Rothacker Smith served as a medic in the Army in Italy during World War 2 where he was wounded and later captured by German forces. He was born in the burrow of Harlem in New York City in 1923. His father was a school teacher and administrator and was only 23 when Smith was born. His family moved a few times before Smith entered school, but returned to New York due to his mother's heart issues, which she died from when Smith was five years old. After his mother's passing, Smith lived in New Rochelle, New York for a time before he moved in with his father on Long Island. While on Long Island, he first encountered racial discrimination, especially in his first grade class, as he was the first and only student of color to attend the local school. Smith's father encouraged him to grow tough in the face of discrimination, which landed Smith in a couple of fist fights at an early age. Life was pleasant overall for Smith, however, even after he started to take the school bus into his second grade school in nearby larger town. Smith's family moved again, this time to Detroit, Michigan to join Smith's uncle there, and so that he and his younger brothers could take spots in the Detroit public school system.

Rothacker Smith's family moved into his grandfather's house in Detroit before the Great Depression. There, Smith and his four siblings lived in a single room. His widowed father married a house keeper whom he had hired to watch Smith and his siblings. Smith's father could not get a job in the Detroit school system so, when the Great Depression hit, he stood in line for hours for a job at a Ford Motors plant, but never was able to get far enough in the line before Ford met its hiring quotas. Smith's step mother worked in a kitchen and his family often lived on as little as six dollars per week during the depression years. Food was scarce for the Smith family so the family got on welfare, but they still struggled mightily to find enough to eat. Finally, the Smiths rented a larger house from a local police station commander, but struggled to heat it and keep the bedbugs from infesting their living spaces. The house provided more space, at least, and Smith and his siblings learned to hustle and grew resourceful in finding ways to heat the house. They used scraps from beer kegs found by a nearby brewery and old railroad ties that were discarded after being replaced. Even under harsh economic conditions, and school classrooms plagued by racial discrimination, Smith still found the positives of life in poor situations.

Rothacker Smith began selling root beer to construction workers at projects around Detroit during the Great Depression. He and his brothers sold root beer for three cents a bottle during summers, and attended school in the fall, where Smith was often the only African-American student in his class. He was often reminded of his minority status by the discrimination he endured from other students. With the advent of the truck, horse drawn carts largely went out of use, so Smith and his brothers obtained one to haul their root beer around town in the summers. They called their business Smith Brothers Root Beer and, despite some instances where their revenue was robbed in Detroit's ghetto communities, Smith managed to earn a profit of about two dollars per day. When Smith was 14, Detroit police officers pulled him over on his horse drawn cart; they found that Smith had no driver's license, and thus ended the root beer business. Based on his desire to give his children the best upbringing he could, Smith's father moved the family to the country about 25 miles outside of Detroit, where Smith gained a deep interest in farming. Smith's family built a comfortable life in the country, where he and his siblings attended school. When Smith was 16, however, the peaceful country life that his father had envisioned evaporated when the police came and evicted Smith's family for failure to pay rent, despite a deal in place with the property's landlord which allowed Smith's family to use rent payments to fix up the house for winter. Smith had an automobile at the time, so he and his family loaded their belongings into it and reluctantly moved back to the city.

Rothacker Smith attended North High School in Detroit, Michigan after his family moved back to the city from the country. Smith's father mentored a group of young, educated African-American men to give them a social outlet and keep them out of trouble, and the group raised enough money to send Smith to college for his first year. Smith attended Emmanuel Missionary College in Berrien Springs, Michigan where he studied agriculture and ultimately earned a degree in the subject. He was at college on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into World War 2. Despite the outbreak of war, Smith returned to Detroit after his first year ended in the spring of 1942 to find a job to pay for another term at Emmanuel Missionary College. He became a forestry helper for Detroit Parks and Recreation, which made him the first African-American forestry helper in Detroit. He registered for the draft and began his work as a forestry helper. He worked that job from September 1942 through February 1943, when he received his draft notice from the Army. Smith first went to Camp Custer in southern Michigan where he served kitchen duty for three days before he was transferred to Camp Stewart in southern Georgia for basic training in March 1943. During his journey to Georgia, Smith had to transfer train cars in Cincinnati, Ohio from a comfortable coach car, to the uncomfortable and dirty colored train car, where he sat for the remainder of the journey. Smith faced varied degrees of racism in Detroit, but was generally able to brush them off. The South's Jim Crow culture and prevalent racism was an entirely different experience, however. Also, the drastic climate change between the negative temperatures and freezing conditions of Michigan, and the warm, humid conditions in Georgia also made adjusting to life in the South difficult for Smith.

