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Herb Berner
On the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, Herb was with his wife in St. Louis. While in the service, he served as a staff sergeant in the Aleutian Islands for a period of eighteen months. His military unit was trying to recapture the islands of Kiska and Attu from the Japanese. Herb was also in combat in the European Theater, where he served as a technical sergeant. He and his platoon of twenty-eight men captured 20,000 enemy soldiers in France at one time. The platoon became famous for this action and their story was published in many magazines and newspapers. Overall, during the war, he and his platoon captured 20,614 enemy soldiers. Herb was discharged on June 16, 1945. He received seventeen awards for his bravery, including two from the French government and one from the Belgium government. Herb had many interesting and exciting stories to tell, but there are a few that really stand out in my memory. During the course of the war, Herb lost only four men in his platoon. One of these men was the victim of a land mine accident. Also, during the war, Herb and his platoon liberated five concentration camps. I cannot imagine what he witnessed at these camps. According to Herb, the Germans had many "of these hell holes." When he and his platoon liberated the camps, the people in the camps had to wait for trucks to come and pick them up. This must have been an awesome feeling for Herb's platoon to give the gift of life to thousands of Jews waiting to be put to death. Herb also shared a story about eight enemy soldiers who had mistaken his medic as someone from the Red Cross because the medic wore a red cross on his helmet and sleeve. The medic's life was spared because of this mistaken identity. Herb also told me a story about a statue in Brussels, Belgium. This statue was built by a father who had lost his child and was willing to build a statue wherever the boy was found. The police found the child and a statue with a fountain was placed at that spot. On another occasion, while in the Aleutian Islands, Herb saved an Aleutian girl's life. The girl, fourteen at the time, had been moaning and groaning in pain for awhile. The girl's mother asked Herb if he had any medicine that would help her daughter. Of course, though he didn't carry much in the form of medical supplies, he said that he would see what he could do. It turned out that the girl had a bowel obstruction and he was able to give her something to relieve her of her troubles. Well, in this girl's village, if you saved someone's life, they owed their life to you. So, Herb had an Aleutian girl indebted to him for life. After the war, Herb returned home by both ship and train. He was glad to be with his wife and eight month old daughter, whom he had never seen. His service in the war made him more energetic to do his job in civilian life. He and his wife have two daughters and two grandchildren. In conclusion, I'm glad that Herb was eager to share his experiences with me; they are memories that I will remember for a long time.
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| Last page update: March 2, 2008 12:14 PM |
Herb
Berner was born in Piedmont, Missouri on October 12, 1910. He was in the
service before the start of World War II. Herb had been dating a girl
prior to the war, and he married her before he went off to war. As a civilian,
he did private investigations for a firm in St. Louis, Missouri. Herb's
basic training took place at Camp Clark in Nevada, where he learned many
things about subversive operations. He later served in army intelligence.
