Anthony Acevedo was born in San Bernardino, California and spent most of his childhood in Pasadena. His father was a civil architectural engineer. During the 1930s his parents were told to leave the country because they were not citizens. Acevedo and his two sisters had to go with them. They went to live in Durango, Mexico. At ten years old he began to acclimate himself to the customs of Mexico. He spoke half English and half Spanish. He went to school in Durango. Acevedo was 16 or 17 years old when the war started. He kept up to date on what was going on during the war because his father was called to be the president of the Civil Defense Committee. His father was associated with a family in Texas named the Millers. The Millers had a pineapple farm that supplied pineapples to the US Navy. Acevedo and his buddies used to go swim in an Olympic sized swimming pool that his father had built in 1940. Acevedo and his buddies would go swimming in the morning then they would go to class. His buddies were Jose Blanco and the other was Antonio Corolla. One particular morning Blanco told Acevedo that he heard Morse code going off. They went to investigate it and found two of Acevedo's father's employees communicating with German submarines in Baja, California. Blanco understood Morse code so he knew what was being said. They immediately went to Acevedo's father. They told him what they had seen and the two employees were promptly arrested.

The time came when Anthony Acevedo had to leave home and join the Army. The American Embassy kept close tabs on them [Annotator's Note: the American children of Mexican nationals]. Acevedo left his parents and returned to Pasadena. He was inducted into the Army and assigned to the 70th Infantry Division. He had some letters of recommendation that he showed to his master sergeant stating that he wanted to be a medic. He wanted to be a doctor. While this was being looked into, Acevedo went through boot camp. He scored very high with the carbine, M1, and the .45 caliber pistol and even earned some decorations as a result. One day they were out on bivouac when a jeep pulled up. Acevedo was called out and told that he had been transferred to the Medical Corps. He went to a medical school in Oregon where he took an eight month course that was condensed into four months. From Oregon he was sent to Springfield, Missouri where he went to school at O'Reilly General Hospital. When he completed his training course there he returned to his outfit where they continued to train and prepare for battle. They were initially issued equipment for the tropics. None of them knew where they were going. It ended up being Europe. They went overseas aboard the SS America, which was then the West Point [Annotator's Note: USS West Point (AP-23)]. They shipped out of Camp Davis, Massachusetts and went to Gibraltar then continued on to Marseilles, France.

They [Annotator's Note: Anthony Acevedo and his fellow soldiers of the 275th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division] went ashore in Marseille and stayed there for a couple days. They were then sent to Bitche, France. Acevedo's company ended up at Philipsburg. Acevedo was a medic in Company B, 1st Battalion, 275th Infantry Regiment. Acevedo was still carrying his duffel bag with him, along with his first aid equipment, even after the company went into combat for a short time right after they got to France. As they were heading back to Philipsburg after the brief battle, one of their scouts told them that they were to head to Falkenburg where the Germans had taken over. When they arrived, Acevedo discovered that his company commander had been shot and was in bad shape. The medic, Murray Pruzan [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], who was a good friend of Acevedo's, had been killed. There were many wounded to care for. They remained there from 1 January [Annotator's Note: 1 January 1945] until about 6 January. They were dug in and had air cover but the Germans were able to take the hill they were on. They were captured and forced to take their boots off and walk down the hill barefooted. The snow was up to their waists. They were put on trucks and taken to Bad Orb to Stalag IX-b. A number of things happened while they were at Stalag IX-b. Some of the prisoners tried to steal some things out of the kitchen and nearly killed the cook. The prisoners were forced to stand outside of the barracks for six to eight hours. Some of the men had not been able to put their shoes on before having to go outside. Finally, the culprits surrendered. A couple days after that incident, they were lying on the floor resting. They were sick from the food they had recently eaten. They heard the chains on the door being undone. Two guards entered the room followed by a Gestapo officer with a monocle and wearing a black leather trench coat. The Gestapo officer walked around looking at the prisoners. He pointed to Acevedo and told him to go to another room. That is where his interrogation started. Acevedo was astounded that the Gestapo officer knew everything about him. He knew where Acevedo lived and where his parents were. The officer went on to tell him his scout master's name and that he owned a hardware store. Then he brought up the incident Acevedo was involved in with the two employees of his father's who were in radio contact with German submarines in Baja, California [Annotator's Note: see segment titled Life Before the Army]. He then told Acevedo how he knew so much about him.