Rothacker Smith had no idea that war was in his future on the morning of 7 December 1941. Smith was working in a corn silo that morning and did not hear of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until he returned to the campus of his college, Emmanuel Missionary College, later that afternoon. On the morning of 8 December 1941, a student in Smith's class turned on the radio just as the headlines announced that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had asked congress for a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan. Smith's father served during the last 18 months of the First World War and had told him riveting stories of his time in the Army. With such stories in mind, Smith was initially excited at the prospect of having his own experiences in war so when he received his draft notice in early 1943, he was not reluctant to answer the call. His entrance into the Army also furthered his experience in the complex racial dynamic of the United States. Smith grew up in situations without many other African-Americans in his community. When he started his college studies, he felt that he did not know how to be African-American and learned a lot of African-American cultural norms from the small group of other African-American students at Emanuel Missionary College. The kinds of kidding and joking shared among African-American students in college received a vulgar twist in the Army, but basic training shaped Smith's life in many ways and certainly better informed his racial identity.

Rothacker Smith underwent weeks of training amid a racially tense situation at Camp Stewart, Georgia. Smith was one of 21 medics assigned to an antiaircraft battalion in training. Under the Army's segregation standards, Smith's entire antiaircraft battalion consisted of African-Americans. The antiaircraft training course at Camp Stewart was designed to last 18 weeks, but most training battalions failed a progress measurement test administered four weeks into training, which resulted in most battalions finishing antiaircraft training in 22 or more weeks. Smith's all African-American battalion finished in 18 weeks, but even excellent performance in training did not earn a colored battalion much respect at Camp Stewart. The camp was completely segregated in almost all aspects, with conditions for African-American soldiers held deliberately below those for white soldiers. African-Americans ate the left overs of their counterparts' meals, which left them hungry and forced many to raid mess halls late at night simply to get enough to eat. African-American soldiers were ignored when they attempted to peacefully assemble to demand that their basic rights be honored as white soldiers' were. The situation at Camp Stewart became much tenser after a group of white soldiers attacked and killed an African-American soldier and his French Canadian wife, who was white, as the two waited for a bus during liberty. Smith was one of 16 of the battalion's 21 medics who were from the North. Northern African-Americans were told that they did not understand how to act in the extremely racist social structure of the South, but Northern African-American soldiers were often better behaved than their counterparts. Eventually, while Smith was detached to El Paso, Texas for advanced training, the situation at Camp Stewart dissolved into violence when a group of African-American soldiers decided to riot. At first, the rioters took over the camp gate without killing any white soldiers, but throughout the three day riot, African-American soldiers killed white soldiers arbitrarily. The riot was finally halted and Camp Stewart was brought back under control after three days, and trials were arranged, but only three men were sentenced. After the riot, the United States War Department concluded that antiaircraft training was simply too complicated for African-American soldiers and transferred most all African-American antiaircraft units into quartermaster units. Smith was then sent with a group of 20 African-American soldiers to Texas for quartermaster duty.

After he was transferred from Camp Stewart, Georgia, Rothacker Smith went to Texas where he was assigned to a quartermaster truck company. The company consisted of 110 men who drove 55 trucks. Since most cooks in the Army were African-American at the time, some of the men in the company doubled as truck drivers and cooks. Smith was made a truck driver due to his experience as an ambulance driver at Camp Stewart, a position he resumed when he entered the war in Europe. Smith received most of his medical training while at Camp Stewart through his hands on treatment of soldiers who suffered from syphilis. Smith administered shots and cleaned medical equipment before he became a surgical technician after he received advanced training in El Paso, Texas. Before he joined his permanent unit, Smith moved around between various Army camps in the United States. He was stationed at Camp Howze in northern Texas during Thanksgiving 1943, where he met the famous boxer, and one of his childhood Detroit sports idols, Joe Louis. Smith often heard Louis' fights on neighbors' radio sets while he was growing up in Detroit. During the time he served Stateside, Smith often moved out to a new camp or location about every two months.

