#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Ernest Boyd Hunter Jr. - VAntage Point

Ernest Boyd Hunter Jr. served in the infantry during the brunt of World War II. He was taken by the Germans as a prisoner of war (POW) during the Battle of the Bulge and was liberated in a joint effort by Russian and U.S. forces near the end of the war. Hunter and two other soldiers escaped to the basement of an abandoned house to avoid German capture. This lasted for six days under harsh winter conditions. Hunter later said that the supply of wine and cigarettes was depleted in the first day, and for the rest of the time, he ate only canned string beans and drank the leftover juice to survive. He contracted frostbite, leading to what he called “frozen feet.”
German troops soon found them and sent them to Stammlager IV-B, a German camp for POWs. Hunter was treated by British medics in this camp until he was able to walk normally on his feet. He spent four months as a POW before he was set free by the Russian army who transferred him to a convoy of trucks sent by the U.S. Army. He was sent to Camp Lucky Strike in France until he was given transport to return to the United States.