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Army Guard In Custody After Killing 8 POW’sSALJN/ Utah, July 9—(UP)—A 23-year-old lower guard, who hid never aimed a shot at the enemy during eight months overseas, was in military custody today otter he fired a .30 caliber inachlncgun Into a tcntful of sleeping German prisoners ol war. killing eight and Injuring 20 others. •Col. Arthur J. Ericsson, commander of the base camp at Ogden, Utah, of which the Sal'na camp Is a branch, said Pvt. Clarence V-BeruiccS, New orleaia, ‘Tor nc apparent reason sprayed a full belt of machine gun bullets on Iho slumbering prisoners.Eight died almost Immediately and six o[ Ihc wounded were In critical condition.The shooting occurred about 12:30 n. ro. yestcrdny, some two hours after the prisoners normally retire.Col. Ericsson said Bcrtuccl was taken into Immediate custody and ■'given an opportunity to explain his Rrtton. His statements were expected to be released late today with the filing of a formal chiage against him.Bcrlucd apparently went bcTserk and for nn apparent reason cuL loose with the mounted gun and kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition, Ericsson told reporters.Ericsson sMd the young private’s army jycord, white not exemplary,Indicated he had experienced no i previous trouble with the prisoners.The colonel said Bertuccl,.a vet- f eran of four and a half years In the . army, twice hud been before a 6inn-inary court martial.Ericsson said a partln )Iy reconstructed story of the incident showed that Bortuccl was alone In a j tower overlooking the BOW tcuLs at the time of the shooting- He surrendered calmly to the officer of the day when others of the comp personnel rushed to the scene upon ' hearing the staccato allots.Ericsson said the bullets were fired within the space of about 13 seconds and that a full belt of bullets had been used before Hor-tucel’s ammunition gave out.The prisoners, part of a group Of 250 working on nearby farms, formed a model unit doing its work well, the POW comtnumlaul slid. He also ci'edlted the Salina cm imp's officers with a very good Job of administration.Names or the dead were listed by the Ninth Service Command at Ft. Douglas, Salt lake City, os Otto Bross, Gottfried Gaad, Ernst Fuchs, Fhnnds Meyer, Walter Vogel, Fritz Stockmann, George Liske and Adolf Paul. The six, critically wounded were under treatment at. BiLShncll general hospital nl urig-limn City, Utah, and the others Injured were at the camp hospital at the army air forces overseas replacement depot ut Kearns, Utah.
Newspaper Details
Valparaiso Vidette Messenger
Valparaiso, Indiana, US
Mon, Jul 09, 1945
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Metropolitan L.
Oklahoma, USA 25 Apr 2019
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