US Army Medic POW Diary Entry

In a diary entry for this day in 1945, Anthony Acevedo writes: "Two more of our men died today. Plus one last night makes three. Plus sixteen makes nineteen. Deaths increasing in great number..."

Watch an animated video (YouTube) - Tony: A Soldier's Journey

Acevedo, a medic with the US Army's 70th Infantry Division during World War II, was captured by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge and became a prisoner of war. He and several hundred fellow soldiers were transferred to Berga am Elster, a section of Buchenwald concentration camp. Acevedo was charged with caring for his fellow prisoners and recorded in a small diary the names and numbers of those who died to ensure their sacrifice would be remembered.

On October 13, 2010, Anthony Acevedo donated personal materials to the United States Holocaust Museum's permanent collection.