Trudi Reichart: Thank You. I Could Have Died.

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published April 23, 2019 4:45 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Cancer patient Trudi Reichart said the nurses and doctors have been so wonderful to her that she wanted them to be recognized for all that they do.

(Photo Courtesy Melanie Shingledecker Parker.)

In June of 2017, Trudi Reichart of Clarion shared her life story of growing up a small girl in World War II in German to her journey as a U.S. citizen with exploreClarion.com, and her only purpose was to thank American soldiers for their kindness.

People listened to her story, and she soon heard from people all over the world.

Trudi also shared that she was fighting cancer, and it was thought she had beaten the disease, but it did reappear, and she recently completed her last treatment.

Now, she wants to thank all of the health professionals who helped her.

View Trudi in her own words in the video below:

A Challenge from Birth

Born in the rubble of World War II, Trudi said there were always U.S. soldiers in her life during and after the war.

“We had no food, no blankets, and we had no house. We had absolutely nothing.

“Then came the soldiers, and they shared their rations. We had lice and fleas. They sprayed our hair and us because our whole body was covered with them.

“They gave us food and took care of us. If it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t be here today talking with you,” Trudi told exploreClarion.com in a previous interview.

Born in Germany in 1941 during World War II, the resilient woman has seen a life filled with American soldiers; moving to a new home in the United States; losing her son, a member of the Special Forces, in Fallujah, Iraq; losing her grandson to cancer; combating her own cancer; and coping with her husband Max’s cancer.
Through it all, she has held on to a vigorous love of life.

“After the war was over, I was six years old, and Germany started to rebuild. The soldiers were still there. We were little kids, and we had nothing much, but we tried to rebuild. We took the bricks and had to take the old mortar off of them, so they could reuse the bricks. Lines and lines of kids were doing it – five, six, seven years old were doing it.

“The soldiers still there cooked and gave us food, and they helped with everything, but a couple of months later they had to leave. We had to get back to ourselves for whatever happened.”

Trudi met a gentleman, a soldier in the Air Force, fell in love, got married, and he brought her to the United States.

“I entered the U.S. on November 24, 1968, and landed in Charleston, South Carolina. From there, I went to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where there was an Air Force base. From there, he had to go to Danang, Vietnam, and I went back to Alabama with our son Mike. When he came back, we were stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, until he got transferred to Georgia Moody Air Force Base where my daughter Tanya Renee was born.”

“He died a couple of years later, and I called my sister Marlena Link married to Richard Link, in Clarion. My brother in law Richard was working for C&K Coal as vice president of finance.”

Trudi married Max Reichart, of Clarion, in 1993; he passed on April 15, 2018.

Trudi’s Commitment to Clarion

In her previous interview, Trudi said that the people in Clarion are very generous and kind.

“I love Clarion. I can go to the grocery store and even when I look at strangers and say ‘hello,’ they say ‘hello.’ They are so generous.

“My husband and I both had cancer and were so sick. All of my neighbors came and helped us. What wonderful people are here in Clarion.”

RELATED:

Trudi Reichart: From Germany to Clarion Never Forgetting the Kindness of American Soldiers

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