Left to right: Junior, Pop, and Gus Pederson, 1945

Gus Pederson and James “Junior” Mariano, 1980s

Clay County Histories 

Markus Krueger | Program Director HCSCC

Six miles outside Stolp, Germany, January 29, 1945. After 17 months working on a farm as a Prisoner of War, Barnesville native Gus Pederson was told by his German guards that he and his fellow POWs had to leave. The Germans were losing the war, and the Russians were getting close. So Gus Pederson took part in what might have been the largest mass migration of humans in world history.

Gus and about six million other people were fleeing west, away from advancing armies of the Soviet Union. When the Nazis were winning the war, they had brought atrocities and destruction throughout the Soviet Union. Now that the Nazis were losing, the vengeful Soviets were repaying the Germans with horrors of their own. German soldiers knew that surrendering to Russians would most likely mean death, so they moved west, desperate to surrender to American, British, or Canadian soldiers. They were joined by millions of civilians who didn’t want to be home when the Russians arrived.

Luckily, Gus had accumulated some wealth. Gus’ wife Jean was sending him cigarettes in care packages from Minnesota. Cigarettes were used as currency among prisoners and their German guards. Everyone knew the USA made the best cigarettes, and the only way for Germans to get any during the war was to buy them off an American POW. Most POWs bought perks with their cigarettes as soon as they arrived, but Gus saved his. He figured cigarette stocks would be most valuable at the chaotic end of the war, when he would probably need them most.

Gus and the POWs spent 43 days zig zagging vaguely west at about 10 to 20 miles a day. Gus formed a trio with Pop (and “old man” in his early 30s) and Junior (a kid of about 18). Their guards tried to guide them to farms where they could find shelter overnight. When that didn’t work out, Gus, Pop, and Junior buttoned two of their jackets together to make a tent and shared the third jacket as a blanket.

As April brought warmer weather, Junior got overheated during a hot day’s march and he threw away his overcoat. When it got cold that night, Junior got sick. Gus and Pop carried Junior along, but they too were tired, underfed POWs on a forced march. They saw some German soldiers passing by in a truck. Gus bribed them with cigarettes to give Junior a ride. They wished him luck and kept walking.

Gus’ guards ran into two American soldiers on April 12, and they immediately threw down their guns without a fight. Gus said he was surprised that his guards gave up so easily. I guess Gus didn’t realize that for the whole walk, his German guards were searching for any American to surrender to. In April of 1945, surrendering to an American was the best hope for a German soldier to survive the war. Gus figured he had walked about 600 miles in 43 days. He weighed 185 pounds when he was captured in Sicily, and 128 pounds when he was liberated.

About 40 years later, Joe Pederson was visiting his parents, Gus and Jean Pederson, at their farm outside of Barnesville. The phone rang and Joe gave it to his dad. Old Gus was hard of hearing, so it took him a while to understand who was on the other line. Then Gus started to cry. It was Junior, thanking him for saving his life. Until then, Gus did not know if Junior survived. Junior suggested they reunite at the upcoming ex-POW convention in Las Vegas. Gus sadly had to decline. Life had been good to him –a loving family, meaningful work on his farm, in his church, and in his community – but he didn’t have the money to go. Fellow Barnesville veteran Huck Arneson heard about that and organized the community to raise the necessary funds. Barnesville sent Gus to Las Vegas to see Junior again.

To hear his whole amazing story, watch “Gus Pederson A WWII POW Story” on YouTube.