My Dad Liberated A Nazi Concentration Camp / Judy

While Lloyd is working on the Garden of Eden, I'd like to go into the more recent past. You may have seen the current news item about a study that revealed an even more staggering scope of the Holocaust.

The lead editors on the project said as they began to document all the concentration camps in Europe, they thought there were about 7,000 of them. (I read an old article that said there were 1500.) Then they began their research and soon the number went to 11,000, then an astonishing 20,00. Finally, they have cataloged about 42,500 such camps! They include prisoner-of-war camps, killing centers, brothels, and forced labor camps.

The article said, "What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust."

I was reminded about the part in my Dad's story where, as an Infantry lieutenant in World War II, he came across one small concentration camp late in the war. Here then is what my father, Lieut. H.G. Wight, related:

We resumed driving through Germany, fighting our way through woods and towns. One day we were advancing slowly through a section of forest against moderate resistance when the firing slowed, then stopped completely. The Germans in front of us seemed to evaporate. At first we suspected a trap and continued to advance cautiously. After about an hour of marching through silence, we came upon something that looked like a prison camp with high walls, guard towers and barbed wire. It turned out to be a small concentration camp consisting of just a few barracks buildings.

Photograph courtesy of Google Images

As we carefully approached the entrance, we saw the gates were wide open. The guards and even the combat troops in the area had left. I assumed none of them wanted to be caught anywhere near this place. Even before we entered the gates, we were met with a terrible stench--like a combination of death and excrement. Inside, we came upon a few men sitting in the open yard in black and dirty-white striped uniforms, with a big yellow star on their shirts.

I approached them and said, "Zie zint frei." (You are free.) They just stared at me, their mouths hanging open and drooling a little, their eyes totally blank, as if there was no one inside. They seemed barely alive. They looked like skeletons inside their loose prison clothes. I had a K-ration in my pack, so I opened it and offered it to them. It took a few minutes for them to realize this was food I was offering, but when they did, they grabbed it and wolfed it down. Almost immediately they began retching. I assumed real food was too much for them.

Taking a few of my men, we entered one of the barracks.

Photograph courtesy of Google Images

I can scarcely describe the horror of the inside of that building. Rough wooden bunks lined the walls, with men, or what had once been men, lying in them.Obviously many of these people hadn't been out of their bunks in days. In fact, several of the occupants were dead and evidently had been for some time. I could hardly bear to look around and I felt like crying.

I realized Germany was short of food for their own people late in the war, but they had apparently just stopped feeding the prisoners in this camp. There was no evidence of poison gas or other ways of killing here. They were merely starving them to death.

One of our radiomen called back to headquarters reporting what we'd found and requesting medical assistance. We stayed a couple hours, trying to comfort the living and get a start on cleaning up the place. We removed the dead from the barracks, laying them out in rows and covering them with whatever we could find.

Soon a few of our trucks came up with some supplies and medical personnel. As they took over we moved out and resumed our march through the woods.

I was angrier than I'd ever been in my life--angry and grimly determined to beat this enemy that had so little regard for human life. In addition, I was grateful to be doing my part to prevent this obscenity from reaching America. And I wasn't the only one who felt like that. After that day we had no trouble motivating our men to fight.

Goodbye Grandpa / Judy

As many of you know, Grandpa passed away on July 23 and I'm now ready to blog about it. It must have been exactly as he would have wanted to go. He was at home, Lloyd was with him, and it happened so fast that as Lloyd said, "His body didn't know quite what to do without the spirit." It was like it just slipped away.

Then came all the excitement of everybody gathering for the funeral. For about a week people were coming and going and actually it was a lot of fun seeing them--sort of like a big family reunion. During that time I hardly had time to think about things. The following week was taken up with arrangements with the lawyer for the trust and other such stuff. This week we've been really busy getting the house ready to sell, which means going through EVERYTHING, sorting into piles of "trash", "Goodwill" and "keep", then taking loads of stuff to the dump or to Goodwill.

Occasionally I think of Grandpa and start to feel sad, then I think of where he is now and what he's doing--meeting all the people he loved who were waiting for him--and I just have to feel happy for him. I picture his meeting with his wife (my mother), Ruth,  and his own mother and father and sister Norma Jean, not to mention all his friends like Tracey Call and I have to smile. I think of all the physical problems he had, some for most of his life, and some for the past few years, and again I'm happy that he no longer has to deal with them.

