William Barton, Davenport, Iowa
Mr. Barton was with the 42nd Rainbow Division which liberated Munich and proceeded on into Dachau. He wasn't trained to expect what he found, which was, for the most part, bedlam. As he blew off one of the locks on a gate into Dachau, and first noticed the inmates, he realized that they were expecting to be murdered. Some of the servicemen who spoke Polish and German were able to put the prisoners at ease, but their next job was to shoot the German Shepherd dogs, some 200 of them, who were running loose and had been trained to kill. He was in the camp three days, doing what he could to eliminate the confusion and prevent the spread of disease such as typhus. He particularly remembers the barely living, but he also remembers the piles of bodies, some piles containing over 1800 corpses. Mr. Barton, your compassionate efforts will always be remembered.
Learn more about the liberation of Dachau.