Unused Waffen SS sleeve chevron acquired postwar by a US soldier

Charles Clinton Rudulph Jr. was born on March 24, 1923, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Charles Clinton and Catharine Jacobs Rudulph. His family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, where he graduated from P.S. DuPont High School. Charles was attending Beacom College when he enlisted in the US Army in July 1941. He joined the Coast Artillery Corps or Army Mine Planter Service, Panama Canal Department. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and, a few days later, the US declared war on Japan and Germany. After a year and a half, Charles returned from the Panama Canal Dept. to attend officer training school in Fort Benning, Georgia. Lieutenant Rudulph was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division, which was activated in March 1943. The division deployed to the European Theater of Operations in November 1944, landing in Le Havre, France. In December, they were in St. Vith, Belgium, to relieve the 2nd Infantry on the rugged, hilly border with Germany. Charles was wounded in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge and sent to England to recover. Most of the 106th were captured by the Germans. It is not known when Charles rejoined the division. In February 1945, the 106th crossed into Germany, then back into France where they processed German prisoners of war. The division was regrouping near Mayen, Germany, when the war ended with the German surrender on May 7. For his service in the postwar military occupation, Charles was stationed in Straubing, Germany, with Battery X, 566th AAA Aw Bn (Anti-aircraft, automatic weapons battalion.) During this time, he made two visits to Dachau concentration camp near Munich. During his first visit, he toured the camp with a former inmate, a German who had been a prisoner there for four years. They viewed the crematorium and storage areas, and Charles became ill seven times during the visit. His second visit was July 15, 1945, and he served as guide for a group of other soldiers. After his return to the US, Charles enrolled in the University of Delaware. On September 18, 1946, he married Irene Hazel West, from Bournemouth, England, whom he had met while recuperating from his wounds. They had two children. He and Hazel divorced in December 1974. The same month, Charles married Ramona Boudreau White. Charles, 79, died in December 2002 in Clarkdale, Arizona.

The badge was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Ramona A. Rudulph, the wife of Charles Rudulph.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ramona A. Rudulph

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.