Anthony Acevedo was picked to be part of a group of 350 Jewish and other undesirables being sent to Berga in the Ulster [Annotator's Note: to the concentration camp at Berga am Ulster]. Acevedo was one of the undesirables. They were taken from Bad Orb [Annotator's Note: Stalag IX-b in Bad Orb] and put on a train for six days and nights. The prisoners were forced to stand up in the cattle cars. They could not sit down and they were not given food or water. To make matters worse, American planes would attack the train. They finally ended up at Berga, near Buchenwald. There, they saw the atrocities committed by the Germans. Everyday they were given soup and bread. They received 100 grams of bread once a week. The bread was a black bread that had ground glass, sand, and saw dust in it. As a medic, Acevedo did his best to care for the other prisoners. The other medics did the same. Of the 350 man group there were only six medics. The other guys were put to work in tunnels that the Germans were having them dig. The tunnels were meant to house secret weapons. Many of the prisoners who worked in the tunnels ended up suffering from lung problems. One of Acevedo's friends, Norm Feldman, now has to carry around an oxygen tank because his lungs are so bad. Acevedo was able to keep a diary during his captivity. He used a little book he had gotten from a k ration. In it he wrote down the names of the guys who were in bad shape. He also listed the guys who died or could not take it anymore. Around 7 April [Annotator's Note: 7 April 1945] the Germans started to feel the heat. The French, Russians, Brits, and the Americans were all heading their way. The Germans decided to move the prisoners toward Bavaria. They marched about 217 miles, day and night. Sometimes they slept alongside the road but they had nothing to cover themselves with. Acevedo's list started to grow little by little. Finally, they ended up in Kamm, Germany. They were liberated near Kamm by tankers of the 11th Armored Division. One of the tankers picked Acevedo up and put him on top of the tank. Acevedo was very week. He had gone from 145 pounds down to 87 pounds. He was 19 and a half years old.

Anthony Acevedo shipped out of the United States around 6 December [Annotator's Note: 6 December 1944]. The trip to Marseilles took about seven days. He went ashore in Marseilles around 14 December. The Battle of the Bulge began right after that. They celebrated Christmas on the Siegfried Line. Being overseas and being in combat was almost like a dream for Acevedo. He was numb. He did have cravings for certain foods and missed his family. They never considered the possibility that they would be captured. They were prepared for combat. At Philipsburg, just before they went into combat, they were split into groups. Acevedo's company was assigned to a wire factory near Falkenburg Hill. One soldier approached Acevedo and told him that he did not want to go into combat because he was afraid. Acevedo took the man's rifle from him and turned him over to another medic. Acevedo told the other medic that he was going to tag the man as a special casualty and asked that the medic bring the man back to the aid station. That was one of his first casualties. After the combat troops captured Falkenburg Hill Acevedo went up.

When Anthony Acevedo left Bad Orb there were some captains there who told him that if he had gone to the commandant of the camp he would have been sent to a medical school in Munich. Acevedo was not about to betray his men. The SS Gestapo man who interrogated Acevedo spoke several languages. He spoke Spanish fluently. The interrogation lasted about an hour but went by fairly quickly for Acevedo. The Gestapo man had the guards put needles in Acevedo's fingers in an attempt to get him to talk. When he got back to the group the other prisoners saw him with his hands bleeding. He did not tell them anything because he did not know anything to tell them. Still, they had been trained to only give their name and serial number. It did not matter what the prisoners told them. The interrogators already knew everything about them. When Acevedo was growing up in Durango he did not know that there was a German colony nearby. He knew of a group of Swiss and another of French but not the Germans.

