DECATUR - The horror of a German concentration camp remains vivid in Festus Paul's memory.

The 84-year-old Decatur man was a chaplain's assistant in the U.S. Army's 8th Infantry, which liberated a concentration camp near the town of Wobbelin in northern Germany in 1945, rescuing almost 2,500 starving political prisoners.

"This was where we met up with the Russian soldiers," Paul said.

Paul served in the Army 32 months during World War II, including 19 months overseas. The war with Germany was ending when the U.S. troops discovered the concentration camp.

"It was a horrible sight, the worst," he said. "The prisoners were living in concrete huts with no heat. They were emaciated."

Paul brought back numerous graphic photos of the inhumanity.

"I never talked about it. I tried to dismiss it from my mind," he said. "I put the photos away."

The photos and a booklet about the 8th Army's combat history came to light when Paul was sorting through boxes in a housecleaning project.

"Hundreds of bodies of men who had been starved and beaten to death were unearthed from mass graves," Paul said. "The dead were buried individually after funeral services in the town squares of nearby communities. The German townspeople were required to view the bodies, and many townspeople were shown through the concentration camp."

Paul was a band and orchestra instructor in Sparta for 10 years before he came to Decatur to teach at Roosevelt Middle School for 20 years. Then, he was music coordinator for the school district for five years before retiring in 1982.

He opened a miniature golf course, Paul's Puttin' Place, in Nelson Park and operated it for nearly 26 years.

Bob Fallstrom can be reached at bfallstrom@herald-review.com or 421-7981.