In the course of searching the internet for information related to the events and places described in Ever the Patriot, my most exciting find was a picture of my father, Vincent J. Riccio, at the liberation of Fallingbostel in April 1945. He was on the forced march from Stalag Luft IV to Fallingbostel (Stalag XIB), where British prisoners took him and hid him when the columns marched out because he was in such bad shape that he would not have survived. I had googled “liberation Fallingbostel” and selected the Images option when my husband walked into my office. I had just clicked one of the photos that showed emaciated prisoners sitting around – the caption was “Newly liberated British POWs sit on the grounds of Stalag XIB [Eleven B], a camp outside Fallingbostel.” My husband immediately pointed at one of the men and exclaimed “isn’t that your father?” It sure did look like him. And he was definitely at Fallingbostel at the time. The link below is to the picture on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. After sending pictures of my dad from the same time period, the museum agreed it is probably him and added sub-caption indicating so. He is the dark-haired man sitting in rear left (behind the guy with the cap). http://collections.ushmm.org/search/c...
I had googled “liberation Fallingbostel” and selected the Images option when my husband walked into my office. I had just clicked one of the photos that showed emaciated prisoners sitting around – the caption was “Newly liberated British POWs sit on the grounds of Stalag XIB [Eleven B], a camp outside Fallingbostel.” My husband immediately pointed at one of the men and exclaimed “isn’t that your father?” It sure did look like him. And he was definitely at Fallingbostel at the time.
The link below is to the picture on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website. After sending pictures of my dad from the same time period, the museum agreed it is probably him and added sub-caption indicating so. He is the dark-haired man sitting in rear left (behind the guy with the cap).
http://collections.ushmm.org/search/c...
Ever the Patriot: Recollections of Vincent J. Riccio, World War II Veteran and POW