Lindsay+E

Lindsay Ells the person I did was IRENE (BLÁSZ) CSILLAG I was born in 1925 in Satu Mare, which was Romanian at that time but in 1940 became part of Hungary. There is four people in my family. My mother, fother, and one sister, Olga, who also survived and is still living. The Jewish community was very large in Satu Mare in 1939. My schooling went as high as high school but had to stop because my father had passed away. So I went to learn a trade and become a dressmaker. We spoke Hungarian and we learned to speak German from our other father who spoke it beautifully because, my father’s background was German. Our life was good and we had a great relationship with friends and also neighbors around us. Suddenly things turned for the worse. The Hungarians took over forcing us Jews to do things that we truly did not want to do. A strict curfew was established for us Jews and four weeks later we had to move into the ghetto that was created in Satu Mare itself. The actual ghetto started at the next street to ours where my mother's brother and his wife lived and we soon all moved in with them, so did my grandparents and all my nieces and nephews. The condition in the ghetto, while crowded, were not too bad. We had enough food and our Gentile neighbors were very kind to. German SS was in charge of the ghetto and they stood on guard at all times. The ghetto was enforced for four weeks. During the month of May 1944, we were deported. We all had to leave and march through the town to the railway station. The march was very long and tiring and some of us couldn’t keep up. The march went through the cemetery and I visited my father’s grave and told him what was happening to us. The authorities told us that they are taking us to Debrecen, which is a large Hungarian city, not too far away, and that we’ll work there. We have no choice but to do what they say. My mom baked cookies so we wouldn’t get to hungry. We were so packed in the train so close that I could feel people breathing down my neck. The conditions on the train were pretty bad. We finally arrived at the camp things were about to get worse. My mother, sister and I were sent to the right. They took us all into a very large hall where, right away, some men and women, cut off our hair. Then they ordered us to undress, drop everything. So, there we were, completely naked in front of all those SS soldiers and were ordered to take a quick shower. After that we received a long, gray, rag to wear. They then marched us off to camp "C", and assigned us to a barrack but I cannot recall the number on it. We all got numbers on our arms. We worked day and night little to no food. The war was coming to an end. The Russians and Americans were closing in on the Germans and they kept running from them, dragging us along with them. One day they put us on a small ship, crowded into a small cubicle. After a while they let us out on the deck of the ship. As we were standing there, excruciatingly hungry, I spotted a cabbage floating in the water. I reached for it, and with the help of others grabbed it, and while it was oil soaked and dirty, it didn't matter. We quickly tore it apart and many of us had a little piece of it. The ship was moving though and then we heard a rumour that the Nazis intended to throw us all in the sea. As the ship was getting closer to the shoreline, people started to climb down on a ladder. My sister was ahead of me and she jumped from the ladder to the ground on the shore. At this very same minute they took away the ladder and my sister was yelling to me "come, hurry, come" but someone took away the ladder. Everyone started to push and shove and I fell into the water but I couldn't swim then and started to drown. I didn’t know what to think or what to do until somebody saved my life. They pulled me out of the water and I was naked no chanel suit at all. They put a blanket on me and I wrapped it around my body. The SS, even then, forced us to march on. We dragged ourselves for a few hours when we noticed that there are fewer and fewer SS soldiers with us. They were running away. Finally they all disappeared. Shortly we arrived to a football field where we saw all these jeeps with soldiers in them. They were throwing chocolates and cookies and cigarettes to us. People were yelling "the British are here, the British are here." It was such a great feeling knowing they were there. We were finally saved!

 **//__Interview questions for Brad Bricker survivor of war __//** What was your rank? I was an E4/Sra (senior Airman) Where were you located/stationed? Camp Bucca, Iraq (Prison) Which branch of the service were you in? Air Force What was your job (MOS)? Security Forces (Cop) What was the length of your tour? Little over 8 months in Iraq but went to training for two months before we left the states. So all together around 10 months. What did you do for fun? Played a lot of basketball and lifted weights. The court we played on had pot holes so you had to dodge the pot holes when we were driving to the basket :) What was the most fun you had? To pass the time we would prank each other. One night myself and two of my friends ambushed a tent a friend of ours was sleeping in. we jumped on him and duck taped him to his cot, then picked him up with his cot and carried him outside to the area everyone formed up at before traveling out to the prison. He stayed there until people started forming up and cut him free. What was your most memorable experience? I'll never forget anything that went on while we were there. The bond that our team developed over time is very memorable. Even though we are scattered all over the world we all still stay in touch and check up on each other. One of the guys even flew to Michigan just to be in my wedding.

What was the most frightening experience? there were a few. While we were sleeping one night our base got mortared, which shook me out of bed. We had a few riots that got out of control but we were able to control the prisoners again. The time that I got into a struggle with a prisoner and we fell into some C wire (razor wire, like barbed wire). What did you eat? We had a chow hall there that kept us pretty happy. My favorite meal was to go to the chow hall and make a sandwich because they had really good bread. When were you there? August 06 - March 07 I think those were the dates LOL I spent Christmas and Thanksgiving there. What did you carry with you? Not sure if you mean weapons or personal items but I'll tell you both. 9mm, M4 (when we weren't in the prison) riot baton, stinger grenades, Pepper Spray, 303 rifle (shoots non-leathal rounds), shot guns with rubber pellets. (when we were in the prison) Personal Items that i carried were a cross that i still wear today, a little bear pin that Jen had sent me, a shield that had a prayer on the back of it and one of Jen's dog tags. Were you injured? I have scars on my hands from when I fell into the C wire with the prisoner. Please describe one mission/job? One of the jobs that i did while I was in Iraq was I worked in solitary confinement. That is when I really got to see the crazy people. We used to have to be in "Full Battle Rattle" (Helmets, flack vest, eye protection, riot baton, and gloves) any time we dealt with a prisoner. Had my life threatened lots of times in that job :) How old were you? 24 How were you treated when you came home? We were treated very well. When you travel back to the states you travel in your uniform so there is no hiding the fact of who you are and where you just came from. Everyone was shaking our hands, buying us lunch, buying us beer and over all were really thankful for what we were doing. When we landed in Colorado Springs I even got to get on the intercom of the plane and welcomed the guys that I deployed with home. Where did you go when you came home? I don't remember the first place I went but I do remember going to the mall and just standing in the middle of everything and just looking around. It felt so good to be back in civilization. Were things different when you came home? There were a couple things different. I started to appreciate the things that we take for granted. (hot showers, access to anything we want or anywhere we want to go, and most of all just being able to hug the ones we love) What are you most proud of? I'm most proud of the relationships that I gained from the deployment. There were a few times that you would need someone to watch your back and never once would you have to worry about who was watching it. You just knew someone was going to be there. I would go on any deployment with any one of those people.

introduction: My name is Lindsay Ells and I am a survivor of the Iraq war. I was 24 when I left for Bucca. I was scared out of my mind what might happen, but also stoked media type="file" key="lindsay.mp3"