by Pat Rodgers
In 2017, Texas Tech University, with generous support of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, constructed an educational digital tool that recognizes and teaches Texas high school students about Texas soldiers who participated in the liberation of concentration camps late in the Holocaust.
The project honors their heroism and spotlights the stories of 20 of these Texas Veteran Liberators. Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History and the Holocaust Museum in Houston conducted the oral interviews in hopes that these men will be remembered for their service and their efforts to free survivors of the concentration camps.
On November 9, 2017, these liberators and their families were formally recognized at the Senate Chambers in the Texas State Capitol.
One of those brave soldiers was Chet Rohn who was 96 at the time of the Texas Liberator Project. His experiences as a 20-year-old changed his life forever. He was shocked beyond imagination at what he saw and shared his story in graphic detail many times with his family and young people as well as those of us in the community. It was his greatest desire that people would never forget the great inhumanity and extremes of savagery he witnessed as a young soldier.
Chet served with the 56th Armored Engineers, Company C. of the 11th Armored Division of Patton’s 3rd Army. He was drafted in the winter of 1943 while a student at the University of Wisconsin. He took basic training in Oregon and was then assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program. This program required additional schooling in civil engineering which delayed his entrance into the war a year.
Once in Europe he became the machine gunner on a half-track, a cross between a truck and a tank. During the day his squad cleared the road of obstacles, built small bridges and acted as infantry. By night they advanced ahead to remove mines.
By late fall of 1944, Chet and the rest of the 11th Armored were in England. Hitler launched the last major German offensive of the war, attacking the Allied forces in the Ardennes Forest. The Battle of the Bulge would be the largest and bloodiest battle American troops participated in during the war.
He spent his early days in endless shifts in foxholes watching for enemy soldiers. Chet often spoke of filling his fox hole with pine needles to add insulation from the frozen ground as the weather frequently dipped below zero.
As the 11th Armored division approached Linz, Austria in May of 1945, he and his squad witnessed emaciated bodies wearing striped uniforms piled beside the road. These young men had never experienced the horrible scenes that greeted them as they entered Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
Even 70 years later Chet would tear up and become visibly shaken as he remembered the bodies everywhere and the unbearable stench. Those left alive were just shadows of human beings with horrible stories to tell.
In 2010 Chet, his daughter Mally, and grandson returned to Europe for the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Mauthausen. Many liberators, survivors and generations of their descendants came back to remember and celebrate.
While there, a man came up to Chet and thanked him profusely for saving his wife’s life. She had been one of the three babies who were born in the concentration camp. Chet met her that day as well as one of the other babies who grew up to became a doctor. They became lifelong friends and corresponded regularly.
When Chet was 80, he moved to McKinney to live with his daughter and her family. He was a man about town. He had fans at the bank, the dry cleaner, Trader Joes, Culvers. He spoke often to students about his experiences during the war, always emphasizing the sacrifices made and the important lessons learned.
He spent many happy hours chauffeuring his grandsons, Christian and Alec to school, tennis matches, and music rehearsals with Big Band era music loudly playing in the car. He shared his stories and his time with them and they recall fondly the lasting impact he had on their lives as he imparted his love of history and life.
Chet passed away on July 18th, 2024 at age 100. He was passionate about life to the very end and his story lives on as a Texas Liberator and Witness to the Holocaust. To learn more about the Texas Liberator Project and meet the 20 liberators go to https://app.texasliberators.org/ Chet’s full interview is included.CHET ROHN, TEXAS LIBERATOR AND WITNESS TO THE HOLOCAUST
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