Sleeping Giants

by Nathan Mellor

  According to Rifleman Jerome Nelson, when the battle began, Pen’s comrades in Company B felt the full force of the Blitzkrieg. “I was in Company E, and our company was bypassed. But Company B on our right flank, they were hit head-on, and in about 20 minutes of combat, they had eight survivors. The rest were either killed in action, wounded, or taken prisoner. They really, you know, caught the full strength of that onslaught.”20

  In the days following the launch of the offensive, Allied prisoners of war began to arrive from the front lines at the makeshift Stalag in Frankfurt. Once there, they began sharing with one another about what had happened. The 99th had fought bravely, and although they were unlikely aware of the significance of their efforts, their sacrifice had been crucial to slowing the German attack, which would ultimately lead to Allied victory. After a few days in Frankfurt, Pen was on the move again as his train strained toward the city of Limburg.21

  Pen arrived at Stalag XII A on December 20th. The building to which he was assigned was similar in size to a high school gymnasium and consisted of one large room and a latrine in an adjacent room. He recalled the prison being so crowded there was nowhere to lie down “without being crisscrossed over one another.” He said, “There was only one latrine in the corner of the room, and in order to use it, they would have to crawl over the bodies of fellow prisoners.” The situation was made worse as the sewer lines to the latrine froze, and their waste would “flow back into the room.”22

  Pen’s story is recorded in Robert Humphrey’s book, Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II.

  Woods and Deal were locked in a large building, so crowded that not all the POWs could recline simultaneously on the concrete floor. Woods, suffering from dysentery, began crawling over his recumbent fellow prisoners toward the latrine at the end of the building, but couldn’t move fast enough and soiled his boxer shorts and long underwear. All he could do was remove the underwear and try to wipe the mess off his body and then throw away the fetid clothing. From then on he lived and worked without underwear.23

  On December 23rd, their camp was targeted by friendly fire. Humphreys recounted,

  During this time, the Americans were bombing during the daytime and the British were bombing at night, hoping to hit an air base neighboring the prison. Somehow, the British misjudged their target the night before Christmas Eve and showered the prison camp with bombs. The windows of Woods’ building were blown out, and the building next to his took a direct hit, killing 40 American prisoners.24

  The soldiers spent Christmas Eve pulling the dead and injured from the rubble. When asked about the experience nearly six decades later, Pen retained the pain of the memory. “‘You could imagine what a miserable Christmas it was,’ he said. The prisoners tried their best to maintain a Christmas spirit. One decorated a dead branch with a few pieces of paper and cloth to ‘represent decorations,’ Woods said. Some of the men sang Christmas hymns on Christmas Eve. ‘Pretty soon, all over the prison the prisoners were singing ‘Silent Night,’ Woods added. ‘There was no Christmas feast—hardly any food at all. That’s the way we celebrated Christmas in 1944.’”25

  A week after Christmas, Pen was moved again. His new home was Stalag III-A in Luckenwalde. Although he would have to share a narrow mattress and blanket with a bunkmate, he had an actual bed for the first time since his capture. Each morning, prisoners were served coffee that Pen suspected was simply boiled wood. There was food each day, but there was not much to go around. Lunch consisted of a third of kohlrabi, and dinner included a loaf of German bread, which was divided by ten men.26

  According to Pen,

  The hunger at Luckenwalde was bad. The basic urge in life is food. All other urges disappear except for food. We would sit around all day and talk about food. I didn’t enjoy that talk because I was so hungry and did not want to think about food. We had a few paperback books and I read them, trying not to think of food. It was interesting that everyone talked about fancy food, not the basic steak and potatoes, but fancy desserts and exotic dishes. One man kept a notebook and wrote down every type of food the men talked about and said when he returned to the states he was going to try every one of them. Another man added peanut butter to all of his dishes. He would describe how to prepare a dish, then add peanut butter to it. Hunger is not in the stomach. Hunger is all over the body. It is in the blood. You are hungry in your fingertips, your ears, your nose, even in the tips of your toes. You are hungry everywhere.27

