Joseph Gringlas - January 14 & 22, March 18, 1993
Injured
But you were wearing your prisoner's uniform still.
Yes. I don't know, it might have been a civilian. Before I got changed, it must have been a civilian. But he, no, it, it was a thing and I had already. And uh, was machtest du? ??? We told him we were, we were lost. Los, los! And yeah, he probably guy--a civilian eh, German. Anyway, he let us go. And I came back to my barrack, took out the egg. Was blood in the eggs, because the goose was sitting on it, you know. The funny thing--I tell you this is funny, unbelievable. And then the Ger...that, that guy which went and we organized to get some food. He, he, I don't know, he's a doc...he was a doctor. He to...he, heated the water, hard boiled egg. He had--his wounds, my brother, was already green. If we would have been like a few days more he would have...
Gangrene?
Gangrene, yeah. He cleaned around, cleaned around. And then I eh, cleaned--at least he got that infection in--around, cleaned around where that and he had gas, I don't know--I mean those, to put around him, bandage, bandage around his leg. And I went out and I saw the Americans. Coming from all over, the, the soldiers. Then and my brother staying there about a day or night with me and we said, oh, we got food organized, we're going to stay there. And then the Americans come in, they ask so where somebody sick? So I told them my brother's laying, he couldn't walk. So they took him out on stretches and they put on a stretch... stretchers and take him out, to a, to a hospital. And the hospital was in Dora, the hospital, in Nordhausen. And I thought, if I going to stay there watching that place where I had the food, I don't know where he gonna be--how I gonna find him. So I, when I saw them putting him on, on like, like this military truck to take him to hospital, I left everything. But I got around so I should be with the patient. Jumped up on the--on that, on that soldier's truck and I went and they took, I got, Dora my brother. Came in the Dora, in the hospital, to check when they, you know, treated my brother's leg. And I told them that I was in...injured in the bombardment, so they took me. The Americans had x-rays or something like Roentgen, the German was there. They told me that I was very lucky. They saw it coming through next to the heart. That shocked me, when I was bombarded by the Americans. And it's still inside me.
Still inside of you?
Yeah.
They didn't take it, the didn't have to?
The lung. No, they, it said it's not necessary if you take it out. It's still in, in me. But...
A souvenir.
Souvenir, yeah. And they told me that I was one of the lucky. So it's, next, next, went through right next to the heart.
So you're with the American Army now.
Yeah.
And they put you in a hospital?
Yeah, they--my brother was in a hospital in Dora.
Dora.
Yeah, yeah, what, what happened? Now, it's, it's remind myself when you were talking about hospitals. They saw we were, we were just like walking around like skeletons, you know, we couldn't do too much. So they took eh, all the sick, they made a tent out of a field, the Americans and they, they gave us the best medicine. And they, they treat us, the Americans treat us like brothers would find you. They were the, caring those sick people there. And I, I was in that hospital with my brother too that, it was like stretch...eh, using up those, where you're laying down in the army where they use it.
Stretchers?
Stretchers, yeah, laying in there and they came in by planes, all medicine to, to get us on the feet. I think we were in the hospital there at that time about a couple of weeks, until we got out. And felt better and better off. I saw it was already with the Army it was some civilian Americans. And some were Jewish. And they ask me, would you like to have one hear your story? I said, I don't want it, I have enough stories, I couldn't--didn't, wouldn't think about it. I want to uh, tell something off the record. I mean I ???
You want me to stop?
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