We held off on posting this information on our trip to Prague until after the summer when we had a chance to visit Ken's dad, Elmo, of whom much of this posting is about. So, finally, here it is!
The History:
In the winter of 1944-45, my father was assigned to the
Eighth Armored Division and joined Gen. George Patton’s Third Army as the
Americans cleaned up at the end of the Battle of the Bulge near Bastogne and
St. Vith, Belgium. From what I remember,
Dad was a truck and Weasel driver/mechanic/go-fer as the 8th Armored
continued across Belgium, Luxembourg, across Germany into (at that time)
Czechoslovakia.
Patton finally stopped short of Prague near Plzen. From what he says, Dad was a replacement
troop for a unit who bivouacked at a little town called Ejpovice (pronounced
Eh-po-veets-uh), between Plzen and
Prague. He stayed with a family by the
name of Klucina (Clue-chee-nuh).
Over the years, the family has heard bits and pieces of his
WW II story at various times, but not in a coherent manner until our daughter,
Ali, asked him about it. Then we learned
the order of his experiences. Further
conversations led to the revelation that he had communicated with one of the
daughters of the Klucina family (Vera) until such time as she expressed a
desire to marry, like one of the village girls, and move to America. At that point, Dad stopped communicating with
her.
With that titillating bit of information tucked securely in
the back of my little brain, Angela and I met the soccer coach from the
International School of Prague at a soccer tournament in Warsaw. Forcing my innate shyness aside, I asked her
if she could recommend someone as a tour guide.
Some time later she connected me with a former student who speaks Czech
and English (and her native Vietnamese).
When I contacted Lucy and told her my idea, she became very excited
about being involved.
On her own, Lucy contacted the village of Ejpovice and learned
that the Klucina family still lived there.
She tracked down one of the Klucina residents (Rudolf), who invited us
to his home.
In October, Kim, Angela, and I flew to Prague for our Fall break. We spent a couple days getting our bearings in the Old Town. On Monday afternoon, we picked up a rental car at the airport. Tuesday morning, Lucy met us at our hotel and we drove to Ejpovice, about an hour southwest. Google Maps took us directly to Rudolf’s home, where he was waiting.
Rudolf, Vera’s brother’s son, cordially invited us into his home and explained that his wife was at work, but would return in the evening. Over snacks and coffee & tea, we all viewed photos that had been taken during the American occupation and looked over a book that had been compiled shortly after the war. The book was a tribute to the American “Armady” that arrived in Ejpovice on May 6 and liberated the area. Included among Rudolf’s pictures was a photo of my Dad with two girls sitting on his knees. One was Vera, the other her friend, Jarka (Yar-ka). I gave him a printed copy of a photo of Vera that Dad had given me. I also gave him a picture of Dad from Dad’s college days.
The town erected a monument following WW I and added a
plaque to the American soldiers involved in that liberation.
After a couple of hours, we took a drive out of town to the
village cemetery, stopping by the community center the town residents had
physically built. At the cemetery Rudolf
showed us Vera’s gravesite; she died four years previously. Jarka currently lives in Prague, but her
health did not permit her to have visitors during the time we were there –THAT
would have been COOL!
Returning to Rudolf’s home, we all took a walk around the
village, while Rudolf explained various things about the town. Along the way, he introduced us to his
father-in-law, Vaclav Cerny (which is close to the Russian and Ukrainian chor’nay; all mean “Black”), who was 18
when the Americans arrived. We also met
Yarmilla, who lived in the town when the Armady arrived and remembers the
Americans. On our tour we could identify
buildings we had seen in Rudolf’s pictures.
Rudolf’s son now lives in the family home, which they still
own. It is being remodeled again; both
Rudolf and Dad agree that it does not look like it did in 1945.
Interesting stories:
When the Americans arrived, they first started to set up a
tent city in a nearby field. The local
residents were having none of that, and invited the soldiers to move into their
homes. Dad and one or two other guys
slept on the Klucina’s porch. Rudolf has
a picture of two GIs with Vera’s mom in front of the house.
A large field to the west of town became a hastily-erected
POW camp, filled with German soldiers running from the advancing Russian
army. Very likely the same field where
the Americans were going to set up camp for themselves.
The Americans continued on a short distance to the
somewhat-larger city of Rokycany, where they finally stopped for real after
liberating the city on May 7. When
Rudolf’s wife got home, following a lunch of sandwiches and tomatoes, we all
drove back to Rokycany to see the monument that was placed, showing the Line of
Demarcation where the American and Russian armies “met”.
Czechoslovakia came under Russian “protection”, and the
Americans left. The Russians ordered to local
residents to get rid of anything having to do with the Americans, and taught
that the Russians were the Czech liberators.
Things American – mementos, pictures, etc. – all were destroyed or went
into hiding. These things came back out
with the dissolution of the USSR in 1989-1991, and the truth was revealed. Some of the Czechs had stayed in contact with
some of the GIs over the years. The
Czechs have an annual parade in May and invited the GIs to attend. Several did, and one (Frank) returned several
times. Frank died a couple of years ago
and donated his uniforms to the town, and they are displayed at or near the
village government building.
Before our walking tour, Rudolf had called the village
center to see if we could view their historical displays. The center was closed. While we were on our tour whoever Rudolf
talked to made some calls. When we
returned to the house, Frank’s uniforms were hanging in the dining room for us
to see.
Pictures of the annual celebration show war-vintage military
vehicles. Rudolf wasn’t able to tell us
how the village came into possession of them, if they purchased them from
surplus after the Soviet break-up, or were able to hide them all those years,
or what.
The Czech people love – let me put that in caps – LOVE the
Americans. At least the ones we met in
the small towns where few Americans show their faces. We are invited back to join the festivities
and plan to do so in a couple of years when Czech and Ukrainian victory
celebrations combine for a long weekend.
Ejpovice is a beautiful little town, clean and
well-kept. The narrow lanes are probably
much like they were 70 years ago, except probably more are paved now. The population is numerically close to what
it was in 1945, and the current residents are mostly from families that have
lived in the area for a very long time.
The War:
The War:
Ejpovice was not “occupied” by the Germans during the World
War II. That does not mean they were not
affected by the war, though. Their Jews
either fled, went into hiding, or were removed by the German army. One non-Jewish woman who hid some Jews was
also taken away by the Germans and never returned. Rudolf did not know what happened to her. The biggest invasion of Germans that took
place were those who were surrendering to the Americans.
The Gift:
Using the photos we took of the photos Rudolf had, and those
we took of the village, we compiled a photo album for my Dad. It included the photos of Dad and of
Vera. It also included many photos of
the village from the Liberation and those buildings today, the current
residents who are still living in the village, the monument, and the current
celebration and parade. We presented it
to Dad on his 90th birthday in late June. He was overwhelmed. Later, he looked though the photos and was
amazed at the memories and how the Czech people revere Patton and his boys.
Ken
Ken