So now our plans are to sell this house and move up to be with some of our family.

May we all live so that at our funerals we can have the same huge outpouring of love and respect that Grandpa had at his!

Grandpa, Again / Judy

Grandpa had gone nearly two months and two catheter changes without a UTI (urinary tract infection) and we thought we were home free. We'd been giving him some supplements that seemed to help. Then last Sunday night he started the muttering/hallucinating and we thought, Oh boy, here we go again. So we immediately started him on an antibiotic and he did pretty well all week. But yesterday (Sunday) he was restless and wakeful all day and sure enough, last night he started the talking again. It's kind of discouraging because right now he's in the middle of taking the antibiotics and he's still exhibiting this behavior. Sigh.

I thought it might be interesting to write down some of the things he says when he's in the middle of his hallucinations. Thankfully, it's never that someone is after him or negative in any way. But here are a few of his quotes:

Did Lloyd tell you we were robbed last night?
There are all those people in the living room. Should we invite them to dinner?
My friend is under the bed and I think we should ask her to come out and eat with us.
That man singing in the living room kept me awake all night. He had a nice tenor voice and was singing The Battlehymn of the Republic.
What town are we in?
It's a word salad.
Did you see all those boys and animals running around in here?
Here's something I don't understand. That is a section of farmland with nothing on it so I'll go ahead and run that.

Life Goes On / Judy

Even though our lives are pretty much the same as always, taking care of Dad and all, I decided I wanted to blog about the rest of our lives. Dad/Grandpa is actually doing pretty well. He hasn't had a UTI for over two months, which makes life better for everyone. The reason, I think, is that one of the nurses who comes to see him, gave us a list of products that other people in his situation found useful. We got them for him and they are working. 

But on to some other aspects of our lives. We saw the movie "Super 8" and thought it was great! It takes place in 1979 and even the film looks like it's from then. It not only has exciting things happen in the story as well as explosions and everything, but it also has very good interpersonal relationships.

On Friday we went to a new restaurant in Morro Bay that we've been wanting to try for a while and loved it. It's called The Galley and it's right on the water. It's always crowded and you need a reservation which tells you it's good.

Last Sunday I spoke in church and I talked about patriotism. And what I found interesting was that among the people who congratulated me afterwards, were 4 immigrants from other countries. These were extremely shy women who hardly ever say a word to anyone and they each came and thanked me for talking about America and how right I was about the greatness of this country. Seems like it's those who have seen the contrast who know it most clearly.

Taking Care of Dad - An Update / Judy

We've gone two full weeks now with no sign of a UTI so we're feeling pretty good. In fact, Dad seems to be doing remarkably well. He got a haircut yesterday--the lady who cuts my hair comes over to the house and does his--and he looks probably ten years younger. Also, his face has filled out so he doesn't look so gaunt.

I think it really helps that Lloyd has been home for the past two weeks to help. Between the two of us we take very good care of him. We care for his hair, his skin, his teeth, his fingernails, his diet, and his "intake and outgo".  During his dinnertime we've started reading him a Tony Hillerman book about a Navajo Tribal policeman in the four-corners region; he thoroughly enjoys hearing about that area that he knows so well. It's true that everybody likes to be read to, no matter what your age.

Meanwhile Lloyd continues to get better. He can wear a regular shoe for up to two hours a day now and today he drove for the first time (to a near-by home teaching appt). Last night we went out to dinner for the first time since his surgery and he did all right but was tired and limping by the time we came home. Actually, it was the first time he's left the house, except for two post-op doctor's appointments.

Taking Care of Dad and Lloyd / Judy

Last Friday Lloyd had foot surgery. It was an outpatient procedure in which they removed a large lump on the top of his right foot. The podiatrist said he thought it was something called a rheumatoid cyst, since Lloyd does have rheumatoid arthritis. Anyway, he's doing very well now. We have pain pills on call, rented a pair of crutches, and of course have a wheelchair for use on occasion. In fact, I wish I could show you a picture of Dad and Lloyd side by side in their wheelchairs on Saturday. For the most part, though, Lloyd uses the crutches and gets around pretty well. He just has to be sure to keep his foot up as much as possible so he spends most of his time in the inclined lazy boy in front of the TV.

