World War II Woman

Dogs, Leathernecks, and Salt Mines

Speaking to a group of women the other day, I heard more stories from World War II.

One mentioned her Chesapeake Bay Retriever that served in the Army. He was a guard dog guarding German soldiers in prison camps here in our country. Fritzie survived the war, however when he came home he was fine with the family but was not to be trusted with other people. He had been taught to attack. After he managed to break his chain one day, it was decided that he was too dangerous and must be put away. It was a sad day.

Another person told of two aunts – one a pharmacist and one a secretary – who were Leathernecks, serving in the Marine Corps. They both worked in the air tower at Cherry Point, North Carolina.

Other stories included a mother who worked in a Red Cross Motor Pool. Another had a relative whose duty it was to patrol the beaches off Wildwood, New Jersey, to pick up German bodies washed ashore.

A final story was of an uncle who descended by elevator into a salt mine in Germany, holding a gun in the back of a German prisoner. There in the salt mine was found much artwork and bullion – bars and bars of gold. Her uncle was one of many people involved in retrieving these treasures that had been stashed away by the German authorities.

Interestingly enough, the February 2008 issue of Smithsonion, www.smithsonian.com, has a lengthy article of the Monument Men, some 350 art historians, museum curators, professors, soldiers, and sailors whose job it was to retrieve these treasures and, where possible, return them to their rightful owners. Among the paintings were those by Vermeer, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Raphael, Leonardo and Botticelli. With the help of the Monument Men (some women included) and others, about five million cultural items were returned to their owners between 1945 and 1951.

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