Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972 Page: 60
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Cronin
60
because we had destroyed his home. And I remember
feeling for that man, but the guards stepped right in
there and he stepped back. But then they took us into
camp, and we lived a very monotonous life there.
What did this camp look like? Can you describe it from
a physical standpoint?
If you saw that movie Stalag . . . what was that picture?
It looked exactly like it. Twenty-four men to a room.
In the standing area you could stand maybe ten, so you
had to stay in your straw bunks, three high. Ersatz
coal burners and they'd give you a couple of lumps a
day after you get there. We lost a hell of a lot of
weight. We got very little to eat.
What was your weight, incidentally, at the time you were
captured? Could you estimate it?
They estimated me to be under a hundred pounds after we
went for a period of about three months. But the bad
part about this time of the war . . . the Jerry PW
camps through '42, 43, and '44 were not bad places.
They were allowed to get Red Cross packages. They had
plays. They had a lot of things. But they were real
hellholes because they wouldn't feed us. Now I don't
mean to say that they were rougher than the Japanese,
but they were bad, and we were hungry. I've seen
American soldiers scrounging through their own garbageMarcello:
Cronin:
Marcello:
Cronin:
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Marcello, Ronald E. & Cronin, Eugene R. Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972, book, February 1, 1972; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1529237/m1/62/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Oral History Program.