Medals arrive nearly six decades after war
East Brunswick man
fought in crucial battle before being captured
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY FARRAH MAFFAI staff Anthony W. Alexander, a 79-year-old East Brunswick resident, gets his first look at the medals long overdue. Congressman Rush Holt (r) delivered them Saturday.

EAST BRUNSWICK — It took Anthony Alexander about three months to be liberated from a Nazi prisoner of war camp. It then took him 58 years to get the medals he was due from the U.S. government.

Alexander, a Guy Drive resident who served in the Army during World War II, enjoyed a poignant moment when he finally received the assortment of medals he was owed Saturday. The medals were delivered to Alexander’s home by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt.

"It was a very emotional moment," said Mary Beth Wieciek, one of Alexander’s daughters. "My father just started to break down. It’s hard to put into words — surprise, jubilation, and a lot of pride."

"It feels great," said Alexander, now 79 years old. "It only took 58 years."

Alexander’s story is not unlike a lot of other American veterans who fought in World War II. He served, was due a variety of medals for heroic acts, yet for a number of reasons never received them. Aside from bureaucratic blunders, a soldier’s desire to move on with life caused the medals to be forgotten.

But Alexander’s story has a couple more twists than most. Not only did he fight in the Battle of the Bulge and single-handedly take seven Nazi soldiers prisoner, but he was later captured himself by the enemy forces and was likely less than a month from death when he was rescued.

Alexander recalled being captured during the battle in January 1945 in France. He and the other prisoners were marched by Nazi forces into a cemetery.

"It didn’t look too good because we were surrounded for three days," he said. "We thought when they took us into the cemetery, we were goners for sure."

In case he didn’t already know, Alexander learned the mentality of the Nazis immediately.

It was the middle of winter and he did not want the Nazis to take his gloves, so he sat on them to hide them. However, a German major realized what he was doing and smacked him across the face.

The Germans marched the prisoners to a small town and crowded them into a house.

"They piled us like cattle into box cars," he said.

As Allied bombers flew overhead, the German troops moved the prisoners again. They were taken to different camps and hardly ate, Alexander said. The Germans also tried to get information out of the soldiers but had little luck, even though noncompliance was met with violence.

Meanwhile, the diet was taking its toll — Alexander dropped from more than 200 pounds to about 150, he said.

"We asked a doctor how long we’d last on this diet, and he said about one month," Alexander said.

The 6th Armored Division liberated the men on March 30, 1945, almost three months after their capture. Not everyone was as lucky as Alexander, as some of his colleagues died from starvation before the liberation, he said.

Alexander had enlisted and began serving in the war in 1943. He was part of the Army’s 100th Infantry Division.

Holt brought with him the medals Alexander was due — a Bronze Star, along with medals for being a POW, having good conduct, serving in the American theater, serving in the European theater, a combat infantryman’s badge, and a victory medal.

Holt presented the awards to Alexander in a beautiful case, Mary Beth said, with all five of Alexander’s children on hand along with spouses and Alexander’s wife, Ruth.

Mary Beth said that near the beginning of 2003, her father saw stories of other World War II veterans finally getting their medals, and told family members that he had never received his. Mary Beth called Holt’s office, who got the ball rolling, she said.

"The WWII vets are dying at such a rapid rate, and he deserved these medals," she said of her father.

"These guys are living history," she said.

She said getting the medals after the war was impossible, and it was even harder in Alexander’s case. A mix-up with his discharge papers and a fire that destroyed government documents related to the war made obtaining the medals even more of an uphill battle.

"Everything was just mixed up when these guys came back from Europe," she said.

While Alexander knew before Saturday that he would be getting most of the medals, the Bronze Star was a special surprise that his family kept from him until the presentation.