Stroud, Caitlan
Rosenfeld, Kelly
Hilliard, Orianna

Period 4
King High Remembers Essay
Anthony C. Acevedo was born in San Bernardino, California. A man of great honor, Acevedo dutifully served his country during WW2. Living in California prior to the Great Depression, Acevedo and his family were sent back to Mexico when the Great Depression began. Acevedo’s father, an engineer and advisor to the governor, experienced pre-war treachery in his ranks; two of his employees became spies against the Mexican/American government. Acevedo’s life changed forever when he was forcibly drafted into war in 1942.
On the way overseas, many soldiers were apprehensive about what the trip would hold for them. For most, hopes of survival ranked supreme. On the way to Europe, one of Acevedo’s close friends confided that he didn’t think he would survive the war. His prediction sadly turned out to be correct, and didn’t live to see the American triumph in the war. Tragedy marked much of Acevedo’s service in the war. During service, many soldiers gave up; the pressure of war was too much for them to deal with. One of Acevedo’s friends died in his arms. Anthony C. Acevedo, a man of impeccable physical strength and psychological rigor, resolved he would make it through the war and did so. However, Acevedo continued to experience many hardships while serving for America during this fiasco overseas.
On what was thought to be a regular day, January 6, 1945, Acevedo and other troops were surrounded by German Tanks. When the tanks closed in, the troops surrendered. The captured soldiers were sent to German Work Camps. Forced to sleep in either lice infested bunks or sometimes no bunks at all, life in a Work Camp was often to horrible to imagine. The 350 “undesirables” captured, including Jews, Muslims, etc., all called the Work Camp home after that. As chronicled in his hidden diary, Acevedo’s life was anything but easy. Given very little food to survive on, a typical meal consisted of “Bohemian Bread” and homemade tea. Every two weeks the soldiers were given 100g of this so called “bread”. Made of saw dust, glass, sand, and barley, this “bread” often made the soldiers sick after eating it for prolonged periods of time. Also, they were forced to drink a concoction of weeds mixed with water, their own version of tea. During camp, some were forced to work in tunnels for up to 12 hours a day. Also, some had to dig tunnels for German scientists to produce and hide their weapons in. The only moments of peace experienced during their time at the camp occurred while they slept, and even then, their nights were flogged with continuous nightmares in which they were often being captured by the enemy. Little did they know they were about to leave the “peace” of the camp for something much worse: a death march.
A death march is exactly what it sounds like; a march to the death. The only point behind a death march is to whittle down the small persecuted population of soldiers left after camp to the smallest possible number, the strongest of the strong. Anthony C. Acevedo was one of those soldiers. Forced to march 217 miles in the snow, the marching soldiers also had nowhere to sleep at night. They were forced to sleep on stones. Also, they had no food or water. Most of the “nourishment” they got during this death march was from the snow they’d eat, found on the side of the road. During the march, the strongest soldiers (including Acevedo) were forced to pull a cart full of the other dying and starving soldiers, a price they paid for being healthy. Finally, luck hit Acevedo and the other surviving comrades. While on their death march, headed towards Barn in Germany, the soldiers on the march were liberated. However, many of them had health repercussions that would last the rest of their lives; at least, those who survived the march. There were only 65 survivors out of the 350 that were sent to camp and to the death march. Acevedo, a strong and healthy 149 pounds at the beginning of the march was only a meager 87 pounds by the end of the march.
Even after being liberated, Acevedo and the other soldiers were still the focus of persecution. If the soldiers were to tell their stories about the horrors that were witnessed and experienced overseas during the war, they could be federally jailed for life. Also, the Japanese wouldn’t admit what they had done to persecute the soldiers overseas. The American government also persecuted the newly released soldiers for economic reasons. Due to large German stakes in money-hungry American companies, it was unwise to portray the Germans in a negative light. Afraid the Germans would withdraw their monetary support in American companies, the US government forced the released soldiers to keep quiet about what had happened.
However, things began to look up for Acevedo. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Combat Medical Badge, and The Belgian Merit of Honor. Also, he experienced small amounts of post-war fame when written about in war-based novelSoldiers and Slaves by Roger Cohen. Unlike Acevedo, some soldiers were much less apt to talk about their experiences in the war. One of Acevedo’s friends from the war, Bill Shapiro, never would give up any information about his experiences fighting in the war.
Finally, one last obstacle faced the soldiers: assimilating back into normal American life. Many of the soldiers were advised not to go right back to work, school, or to go right into a new marriage fearing that they would have a very hard time re-adjusting to normal, everyday life. After being released in 1945, Acevedo took a train to meet his future wife. While on the train, he met a family with a daughter about the same age as Acevedo. When things with his father began to go downhill, Acevedo left home to marry the girl he met on the train while on the way to meet his future wife. For post war work, Acevedo aspired to be a doctor but gave up on that dream because his wife didn’t approve. Acevedo became an aerospace engineer in California. Things began to go sour with his wife and they divorced. Ironically, Acevedo married the woman he was supposed to go meet on the train in the first place, and they continue to live happily to this day.
Anthony C. Acevedo still keeps in regular contact with some of his wartime friends. A group of the surviving wartime heroes still meet every once in a while. One of his friends lives in Arizona and they still get together to chat about old times. However, his friend suffers from a bad condition from breathing too much silt from the trenches they were forced to dig and fight in while held hostage in the work camp. An unfortunate aftermath of putting so much effort and serving so much time to help their countries, many ex-soldiers suffer from similar conditions due to the death marches, hard work in labor camps, constant eating of the tainted bohemian bread, being deprived of food, or like Acevedo’s friend, breathing too much silt and dust into their lungs during their time in Germany. Now, Acevedo lives happily in Southern California. With his new wife, Acevedo had one daughter and 3 sons. His children live in Rancho Cucamonga, Huntington, and Lakewood.