On 13 May 2003 my Social Injustices class was pleased to welcome Mr. Robert Purdy to our school.  Mr. Purdy, a native Chicagoan, has retired in the Bourbonnais area.  Here is a recap of his wartime adventures, as presented (and copyright) by our local newspaper, The Daily Journal:

    It was the trial of the century, the first time in modern history the victors brought the vanquished to trial for "crimes against humanity".

    The event was the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, held in 1946.

    Ironically, they almost didn't take place.  Both the British and the Russians considered summary executions.  It was the American sense of justice that insisted on the trials.

    Bourbonnais' Robert Purdy was there as a prison guard.  Purdy, the only son of a widow, volunteered ahead of the draft, served in an anti-aircraft unit, was strafed at the Battle of the Bulge and drove a truck for the Red Ball Express.

    But his most unusual service came at Nuremberg.  He once had to push Reich Marshall Hermann Goering into the shower, took Admiral Karl Doenltz on exercise walks and had conversations with Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.

    The exercise walks, he notes, were "one man, one guard" with a Thompson submachine gun.

    Most of the war criminals were executed on the morning of Oct. 16, 1946.

    Goering cheated the gallows by committing suicide the night before.

    Purdy had no sympathy for him or the others.

    Before their guard duty began, the unit went on a tour of Dachau and Buchenwald.

Mr. Purdy was kind enough to recount in detail his wartime service and activities.  He brought along his Army-issue overcoat, as well as several photos and some patches he'd claimed at the end of the war.  He also showed students the badge he wore while on duty at the Nuremberg Trials.

Social Injustices instructor Doug Wadley with Mr. Robert Purdy

Patches obtained by Robert Purdy near the end of his service in Germany, 1945.