Chester Lubeck

At age 20, Chester Lubeck served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army infantry during World War II. On December 16, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, he was captured by German forces in one of the war’s most brutal confrontations.

Lubeck spent four months as a prisoner of war. While held outside an ammunition dump in Nuremberg, Germany, he and other American POWs were caught in a U.S. bombing raid. The strike killed 28 prisoners and seriously injured 48 others. Lubeck sustained a concussion and hearing loss but managed to escape captivity just two weeks later.

In 2011, decades after the war, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer awarded Lubeck the Purple Heart for his injuries. This recognition had long been delayed due to the military’s classification of the incident as friendly fire. After returning home, Lubeck became a successful businessman, owning a lumber yard and developing real estate in Orangeburg.

Chester passed away on June 4, 2024, at the age of 99, just shy of his 100th birthday.