DeRose recalls WWII service, survival
Pete DeRose, a World War II veteran and a prisoner of war for 16 months, becomes emotional during an assembly at Charleoi Area High School gymnasium on Wednesday. The school honored veterans, including Pete DeRose.
Pete DeRose and his wife Mary look over a certificate of appreciation he received during a Veterans Day assembly this week at Charleroi Area High School. DeRose, a World War II veteran, was a prisoner of war for 16 months.
For decades, Pete DeRose kept to himself his experiences in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II.
Then, in 2000, a fellow veteran and friend came to visit with him.
The two men spoke of their experiences, and his family was amazed about the secrets he had kept.
“We didn’t hear those stories until then,” said his daughter, Tina Gulino of Uniontown.
“I couldn’t believe what my dad endured. He said when he was a prisoner and he talked to the other soldiers, they did not know if they were going to make it.”
DeRose, now 93, was honored during the annual Veterans Day event at Charleroi Area High School.
Born in Hiller on Dec. 11, 1924, DeRose graduated from Redstone High School in 1942. He enlisted in the Army right out of high school.
Following more than a year of training, DeRose boarded the SS Pasteur, for North Africa.
Assigned to the Army’s Third Infantry Division, DeRose was a part of the amphibious invasion of Anzio, Italy, in January 1944.
“The Army sent the tallest guy to jump in first,” DeRose said. “I was the shortest. But I got sent in eventually.”
The second scout, he was out in front when he was surrounded by German soldiers and taken prisoner.
With no troop transports, the prisoners were forced to march for four months, 20 to 30 miles daily.
“It was very cold, the coldest time of the year, and I only had one pair of gloves,” DeRose said.
During the march, DeRose and several others made an escape attempt through the woods, but were recaptured.
“They took us out and told us what they were going to do to us, but didn’t,” DeRose said.
He often slept in the woods, using trees boughs for cover.
He was ultimately imprisoned near the German/Poland border, and would be there for 16 months.
A private first class, he was forced to work on a farm and took food to survive.
“We would sneak potatoes and hide them in our pocket during the day so we had something to eat at night,” DeRose said.
“We were given food unfit for farm animals.”
His family received a letter shortly after his capture, notifying them he was missing.
At the time, his brother, Frank, was scheduled for a test flight. The letter led him to be excused from flight, which crashed and killed everyone on board.
By 1945, as Russian troops approached, the Germans forced the prisoners to march west. The Russians would eventually catch up and free them.
“We never thought that day would come,” DeRose said.
Transported home, DeRose recalled the day they approached the U.S. shore.
“We were all happy to see the Statue of Liberty,” DeRose said.
Following a 60-day furlough, he was assigned to train soldiers in Oregon to prepare them for the invasion of Japan. The war ended before the land invasion.
After his discharge, DeRose worked in the Tower Hill 2 coke ovens in Fayette County and met his future wife, Mary, to whom he has been married for 58 years.
More than seven decades later, DeRose still finds it difficult to reflect on his time in the service.
“When I think about it, I like to be by myself,” DeRose said. “Because when I think about it, it causes me to cry because of what I went through and because I’m thankful I survived.”