Stanley A. Jaeger

War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: A Company, 7th Armored Infantry Division Service Location: European Theater Rank: Private First Class POW: Yes Place of Birth: Hankinson, ND

When Stanley Jaeger became eligible for the draft during World War II, he decided to enlist. He admits that his mother didn’t like the Navy uniforms and didn’t want him up in the air, so he became an Army recruit. From his home in North Dakota, he went to Camp Hood, Texas for training and couldn’t get over the contrasting landscape and weather. He joined several thousand men aboard the Queen Mary, landed in Glasgow, took a train to London, and eventually boarded a liberty ship to cross the English Channel. During the Battle of the Bulge, he was wounded in both arms and was captured by the Germans. In a POW camp, a medic had to amputate his right arm, with only light anesthetic available, but Jaeger lived through that, rats, fleas, bedbugs, and starvation rations to return to his native North Dakota.