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Interviewee
Koshiol, Milton
Document Type
Oral History
Date of Interview
5-21-2004
Abstract
Milton Koshiol was born 11 September 1924 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, one of five children; he grew up there and graduated from Cathedral High School in 1942. In January 1944, Milt was drafted into the US Army, and trained as an infantryman. He arrived in England in July 1944, and by December of that year was in Europe serving with Company A, 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division. On 28 March 1945, just six weeks before the end of the war, elements of the 4th Armored, some three hundred men, were ordered on a mission to free American POWs held at Stalag XIII-C Hammelburg, some fifty miles behind German lines. The raid failed miserably; more than thirty soldiers were killed and most of the others were taken prisoner. Milt Koshiol was one of them. Milt spent thirty-two days as a POW. With Germany collapsing, his stays at camps were brief: XIII-C Hammelburg, then XIII-D Nuremberg, then a march south to VII-A Moosburg. This overcrowded camp was liberated by US forces on 29 April 1945. After evacuation and return to the United States, Milt spent several months in hospital, then was discharged in April 1946. Again a civilian, he got married in 1947 (wife Rosemary) and helped to raise six children at the family home in Paynesville. Milt spent forty years as owner and operator of Zapf Leather and Western Wear in Paynesville.
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 - Milt Koshiol" (2004). Oral History Project: World War II Years, 1941-1946. 36.
https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/oral-history_ww2/36
PDF Transcript of Interview with Milt Koshiol