World War II medic Bill Pollard witnessed the horrors of the concentration camps as a liberator. As a civilian, he became friends with Holocaust survivors living in his neighborhood. Now, at age 96, his mission is to make sure the Holocaust is not forgotten.
Earlier this year, the Military and Remembrance Library at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cameron, Missouri, was dedicated. It is filled with books about World War II and the Holocaust.
“This is a historic time that is being neglected. We should know more,” said Pollard about the library he worked hard to establish. “We have veterans here who say, ‘I’ve been through it; I don’t want to talk about it.’ I’m different. I know I’m on the right track because young people are proving to me (it’s important) to keep this story alive.”
Bill told KQ2 news in St. Joseph that walking into a concentration camp and seeing those who suffered the Holocaust was his most horrific memory both during his time in service and his entire life.
“It was something,” Pollard said. “It was terrifying at that time. I had a lot of Jewish friends who were also soldiers there with me. These were very sad times. I think about it every day.”
Pollard’s son, Larry, believes his father was successful establishing this library because Bill is “a real salesman who has spoken to a lot of groups about the Holocaust in the last couple of years.” As a result, more than 500 books on the subjects of World War II and the Holocaust have been donated to the library.
The Pollards aren’t Jewish. Larry Pollard became friends with Gene Greenberg, the son of Holocaust survivors Helen and Abe Greenberg (of blessed memory), when the Pollards moved here in 1958. Larry immediately set out to find boys his age in the Kansas City, Missouri, neighborhood and met Gene.
Soon after they met, Larry asked Gene, “Why does your dad have numbers tattooed on his arm? That’s why I tell him I was his first Holocaust student.”
It was common for children of survivors at the time to not know much about their parents’ history during the Holocaust. The same was true for Larry, who knew his father had served in the military but didn’t know what he had done or what he had witnessed.
“While awaiting orders to be sent to the Pacific Theater, my father was assigned to Dachau,” Larry said. “He and the other medics not only liberated Jewish prisoners but also treated them medically the best they could.”
Larry explained his father had started the project because “he has learned that not only is the Holocaust not being taught enough, (but) there are also naysayers out there that say it was a hoax, (that) it didn’t really happen. That just gets him.”
A documentary about this project is currently being produced. They hope it is completed by the end of the year. The documentary is described as “the story about Bill Pollard’s World War II role as a medic and a liberator and his role as a veteran today. It’s a story about Helen and Abe Greenberg’s Holocaust survival and their liberation. And it’s the story of two 9-year-old boys who 61 years later have vowed to keep these stories alive.”
In the documentary, Bill, who has lived in the veterans’ home since 2016, explains why keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive is important to him.
“It was real. I was there. I saw it. I helped,” he said.
Larry explained his father’s feelings further by adding that no one would ever really know what the survivors went through.
“Gene’s parents, Abe and Helen, were wonderful people,” Larry said. “They did tell Gene about their experiences and my dad witnessed it, but unless you were a survivor or a prisoner, no one will ever know what they went through. That’s why it’s become a focus for my dad.”
Over the years, the Pollards and the Greenbergs had been in and out of touch with one another, seeing one another at reunions, etc.
“But when my father started this project, I immediately thought about Gene,” Larry said.
The Greenbergs’ story, and photos, are on display in the library. At the dedication, Gene praised Bill, and other liberators.
“Guys like Bill, and the rest of you here, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. If the war went on one day longer, (my brother) Stan and I might not be here. To you GIs, you men that fought, we owe everything,” said Gene, who never knew Bill was a liberator, or even in the military, until Bill started this project.
“The survivor community hold liberators in really high esteem,” Gene said.
Only residents of the veterans’ home can check out the books, but the public may visit the library. For more information on the project, contact Barbara Caldwell at or at 816-632-1622.