Letter to the editor

With Memorial Day Approaching I have been thinking a lot about  my deceased father, Leo “Max” Zahler, a WW11 veteran. He was born and raised in St Michael, MN as was my mother, Mildred Haehn. They were married and had two daughters before entering military service and two daughters after the war. I was an after the war baby boomer. They moved to Hutchinson, Mn in 1956 where mom and dad lived the rest of their lives.

I have known the basics of his military history since I was a young adult, but during a visit with my older sister, Pat, last summer I learned some VERY SURPRISING details about his military service. Following is what I knew:

He entered the United States Army on April 7, 1944, serving WW11. He was an anti-tank gunner crewman on a tank nicknamed “Black Widow 11” with the Ninth Armor Division. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Bronze Star. He was awarded his second Bronze Star during the Battle of the Ramogon Bridge along the Rhine River. He was also awarded the European  and the American Theater Ribbons. He achieved the rank of Private First Class and was honorably discharged on Nov. 21, 1945.

Here is what I did not know:

On May 8, 1945, the Ninth Armored Division, along with comrades from the First Infantry Division, liberated Zwodau and Falkenau an Der Eger, both sub camps of the Flossenburg concentration camp. The Ninth Armored Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army’s Center of Military History and the United State’s Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1993.

My sister Pat told me that dad said the physical condition of the camp detainees was a horror. No one in my family,  nor relatives or friends of my parents ever spoke of this while around us kids, if at all.

What an incredible story about an incredible man. I am more than certain that this is just a small glimpse of what he witnessed during his time serving in WW11. But he never wanted to talk about any of it. Why he chose to tell this story to Pat at the time he did is a mystery to us both.

Maxine Zahler Gohman

Maple Lake

Leo Zahler is shown standing on the tank on which he served as a gunner in the Battle of the Bulge and more during WWII.