48 Hours to Hammelburg
Patton rescue mission has Bradford connection It was a rescue mission at the end of World War II that no one was supposed to know about – not even the person being rescued. But as Roger Alexis discovered, it’s too good a story not to be told. “It’s a fantastic story that no one knows about. It was covered up,” Bradford resident Alexis said of his talk – called “48 hours to Hammelburg” – that will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at the Bradford Area Public Library. The event is free and open to the public. Alexis gleans the title of his talk from a book of the same name written by Charles Whiting. Whiting writes about how in March 1945, Task Master Abraham Baum set out on a mission to liberate a POW camp at Hammelburg, Germany. No one knew the real reason Gen. George Patton ordered this dangerous mission – to rescue Lt. Col. John Waters – Gen. Patton’s son-in-law. However, there was another lesser known individual at the camp – Alexis’s brother, Jerry. “They kept it hush-hush until a...