Karen WeHunt Harden, Contributing Writer | wharden1950@gmail.com

Both age seventeen, Daddy met Mother while she was working at Hall’s Five and Dime Store in Woodruff, South Carolina. He fell in love with her at first sight. They communicated hot and heavy while Daddy was in service. Daddy was captured at the Battle of the Bulge on December 16, 1944. He spent the winter in Stalag Luckenwalde Prisoner of War Camp. He and a few others escaped with the help of a German guard a couple of days before April 12, 1945. On April 16, 1945 at 9:30 PM, Daddy shook hands with the first American he came to, Thomas Franklin.

When Daddy returned to the states, he had ninety pounds on his five-foot-six inch frame. His stomach was damaged, and he could only eat oatmeal for a long time. Daddy received temporary partial disability from Uncle Sam due to a back injury. Right before he was captured, he climbed up onto a German tank and dropped a hand grenade inside. The force of the blast blew him off – thus his first Purple Heart.
Oatmeal saved my Daddy.

Please share your oatmeal stories and recipes. Enter at The Woodruff Times Recipe Competition.

Author: Tracy Sanders