Petranek Richard J.

Returning to the land of our ancestors
Richard J. Petranek, member of the 593rd Medical Company

Richard J. Petranek, member of the 593rd Medical Company, whose father, a native of Plana, left Bohemia for America before World War I, also remembers May 1945 in the vicinity of Pilsen. By a quirk of fate, Richard got his first glimpse of his father's homeland during a long and convoluted journey with the U.S. Army - in the role of liberator. He recounted his experiences at the time as follows:

"On July 31, 1944, we landed on Omaha, and from there the war took us, after a few months, to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. At that time our unit numbered about 30 men. That's when I met my relatives from my mother's side. Aunts, uncles, and cousins who had a lot of questions about relatives in the United States. Their hospitality was cordial, but brief, as we could only stay a few hours.

On May 11, 1945, my company commander learned of my grandfather living nearby and asked if I would like to meet him if I could track him down. So the next day I set out with my friend Wally Felten on a journey of several dozen miles to Plana, Czechoslovakia, to find him and his family. Along the way, we encountered a Russian motorcade made up of horse-drawn vehicles and a three-tire jeep! They crossed a one-way bridge and we had a brief chat with them. They were friendly and advised us which way to go. We exchanged a few words before we left this 19th century army.

We then entered Plana where we met a little boy and asked him if he knew the Petranek family. In a joyful mood he ran through the streets shouting, 'America is here!' At that moment I didn't know he was my cousin. Sure enough, he led us down the street to my grandfather Petranek, the father of my dad, Louis Petranek, who had gone to the United States alone in 1911. Truly, we were thrilled and surprised to see each other, hugging, questioning, hugging again, and their hospitality was warm and loving. We stayed only a few hours and left them about three hundred dollars in German currency, which we had confiscated but did not know if it was still usable at that time. Hopefully that helped them for a while at least.

On May 25, 1945, we left for Aichach, Germany, where we stayed for four months before returning home to the United States."

From the book 500 Hours to Victory/500 Hours of Victory by Karel Foud, Milan Jíša, Ivan Rollinger