a 20 meal carton of food from my outfit and brought it to these women. Because I was able to communicate with them in Yiddish, their reaction to me was as if the Messiah had come. Unfortunately one of the women was beyond resuscitation and she succumbed just before I brought the package. Needless to say, I was heartbroken by this but I still derived pleasure from having helped the remaining ones to their first full meal in months. I can never forget that experience.