Undated, unidentified clipping in a scrapbook at the Saranac Lake Veteran's Club.Born: c. 1922
Died: 1987
Married: Gwen Sellner
Children: John, Joel, Ken Jr., Linda (Schalm), Diane (Hallaway), and Lisa (Leonidas)
Kenneth P. Garwood was a World War II veteran. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Garwood of 75 Margaret Street.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, October 20, 2007
March You Know What...?
By Howard Riley
Tech/Sgt. Kenneth P. Garwood, of 45 Cedar Street, Saranac Lake, is a World War II Air Force veteran and former prisoner of war of the Germans, and therein lays an incredible tale.
Ken went into the 96th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force after joining the service at age 20. First, however, he went to basic training at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Al; to Radio School in Sioux Falls, S.D.; to Gunnery School in Texas and finally more training at Drew Field in Florida.
His crew delivered a new B-17 to Ireland for another crew and then went on to his base in England where the B-17 outfit he trained with got their own plane and started bombing runs over Germany.
Shot down on first raid
On the first raid in May, 1944 Sgt. Garwood's plane was shot down over the English Channel. He radioed an SOS, they ditched, a British Air-Sea Rescue team responded and the entire crew was plucked out of the water within 13 minutes.
Garwood and his crew were not so lucky when only one month later, on their 15th bombing mission they were shot down over Madenburg, Germany. He later saw the plane explode and the oniy person not accounted for was the engineer who was the ball turret gunner.
“Civilians rounded us up and beat the hell out of us before the soldiers came” Garwood said, “then took us to an interrogation camp near Frankfort and later to a POW camp in Northern Germany, Stalag Luft IV.
The three-month march
The story of the Bataan Death by the Japanese in WWII has been well documented but the forced March by the Germans has rarely been told.
Sgt. Garwood was one of 9,500 prisoners who were part of the German forced march. They marched night and day for three months, Garwood said, eating bread and potatoes, sleeping in barns, while once in a while getting food at a farm house.
Now that story is in the U.S. Congressional Record, entered there by U.S. Senator John Warner on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of that march on May 8, 1995. Here are excerpts from the story as presented by Senator Warner:
“It is appropriate to commemorate our World War II POW's by describing one incident from the War. This is the story of an 86-day, 488-mile forced march that commenced at a POW camp known as Stalag Luft IV, near Grosstychew, Poland on February 6, 1945 and ended in Halle, Germany on April 26, 1945. The ordeal of 9,500 men, most of whom were U.S. Army Air Force Bomber Command non-commissioned officers, who suffered through incredible hardships on the march, yet survived, stand as an everlasting testimonial to the triumph of the American spirit.
“The 86-day march was by all accounts savage. Men who for months, and in some cases years, had been denied proper nutrition, personal hygiene and medical care were forced to do something that would be difficult for well-nourished, healthy infantry soldiers.
“A number of soldiers on the march did not survive. Others suffered amputations of limbs, while others endured maladies that remained or will remain with them for the rest of their lives. These men from Stalag Luft IV enduring unbelievably inhumane conditions, walked, limped and in some cases crawled onward until they reached the end of their march, with the liberation by the American 104th Infantry Division on April 26, l945.“
At the opening of his remarks. Senator Warner said: “Unfortunately the story of the men of Stalag Luft IV, replete with tales of the selfless and often heroic deeds of prisoners looking after other prisoners and helping each other to survive under deplorable conditions is not well known. I therefore rise today to bring their saga of victory over incredible adversity to the attention of my colleagues.
“Well, Ken Garwood returned to Saranac Lake at the ripe old age of 23 in 1945 (he would not be 24 until that November), married his sweetheart, Gwen Sellner in 1946 and settled down to raise a large family. They have six children: John, Joel, Ken Jr., Linda (Schalm), Diane (Hallaway), and Lisa (Leonidas).
Ken was with Scheefer's Jewelers for 58 years and served the village in many roles including, but not limited to, Village Trustee and member of the Village Planning Board. The playground at the corner of Broadway & Ampersand Avenue is named for Ken because he was the main drive behind its establishment.
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