Taking Care of Dad, 4 / Judy

Some people might say that Dad doesn't have a very good quality of life at this stage, but he thinks he does. He gets to sleep all he wants, which frankly has been his goal most of his life. He looks forward to eating when he does get up and he enjoys his meals tremendously. He always thanks me "for that delicious meal." Occasionally he likes to watch TV or a movie (if it's short) with us. For example, he recently watched something on the BYU channel about the church in France during WW2 that he talked about for a couple of days. Also, he likes to see episodes of the old JAG TV show that we get from Netflix.

And he doesn't have to worry about the things the rest of us do, like paying bills or doing our taxes or keeping the house clean. He doesn't even have to worry about keeping himself clean because the aid that comes in does that for him.

He is still a "people person" and always like to visit with anyone who comes, although he tires easily so he can't do it for very long at a time. His 90th birthday was a week ago and we invited several of his old friends from Cal Poly and the church and the neighbors in to help celebrate. He LOVED it. (See the pictures that Hilary posted on her blog because I can't seem to get pictures onto this blog.) Unfortunately, he had another UTI a couple days later and is just now coming out of it, but he is coming out of it.

So he continues longer than anyone thought he could go and Lloyd and I consider every day a gift.

Taking Care of Dad, 3 / Judy

We had another bad night, meaning Dad was awake all night "talking," which we can hear from the baby monitor in our room. This happens when he's having a urinary tract infection (UTI). Since September, he's had one every month or so, but this is the second one in January. They say it's because of the catheter that he's more susceptible.

Every time goes through specific stages: 1) he's wakeful and energetic for long periods. He will wake up early in the morning and go to bed late, be awake all day with no naps at all, eager to be doing exercises or go outside or go through his office. Once he was convinced he needed to look for a job. He wants to try to use his walker again. Many times he'll want to watch TV or a movie and once he was all excited about a championship football game, which he watched all through for nearly three hours. He seems more lucid even than usual.

The only thing that lets you know something may be slightly off (besides the job thing) is his complete lack of empathy--he has no idea he's keeping us awake along with him. Since he's such a sensitive, generally kind person, this is unusual. (Side note: everybody who comes in to care for him, from nurses to physical therapists to social workers comments on what a sweet man he is, always so gracious and grateful for whatever they are doing for him.) When we see the beginning of this wakefulness we immediately give him a basic antibiotic, but still he goes on to the next stage before it can take effect.

Stage 2: he starts having hallucinations, both visual and auditory. Evidently this is usual among older people with infections. Once he said there was a man singing so loudly in the living room that it kept him awake. He often asks who all these people are in his room and he has long conversations with individuals or groups "surrounding his bed." This is what happened last night. We would probably ignore it except at the same time he's anxious to get out of bed and will try everything to get around the bed rails we put up at night. Once he slithered all the way down to the bottom of the bed, then right off the end between the rail and the footboard, where we found him on the floor. He was going for a walk and was very surprised when his legs didn't hold him up. During this stage we can hear him talking all night long, like last night, so we know he's not getting any sleep.  And we know we have to check on him frequently. We give him a medication for agitation and insomnia, but it doesn't seem to do much good.

Stage 3: I don't know if the antibiotic is starting to work at this point or if he's just worn out, but after a day or two of hallucinations and agitation, he sleeps deeply for long hours. Once it lasted 24 hours and he was completely unresponsive, meaning we couldn't wake him up. It was more like a coma than a sleep. Then after 24 hours, he woke up and said he was hungry, which also happens no matter how long he sleeps.

Last Tuesday, when the first symptoms appeared, the doctor ordered a urine sample. Yesterday (3 days later), it came back positive for an infection, now we're waiting to hear which antibiotic will specifically target this particular bug. Since the broad-based antibiotic we've been giving him since Tuesday doesn't seem to be doing much good, I'm anxious to start him on something that will.

Thank goodness today is Saturday so there was no Seminary this morning and also Lloyd has the day off. Maybe we can spell each other with naps today.

