.png)
Reuben Schmidt was yet another Elgin-area survivor of the Bataan Death March in the Philippine Islands. He was born July 25, 1920, in Richland, Travis County. His parents were Rudolph Schmidt and Anna Hodde. Among other siblings, Reuben was the brother of Ella Matetzschk, the mother of Lawrence and Glenward who lived in Elgin and Coupland.
Reuben Schmidt enlisted as a Private in the U.S.Army June 27, 1945. He survived, but suffered during and after his imprisonment. He was married to and divorced from Berneyce Kerlin and they had the following children: Betty Carol, Ann Marie, Patricia Sue, Gary Lynn, Karen Kay, Janice and Bonnie Gayle. He died May 5, 1979, at age 58, in Bell County, and he was buried in the Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery in Richland, now Pflugerville.
Jack H. Culp, Sr. from Elgin became a POW in Germany Jack H Culp Sr. became a Prisoner of War during World War II. Unlike his older brother, Powell Culp III, who was a POW in the Philippines and Japan, Jack was imprisoned in Germany while serving in the U.S. Army, Air Corps. He was treated much better as a POW than his brother. As a fighter pilot, he was held in camps run by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, independently of the German Army. These POW camps, called Stalags, were staffed by older Germans who had been pilots themselves or by younger pilots who were recuperating from injuries.
Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 POW camps. Unlike the situation in the Philippine Islands, including the Bataan death march, Germany had signed the Third Geneva Convention of 1929 related to the treatment of POWs. Article 10 required that POWs should be lodged in adequately heated and lighted buildings where conditions were the same as for German troops.
After Jack Culp’s plane was shot down, he was imprisoned in Germany’s Bavaria, at Hammelburg near Bad Kissingen, renowned for its mineral springs. It was in Stalag XIII-C Hammelburg/ Mainfranken. The town of Hammelburg dates from April 716 and is the oldest wine-growing town in Franconia. Franconia, according to travel guides, is Germany’s land of wine, wurst, Wagner and WWII history and located between Frankfurt/Main and Munich.
The stalag in which Culp was imprisoned was made famous in the movie, “Hogan’s Heroes” that was aired in the United States from 1965 to 1971.
Culp was later moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser 49-11 in Stalag XIII-D. Nürnberg-Langwasser was a prisoner-of-war camp built on what had been the Nazi party’s rally grounds in Nuremberg, northern Bavaria.
Data shows Jack Culp was in 356 Group/Regiment/ Commands/System Single- Engine Fighter Group European Theatre: Germany. Source. US National Archives.
He re-entered the U.S. Air Force after the war and was a pilot stationed at Dover AFB, Delaware flying C133 cargo aircraft.
He survived to become a prisoner of war when his plane crashed in Germany during the war, but he was killed in another plane crash Sept. 27, 1967. He was 45.
The LTV corporate aircraft, in which he was a passenger, lost a wing on the landing approach to Love Field and crashed killing all aboard.
The son of Willis Powell Culp, Jr. and Mary (Reed) Culp.. He was married to Lillian Olivia Foster who was born in 1925. She died in Brazoria, Feb. 13, 1973, at age 47, and is buried next to her husband in Arlington Cemetery.
Charlene Hanson Jordan wrote the above narrative as the latest in a weekly column based on new research which does not appear in her books. Each story along with photographs/supplemental history, as well as new stories, and articles about local Swedes and Germans will appear in her soon-to-be launched Patreon website.
Her latest book, “NOTES & RECOLLECTIONS, Post Oak Island & Elgin, Texas, is available at the Elgin Depot Museum where exhibits, photographs, and books on local history are also available. The museum is open on Fridays & Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. and during Sip, Shop, and Stroll on the first Thursday of each month. Watch for notices.
“Notes & Recollections” may be purchased from the Niswanders at the Elgin Farmers Market, Veterans Memorial Park.
The book is also available at the Elgin Courier office, 105 N. Main Street, Elgin. 512-285-3333 during business hours all week or from Charlene directly at charlenehansonjordan@ yahoo. com or 512-856-2562.