After two different assignments on quartermaster duty in the United States, Rothacker Smith finally joined his permanent unit near the end of November 1943. Smith was assigned to the Army's 92nd Infantry Division, which was one of only two African-American divisions in World War 2. He was later assigned to the 366th Infantry Regiment as a medic. The 366th Infantry Regiment was attached to the 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. The 366th Infantry Regiment consisted of entirely African-American soldiers, including the senior officers. The military doctrine of the time held that African-American soldiers were unfit for combat so Smith and the 366th Infantry Regiment deployed to southern Italy in the spring of 1944 and served guard duty at various supply depots, ammunition dumps and air bases throughout the southern part of the country. The white soldiers who had liberated southern Italy initially spread racist rumors about the African-American soldiers sent to take up the rear, but Italian society did not abide racial segregation. In bars and restaurants not occupied by white soldiers, African-American servicemen were allowed to mingle freely with the Italian people. Smith manned an aid station where he treated soldiers for sexual diseases due to the availability of prostitution for the men in the rear areas. He also drove an ambulance, or an old weapons carrier converted into one, while in southern Italy, and had plenty of free time in which to explore the Italian countryside, visit Italian people in towns and villages and swim in the Mediterranean Sea. Smith's life was like a vacation and he even picked up the Italian language in his free time. He also had interactions with foreign Allied troops from Senegal as well. During his time in Italy, Smith saved the life of a young Italian girl. When she became very sick her family called for the doctor but he was not in the area. Smith told the family to feed her grape juice until the doctor returned and could tend to her. When the doctor finally returned and checked the girl he found that she had suffered a blood clot. If Smith had not told the family to continuously feed her the grape juice she would have died. The Italian people warmly received the African-American soldiers of the 366th Infantry, and Smith felt welcomed anywhere he went, so long as it was not an eatery or establishment already occupied by white American soldiers. Smith also learned a lot about the Italians and about Italian cultures during this time. Some Italians had never seen a black person before, a phenomenon which Smith experienced heavily while in prison camp later on. The prisoners were segregated in the camp by the South Africans in the camp. When Smith first arrived at the camp he entered a room in which a nun was reciting the Lord's Prayer to a group of men. The men were muffling the words so badly that Smith though that they were from Brazil. After the nun brought Smith something to eat they started talking realized that they were from the same outfit.

In August 1944, a few months after the landings at Normandy, the US Army high command decided to move the 92nd Infantry Division to Italy to go into combat. Twice during the war Rothacker Smith was on the field from which the Tuskegee Airmen flew [Annotator's Note: Smith is referring to the 332nd Fighter Group which flew primarily from the air field at Ramitelli while based in Italy]. It was decided that Smith's 366th Infantry Regiment would be sent into combat attached to the 92nd Infantry Division. The men in Smith's group packed up their belongings and moved to a place where most of the regiment was located. At some point they moved to a railroad yard north of Rome where they boarded rail cars. On the morning of the Normandy invasion, Smith watched as more than 860 aircraft circled overhead then headed off toward Normandy. Eventually they shipped out by train to Pisa. The entire division spent Thanksgiving in Pisa where some soldiers shared scraps of their Thanksgiving meals with hungry Italian civilians who were hanging around their camp. On 1 December 1944, the 366th Infantry and the 92nd Division marched onto the front line. There, Smith soon heard his first German artillery shell of the war. The African-American troops had never seen combat before and there was some debate among the officers as to whether or not the men should go through basic training again before they headed to the front. Most combat units underwent training before every new campaign. The decision to send the division into combat without additional training was made by the commanding general of the 92nd Infantry Division [Annotator's Note: Major General Edward Almond], who regarded African-American troops as inferior. Almond had even told the men of the 92nd Infantry Division that he had never wanted to command the division at all.

