WWII Veteran, 98, 'Graduates' From Hillhouse High School Thursday

NEW HAVEN, CT–Paul Panagrosso, 98, a US Army veteran of the Battle of the Bulge who survived more than five months in Nazi captivity, is among 190 graduates receiving high school diplomas at Hillhouse High School's Thursday commencement.

Panagrosso, who'll turn age 99 on July 5, had completed all the academic requirements to graduate with the Class of 1944 at what was then New Haven High School, but he was called away to Army service two weeks before the ceremony.

While he was in training, his mother picked up his diploma. Now, 80 years later, he will have his own moment to walk across the commencement stage and to receive a diploma with the Class of 2024.

Here's his story:

Paul was scheduled to graduate the summer of 1944 but was drafted like millions of other
Americans to fight in World War II. He was called away to training before he finished high school and had to have his mother collect his diploma.

Paul spent the next year in training starting at Camp Blanding, Florida to Camp Atterbury, Indiana where he joined his final outfit, the 106th Golden Lions Infantry Division. Paul and 16,000 other Soldiers departed the United States in the summer of 1944 headed for Great Britain to undergo final training before going into combat.

The unit departed for France in September 1944 and landed in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, sleeping their first night in a muddy cow field. After more training, the new unit was placed in a quiet sector of the Western Front to get acclimated to the war in late November. That place was called the Ardennes Forest, a place near the juncture of France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. That quiet sector was soon to change. It became the site of Nazi Germany’s last offensive against the western allies.

At 6AM on December 16, 1944, over 1000 Nazi artillery pieces roared to life, barraging the American front where Paul and his comrades were placed. By 8AM, thousands of Germans attacked and overran the 106th Infantry Division’s lines, capturing over 9000 Americans including Paul.

Paul spent the next 5 1⁄2 months as a prisoner of war in various Nazi prison camps across Germany. He went from about 150lbs down to 95Lbs, being forced to work on labor parties to help the Nazi war effort.

As the allied forces advanced, Paul was forced to relocate further east by his Nazi guards. Because of the extreme cold that winter, Paul got frostbite and lagged behind the retreating group with other wounder Americans.

This small group stopped short at the Elbe River and slept in an abandoned cellar. They were to cross the next morning on their way to another prison camp and evade the advancing American army, but good fortune saved Paul and the others.

Early the next morning, a pounding on the basement cellar doors was an English speaking voice asking who was down there. Paul and the other Soldiers yelled “...we’re Americans, don’t shoot...” Paul and the other grateful GI’s were once again free!

Paul spent the next few months convalescing at Camp Lucky Strike in France during the spring and summer of 1945. Nazi Germany had surrendered but the war with Japan was still on going and many Americans, including Paul, would have to leave Europe for that conflict.

Sailing across the Atlantic with thousands of other Soldiers crammed in a converted cruise liner, the Aquitania, the ship’s captain announced Japan had surrendered and the war was finally over!

Paul ended up in FT Devens, Massachusetts where he was finally out processed from life as a Soldier, heading back to his family in New Haven.

Paul had 5 other brothers. 5 of the 6 served in World War II and the 6th one served in the Korean War.