Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project
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Interviewer
Michael Hirsh
Publication Date
March 2022
Date
July 2008
Abstract
Melvin Waters joined the American Field Service after being rejected by the U.S. military for having high blood pressure. He went to Italy with the British 8th Army, where he drove ambulances. In March 1945, he was selected to go to France with the 567th Ambulance Car Company. They went through France, Belgium, and into the Netherlands, where they picked up hospital personnel and equipment for transport into Germany. They arrived at Bergen-Belsen about ten days after it was liberated, commandeering the guards' quarters for the hospital. Waters was at the camp for nearly a month; his assignments included driving, carrying stretchers, and guard duty. In this interview, he describes his reactions to the prisoners when he first entered the camp and shares some other wartime stories.
Keywords
World War II (1939-1945), Holocaust (1939-1945), Concentration camps, Concentration camps--Liberation, Medical care, Veterans, Genocide, Crimes against humanity, American Field Service, Great Britain. Army. Army 8th, American Field Service. Ambulance Car Company 567, Military medicine, Ambulance drivers, Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
Extent
02:04:08; 39 page transcript
Subject: geographic
Bergen (Celle, Germany)
Language
English
Digital Date
2022
Media Type
Oral histories
Format
Digital Only
Identifier
C65-00142
Recommended Citation
Waters, Melvin, "Melvin Waters Oral History Interview" (2022). Concentration Camp Liberators Oral History Project. 124.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/concentration_OH/124
Rights Statement