Rothacker Smith and his comrades in the 366th Infantry Regiment prepared for combat and formed up in the city of Barga, Italy, just behind the front lines. Smith's outfit then marched up a four mile path to the hilltop village of Sommocolonia, which was situated right on the front line. Despite the combat zone surrounding the area, about half of Sommocolonia's small population remained inside the town even as Smith's unit moved in. American soldiers often moved into the homes of the Italians who remained in the town, and Smith stayed with three other soldiers in a house with an Italian priest, who, unbeknownst to them at the time, was a fascist. The hilly landscape all around Sommocolonia made it difficult for the Germans to shell it with artillery fire, but the enemy was close enough for mortar crews to lob rounds from 60mm and 120mm mortars into the town. The mortar rounds, however, did relatively little damage to the town or the Americans stationed there. Due to severe ammunition rationing across the entire division [Annotator's Note: the 92nd Infantry Division], the Americans could only fire a few rounds a day at the Germans. As a medic, Smith manned an aid station in town, but treated very few men for serious combat casualties. He treated one technical sergeant who was so scared in battle that he shot himself in the foot with a British Sten gun to get out of combat. Even in combat, racism still followed the 366th Infantry Regiment to the front lines. Smith had a supply of blood serum at the forward aid station, but received orders to send the supply back to Barga. When the next shipment of blood serum arrived, the crate in which it came was labeled for colored soldiers, which revealed that the initial blood serum supply was only to be used for white soldiers.

Rothacker Smith entered Sommocolonia on 1 December [Annotator's Note: 1 December 1944] and his last day there was 28 December, when the Germans marched them out. On 29 December, a unit of Sikhs took over the area. Before he was captured, Smith met a 16 year old Italian partisan who went by the name Giovanni. Giovanni had fought the Germans before the battle at Sommocolonia and sustained an injury to his ribs when a German shell blew up the roof of his house. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the Army higher ups had ordered Smith and his unit to prepare for a Christmas Eve assault on a hill across from Sommocolonia which was in German hands. Despite the stockpile of weapons, ammunition and supplies in Sommocolonia in anticipation for the assault, it was called off on Christmas Eve. Smith then spent a comfortable Christmas Day in Sommocolonia. He sang hymns with local Italian girls and partisans, and only faced intermittent German shelling. The light shelling delayed the Army mule supply train which carried the Christmas meal to Sommocolonia, however, so Christmas dinner for Smith and his unit did not arrive until long after sundown, at which point the men decided to save it for breakfast the following morning. On the morning of 26 December, Smith went to the town spigot amid German mortar fire in order to retrieve water to clean some dishes for the Christmas meal. Once he returned to his temporary house, the German shelling intensified significantly, which caused him and his two comrades in the makeshift dining room to put their helmets on as a precaution. An internal voice then instructed Smith to put on his medical aid kits, which sat in the back of the room. Right as he bent down to pick up the aid kits, a German 120 millimeter mortar round impacted the window of the room and exploded. The blast seemed to last only a split second for Smith, and sent shrapnel and shards of glass into his upper legs, back, hip and face. The blast also severely wounded Smith's sergeant, who had been standing right next to the window when the round hit. The third man only received a minor cut on the back of his head. Smith began treating his sergeant using only his non-wounded left hand and his teeth to tie bandages. Before the men had time to assess their situation, German soldiers began advancing into the town and quickly surrounded the house. Smith and his comrades understood that the Germans did not take black prisoners, which almost certainly spelled death for them. They moved to a room at the back of the house which faced away from the street and huddled together under blankets to await their fate. After only a single night, blood had caked and scabbed so thoroughly over one side of Smith's face that he had to dig his eye out from under it simply to open both eyes. The situation was dire and Smith made his peace with heaven so that he could remain fearless in the face of almost certain death.