  At this point, four of the original group who had been captured on December 10th were still together. While in Stalag III-A, it was common for lower-ranking prisoners to be selected for labor camps. Prisoners were chosen to work in the field for 12-hour shifts, digging foxholes for German soldiers.28 Pen said, “The four of us decided that whatever happens to one of us happened to all of us. Anytime they would come in to move anybody anywhere, we’d lock arms. If you get one, we’re all going, whatever it is. They got one of us one time, and so the four of us went to a labor camp in Jüterbog, Germany, which is near Berlin.”29

  On April 20th, his opportunity to escape presented itself. Pen shared, “The Russians were shelling the entire Berlin area and had blown up a portion of one of the stockade fences which enclosed us. We took off and spent 5 days on a cross-country trip back to our lines. We bypassed another Russian shelling at Torgow, Germany, before getting back to the American side.”30

  In an article titled, We Captured a Town, Pen shared more about the escape from the labor camp. He wrote:

  Avoiding roads and sleeping in barns, we had no difficulty as far as German troops were concerned, because they had virtually all moved to the Eastern Front and Americans were stopped at the Elbe River as a result of the Yalta agreement with Russia.

  Reaching the Second Division, we spent the night with one of the Infantry companies. The men in the company were taking it easy because there was no enemy across the river and they had orders not to advance.

  The next morning, celebrating our first freedom in months, we roamed the area and found an abandoned German fire engine, which a fellow former prisoner knew how to hot-wire. A dozen of us jumped on the fire engine, ready for a joy ride. One of our group had an M-1, which he had picked up.

  Without realizing it, we crossed our own front line and entered a village, which had not yet been occupied. Immediately, we began hearing German townspeople, who obviously had been waiting for troops to arrive, hollering, “Americans! Americans!” Almost immediately, white flags began to pour out of nearly every building in town.

  So on April 26, 1945, 12 former POWs, riding atop a German fire engine, and armed with a single M-1, captured a town.31

  Unlike many of his generation, Pen was willing to talk about his experiences in World War II. A student of history, he understood that his story was unusual and captivating. In addition, it seemed that he considered telling his story to be a public service. Consequently, he told it often. He wrote about it, participated in numerous interviews about his experiences, and would often speak to groups about it.

  On occasion, Pen would come into my office to talk about life. On some of those occasions, we would talk about his experiences in Germany. It was interesting to me to note that when he talked about what he had endured, he would inevitably talk about hunger. After his passing, when I began researching more about his life, I noticed the topic also came up frequently in his interviews and writings.

  One day, we were talking about hunger and he said something very similar to what I found in a 2002 article in the Journal Record.

  The prisoners often talked and dreamt about food, “fancy things their mothers or wives made at home. Food imaginations really ran wild,” Woods explained. Woods said hunger was more than just in the stomach. It was “all over the body. The stomach actually shrunk itself, but the blood had tremendous malnutrition,” he said. “When you reach this point, it makes no difference how much you eat. You
could eat to the point of regurgitation and you’d be just as hungry as when you finished because the blood could not absorb it.” Woods said it took six weeks after coming home before he quit being hungry.32

  If there were any lingering effects of his time as a prisoner of war, I felt it was likely connected to the hunger he experienced during that time. He became more animated when the conversation would drift toward this topic. In addition, he was the only person with whom I have ever worked who would leave open cans of food in the office refrigerator. It may have been more of a generational thing than anything else, but he did not waste food.

  When Pen and the fellow prisoners escaped and made their way back to the Allied front lines, there was an understandable desire to eat as much as possible as quickly as possible, but they were warned that giving in to this impulse could prove lethal. To keep the men from eating too much, they were monitored until their bodies were able to adjust and begin absorbing the life-giving nutrients again. I was struck by the idea that it took six weeks after escaping from the work camp before Pen felt full again.

