Every once in a while, I come across someone who truly deserves the title "hero". Not celebrities, rock stars or professional athletes, I'm talking about real men and women who risk life and limb to come to the aid of another.
Unfortunately, one of those heroes I am speaking about today has passed away at the age of 83.
James Hoyt delivered mail in rural Iowa for more than 30 years. Yet Hoyt had long kept a secret from most of those who knew him best: He was one of the four U.S. soldiers to first see Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp.
Hoyt died Monday at his home in Oxford, Iowa, a town of about 700 people where he had lived his entire life. He was 83.
His funeral was Thursday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Oxford, with about 100 people in attendance. The Rev. Edmond Dunn officiated and recalled time he spent with Hoyt and his wife.
"I used to go over to have lunch with Doris and Jim, and I would sit across from Jim at the kitchen table and think, 'Before me is a true American hero,' " he said.
Hoyt had rarely spoken about that day in 1945, but he recently opened up to a journalist.
"There were thousands of bodies piled high. I saw hearts that had been taken from live people in medical experiments," Hoyt told author Stephen Bloom in a soon-to-be-published book called "The Oxford Project."
"They said a wife of one of the SS officers -- they called her the Bitch of Buchenwald -- saw a tattoo she liked on the arm of a prisoner, and had the skin made into a lampshade. I saw that."
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Mr. Hoyt.
It's men like you that have made America great.
If any of you wish to see the horrors that Mr. Hoyt came across that fateful day, take a look. I warn you, the photos can be considered graphic to some.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/buchenwald.liberator/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto
Travis
My dad spent four years at Buchenwald as a prisoner and talked often about the horrors of that place. He used to say that everyday he thought about killing himself.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Americans finally came, he blessed them and their parents and all the children they would ever have.
In my life, I’ve met both survivors of the camps and some of the liberators. They are all simple, quiet, ordinary men, and I am fortunate to have one of the liberators in my family. My wife’s Uncle Buddy Calendrillo was one of the first liberators at the Ohrdruf concentration camp.
He can barely talk about what he remembers seeing, but he forces himself to go on and what he says about the prisoners in that concentration camp is simple and human and profound: “They were just people.”
I’ve written about him and what he means to me at my blog:
http://lightning-and-ashes.blogspot.com/2008/01/letter-from-uncle-buddy.html
I'm amazed at the stories I hear from WWII. Tales of survival against all odds, while people around you, some of whom were stronger and bigger, died.
ReplyDeleteIt can be very difficult for people to recall and retell these stories as atrocities were on a scale never before seen in history.
Sometimes the only thing you can do is tell a person you love them, and be understanding when they go through the difficult emotional breakdowns that they may have from time to time.
As for your uncle, tell him thank you too. Often times I don't get a chance to tell a real hero thank you until after they've passed away.
Unfortunately, because so much time has passed, people tend to forget, move on with their lives, and let history fade away to the textbooks of schoolchildren.
Welcome Home Mr. Guzlowski's father from everyone here.
Thank you Mr. Guzlowski's uncle for braving things that others might not have the stomach for.
Travis
Travis, thank you for the thank you, and if my father was alive he would thank you and invite you out for a beer to celebrate the two of you being here in America rather than some place far worse.
ReplyDeleteWell I feel honored that our country has men as fine as them.
ReplyDelete