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Interviewee
Armold, Roy
Document Type
Oral History
Date of Interview
7-25-2003
Abstract
Roy Armold was born on 18 July 1923 in Maytown, Pennsylvania, one of two children. He attended local schools, graduating from East Donegal High School in 1941. Roy worked during 1942 at an Army depot in nearby Marietta, then in January 1943 entered the US Army. Following Basic Training, Roy moved through a number of training programs before being assigned in early 1944 as a rifleman to Company F, 422nd Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, then stationed at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. The division shipped to Europe in fall 1944, and took up positions on the Belgian-German border in early December. The German Ardennes Offensive, launched in mid-December, encircled Roy's unit, and on 19 December 1944 he was taken as a POW. Along with many other captured Americans, Roy was transported by rail to Stalag IV-B, at Muhlberg, located between Leipzig and Dresden. Having suffered frozen feet, Roy was placed in the camp's Lazarett (hospital). The Red Army's western advance in early 1945 forced the Germans to evacuate POWs, and the Lazarett was moved several times, first to Leipzig, then to the city of Halle. Roy was at a location in Halle when advancing American troops arrived in April. After liberation, he spent time at the central American POW repatriation facility in Le Havre, France, before returning to the United States. Roy was at Camp Buckner General Hospital, North Carolina, and a second medical facility in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, before being discharged in October 1945 with the rank of private first class. Again a civilian, Roy used GI Bill benefits to obtain a degree from Elizabethtown College; he then taught in the Donegal School District, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for thirty years, retiring in 1985. Roy was married in 1948 (wife Mary), and helped to raise a family of three boys.
Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced without the written permission of Concordia University Library or Thomas Saylor, Department of History, Concordia University, St. Paul.
Recommended Citation
Saylor, Thomas, "Oral History Project World War II Years, 1941-1946 - Roy Armold" (2003). Oral History Project: World War II Years, 1941-1946. 3.
https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/oral-history_ww2/3
PDF Transcript of Interview with Roy Armold