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Luke Vet Of World War II Finally Receives POW Medal« ontinued From Page I Inal you can be shot as a spy if Me participated in a landingin France and was injured when I lie truck he was riding in was“We look off running and found ourselves in a big open field Rogers (Wamick can’t recall the man’s first name) couldn't run worth a damn until he was hit in the shoulder and you should’ve seen him run after that. Warnick chuckled The men then took separate paths and eluded the enemy.“I knew I could make it then Ask anybody, I was born and raised in the woods,” he said.Night time was particularly dangerous because that’s when the Germans sent out patrols They came out like ants out of an ant hill,” he observed Daylight hours were also unsafe and civilians could not usually be trusted.“I saw one civilian turn in two Americans and the Germans paid him off with a handful of crackers. the mayor recalled Warnick said he spent 28 days hiding in a bam like donkey manger until the battle lines brought the U.S. infantry to his doorWhen rescued. Warnick was stunned to discover that at least three fellow POWs had hidden in the nearby town.Warnick was placed on a jeep and sent to a base in North Africa.I.ess than a month after he was captured, he returned to the battle zone in northern Ita-ly .“1 was captured a couple days later. he said.the Western Marylander did not know at the time that the Germans had a standing order to execute persons captured for a second time because they were considered to be spies When they (U.S. officers) read to you about the Geneva Convention, they don't tell youBicentennial(Continued From Page II • at Allegany Community College and nolicemen from mnnviou re captured a second time found out when a German captain told us. Warnick said So, at his first opportunity, the Western Marylander escaped again.It happened when Warnick and about 500 POWs were being marched to a pi ison camp.The guards walked to the right of a disabled German truck and the POWs walked around the left Suddenly Warnick dropped to the ground and rolled under the vehicle.It sounds kind of simple now Hut if they would have looked back .... I don’t want to think about that. he said Warnick later escaped into the nearby hedgerow and waited about a day and a half for the U.S. Army to push the Germans into retreat.Warnick's tour of duty was not yet over, however.Seminar Set By Chiefs AssociationThe Allegany County Chiefs Association, in conjunction with the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association. will be sponsoring a seminar on Sunday. Feb. 19. beginning at 1 p.m. at the La-Vale Volunteer Fire Department.The program will include the following subjects presented by a variety of persons well acquainted with them These individuals have both volunteered and have professional backgrounds.National Fire Protection Association. what it means to emergency personnel, organizations. a lid departmentsMaryland Occupational Safety and Health, and how it can assist in its mission.Hazard. Chemicals and You. a medical doctor's opinion of what can ha dim-n without cau-hit by a German 88mm round • right between the headlights.The blast sent the truck over a 20-foot cliff and showered the hillside with 2fi wounded men.Warnick sustained a broken pelvis and other injuries.Medics quickly attended to the men and injected Warnick with a pain killerHe thinks long weeks without sleep and the injury caused him | to fall asleep and when he awoke, he was startled because it appeared the medics had forgotten himThe pain didn't forget him and Warnick yelled for help.He would wear an unlined, heavy body cast for the next year and the prognosis was not good1 remember passing out when a doctor told me. son. you mav never walk again.Undaunted. Warnick met that challenge and served during the Korean Conflict before returning to training duties stateside.His job was to teach other Americans how to escape and evade the enemy.Warnick said his overseas experiences were supplemented with knowledge obtained in the woods of Western Mary land.The mayor was teaching at West Point in l%f when he was notified that his next assign ment would bo in the Republic of Vietnam.When his wife suggested that his luck might have escaped him. First Sgt. Warnick retired after 234 years of service.Warnick and his wife, the late Cecilia Bradley, were the parents of two sonsOne died in a traffic accident, Warnick said softly.He then proudly declared that he was able to pin paratrooper wings on the chest of his other son. Robert, during a ceremony at the Fort Benning. Ga. home of the 82nd Airborne Division.■ ik ■
Newspaper Details
Cumberland Times News
Cumberland, Maryland, US
Fri, Feb 17, 1989
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
MD, USA 05 Apr 2017
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