After being wounded by a mortar round Rothacker Smith, his sergeant and another soldier wounded during the German assault on the Italian village of Sommocolonia, stayed holed up in the house for over 24 hours before German soldiers discovered them. In that time the three debated what course of action to take given their dire situation. The sergeant and other soldier wanted to fight to the death against the Germans rather than surrender to an enemy who rarely ever took black prisoners. Smith then pointed out that the trio hardly had the means to put up any meaningful resistance as their machine gun was in another part of the house and out of reach, and their rifles were dirtied by debris and wall plaster which rendered them useless without a thorough cleaning. They were left with only a few hand grenades, but, as Smith keenly pointed out, both he and the sergeant had wounded right hands, which raised the question of whether or not the men could throw their grenades out the door of the room without hitting the wall or door frame and bouncing back into the room, which would have resulted in their own self destruction. Smith's comrades agreed to await capture by the Germans, and did not wait long. Two German soldiers entered the house, but Smith's greeting scared them off. The Germans returned with a few more soldiers, at which point Smith employed his knowledge of Italian to converse with a German corporal to organize their surrender. The Germans ordered that the sergeant, whose leg was too severely wounded to walk, be left in the house and marched Smith and his other comrade out to the town square through streets dusted with a light snowfall from the night before and sprinkled with the dried blood of African-American soldiers who lay where they had been shot down. Smith walked in his stockings as his feet had become too swollen for him to fit into his boots. Once in the town square, Smith had a long conversation with the Italian speaking German corporal in which both men gave their reasons for fighting the war, which included each one's respective conscription into his nation's armed forces. Also in the square, Smith discovered the fate of the 16 year old Italian partisan he had met, Giovanni. He was dead on the street. Smith watched as his body was searched by a German soldier. Despite the march to the town square and the conversation with the German soldier, Smith did not fully believe that he would be taken prisoner and not executed, a disbelief that lasted even after he saw other African-American prisoners the next day.

Rothacker Smith suffered from pains in his foot. In the Army, they would play with the explosives out of hand grenades and one day he was injured by this. Over the years, the injury has caused him pain. He has tried different medications for relief but has found that eating black walnut brittle eases his pain better than the medicines. After he was captured in the German assault on the town of Sommocolonia [Annotator's Note: Sommocolonia, Italy], Smith was generally treated well by his German captors. Every German soldier was different, however, and some were more receptive and friendly than others. In his first days of captivity, Smith's most perilous threat came from American artillery barrages and aerial bombing raids on German positions. In numerous instances, American bombing raids brought down buildings near Smith. One raid damaged a building being used as a German headquarters in which they were holding American prisoners. One of the German officers was killed in the blast. Smith's medical treatment for his leg was interrupted by an American bombing raid and he had to make the long march out from the front lines with the wounds to his legs and back untreated. The march brought Smith the closest to death that he came during the war. At the outset, uninjured American prisoners aided Smith as he limped in line. The German lieutenant in command of the march then came back and instructed the corporal who brought up the rear of the line to shoot Smith and dump his body by the side of the road if he could not march on his own. This made Smith's every step a life and death matter. He fought through, first by picking out a landmark and making it past it before he decided if he would continue. Then he resorted to counting his steps until every fifth step became a decision to persevere or forfeit his life. On the energy of a piece of candy and blind faith, Smith endured the long march.

It gradually sunk in to Rothacker Smith that he was a prisoner of war as he believed for the first couple of days in captivity that he would be executed. Upon his capture, Smith was able to scrawl a brief note to his family, which the Germans loaded with a wad of other prisoner notes into empty artillery shells and fired them back over to the American lines. Smith's parents later heard of his capture through a radio gram transmitted back to the United States. Smith had not written much to his family back home during his time in the Army. Smith does not know where he was first taken to after leaving Sommocolonia. They marched for about ten hours. They left Sommocolonia around eight at night and did not stop until shortly after six the following morning. When they arrived in one town, Smith and his 18 fellow African-American prisoners of war were housed in a basement then later in a round tower that was part of a castle. In this first town, the 19 African-American prisoners were joined by four Italian prisoners dressed in farmer clothing, which brought the group of prisoners up to 23. The German captors did not feed the prisoners in the first town, which prompted Smith to divide up the remaining food that he had stuffed in his pockets so that all of the men ate at least a small scrap of food or candy. After moving to their next stop, the prisoners were fed crusty, old and dirty loaves of bread. Rations from the German guards were provided irregularly and contained only tiny quantities of food. This kind of severe rationing of prisoner food created in Smith a lasting hunger that would not be satisfied until after the war.

