By Judith Gannon Bircher
   Don Tallon was an 18 year old Jersey boy when he went to war over 65 years ago. Corporal Tallon was part of the 36th Infantry, the “T-Patchers”.  Along the 36th Division Trail were deadly obstacles at Salerno, Cassino, Rapido River, Rome, Southern France, Belgium, and Germany. They fought to liberate four countries and captured Hermann Goering and 40 other Nazi Commanders for which they received 10 Presidential Unit Citations and an equal amount of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Tallon himself holds a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, 4 Campaign Medals, the French Legion d’ Honneur, the Infantry Combat Medal, and a POW medal. His most valued possession is his Combat Infantry Badge.

Wounded twice, he related how one machine gun bullet went through his wrist and into his chest and became lodged in the zipper of his combat field jacket, thus saving his life.

On a cold winter day in 1944 the 36th,, along with allied forces, fought one of the bloodiest battles of the war at Monte Cassino on the hill of the Abby standing 1700 feet about the town. German infantry had established observation points along the hillside, leaving advancing allied troops as sitting ducks. It was a day of slaughter and future painful memories. Tallon’s unit was a compliment of 175 men when they tempted to go up the steep hill without cover. Only 20 gallant soldiers survived. There was no time to grieve for lost buddies. No time for tears…they would come later, post war, in old age, when pushed down memories surface. Tallon and others were taken as Prisoners of War.

The morning of September 19, 1944, from Strasbourg on the German – French border, found Tallon among 100 fellow POW’s jammed into a box car with barbed wire rigged over the open doors to prevent escape. The car was meant to accommodate 20 horses, or perhaps 40 people, but not the 100 weary and wounded men on board heading for a fate perhaps worse than the battlefield they had just left.  The journey into the unknown lasted 6 grueling days. With standing room only the men were forced to relieve themselves in their pants and remain standing in their own waste. After the third day they received their first drink of water, but no food. When the weakened soldier succumbed under the circumstances there was no room to fall, they were held up by the others.  More fear was forthcoming when the train was hit by American aircraft artillery attempting to destroy the enemy’s rail transportation. The despairing group eventually arrived at the infamous Stalag II B located near Hammerstein , now the Polish town of Czarne.

If the Stalag wasn’t hell it was the closest thing to it. In 1945 the Army reported that treatment was worse at Stalag II B than at any other camp in Germany established to house American POW’s . Harshness at the base degenerated into brutality and outright murder on some of the Kommandos (German word for the farm camps). Beatings of Americans by their German overseers were too numerous to list, but the records indicate that 10 Americans in work detachments were shot to death by their captors. The men were forced to work on a farm inside the 25,000 acre compound that supplied food but the prisoners received very little of it. Tallon had lost over 50 pounds and all of the men were gaunt and week.  In their camp they received no mail nor were they allowed to send any, although they received an occasional Red Cross package not adequate enough for all.  Language barriers made life even more difficult but the Americans soon learned enough German words to get by, along with using hand gestures. Tallon was assigned as the company cook. In retrospect he confessed that he couldn’t even boil water but he soon learned to make weak soup and boil potatoes. Their diet consisted mostly of potatoes and most of the men suffered from painful potato boils.  Tallon suffers back injuries today as a result of the captor’s guns was jammed into his lower back for whatever infraction was perceived. One officer hit Don across the bridge of his nose with his Luger after the cook didn’t salute him fast enough.

 Toward the end of the war with allied troops closing in for the rescue of the POW camps, the prisoners at Stalag II B were taken on Death Marches to prevent their release. They would march up to 90 miles a day over snow and mud with inadequate clothing, shoes, and food. Those who were too weak to march were shot.

Don Tallon considers himself a lucky man. He lived to tell the tale. So many didn’t, and this haunts him and all soldiers who came home. 

After the shooting stops, after the treaties are signed, after the parades are over, and after the grand speeches are made, remain the memories of hard-won bloody victories, fallen pals, love of liberty and country. With a lot of effort we can perhaps forgive, but, can we never forget?

Don leaves us with one of his favorite quotes: For those who fought for it life has a flavor that the protected will never know.

Don Tallon…Collier County Resident, Ex-Pow, Veteran’s Advocate, All Around Nice Guy, and a true American Hero. Thank you for your service.