  I am not sure why Pen’s story about not feeling full for 6 weeks after escaping resonated with me so strongly, but I felt it provided a unique insight into the man. If you have ever been hungry, really hungry, it is not a feeling that is easily ignored. The patience and discipline needed to stay on a prescribed diet while the feeling of hunger persisted is astonishing. Although he was eating the right foods and following sound advice from doctors, there was no relief. During that time, he stayed focused and trusted that he was on the right path. I cannot imagine how it must have felt when the gnawing feeling of hunger finally went away. It must have been like a dream.

  There are numerous life lessons from what Pen endured. One of the most important for me was the value of perseverance. Pen learned persistence as a teenager when he worked toward becoming an Eagle Scout. He demonstrated persistence when he was told he would have to go through boot camp a second time, and did not complain. He did not give up when he was trapped in the boxcar for 8 days. He stayed focused when he moderated what he was eating although he was racked by hunger.

  Sometimes there is a lag time between doing what you know to be right and seeing the desired results. The lag time can be a matter of minutes or hours. At other times, the lag time can be 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years, or 60. Pen’s secret to success was persistence. He was a lifelong learner, and he found purpose in serving others. When Pen and I began working together, he was already at an advanced age but he refused to slow down or plateau. Some of the members of the team referred to him as “The Energizer Bunny.” He amazed us with his work ethic and his involvement in numerous projects.

  The office area our team shared had been built in the early 1980s. The carpet had become threadbare, and the color combinations were dated. However, the complex had been constructed well and the offices were spacious and quiet. When we decided to update the offices, we changed out the carpet and painted the walls. To help make the painting process easier, a few of us helped Pen move things away from the walls. As we did, we found stacks and stacks of framed recognitions, plaques, and other mementos celebrating his life. One of the stacks was a couple of feet high, and as I moved it, I was dumbfounded by what I found. Although our little team knew Pen was special, we had no idea how many others felt the same.

  The first framed certificate I picked up was Pen’s recognition as a Daily Point of Light honoree on September 14, 2006. The next was an honorary doctorate that had been bestowed upon him in 2005. Another recognized him as Oklahoma’s representative for the Older Worker of the Year in 2007. It was clear that Pen was someone who had made an impact on many lives, but I was only scratching the surface. His entire office was filled with recognitions that he had kept but not displayed.

  When Pen returned to the states following the war, he worked as sports editor for a newspaper for 8 months and then resumed his studies at the University of Arkansas.33 In 1948, he graduated with a degree in journalism and an ROTC military commission as a second lieutenant. On April 3, 1948, he married Fort Smith native Lois Robin Freeman. The couple moved to Oklahoma City, where Pen began working for Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) as the editor of their in-house publication. It was also during this time that he joined the Oklahoma National Guard as the Public Information Officer for the 45th Infantry Division.34

  The famed 45th Infantry was the first National Guard Division to be called up to serve in Korea, and Pen went to war once more. The youngest member of the division staff, he hosted war correspondents and was responsible for the 45th division’s newspaper. The newspaper was “the only newspaper produced and printed entirely on the Korean peninsula.”35 Through his efforts, Oklahomans could hear about their loved ones on a weekly radio program, the “Voices of the 45th.” Also, as televisions became increasingly popular, an Oklahoma-based television station sent over a camera, which allowed the 45th to provide a weekly television show. It was a point of pride to Pen that the 45th was the first division to have both a radio and television show.36

  Pen was passionate about history and preserving it. In 1969, after 21 years at OG&E, he joined the staff of Oklahoma Christian College. Among his goals was interviewing Oklahomans who could tell the story of the young state. Considering Oklahoma was founded in 1907, many of the people he interviewed could provide first-hand knowledge of its history. In time, he would record the voices and memories of nearly 3,000 people.37

