us-005578-irn42036-irn42601
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Small, Latin cross made from two yellow palm fronds folded in half and held together at the intersection with white string crossed in an x-shape and knotted on the reverse. Additional palm frond is folded between the outer pieces.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 April-1945 June
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
history: Anthony (Tony) Acevedo (1924-2018) was born in San Bernardino, California, to Francisco Guillermo and Maria Luisa Acevedo. Francisco was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and Maria was born in Sonora. Tony had one sister, Maria Luisa (1925-?). His mother died in January 1926. The family moved to Pasadena. Francisco remarried in 1930 and had two children. The family was Catholic and Tony attended a segregated public school. In 1937, his parents were deported and the family relocated to Durango, Mexico, where Francisco, an architectural engineer, was appointed Director of Public Works. One day in 1940, Tony heard Morse code transmissions near their home. He reported this to his father and it was discovered that two employees were spying for a German submarine near Baja, California; the spies were soon arrested. In 1942, Tony, an American citizen, returned to Pasadena, CA, to join the Army. Since he was only 17-1/2 at the time, his father wrote a letter grating permission for Tony to return to the United States and join the military. When Tony reported for induction, he was informed by the Army that his education in Mexico was insufficient, so he began classes at Pasadena City College. After a three month semester, he was inducted into the Army in 1943. Tony had a strong interest in medicine and was assigned as a medic to Company B, 275th regiment, 70th Infantry Division. In December 1944, the company was deployed to Marseilles, France, and sent into combat in the Battle of the Bulge. The company was surrounded at Falkenburg Hill and endured heavy casualties. Tony was struck in the shin by shrapnel. The soldiers took cover in foxholes for a week with no food or water. On January 6, 1945, the unit was ordered to surrender to the Germans. They were forced to take off their boots to prevent escape, and then walk down the hill in waist deep snow to the train depot. After a short truck ride, they marched for six days and nights to prisoner of war camp, Stalag IX-B, in Bad Orb, G…
history: The palm leaf cross was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Anthony Acevedo.
identifier: irn42601
is or was included in: us-005578-irn42036
record resource extent: overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 1.625 inches (4.128 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Palm leaf cross that provided comfort to 20-year-old Anthony Acevedo when he was a US Army medic and a German prisoner of war in the Berga an der Elster slave labor camp from December 1944-April 1945. He made the small cross from palm leaves during Palm Sunday before he was deployed to Europe. Tony was a Mexican American and Catholic who enlisted in the US Army in 1943. He was a medic in Company B, 275th regiment, 70th Infantry Division. In January 1945, the company surrendered to the German Army during the Battle of the Bulge. They were sent to a prisoner of war camp, Stalag IX-B, in Bad Orb, Germany, where Tony was tortured during interrogation. In February, he was transferred, with 350 fellow soldiers, either Jewish or undesirables, to Berga, a subcamp of Buchenwald. Berga was a slave labor camp where prisoners worked in tunnels and mines. Tony worked as a medic and was hid a diary where, out of duty and to honor to his fellow soldiers, he recorded the names and deaths of the many who died there. On April 3, as Allied forces neared, the prisoners were ordered on a death march. On April 23, they were liberated by the 11th Armored Division. Before being discharged, the roughly 160 survivors of Berga were forced by the US Army to sign an affidavit promising not to speak about their experiences in Berga. Tony was sent to California to recuperate and discharged in December 1945. In 2009, the US Army finally admitted that US soldiers had been imprisoned in a German slave labor camp.
title: Small, handmade, palm leaf cross carried by Anthony Acevedo as a medic and POW