Taking Care of Dad, 2 / Judy

When Dad came home from the transitional care center at the end of August, he was not doing well. He'd been very sick and was still extremely weak. He'd lost a lot of weight, mainly because he didn't want to eat anything. In fact, we had to spoon-feed him to get him to take any food at all. The only conversation he'd initiate was, "I want to go back to bed." Other than that he didn't participate. At the care center he'd refused to even try the physical therapy because all he wanted to do was sleep. He had a catheter, which we were told he'd have from now on.

We asked if he were eligible for Hospice and he definitely was, so we signed up with them. They were wonderful! A nurse checked on him twice a week, and they made sure we had the equipment we needed: we already had a hospital bed, but they supplied a special mattress to prevent bed sores. In addition we had a bedside commode and a wheelchair. Hospice is all about palliative care (just make sure they are comfortable), not about getting better.

But lo and behold, after three months, he was no longer eligible and they said he'd "graduated" out of Hospice because he got better all by himself. He got stronger physically so he could scoot from his bed to the wheelchair (although we still have to lift him back into the bed); he got his appetite back and really enjoys his meals; he's awake during the day now more than he has been in years; and he's very involved in the household doings. He loves to have people come visit and stays awake much longer when other people are around.

Bottom line is he's doing very well--until he has a urinary tract infection. Which will be the next topic.

Taking Care of Dad / Judy

I've considered blogging about this experience of being a caregiver for an elderly parent because it's such a huge part of my life right now. But I've hesitated because I didn't want to be disrespectful to Dad in any way...and some of what I could write about might be. But I've decided to go ahead for a couple reasons: I need to write about this as therapy for me, and also--maybe someone else can use it.

Some background: it's been almost fifteen years since Lloyd and I gave up our jobs and house in Maryland to return home and basically be here with Dad. He had recently been divorced and I could tell he wasn't doing well living by himself, so here we came. It was great watching 3 of my kids graduate from my old high school and of course we were able to live in the house I grew up in.

I did all the shopping, cooking and cleaning and considered it a small price to pay to be here in this place I love. Up until now Dad has been independent and a fun "roommie." Although he has gradually become weaker and more frail over the years, he could still get around with his walker. He enjoyed reading the newspaper when he woke up at 5:00 pm and then played chess on the computer or surfed the web, reading news and the family's blogs and sometimes staying up most of the night with a good book. He went to church, to visit family nearby, out to dinner occasionally and life was pretty good for all of us.

Then last summer he had a serious urinary tract infection, landed in the hospital for almost two weeks, then a rehab facility for three weeks after that, and when he came home in September (with a catheter), everything was different. The main difference is that he's immobile--his legs don't work at all. This means he's essentially bedridden although we get him up in his wheelchair for meals at the table two or three times a day. For those who've done this, they know there is a world of meaning in the words "he's bedridden."

More about this next time.

Grandpa -- Answers Questions From His Blog Posted Sat 21 Nov 2009 / Guest

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Wights Fort Cemetery  www.rootsweb.ancestry.com

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR COMMENTS

THESE ARE A FEW QUESTIONS FOR ME TO ANSWER

Missa said...

Grandpa,
So good to hear from you. Hannah has an assignment in school that we were hoping you could help us with. She needs to have several small paragraphs (2-3 sentences) about ancesters who have contributed to American history--from the Mayflower on. For example: Glenn Wight was a soldier in WWII who fought across Germany. He was wounded and almost died. Glenn is Hannah's great-grandpa. Can you think of anyone else we could write about? Thanks!

Dear Hannah,
I could tell you a little bit about our family history. For example, Thomas Wight came to Massachusetts in about 1635, which was just about the time that the Mayflower came over.  He was a farmer.

There were three Wight families that came to Salt Lake Valley with the pioneers in 1847. They established “Wight’s Fort” in the southern end of Salt Lake Valley. Wight’s Fort was intended to help protect the people in Salt Lake Valley from Indian raids coming up from the south. There is still a small park there with a plaque telling about it. It is also registered as an historical cemetery because of the few Wights that were buried there.   It’s at approximately 3400 West and 9000 South and is located near where you live in Draper.

My grandfather homesteaded in Juniper, Idaho when it was very empty country. He took up a homestead and lived on it the rest of his life. A homestead was government land that had been surveyed, and anyone who moved on it and improved the land could claim it if he lived on it a few years. A homestead was 320 acres.

