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- [S8] Information from an informant - Auskunft eines Informanten - Information d'un informateur.
Proposed Change: Walter Nies (I109415)
Tree: Suedpfalz
Link: http://www.birkenhoerdt.net/getperson.php?personID=I109415&tree=1
Description: There were several Walter Nies'. This specific Walter Nies
died as a German POW in a camp in Lithuania in May 1944.
T/Sgt. Linden Voight
While I was a prisoner a Stalag Luft VI, it was customary for the Germans
to lock the doors of our barracks building around ten o'clock in the
evening. The next morning, at six o'clock, they would be unlocked. During
the ten to six o'clock period, none of the internees were allowed to walk
about the compound area. One evening the Germans failed to lock the doors.
The next morning, which was on or about (Sat. May 27,1944) Staff Sergeant
Walter Nies arose; since it usually became light at four o'clock in the
morning, thought it was somewhere near six o'clock. Presently, one of the
other internees came into the barracks and stated that he had just been to
the latrine. Nies wrapped a towel around his neck and with a bar of soap
in his hand, left the barracks. He started across the compound area on his
way to the latrine. He had gone about one half the distance, when one of
the guards saw him and immediately started firing. It was actually about
5:30 A.M. and when I heard the shots, I rushed to the window of my
barracks to see what had happened. I saw Sgt Nies lying sprawled out on
the ground. The towel was still around his neck and a bar of soap in his
hand. He was approximately one hundred feet from my window. I could see
that a bullet had entered his left side, just above the hip and a spot on
his back where apparently, the bullet had emerged. Everybody was
immediately aroused, but the German guards came into the compound and
demanded that all of us stay indoors. The German guards gathered around
Nies' body, and after about thirty minutes, he was carried away on a
stretcher. Frank Paules and Bill Krebs were allowed to accompany Nies to
the dispensary. He was still alive when he arrived in the infirmary and
was carefully examined by Dr. Pollack, medical officer, British Army.
Since they did not have sufficient facilities there, Nies was taken to a
German civilian hospital in Heydekrug. Capt. Pollack was permitted to
visit Nies in the hospital (on Sunday, May 28). He was given a blood
transfusion but died about 3:30 that afternoon. (on Tues. May 30,1944)
Staff Sergeant Walter Nies was given a military funeral. His body was
placed in a rough box, draped with an American flag. The guard who shot
him was transferred immediately after the shooting. Tom Mchale Tuesday
afternoon our second funeral party marched out of E lager. This time to
bury S/Sgt Walter Nies, who died late Sunday afternoon ...At 2:00 pm a
party of 22 comrades left the gate. Led by Camp Leader Frank Paules... the
procession marched between the barbed wire of A and K lagers to the
vorlagar, where it was augmented by the three camp padres... the hospital
staff... A lager leader Sgt. Deans and K lager leader Sgt Clarke...A Red
Cross cart was pulled... out the main gate and down the wire past the
guard towers to the camp burial plot...the entire party stood at attention
as the sharp notes of taps again disturbed the silence of Beech Grove. The
sky darkened overhead and thunder rumbled in the distance...
Clarice Turner
- [S926] Find-A-Grave, (www.findagrave.com).
SSgt Walter Nies
Birth: 4 Jun 1920 Eureka, McPherson County, South Dakota, USA
Death: 28 May 1944 (aged 23) Germany
Burial: Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, Hamm, Canton de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Plot: Tablets of the Missing
Memorial #: 55956695
Gravesite Details Entered the service from South Dakota.
Family Members
Parents
John Nies 1871-1943
Fredericka Kurle Nies 1875-1956
Siblings
Christina Nies Rueb 1894-1961
Mary Nies Dais 1896-1967
John J. Nies 1897-1985
Henry J. Nies 1899-1969
Katherine Nies Goehring 1901-1990
Margaret Nies Fischer 1902-1995
David Nies 1906-1973
Martha Nies 1908-1969
Jacob Nies 1911-1972
Leah J. Nies Puhlmann 1913-2005
Albert M. Nies 1915-2006
Reuben Nies 1917-1995
Maintained by: Dee Winter (47046829)
Originally Created by: CWGC/ABMC (6)
Added: 5 Aug 2010
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55956695/walter-nies
Citation: Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 June 2019), memorial page for SSgt Walter Nies (4 Jun 1920?28 May 1944), Find A Grave Memorial no. 55956695, citing Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, Hamm, Canton de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg ; Maintained by Dee Winter (contributor 47046829) .
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1920 - 1944 (23 years)