Bio: Karnitz Ernest C. (14 Oct. 1943)

Contact: Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surname: Karnitz

----Source: The Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 14 Oct. 1943

Karnitz Celebrates a Genuine Anniversary

On October 8, 1943, Ernest C. Karnitz of Neillsville celebrated a twenty-fifth anniversary all of its own kind. It was exactly 25 years before that he had been wounded in Alsace - Lorraine while on a night patrol. He with a detachment of 23 men, whose job was to put a certain machine gun out of business. At 3:30 in the morning, when it was darker than the ace of spades, they bumped right into a sentry, having got off their proper course. Their lieutenant shot the sentry, but the noise of it set the fireworks loose. In no time the air was full of bullets and grenades, and one of the latter peppered Mr. Karnitz in both legs, the right arm and the chest. This happened five miles from the American lines. Two other men were wounded. With dawn approaching, they had a problem to get back. In part they traveled over wooded terrain, but at other times they were out in the open, with German snipers taking pot shots at them. It was slow going, with three wounded men to carry, but they finally made it, and Ernest Karnitz is still living to tell the story.