Rothacker Smith's first interrogation was not bad. At the second stop of their march, Smith and his fellow prisoners were interrogated for the first time by German soldiers and were also searched and stripped of any dangerous materials or devices that could prove useful in an escape attempt. The first interrogation was conducted by a German soldier who had lived in the United States for a time before the war and spoke English with a German accent. The first interrogation was not too intense or difficult for the weary prisoners. Among the items banned for prisoners included watches, which the Germans understood could be used as miniature compasses that could aid in an escape attempt. The German soldiers offered to give prisoners a voucher to reclaim their watches at the end of the war, but warned that there were no guarantees it would be the same watch. Most prisoners sold their watches to German guards for cigarettes and other items. Smith also received many of his service medals and accolades from the War Department in 1951, years after his discharge from the Army. Many years after the war, Smith met the man who found John Fox's body. [Annotator's Note: US Army First Lieutenant John R. Fox served as an artillery forward observer in the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division. Fox sacrificed his life by calling in artillery fire on his own position to help stop the German attack on Sommocolonia. For that action, Fox was awarded the Medal f Honor.]

En route to their first German prison camp, Rothacker Smith and his fellow prisoners never discussed the possibility of escape. Instead, their minds were focused on food and survival as they were transported through northern Italy in dead of winter. Just before his arrival at the first German prison camp, Smith was interrogated alone for the first time in a small school house. A German lieutenant, who spoke perfect English, conducted Smith's individual interrogation, but Smith decided before the first question that he would only answer with the information required by the Geneva Convention which was giving his name, rank and serial number. Frustrated by Smith's noncooperation, the German lieutenant threatened to deny Smith medical treatment at a hospital for his wounds, which were on the verge of becoming infected, but Smith never budged. His interrogation was halted and Smith was sent to a prison camp in Trento, Italy after he waited out a snowstorm for four days, but went without going to the hospital. At the camp, Smith was officially recorded as a prisoner of war. After the first night in prison camp, the prisoners were ordered to strip down for a shower. The showers ran with cold water in freezing temperatures, and no towels were provided for prisoner use. As Smith stripped down for his miserable turn, the guards noticed his raggedly bandaged wounds and ordered him to redress before he was finally sent to the hospital for the first time in captivity in the back of a comfortable horse drawn cart. The hospital, however, was run by a white Afrikaner from South Africa, whose racism against blacks was mirrored often in Smith's journey in captivity.

Rothacker Smith, a medic in the 366th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Division in Italy, was captured by German forces in the Italian village of Sommocolonia on 26 December 1944. He was imprisoned at a German prison camp outside of Trento, Italy where he and his fellow African-American prisoners of war were thrown in with white soldiers from the United States and Britain. The guards were German, but they were generally older, rear echelon troops. Due to allied bombing raids on northern Italy's railroad lines, the Germans could not evacuate any prisoners to larger camps in Germany, which forced the guards to organize recreational activities for prisoners in order to keep the prisoners from getting restlessness. Smith and his fellow prisoners took directions and orders from a large German guard who spoke broken English, whom the prisoners aptly named Big Stooper. In the face of low rations, prisoners often raided food carts as they passed through the prison yard. They generally stole a loaf of bread before taking off from a pursuing German guard. Upon capture, the guard Big Stooper read the sentence as dictated to each offender aloud to all the prisoners to serve as a lesson for the others. Sentences were usually a week in solitary confinement. There was never enough food in camp for the prisoners to eat their fill, but there was enough for them to sustain themselves. African-American soldiers began doing close quarter drills since most African-American soldiers came from the same segregated units. When the trains ran, they irregularly brought Red Cross parcels to the prison, the contents of which the prisoners would divide up and dish out at random at a rate of about four prisoners to every parcel, which were really designed to feed one prisoner for a few days. In April 1945, shortly before the prisoners were evacuated to Germany, a couple of German guards who attempted to give false information about Germany's fictional resurgence in the war, also told Smith and his fellow prisoners that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died on 12 April 1945. Shortly thereafter, Smith and the rest of the Allied prisoners were sent to a prison camp in Germany where they remained until their liberation on 29 April 1945.

