David E. Welch, Bloomington, Indiana,  member of the 106th Infantry Division, and went through Camp Atterbury, Indiana, for basic training.  He went in service in late '45, or January of 1946, and went straight over to Europe.  He remembered the first thing he saw when he arrived,...the bow of a troop ship sticking up out of a harbor in France, and thinking that he was lucky not to have been on that ship when it went down! 

He was put into the 106th when he finished basic training, and shipped overseas, but once he arrived, he was transferred into the 508th Military Police, stationed in Munich, Germany.  His most important duty was that he took the ashes of Hermann Goring on the train, and tossed them into the river.  He then transferred to the 98th General Hospital, and completed his tour of duty, and came home.  He passed away in 1995. 

The story he told, was that he went up to Nuremberg several times, on "official" business, and that one of those times, --

his duty was to toss Hermann Goring's ashes off of the train, into the Isar river, so that there would not be any kind of Nazi shrine in his memory.  He said they stopped on a bridge, over a river, and he tossed the ashes out into the water. 

A lot of responsibility, for a guy who didn't even graduate high school!! But, he went on to graduate from Indiana University, with a degree from the business school in 4 years, working full time, and having a wife and a kid, and another one on the way!  

 
Photo from his album marked "106th Division"



Photo from his album marked "106th Division"




with mother, Ruby Olive Welch of Bloomington, Indiana,
after completing Basic Training at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.


MP in Europe