Irvin Endicott

He was born in Enfield, White County, Illinois, the son of George Guy Endicott (June 16, 1878- June 15, 1958)  and Laura Metcalf Endicott (Oct 12, 1881- Nov 6, 1968).  He was a Sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 26th Infantry Division in France and his serial number was 36773636. 

 

          The 26th Division was the “Yankee Division,” originally made of New Englanders.  How Fred, a Midwesterner, got into the Division is similar to how  Burtis A. Endicott, also was a Midwesterner, got into it in World War I.  In both cases, these Endicotts came to the Division as replacements; they were not originally members of it. 

          

          After the war, records show Fred’s wife’s name was Jewel Endicott and they lived at 207 Grove Street, La Porte, Indiana. 

 

          As of this writing, all we know about Fred’s service is that he was taken prisoner in France by the Germans and interned at Stalag 3B in the city of Fürstenberg in Brandenburg, Prussia.   He survived and was liberated by the Allied armies after the war ended.  

 

          While we have no documentation saying when or where Fred was captured, it would seem that it would have had to have been in one of 3 battles that occurred sometime between October 5 and December 8, 1944.  That’s because one can track where the Yankee Division was in France and which battles it fought during this period  (the Yankee Division had 3 regiments, the 101st, 103rd and 328th) :

 

*  September 7, 1944.  The Division landed in France at Cherbourg and Utah Beach. 

 

*  October 5-15.  The Division’s first fighting was when 328th Regiment was temporarily attached to the 80th Infantry Division.  According to reports, the 80th Division's "bloodiest day" was October 8, 1944, where approximately 115 men lost their lives.  The 328th rejoined the Yankee Division on October 15.

 

*  October 22.  The Division launched a limited objective attack in Moncourt woods.

 

*  November 8.  The Division launched a limited objective attack in Moncourt woods.  Opposing them was Germany’s 11th Panzer division.  

 

*  November 8.  The Division participated in it first large-scale attack, as a part of General Patton’s Third Army.  The Division took Dieuze in northeastern France on November 20, and took Saar Union on December 2 after house-to-house fighting, and reached Sarraguemines on the border with Germany on December 8. That was the end of the Yankee Division’s fighting in France.

 

*  After December 8.  The Division was sent to rest at Metz.

 

*  December 19-21.  The Division moved north to Luxembourg for the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in Belgium and Luxembourg, not in France.

 

German Prisoner of War Camps

 

          In general, German POW camps for U.S. soldiers were a lot better than Japanese POW camps.  However, some U.S. POWs were sent to German concentration camps where conditions were very bad.  

 

          The Germans had around 1, 000 POW camps, in 8 varieties:

 

*  Dulag or Durchgangslager (transit camp) –  Intelligence collection centers for POWs prior to reassignment to another camp. 

 

*  Dulag Luft or Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe (transit camp of the Luftwaffe) – For air force POWs. The main Dulag Luft camp at Frankfurt was the principal collection point for intelligence derived from Allied POW interrogation.

 

*  Ilag/Jlag or Internierungslager ("Internment camp") – Civilian internment camps.

 

*  Marlag or Marine-Lager ("Marine camp") – For naval personnel POW camps.

 

*  Milag or Marine-Internierten-Lager ("Marine internment camp") – For merchant seamen internment camps.

 

*  Oflag or Offizier-Lager ("Officer camp") –For officers.

 

*  Stalag or Stammlager ("Base camp") – For enlisted personnel.

 

*  Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager ("Luftwaffe base camp") – Camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews.

 

          Germany was divided into 17 military districts which were each assigned Roman numerals and POW camps in Germany were numbered according to the military district.  A letter after the Roman numeral denoted  the numerical designation of individual Stalags in a military district.  So, Stalag 3 B was the second Stalag in Military District III.  The following were the military districts:

 

* I Königsberg

* II Stettin

* III Berlin

* IV Dresden

* V Stuttgart

* VI Münster

* VII Munich

* VIII Breslau

* IX Kassel

* X Hamburg

* XI Hanover

* XII Wiesbaden

* XIII Nuremberg

* XVII Vienna

* XVIII Salzburg
 * XX Danzig

* XXI Posen

 

          In addition to these camps Germany, there were a few other special camps in Germany, plus many other camps located in occupied areas outside of Germany, in France, Poland, and Lithuania.

 

          Stalags  were usually for enlisted Army personnel but sometimes contained officers as well.  Before being sent to a Stalag, a POW usually had to pass through a Dulag, where details of the prisoners were processed and they were interrogated.  Under the terms of the Geneva Convention prisoners only had to give name, rank and serial number but interrogators often tried to trick POWs into giving more. 

 

          Enlisted prisoners would then be transported to a Stalag, usually by train.  Camp layouts varied from camp to camp, but all were enclosed with barbed wire and contained guard towers that were manned by armed soldiers ready to shoot anyone trying to escape.  Prisoners were usually housed in one-story wooden barracks which contained bunk beds (two or three high) and a charcoal burning stove in the middle of the room.

 

 

 

          Other POWs in Stalag III B have said that food was scarce and that it took several days for their stomachs to adjust to the sour black bread they were given that had sawdust as one of the ingredients.  Occasionally, food was so scarce POWs boiled grass to make soup and considered themselves lucky if they could find some wild onions to put in it for taste.  Eventually, they received Red Cross packages but German guards would often divide among six men what the Red Cross had sent to feed one man. 

 

          Some POWs were forced to work on German farms for long hours each day.

          

          On January 31, 1945, due to the Soviets approaching the Oder River, Stalag III B was forced to move, with POWs marching in snow and slush for about a week, finally reaching another camp.  Then, on April 27, they were forced to move again, which entailed another week of marching.  But on May 5, the German guards told them the American lines were only a few miles ahead and they were free to go.   This story of marching from camp to camp is similar to the one told by Thomas Alvan Endecott (see below). 

          

          During the war, the U.S. took 3,100,000 German prisoners and the Germans took 95,532 U.S. prisoners.  The Yankee Division had only 159 POWs taken in the war. 

 

Obituary 
Fred H. Endicott, 90, Marion, formerly of Carmi, died at 12:09 a.m. Friday, April 25, 2003 at his residence.
 Mr. Endicott was born Nov. 7, 1912 in Enfield, the son of George G. and Laura (Metcalf) Endicott. He married Jewell Geneva Allardin on Aug. 8, 1941, and she preceded him in death June 28, 2000. Mr. Endicott was a U.S. Army veteran. He served with the 26th Division during World War II and was a prisoner of war. Mr. Endicott was a member of First Baptist Church in Carmi and belonged to the Amateur Trap Shooting Association.
 Surviving are three nieces, Verdeen Bebout of Missouri, Charlene Vaughan of McLeansboro and Mitzi Absher Lathrop of Marion; four nephews, Deon Allardin of McLeansboro, Charles Absher of Mascoutah, Rick Absher of Beckley, W.Va. and Rodney Absher of Sebastopol, Calif.; several grand-nieces and nephews; and a sister-in-law, Ava Allardin of McLeansboro.
 Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at Campbell Funeral Home in Carmi, Rick Absher officiating. Burial will be at I.O.O.F. Cemetery in McLeansboro. Visitation will be from noon until the time of the service Sunday at the funeral home.

 

DOD…Marion, Williamson County, IL  April 25, 2003.  Burial… Odd Fellows Cemetery,  McLeansboro, IL