My father, Hewitt Wight was a soldier in the Army during World War I and fought in France across a good bit of France and into Germany.

kristen said...

Grandpa,
it is great to see you in the blogging world! I hear that you have a fancy new chair - how is that going for you? are you spending a lot more time out and about now? we are looking forward to seeing you this week for thanksgiving.
love, Kristen

Dear Kristen,
Yes I have a new chair that’s great.  And I do plan to spend more time out and about.

Troy & Emily said...

Grandpa,
It's great to hear from you! I've been meaning to ask you about the status of Compound 14. Have you heard anything from the Dept of Homeland Security?

Dear Troy and Emily,

Compound 14 is still sitting on the shelf. I think it has potential but I haven’t been able to get anyone to take responsibility to develop it.  Tracy Call was my partner in working with Compound 14 and his granddaughter is working on it at the University of Utah.  But to answer your question, I haven’t heard anything about it from the Department of Homeland Security.

Grandpa -- Guest Blogger Invites Questions / Guest

Hello

Lloyd is setting things up so that I can be a guest Blogger from time to time.  If you have any questions that you would like me to answer, let me know, and I’ll try to answer them.

Love, Grandpa

Grandpa's Gone Turbo / Judy:

Here is Grandpa and Michael with the new wheelchair. We're excited about his new wheels because now we can go anywhere, and plan to. The chair only weighs 20 lbs. and is very portable. 

Looking at this picture made me think about how grateful I am for a couple things. First, it's wonderful to have Michael here with us most of the time. He's always helpful and also, he's fun to be around. The two of us were very close as kids and I'm glad we have that back now. Second, how fortunate I am to live in such a beautiful place. I owe a debt of gratitude to my folks for letting us grow up here and every once in a while I'm overcome with joy about being able to live here again now. 

Recent visitors / Judy

We've have several visitors lately and for different reasons. This picture is Grandpa and his sister, Betty. She and her grand-daughter and her two little boys came for a vacation and stayed at a motel. They did fun California stuff during the day, then Betty came and visited with Grandpa every night. It worked out very well for everybody.

Yesterday these girls came to see Grandpa and spend the night. From the left is Heather with her 18-month-old daughter, Jordan, Grandpa, then Michiko and 7-month-old Cosette. Today Kristen and Hilary came down for lunch with us and we all had a fun visit. Now Michiko and Heather are driving back to Los Angeles where Michiko lives and Heather will fly to Salt Lake tomorrow.

Also, Lloyd's nephew Matthew stayed with us for a couple nights because he fell off his bike on Sunday and broke his upper arm--the humerus. He was in quite a bit of pain and I didn't want him to have to be alone in his apartment. But he's doing better now and I took him grocery shopping for food he wouldn't have to prepare or cut up so he's back in his apartment and hopefully can return to school soon.

Of course Michael is still staying with us for about four days a week to help Grandpa with his physical therapy. So we've had a busy week. Meanwhile, I'm still hanging on with my stent, which I hope gets taken out next Tues. or Weds.

FIRE! / Judy

smoke, flames & sirens

This morning about 9:00 we noticed the light looked funny outside, then we saw it was from smoke. I wondered if it was smoke from the big Santa Barbara fires a hundred miles south, but then we heard all sorts of sirens.

When we went outside to look, we saw the big hill right beside us was on fire! The whole hill was smokey and we could even see flames about half way up. Fire trucks were there from several of the surrounding towns and they blocked off the streets heading up the hill. Someone said there were firefighters right in the back yards of some of the uppermost houses. We watched a couple planes circling, then dropping flame retardant. They'd circle 3 or 4 times, then drop their load.

an offer to evacuate grandpa

It's been about two hours since we first noticed the smoke and the fire seems to be contained or even out in most places. At one point we got a call from the home health people who've been coming for physical therapy with Grandpa since his fall a couple weeks ago. They wanted to know if we'd need any help with Grandpa if we had to evacuate. Of course he's sleeping through the whole thing and we'll tell him about it tonight. But what an exciting way to start the day, especially since it looks like all is well now. I mean the fire was RIGHT THERE!