Wiljo W. Wanhala

Wiljo W. Wanhala entered the Army on July 7, 1943. Home at entry: Duluth, Minnesota.

Mr. Wanhala served as a Corporal with Company B of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Fifth Infantry Division in the European Theater.

He was taken prisoner by the Germans on October 7, 1944, and held at Stalag 12A, then sent by boxcar "jammed with POWs, to Hammerstein, Germany, Stalag II B.

"I worked in horse stables until forced to go on a march on January 29, 1945. I was forced to walk across the top of Germany to Hamburg and back to Schwerin, approximately 850 miles. I was liberated on May 3, 1945, by the American Seventh Army. I returned to United States on June 14, 1945."

Mr. Wanhala was honorably discharged on November 18, 1945, at Fort Lawton, Washington.

Source: Hometown Heroes:  The Saint Louis County World War II Project, 336.

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