Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Mr. Soldier Edward Sanders

Mr. Soldier Edward Sanders is a local hero from World War II who visited the Cherokee Elementary School and talked about where he was born and about his ordeal in the war. He brought a lot of WWII memorabilia for the students to look at.He answered a lot of questions after he finished his story.

Mr. Sanders was born in 1918, the last year World War I was fought. He got the name Soldier because two of his uncles were in the army. He was born in Stilwell, Oklahoma and is a member of the Western Cherokee, but he has resided for some time in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Mr. Sanders attended the boarding school in Oklahoma. He was seven years old when he began school and had never spoken any language except Cherokee. He had to learn English when he went to school because the Cherokee language was not allowed in the boarding school. He said he had a good teacher who helped him learn English. He also told us that the military style of the boarding school was a help to him when he joined the military.

Mr. Sanders was in the Pathfinder Group, but transferred to the 390th Heavy Bomb Group near Framlingham, England. The 390th was making a bomb run on the Rothensee Oil Plant at Magdeburg, Germany when the B-17 Bomber he was on was hit. He was a gunner on that plane. Of the ten crew members aboard, nine survived. They all had to parachute out of the plane before it crashed. Mr. Sanders told students that as he was floating down to the ground in his parachute an enemy plane kept flying by real close to him. That pilot was trying to make the parachute close. This didn't work and Mr. Sanders got on the ground in one piece.

On the ground Mr. Sanders had to look for a place to hide from the enemy. He climbed a tree. From the limbs of the tree, he could see people looking for him and the other crew members. He thought he was hidden very well until a little boy saw him. The little boy told the enemy soldiers where Mr. Sanders was hidding.

He spent eight months in the Stalag Luft IV prisoner of war camp. He lost a lot of weight. He went from 160 pounds to 108 pounds. When the Red Cross supplies began to arrive, he fared a little better.

The camp was evacuated when the Russians began to come in from the East. He was lucky because he was shipped to Nuremberg on a train. Some of the prisoners had to march to where they were going. It was very cold because it was winter in Germany. Mr. Sanders told students that the march could be compared to the Trail of Tears because the weather and other conditions were so harsh. In three months the prisoners were marched from the Nuremberg Prison Camp to another camp. That is when Mr. Sanders and another prisoner escaped.

He told us that he and the other prisoner headed west. They traveled west for two weeks. When they got to the Danube River, all the bridges were guarded and they had a very hard time getting across. After crossing the Danube, Mr. Sanders and his friend became separated.

Mr. Sanders finally found advanced units of General Patton's Army. He saw many men who had trained in Oklahoma. He was very happy when he learned his friend had also survived.

Mr. Sanders was awarded the Oklahoma Cross of Valor. He also received the Air Force Escape and Evadee Society Medal. In all, he has given more than 40 years to the government service. Most of that time was spent as an educator and a coach.

We are very grateful that Mr. Sanders came to the school and spoke to our students. His wife, Mrs. Katherine Sanders, taught in Cherokee Central Schools at one time. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders have two sons, both of whom served in the military in Vietnam. The Sanders also have two daughters.

Source: Cherokee Elementary School, North Carolina