Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Pages 1 & 2

The life span of a sniper in the Russian army is extremely unpredictable. But to have that life end up in a small town in southwest Iowa was even more unpredictable for one Russian girl in particular.

The roots of some families branch farther than you would think; this is true for one family especially. Dr. Daniel WEDDLE and his family have an interesting background that will leave you wanting to learn more.

Angelina GRITSENKO, mother of Dan WEDDLE of Mount Ayr, was born in Mariupol, Ukraine in 1923 where she grew up as a Russian girl. Around the age of 16, Angelina started attending the University of Kiev in Ukraine. During her fourth year of college, the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II broke out and she became part of the Red Army.

Along with about 2,000 others, Angelina was trained to be a sniper, a person who picked off enemy officers.

The Russians tried to fight the Germans before they reached Stalingrad, but they were out-mastered. The Russians were camping in a low valley when the Germans surrounded them with their tanks on an early, wet, rainy morning. The Germans started shooting, and many Russians were wounded and lost their lives.

One of the many injured was Angelina GRITSENKO. She was knocked unconscious and lay in her spot for hours, not able to get away.

While the Germans continued on in the valley to gather survivors, Angelina had woken up and collected herself. She knew when the Germans came back and discovered she was a sniper, she would have no life to look forward to.

She soon encountered a Soviet nurse who had lost her life. Without second thought, she traded papers with the nurse, attempting to save her life.

Angelina GRITSENKO was now Angelina SOROCHENKO.

The Germans gathered the survivors and started them on their march from west of Stalingrad to nearly Poland to reach the prisoner camp. This was close to a death walk as they had little to nothing to eat.

When they got close to town, the guards let them scrounge for food in trash cans or wherever they could find.

Although Angelina did not, some of the prisoners even took place in gathering food from a deceased horse carcass and became very sick.

As long as she could keep up on the walk, she was okay.

One particular encounter Dr. WEDDLE'S mother had on the march was with a German officer. While they were resting, a couple of SS soldiers came upon the group and whispered something in the guard's ear. While doing so, they pointed towards Angelina, and she started becoming a bit nervous.

The guard approached her and told her there was a wounded German officer, and due to the fact that she was identified as a nurse, she needed to take care of him. She did so, the best she could, and went without being questioned.

They had walked as far as they needed and were put on a train to ride the last little way to their work camp in Poland.

Here, they worked producing ammunition for the German.

[Page 2] The prisoners of war were given little food; soup twice a day is what their meals usually consisted of, if it could even be called soup. It contained water, a couple pieces of potato and cabbage.

Due to working so hard and not having enough food to keep her strength up, Angelina got run down and could no longer effectively work.

She was sent to Dachau, a concentration camp in southern Germany.

Dr. WEDDLE'S father, Victor WEDDLE, was part of an artillery unit where he drove a truck hauling ammunition.

He was originally from Worth County, MO when he was drafted to become an American GI in 1942. His travels took him to southern Germany, which was in the same proximity as Angelina at the time.

After the Americans eventually liberated Dachau, Angelina and Victor came in contact while they were both staying at Tell Am See, a lake near Munich.

"There was a lot of stuff to be done, but there was also a quite a bit of leisure time. That's when my parents met," said Dr. WEDDLE with a chuckle.

The war ended in 1945, and Angelina and Victor started their life together. The two got married in Munich in 1945 and had their first child in March 1946. That summer, Victor was to be sent home.

Being a part of the motor pool as a GI, Victor stole a jeep for a short while and drove his wife and son to LeHavre, France. Here, Angelina and her son boarded a boat to New York City.

Without knowing any English, besides the form of English the American GIs used, Angelina spent a few days in New York City with her son before her husband reached them.

Angelina was in awe by New York City and couldn't believe all of the food and people.

Her husband finally reached them in New York after about a week, and the three of them headed for the midwest.

She kept the name of Angelina SOROCHENKO, the identity of the nurse, until she got married, even signing her marriage papers as Angelina S. WEDDLE.

Dr. WEDDLE added his mother never referred to herself as a sniper, but as a sharp-shooter.

If anyone ever complained about life as an American, Angelina was the first to get after them after living in harsh conditions for three years as a prisoner of war.

Angelina passed away in 1974, leaving behind a great story to tell.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2013