Printis is 92 years old and a native of Cumby Texas. On December 7th, 1941, Printis heard the announcement on his car radio while visiting in Greenville Texas. He says that the announcer told all military personnel listening to immediately head back to their base! Printis was in the U.S.Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based at Ft.Sam Houston Texas. He said he grabbed several other soldiers and raced towards their base. Printis trained at this base for about a year transitioning from horses to a completely motorized division, before being shipped overseas to Europe.
This hero was trained as a medic and at one point treated his brother who was in another nearby company during a battle, actually only yards apart! Printis was eventually involved in five major battles all over Europe. They were the campaigns in Normandy, Battle of Pigs, the Rhine River, Brest, and Germany. The end of the war found Printis marching with General Patton into Checkoslavakia, where the town awarded the 2nd Division with a monument in their town square, and Printis received the town’s coat of arms from a grateful citizenry.
One of Printis’s most vivid memories is of the condition of the German prisoners of war. He continually observed how old, thin, and dirty these soldiers were. Because of the late stages of the war, food was scarce; and the German army was drafting the very old, and the very young to fill its ranks.
When Germany surrendered he was sent back to the states to train for the campaign in the Pacific. Fortunately the Japanese surrendered and the war was over, with Printis getting out of the service in November 1945.
Printis eventually married and worked at Chrysler Corporation for many years.
To this day, Printis Sibley flies an American flag on a flagpole in the front yard of his home! A proud American!
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