Before they boarded the train, Rothacker Smith and his fellow prisoners were strip searched. Then, 52 men were loaded into box cars built to fit 40 people. All 52 had to share miserable and inadequate toilet facilities, which were made worse by the gross overcrowding. The British showed them how to sleep in the box cars. A Sikh Indian had wrapped a trench knife in his turban. A square hole was craved in the floor of the car he was in. When the train stopped at a town three men escaped. The third man was shot, the second man was recaptured and the other made his way into a tree line but was recaptured and brought back to the train. When he was brought back, the train commandant beat the man with his belt. The train also stopped when it reached a section of the track that was bombed out. The prisoners were taken off the train and held in several houses and areas outside. Fortunately it was not too cold. Finally, they arrived at VII-A [Annotator's Note: the German prison of war camp Stalag VII-A near Moosburg, Germany]. At Stalag VII-A, Smith was separated from his fellow African-American prisoners and placed in a tent built for 72 prisoners, of whom he was the only African-American. Cigarettes became currency in the camp. Smith and the prisoners in his tent paid off a German guard so they would not have to fall out for morning roll call. There were zig-zag trenches in the camp that were to be used if the Americans decided to bomb the camp. Most barracks and tents inside the camp had their own dissembled radio hidden inside. Prisoners reassembled the radios at night to catch the nightly BBC [Annotator's Note: British Broadcasting Corporation] newscast in order to better understand the war situation. Both the Russian and American prisoners hoped that American forces would liberate their camp before Russians did. One day there was an air raid and Smith could see the bombs falling. On another day he saw a Russian jet plane. Early one Sunday morning they heard gun shots. They knew it was the Americans. Finally an American tank and a tank destroyer broke through the gate. The prisoners flooded into the open spaces in anticipation of being liberated but a German officer fired his pistol down the street causing the prisoners to run back inside. Shortly after that, American tanks rolled right over the front gates and into the camp.

Despite his excitement at being liberated from German custody, Rothacker Smith knew he was to return to a racist and prejudiced country. Smith was from Detroit and had lived in the North his entire prewar life, but understood the depths of racism in the South. Smith had friends who guarded German prisoners of war at prison camps in the South throughout the war, but German prisoners were often treated better than African-American soldiers in Southern society. Smith spent two months at home after returning to the United States before he had to report for duty in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was transferred to Camp Crowder, Missouri where he really had no responsibilities. From there he was transferred to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to serve in the military hospital there. Initially, he was assigned as an orderly to the German POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] ward but was transferred after only one day. Smith spent the rest of his time there treating syphilis patients. In Tuskegee, Alabama they conducted syphilis tests. Smith was discharged from the Army at Fort Bragg. When they were discharged, all of the ex-prisoners were given a stripe so Smith should have gotten a PFC [Annotator's Note: Private First Class] stripe. He was discharged on 4 November 1945, before he received his stripe. Smith used the GI Bill to finish his college education before he became Farm Manager at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. He eventually lost the post as Farm Manager but he continued a teaching career long after that and he frequently visited his future wife in New Orleans, Louisiana where she taught at a church school. His visits to New Orleans led to some interesting things with regards to integration.

Rothacker Smith felt the joy of liberation sweep over him when he saw American soldiers hoist the Stars and Stripes over the German prison camp, Stalag VII-A [Annotator's Note: on 29 April 1945]. After being liberated, the prisoners all had to sign a certificate stating that they desired to return to their American citizenship. For a time after they were liberated prejudice dissipated. He and his fellow liberated prisoners devoured any rations their liberators offered including K rations, peanut butter, powdered milk, candy bars and the like. One of the worst things Smith ate was Limburger cheese. Before their departure, Smith and his comrades aboard the ship were each given 20 dollars to spend on the voyage to New York City. Smith spent 18 dollars on candy bars and chewing gum. Smith ate so much and so often on the ship that the first storm the ship encountered on the crossing caused him terrible seasickness which ended his perpetual hunger. He arrived in New York City at Pier 45 and then was taken by truck to Camp Shanks in New York. There he enjoyed his first American meal back on American soil. Being home was exciting. He and three of his friends had made a pact that they would not tell anyone about their experiences when they got home. Smith's two brothers were still away in the service so he had no one to tell about his experiences. Smith did not suffer from post traumatic stress but was recaptured in his mind every night for three years. He returned to Detroit but immediately felt the weight of civilian society as it exposed in himself a sense that the war had left him uncivilized. He slept on the floor for a time because beds were too soft. He ate exclusively with a spoon for a time because he disliked forks. Forks leaked. His mother convinced him to start using a fork again. He offended people sometimes due to the direct approach to conversation he took after experiencing so much death during the war. In Smith's estimation, it took him three years to become fully civilized again, but he then married and went on to pursue his postwar life in peace.