Help with Research on Truman Franklin - POW

I'm researching my grandfather's time in the war. He died when I was two years old and my father doesn't know much about his past. My grandmother didn't tell me much either - he never wanted to talk about his time in the war.

We know he was a prisoner of war after he fought in the battle of the bulge. I did some research and found out the following:

SERIAL NUMBER 34819565 NAME FRANKLIN TRUMAN A GRADE, ALPHA Private First Class GRADE CODE Second Lieutenant or Nurse or Dietitian or Physical therapy aide or Private First Class or Ensign or Second Class, Seaman SERVICE CODE ARMY ARM OR SERVICE Infantry ARM OR SERVICE CODE INF: INFANTRY DATE REPORT: DAY (DD) 4 DATE REPORT: MONTH (MM) 4 DATE REPORT: YEAR (Y) 1945 RACIAL GROUP CODE WHITE STATE OF RESIDENCE Alabama TYPE OF ORGANIZATION PARENT UNIT NUMBER PARENT UNIT TYPE AREA European Theatre: Germany LATEST REPORT DATE: DAY (DD) 25 LATEST REPORT DATE: MONTH (MM) 7 LATEST REPORT DATE: YEAR (Y) 1945 SOURCE OF REPORT Individual has been reported through sources considered official. STATUS Returned to Military Control, Liberated or Repatriated DETAINING POWER GERMANY CAMP Stalag 12A to 9B Limburg An Der Lahn Hessen-Nassau, Prussia 50-08

I was hoping someone would know more about the prison camp.. or anything really. I'd like to give a report to my father for Christmas.

 

Well I don't see that he filled out an Escape and Evasion Report. Here is a webpage for the stalag. http://www.indianami...urg/History.htm

Here is a bit about Stalag XII A from a British site. http://pegasusarchiv...2A_History1.htm

Here is a bit about Stalag IX B http://www.lonesentry.com/badorb/

And the liberation of IX B http://efour4ever.co...on/stalagix.htm

 

Thanks so much for the research links! So when it says 12A to 9B does that mean he was transferred between those two camps?

 

Yes most likely he was transfered between Stalags which happened when one Stalag was getting overfilled or when the Germans consolidated nationalities into one Stalag or the other.

It also happened when the Allies got close to capturing a Stalag that the Germans would move the PWs to another place.