  When he retired from the Oklahoma Army National Guard on December 23, 1983, a plaque, which included pictures of him in 1942 as a private and in 1983 as a colonel was hung in the dining room of the Oklahoma Military Academy. He was also presented with the Oklahoma Distinguished Service Award, the state’s highest military honor. Six years earlier, he had completed the 30 allowable years of commissioned service. Instead of stepping aside, he chose to vacate his Colonel’s commission and become a Sergeant to be able to continue serving. On his final day of service, he was made a Colonel again upon his retirement.38

  Colonel Pendleton Woods died at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, December 1, 2014. His wife, Robin, preceded him by a little over a year when she passed on August 5, 2013. Before his passing, Pen had his computer and printer brought to his room at the Veterans’ Center.39 Although he had already either authored or co-authored 16 books, Pen was still attempting to share with others.40

  Although there are many examples of Pen’s service, one that I find most fitting was his commitment to the veterans’ hospital in Oklahoma City. Beginning in 1983 and continuing through 2012, he served as a volunteer on Sundays. Every Sunday for nearly 30 years, he would help set-up equipment for chapel service and deliver the newspaper to patients. When his health deteriorated to the point that he had to use a walker to maintain his balance, he did not stop serving. Instead of stopping, he attached a basket to the walker and continued his route.41

  KARAVAI

  When I think of Pen’s approach to life, I am reminded of a ceremony that I attended while working in Russia during the summer of 1995. The event, which included a large, round loaf of bread called a Karavai, was called a “Friendship Ceremony.” The bread was served on a large platter, and in the middle of the loaf was a small porcelain bowl filled with salt.

  Everyone was invited to tear off a piece of the bread and then dip it into the salt. The salt was the key to the ceremony. It was said that to truly be friends, you had to share a kilo of salt together. Considering a kilo is 2.2 pounds, it meant you would have to share many meals together. The message was simple, building a deep and meaningful friendship takes time, but it is an investment worth the effort.

  Pen was able to accomplish amazing things because of the clarity of his life goals and his willingness to endure hardships in pursuit of his goals. In 2011, at the age of 87, he was being interviewed about an award that he was receiving. There was a sentence in the interview that stood out to me. He said, “Public service is fun. It’s not just
work; it’s enjoyable.”42

  I loved Pen and did my best to gather together a list of the recognitions and honors bestowed upon him throughout his lifetime. Below is an incomplete list of what I was able to find. With the understanding that Pen considered service to be fun, take a moment to read through the listing. For someone who viewed serving other as the key to fulfillment, Pen had a full and meaningful life.

  45th Infantry Division Association—President

  45th Infantry Division Museum—Among the Founders of the 45th Infantry Division Museum

  45th Infantry Division News—Editor

  99th Infantry Division Association Founder—Member

  American Advertising Federation—Board Member

  American Advertising Federation—Silver Medal Award, 1987

  American Association of Industrial Editors—Vice President

  American Cancer Society, Oklahoma County Chapter—Director

  American Ex-Prisoners of War—State Commander, Outstanding Ex-POW, 2007

  American Institute for Public Service—Jefferson Award, 1994

  American Legion

  American Red Cross, Oklahoma County Chapter—Public Relations Chairman

  Boy Scouts of America—Eagle Scout (Awarded at the First National Jamboree in Washington, D.C., 1937)

  Boy Scouts of America—Silver Beaver Award

  Boy Scouts of America, Last Frontier Council—Lifetime Board Member, Scoutmaster, Explorer Post Leader and other leadership posts.

  Campfire Girls Council—Board Member, Vice President

  Central Oklahoma Business Communicators—President, Honorary Lifetime Membership

  Central Park Neighborhood Association—Co-founder and Board Member

  Disabled American Veterans (DAV)—Volunteer

  Daughters of the American Revolution—Medal of Honor, 2005

  DECA, Oklahoma—Volunteer