Anthony Acevedo does not know much about Bad Orb. During peace time it was a center for health. Even so, Acevedo never had any urge to go back to see it after the war. He had no desire to see Berga either. Berga was a murder center. Horrific atrocities were committed there. When prisoners arrived at Berga they were told to strip under some water pipes. They were then gassed. This did not just happen to men. It happened to women, children, and old people as well. During the death march away from Berga they saw the Germans slaughter people up ahead of them on the highway. The people would make a break for the fences and would get hung up on the barbed wire. One day when they left the highway to take a rest they saw a pile of people who had been shot. The hate was horrible. One of the guards tried to be nice to the prisoners. He was afraid. Acevedo would see him praying when he saw American planes flying overhead. Acevedo had a wristwatch that he was able to hold onto until he got to Bad Orb. Bad Orb was one of the largest camps. There were members of many different races there. One prisoner approached Acevedo by the fence and offered him four loaves of bread in exchange for his watch. Acevedo took him up on it. He gave three loaves to his friends and kept the fourth for himself. When he went to sleep he used it as a pillow. When he woke up the next morning there was not a crumb left. The other prisoners had eaten it right out from under his head.

When Anthony Acevedo first arrived at Berga he could not see the camp. There were political prisoners there but they were separated from the Americans. There were four barracks set up that all of the Americans would fit into. The bunks inside were stacked three high and were covered with straw. The men had no blankets. They could see through the walls of the barracks. When it snowed they had no way to keep out the cold. When one of them men tried to escape they were forced to take their clothes off. They were only allowed to leave on their underclothes. A few of the men escaped but a couple of them were shot. The Germans did not use regular bullets. They used wooden bullets that would splinter inside of the body and not exit. Acevedo was able to get a wooden bullet to show its effects. Acevedo would be called to verify that a man had tried to escape. The men were forced to work in the tunnels. They would fill up the holes where the explosives were to be placed with sand to minimize the effects of the blast. The Germans would have the men throw the big rocks down by the river and would paint them green so the American aircrews would think it was just grass. Prior to being captured, Acevedo unit was ambushed by six German soldiers with machine guns. Someone was hit and the call for a medic went out. He managed to find the wounded man, who had been hit in the knee. Because of the severity of the man's wound, Acevedo was forced to perform an amputation of the man's lower leg on the spot. At Berga, Acevedo did his best to treat the sick. One man named Vogel, the son of a prominent attorney, was not eating. Acevedo tried to force him to eat a boiled egg. Finally, Bernie Vogel died. He had just given up. Some guys had the strength to go on but some did not. Acevedo had a fountain pen that he used to keep his diary. It lasted for a long time. Six of the prisoners were set to go to an English hospital. One of them developed diphtheria and could not breathe. Acevedo asked the commandant if he would perform a tracheotomy. The commandant took a guard's rifle and hit Acevedo with it then hit another medic standing nearby who had been translating for them. The patient died before he reached the hospital. They had no doctors or medications. What Acevedo and the other medics carried was left over sulpha tablets and another chemical they used as a placebo for aspirin.

Anthony Acevedo started his diary a little at a time. He entered information about what was happening in his area. They did not get much in the box of rations [Annotator's Note: the diary Acevedo wrote in was actually a small booklet that had come in a Red Cross ration box]. Acevedo decided to make a list of the names of the fellows along with their POW number. He dropped his diary a few times while on a tea run. That was when they would go out to pick up barrels of water in the mornings. It was not tea. During the winter nothing grew there so the Germans would boil hay in an attempt to trick the prisoners into thinking it was tea. Acevedo's motivation to keep going when others did not was his faith. He carried a prayer book with him and prayed regularly. Some of the guys did not have faith. Some of the guys who were non believers asked Acevedo to baptize them in combat. As medics they had been instructed that if they were approached by someone who wanted to change themselves as a result of fear that they were to do their best to help them. It was the same in battle as it was in the prison camp. It did not matter what religion they were or wanted to be baptized into. That faith helped some of the men to live through their ordeal. Acevedo was never forced to work in the tunnels. He never went more than five feet in. He would only go in far enough to grab a sick or injured man to drag him out. The medics asked the Germans to cut down on the number of people going in. The men worked 12 hour shifts. The medics asked that the number of men per shift be reduced by half so the men could rest and would be in better shape to work when it was their turn. The Germans turned them down. The sick, injured, and exhausted men were simply gotten rid of.

