Philip Snoberger was born in 1924 in Goshen, Indiana to a family of farmers. Phil was drafted when he was still in high school, but he was allowed to graduate first and then serve. Phil was placed a in a special program for technologically advanced soldiers and remained there until this program was disbanded, then he was transferred to battlefield duty.

Upon arrival in Europe, Phil participated in various operations from Southern France to the Austrian border. His unit later became known as “The Liberators.” They liberated many work camps, some of them large, and some very tiny. Phil does not have clear place-date recollections, but he does have specific, vivid memories. He witnessed many atrocities. Phil remembers seeing railroad cars full of bodies. Tragically and regretfully, Phil fed some starved survivors who likely subsequently died of food shock. Altogether his unit liberated twelve camps, and Phil was involved in about 10 of these. Phil recalled that all Germans he encountered claimed to know nothing about the camps, despite the obvious evidence around them.

Phil finished the war as a private first class, left Europe, and returned the United States the day a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. After World War II, Phil graduated from Purdue, had a very successful engineering career and then retired to Naples.

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