April 23, 1945 — Phil promoted to captain and is perhaps the youngest documented Army captain in WWII
April 23, 2025April 30, 1945 — Phil waits in hospital, Hitler commits suicide, and the Third Reich is about to fall
Until his flight home to the U.S., all Phil could do was keep tabs on the war from his hospital bed in France. It was becoming clear that the Third Reich would fall any minute.[1]
On April 30, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself in his Führerbunker in Berlin. His longtime lover and wife of about forty hours, Eva Braun, died beside him after taking a fatal dose of cyanide.
Meanwhile, the 30th Infantry was entering Munich, having covered an estimated 700 miles from March into the end of April and capturing more than 25,000 German prisoners.
Phil learned that only thirty-two officers and 498 enlisted men of his original regiment of over 3,000 men who landed at Fedala, French Morocco, on November 8, 1942, were still active members of the 30th Infantry Regiment.[2]
He wished he was still with his buddies.
~~~~~
[1] Larimore, At First Light, 269.
[2] Larimore, Ibid.
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