Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans. The articles will continue in each day's edition until Friday, one day before Saturday's World War II Memorial Dedication and Recognition Day, May 29.

Of the 46 months (three years, 10 months and 12 days) Galen Thomas was a World War II Army soldier, nearly half that time - 22 months - was spent as a prisoner of war, a captive of the Germans.

Weighing in at a respectable 195 pounds prior to his capture in North Africa, he was rescued with 132 pounds on his frame.

A rifleman in Company L, 168th Combat Regiment, 34th Division, Thomas fought in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia against Germany's Afrika Korps, led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Now 84, he remembers the 110- to 115-degree days spent in the desert.

He was among the 2,007 Americans listed as missing in action during the February 1943 battles. He was 23 at the time.

"We were flown to Italy," said Thomas at his home in West Haven Estates. "We were on an airplane made of corrugated tin."

Flying across the Mediterranean Sea, Thomas looked down to see two English destroyers with their antiaircraft guns pointing up.

"All I could see was 'ak-ak' out the window. Of course they didn't know there were Allied prisoners aboard that plane.

"In Italy, they walked us down the streets. The Italians came out and threatened us with butcher knives. They took horse manure and whacked us in the face with it.

"We were in Italy two or three weeks. All they give us to eat was cauliflower juice. It looked like black ink."

Two men in Thomas' outfit were killed outright.

"Somebody told the German guards they were Jewish. They just walked up and shot them in the head. I don't think I ever told on anybody. Some people would tell anything to get themselves out of trouble."

The prisoners were trucked to Munich and through Berlin, finally arriving at a farm camp in northern Poland.

"All we done was work," he said of his captivity. "We raised 3,000 acres of potatoes, planted them and harvested them by hand. We also grew wheat and rye. The wheat was cut by hand and thrashed by hand. I got a hernia from hefting those 80-pound bales."

The grain was stored in 150-pound sacks. The prisoners were expected to haul them up 32 steps to the loft of a barn.

"I was so tired, so weak, I could hardly make it to the top.

"School kids would pick up potatoes. Some of them saved potatoes to make schnapps. I tasted it once," he said, making a face. "Too hot."

Although he advised the Germans he was a butcher, someone else told the guards he was a farmer.

He was given a team of colts to train as a wagon team, although they had minds of their own, running away once and kicking at every opportunity.

One bit him by the eye and Thomas didn't think it would ever stop bleeding.

"They would push you," Thomas said in answer to questions of abuse. "I was raking hay one day and an old German told me to do it another way. I tried and I couldn't do it very good. He took that rake and hit me right across the back. I gave him a big cuss word and told him I'd kill him if he ever hit me again. He never did."

Red Cross food packages for POWs never made it to the farm where Thomas was held. In addition to potatoes, the prisoners were given eggs to eat and little else.

"One day there was a chicken (embryo) inside an egg. I just raked it out and ate it anyway."

The POWs were ordered to build barracks for German soldiers at one point. "Somehow" too much water was added to the cement mix.

"They started accusing us of sabotage and stuck .45s up to our heads. No one admitted to sabotage. I though they'd pull the trigger at any time.

"When we lined up to go to work, they wanted us to say, 'Heil, Hitler.' I wouldn't say it. They could go on and kill me, but I wouldn't say it."

Near the end of the war, a group of 500 prisoners were marched to Hamburg. "They walked us for weeks. It was below zero and my feet froze. I took off my boots once and my feet swelled up so much I never took them off no more.

"We were outside of Hamburg when the Americans arrived.

"They were taking us to a fertilizer plant to gas us. They were going to make fertilizer out of us."

The Germans decided to give up the POWs, but not without making a statement. The Germans had a machine gun nest on one side of the street; Americans and comparative safety on the other. The POWs were expected to run for freedom.

"There were dead guys (soldiers who hadn't made it across the street) piled this high," Thomas said holding a level hand about three feet off the floor. "I used them as a shield to get back in American hands."

His first meal was half a chicken and it was so good he went back for another half, getting sick immediately.

"All I got to eat after that was egg nog because I was so malnourished. My heart beat so hard the Army cot would shake. That's how near dead I was, I guess."

The trip back across the Atlantic took two weeks.

"I saw the Statue of Liberty and knew I was home. I got out and kissed the ground. I don't know how we made it.

"Camp Atterbury (Indianapolis) is where I was discharged (Aug. 27, 1945) and where I got the maddest.

There were German prisoners of war held in the state capital and they were expected to work, too.

"The German prisoners were cooking for us. I told one I wanted two pieces of bread and he said, 'No,' just liked he owned the place."

Thomas was aghast when he saw American girls bring cakes and other treats to the German compound.

"I never saw any cakes when I was a prisoner. Those girls were crying to get the cakes to the Germans, it was awful!"

Thomas has never wanted to go back to Germany, although he has a German-born brother-in-law.

He is the recipient of two Bronze Stars and worked at Dalton Foundry 28 years. He's been a widower since October 2002. [[In-content Ad]]