Shrewsbury Service Honors Life of WWII POW

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By Rick Geffken

SHREWSBURY – Zack Roberts remembered the bitter cold during the Battle of Anzio in February 1944. In a recorded interview at Brookdale Community College several years ago, Roberts described his memories of an 18-year-old soldier’s winter: “We had 45 percent casualties. We were losing almost as many men from the cold, with frozen feet, as we were from (the German) artillery. So, it wasn’t a good place for infantry.”

It would get even worse. Roberts and three other survivors of his company were captured by the Germans. For the next 15 months he endured the deprivations of multiple POW camps. Assigned to hard labor, Roberts was buried one day when the bank of a rock quarry wall collapsed on him.

But these were not the stories Zachariah David Roberts’ family and friends chose to recall about this warm and open man at his Christ Church Requiem Eucharist Monday. They were gathered at the Shrewsbury house of worship to celebrate their “Pop” and his 95 years of love and devotion to them, and to his country. Roberts’ daughter, Shrewsbury resident Kim Roberts-Honecker, told the congregation: “My father never let the pain of the past take away his joy of living. He was always so positive, so resilient. He’d say things like ‘The Depression, they were good times.’ ”

Laughter rippled through the church at that line and several more as she continued with other stories her father would tell.

“My father had just graduated high school,” she said. “He saw many of his friends signing up for the Navy. He volunteered too, didn’t wait to be drafted, but he didn’t think he was a good enough swimmer, so he went into the Army.” “He met Agnes Whitlow in 1946, after the war, but she was engaged to a Navy man,” Roberts-Honecker said about her mother. “My father pursued her anyway and finally won her over. You could say Army beat Navy that time.”

Agnes and Zack Roberts moved from the coal-mining towns of Pennsylvania after they married and settled in Jersey City. Looking for a career, Zack was inspired by his hairdresser mother-in-law to pursue that line of work. Within a few years he owned a chain of beauty salons, was an award-winning stylist and lecturer, an instructor, and became president of the New Jersey Hairdressers Association. He traveled all over the country lobbying for safer conditions and protections for salon workers. This was not a man who forgot about the needs of other people. Perhaps he remembered the uncommon gift he’d received during his time as a prisoner of war.

Rescued after his quarry accident, Zack Roberts was sent to a Stalag hospital. He received only minimal care although he couldn’t get out of bed, no longer able to walk. He never forgot the prison guard whose care he felt allowed him to survive. “I firmly believe I wouldn’t be walking today, and probably would have died,” Roberts said.

Thirty-five years later, Roberts returned to Germany with his wife to look for the man who saved his life. Franz had died, but Roberts found his widow and daughter in the little farming community where he’d been held captive. “She invited us in and treated us royally. We corresponded for years afterwards.”

Zack Roberts’ memorial service was held on Presidents Day, appropriate for the man who became national commander of the American Ex-Prisoners of War organization in 1999. A lifetime supporter of all military veterans, Roberts used his own war experiences to help others who had been captured in subsequent conflicts. He was particularly concerned with getting effective treatment for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He may not have suffered from it, but he felt an obligation to those who do.

Each of Roberts’ grandchildren, Kim and Bob Honecker’s children, spoke in his honor during the ceremony. His namesake Zach quoted Ecclesiastes: “A generation goes, a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” Mariah read from Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” And Bob Honecker Jr. personalized Roberts’ legacy for the entire family when he said, “Vets like my grandfather stayed true to their values. He was more than a prisoner hero, he was my hero.”

Nearing the end of his long life Roberts remained upbeat, especially about the newest generation. “I was very fortunate. I had two children who have every value that I believe is right. Some people measure success by how much that attain, but I have children and grandchildren, and I have great confidence in them.”