After he was liberated, Anthony Acevedo increased his body weight from 87 pounds to 100 pounds. It took a while for him to do it. At that time no one had ever heard of post traumatic stress. Acevedo met a young lady over the phone whose father was a well known radio station owner. After the war, Acevedo headed down to Mexico to see his family. During the train ride down he met another young lady on the train who was with her family. Acevedo took their address because they had a relative who was a POW as well. Acevedo continued on his trip to Durango and saw his family. When he saw his family his father asked him how he had let himself be captured and said that being captured was a cowardly thing. Acevedo picked up his belongings and immediately returned to the United States. He told his father that that would be the last he would hear from him. Acevedo did not speak to his father for seven years. This all took place in July or August 1945. On 10 February, Acevedo married the woman he met on the train and left the first woman hanging. In the mean time she met someone and married. Her husband died in the early 1970s and Acevedo met her again soon after her husband’s death. Around the time Acevedo married his first wife, he applied for a job at General Hospital in Los Angeles in therapy. When they saw his condition, they put him on a vitamin regimen. It made him sick and he threw up but he was able to get his weight up from 100 to 120. It took five or six years before Acevedo was able to gain a little bit of his weight back. One of his ex wife's brothers told him that he should drink beer. Acevedo was not a drinker. Acevedo applied for Hollywood College of chiropractors. He took a course and when he was only eight months short of graduating his ex wife convinced him to quit and go into another field. He decided to go into engineering.

When they [Annotator's Note: Anthony Acevedo and the other former POWs from the Berga concentration camp] left Paris, they were sent to Camp Lucky Strike. There, they were told to sign a document stating that if they ever spoke of their experiences that they would be federally prosecuted and jailed. They later found out that the United States had been involved, through corporations, with Germany and Japan. It was suggested that if they said anything they would be jeopardizing the lives of American prisoners in Japan. It did not make sense to Acevedo. When Acevedo went to work for North American Aviation, the aviation corporations that were building missiles were headed by German scientists. Acevedo believes that this was the reason they were not permitted to say anything about their experiences. The holocaust group of Germany which was handled by a lawyer named William Marx gave each one of the ex prisoners of war 100,000 dollars. The United States gave each of them one dollar and 57 cents. The former prisoners are not asking for anything. Acevedo is just making a comparison. Charles Guggenheim, of Charles Guggenheim Productions, was preparing to go to Europe but was having some problems with his physical condition. Guggenheim had been in the 106th Infantry Division. Acevedo and Guggenheim started talking and that is how Acevedo began talking about his experiences. He wishes it would have started a long time ago. Young people today do not even know that World War II took place but they need to know. Acevedo is happy to talk about his experiences these days. He goes to schools to give lectures about it. After the war, he had nightmares but he did not know why he had them. He did not go to a VA hospital. His ex wife told him he was a cry baby. He could not let out what was inside him and no one around him understood. It was hard. Soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan and they commit suicide. Acevedo feels that current and future generations should know everything that happened during the war. He and his fellow soldiers were trained well. Unfortunately, there was a lot of racism, especially with the guys from Oklahoma. It seems that the same problem exists today. Hate does not do any good. If Acevedo had to do it all over again he would not change a thing. He enjoyed the Army. He made a lot of friends. Camp Adair, Oregon was nice. They referred to it as Swamp Adair because of the swamps surrounding the facility. At that time, Acevedo could wear his uniform and walk down Main Street in LA. That cannot be done now. Those days are long gone.