Robert Zussman (September 7, 1923-) was a US Army Private First Class who served in the US 1st Infantry Division during World War II.
Biography[]
Robert Zussman was born in Rogasen, German Empire (now Rogozno, Poland) in 1923 to a Jewish family, and his family emigrated to the United States when he was young. Zussman was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and he had a good command of German for the rest of his life. He would be drafted into the US Army during World War II, befriending Ronald Daniels during basic training. Zussman was wounded while saving Daniels from a knife-wielding German soldier on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944, but he recovered in time to fight at the Battle of Marigny. Zussman supplied first aid kits to his comrades during firefights, and he would be a key member of Lieutenant Joseph Turner's (later William Pierson's) squad during the war. On 27 December 1944, he was captured by the Wehrmacht during the Battle of the Bulge, and he was held as a prisoner-of-war and forced laborer at the Berga concentration camp in Nazi Germany. On 4 April 1945, his old squad liberated a wounded Zussman, who recovered at an Army hospital before returning home.