World War II

An unhappy meeting place for four alums in World War II In November of 1944, fate seemed to handpick four Citadel alumni from the hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in World War II, placing them at the same prison camp in Schubin, Poland, at the same time.

William Warthen, '44

Richard Kellahan, '44"

William Warthen, ’44, and Richard Kellahan, ’44, were captured during the German attack on Linnich near the German-Dutch border in late November 1944. As Wartham wrote, “We had not seen each other since OCS graduation in May ’44 – that is until our eyes met as Kellahan was coming out of German interrogation headquarters in the town of Titz. We were herded together with about 70 others that afternoon and marched to Dusseldorf."

When they were allowed their first shower in weeks, German guards "thrust a very dirty and exhausted American sergeant in with us and it turned out to be Arthur Tissington, ’43, of Mobile, Ala." Warthen said Tissington was put in solitary and they never saw him again.

When they were taken to Oflag 64, Wartham encountered former Citadel roommate Jack Monaghan, ’43, who was being treated in the infirmary for severe wounds he sustained during his capture.

Kellahan recalls in detail the military setup of the prison camp, the 20-below-zero days he and other prisoners endured as Germans forced them to march to stay ahead of a Russian invasion. Just as vivid are Kellahan’s memories of sleeping in barns and waking up to frozen boots, German soldiers with machine guns, and frostbitten feet.

Jack Monaghan, '43

Hope came in April as Russian tanks rolled through Berlin. Kellahan and fellow prisoners were taken to Wittenberg where they were liberated by the Russians in early May. Warthen was marched to Stalag XIIIB in Hammelburg and later to a camp at Nurenburg where Americans liberated him and 70,000 other POWs from all over the world. Monaghan was taken to Egypt where he was released.

Tissington also survived and all four returned home by June 14, 1945. Tissington died at Mobile, Ala. in 1997. Kellahan now lives in Kingstree, S.C. Monaghan lives in Birmingham, Ala. and Warthen lives in Vidalia, Ga.

Complete listing:

In November of 1944, fate seemed to handpick four Citadel alumni from the hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in World War II, placing them at the same prison camp in Schubin, Poland, at the same time.