HOUSTON — In correspondence with the changing exhibit, “The Texas Liberator: Witness to the Holocaust,” Holocaust Museum Houston is hosting a medal ceremony for Texas service members who liberated concentration camps in Nazi Germany.
Bill Kongable, 92, was drafted after high school graduation in Oklahoma.
“1944, I was drafted,” said Kongable.
Off to save the world, Kongable went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma before deploying to Europe.
“I remember the battle crossing the Rhine which is really hard to forget,” said Kongable.
The mission was supposed to be a surprise water crossing. The Germans were ready.
“Machine gun and 20mm right at water level and just massacred our guys,” said Kongable.
Although meritorious, it’s what his divisions discovered after winning the battle that brought him to Holocaust Museum Houston.
“Ohrdruf, which was the first concentration camp liberated in World War II,” said Kongable.
Holocaust survivors presented Kongable and 19 other Texas liberators medals in a rare moment where so many people in one room all remember the horrors hidden inside Nazi Germany.
“You can imagine the smell of dead bodies, dead burned bodies, stacked bodies,” said Kongable. “I think I can almost remember the smell.”
The World War II veteran’s daughter says her dad didn’t share stories about the war for years.
“Well, it’s just to make sure that people don’t forget,” said Kongable.
Ensuring memories are preserved, “The Texas Liberator: Witness to the Holocaust” exhibit tells the story of 25 U.S. soldiers who liberated the concentration camps in Europe at the end of the Second World War.
