Court Room

   My first time to Nurnberg was really enlightening.  The 594th Transportation Movement Control Office in Nurnberg was in a building called the Palace of Justice.  I drove to Nurnberg for the first time in the early Fall of 1961. We met most of the morning and then Capt Gorman asked if I would like to see where the trials were held.

   I had no clue what he was talking about and he said the Nurnberg Trials.  I said as in the Nazi trials and he said yes.  I got up and started putting my overcoat on and he said you don’t need a coat its just down the hall!  Sure enough the actual court room was down the hall and around the corner. At that time the court room wasn’t open to the public.

   A lot happened here.  I remember a minister in Grants Pass, Oregon who was in a Ranger unit that dropped into France prior to D Day.  He was first generation German and was one of the few survivors of his Ranger unit.  Because he spoke German he was assigned to be a guard at the Nurnberg trials.  Unfortunately he was separated from the service prior to the trials starting.  He said most all the original GI guards spoke fluent German.  Once the trials began most of these soldiers had been sent home. He said had they been there no one would have committed suicide. Not sure how they would have prevented the suicides but they happened.