Bud Gahs

Branch of Service: Army

Unit: 42nd Infantry Division

Theater of Operation: European

Highest Rank: PFC

Honored By: The Eisenhower Foundation

Bud Gahs graduated from high school at age 17 and began work at the Martin Air Craft Plant. He worked for a year and a half before he joined the Army in 1943. Gahs started in the Horse Calvary, but he didn’t care for it. After all the daily training, a soldier then took time to care for the horse, and he thought being atop a horse made you a sitting duck.

Gahs was moved into the 42nd Division, the Mechanized Calvary. He was deployed to Europe in November of 1944. He fought through France and crossed the Rhine River and was part of what was known as the Rainbow Division. The “Rainbow” division had advanced into Alsace, closing in on the Strasbourg area. In March 1945, the 42nd drove into Germany and crossed the Rhine River by the end of the month. In April, the “Rainbow” division captured the cities of Würzburg, Schweinfurt, and Fürth. By war’s end, it had completed its drive into Bavaria and had entered Austria. On April 29, 1945, the 42nd Infantry Division entered the Dachau Concentration Camp, the earliest and longest-functioning SS-controlled camp in Nazi Germany.

Courtesy of American Veteran Center and https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/