Over the next eight years, they expanded to nine stores. In 1948 George and his brother-in-law, Joe, opened a dry goods store. After the war, George was assigned to arrange for the separation of displaced persons to allow transfer to their homelands.Īfter George returned home, he and Willene settled in Jasper, Alabama and had two daughters. On May 9, hostilities officially ended in Europe, George was among the troops of the 65th who made contact with the Russians at Erlauf. In May, the 65th captured the town of Passau, then moved into Austria and captured the city of Linz. On April 20, the division liberated a subcamp in the Flossenbürg camp system. There he saw the abysmal living conditions and the sickly, emaciated corpses of the prisoners the guards killed before they fled. On April 13, George arrived at the recently liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany. In April, the division advanced into Bavaria and captured the city of Regensburg. The 65th landed at Le Havre, France in January, 1945, and was deployed to the German border in March. While in Shelby, George and Willine were married in spring 1944, and then George shipped out to Europe with the 65th. George then received orders to report to the headquarters of the 65th Infantry Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He also met Willine Engel while visiting Birmingham, and the two began a relationship. While he was stationed in Alabama, George was promoted to Captain. George graduated as a Second Lieutenant in the 45th Infantry Division and was sent to Gadsden and then to Fort McClellan, Alabama for further training. George trained at camp Devens, Massachusetts, and Camp Lee, Virginia before entering Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Edgeward, Maryland.
After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, George enlisted in the Army. After a year, he began working at the lumber company owned by his father and two uncles. Due to family financial stress, George left school after two years and got a job at a supermarket. After high school, George attended the University of Connecticut. George was the youngest of six children and was raised in a conservative religious home.
George Mitnick (1917-2005) was born in Hartford Connecticut to David and Rose Mitnick (nee Schwartz).
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