By Erica Thoits, Reporter
SCARBOROUGH (May 25, 2006): Eugene Gutter lied down in front of the German tank not expecting to get back up. It was ValentineÕs Day 1943, and after three months of fighting in Tunisia he was sure he was about to be run over.
Instead, Gutter would spend the rest of World War II as a prisoner of war, passing through different countries, on trains, forced marches and in prison camps.
In early 1942, a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 20-year-old Gutter and his two brothers volunteered for service. The three brothers spread out over three different military branches. One joined the Navy, the second joined the Air Force and Gutter chose the Army.
Only Gutter would live to come home. One brother was killed when his submarine sank in 1944, and the other was shot down only days before the end of the war in 1945.
Today, home for 84-year-old Gutter is in Scarborough. He has lived here since 1951 when it was truly a small town with a population of about 3,000. For what now seems like a bargain price, he bought 42 acres for $10,000 where he still lives 55 years later.
Before settling down in Maine, Gutter survived 27 months as a prisoner of war. After his initial capture in Tunisia, Gutter and the other prisoners were put on a grueling forced march through Africa. Days into the march Gutter realized he couldnÕt walk any farther. He sat on the ground and waited.
ÒEveryone said, ÔtheyÕre going to shoot you,ÕÓ Gutter recalls, but still he didn't get up.
Though a soldier aimed his gun at him, Gutter remained on the ground. He believes it was only luck that saved him in that moment. For reasons Gutter will never know the soldiers allowed him to ride for the rest of the march.
Eventually Gutter and the other prisoners were flown to Sicily, a flight made terrifying by Allied fire.
ÒThey didnÕt know who was in the planes,Ó explained Gutter.
From Sicily Gutter traveled by train in boxcars packed so tightly no one could move or sit down. After the car doors were locked in Italy, they werenÕt opened until they arrived days later in Munich.
After long months in Munich, air raids and another horrible trip by train, the Russian army broke through German lines in early February 1945. The pressure from the Russians started the second forced march, this time through a freezing German winter where Gutter remembers sleeping in barns and suffering from Òhalf frozen feet.Ó
Though Gutter and a few fellow prisoners briefly escaped for three days, with 30 days of only bread and water as punishment, his official release came on May 4, 1945, four days prior to official victory in Europe.
Gutter was discharged after the final bombings of Japan, but after searching unsuccessfully for a job he reenlisted in the Army. He served one year in the Korean War before finally starting his life in Scarborough.
Gutter is now far from the Òhorror housesÓ he spent years in during the World War II, living next to greenhouses run by family members in the place heÕs called home for more than half a century.
Though far from World War II, Gutter still easily recalls many dates and details of his experiences overseas. He will help others remember what it means to serve in the military by again riding in the Memorial Day parade in Scarborough Monday.
Based in Scarborough, Reporter Erica Thoits can be reached at 207-883-3533.