The Valley Catholic
in the diocese
May 13, 2014
3
Dachau to diaconate:
War hero’s contribution to Servant Church
By Joanna Thurmann
Bob Malone owes both his life and
his vocation as a permanent deacon in
the Diocese of San Jose to his father,
World War II hero Patrick Malone who
died recently.
The story begins in WWII in Dachau,
near the city of Munich in southern
Germany.
Dachau was first of the Nazi concentration camps, opened by Heinrich
Himmler, and was used for forced
labor, medical experimentation, imprisonment, execution and as a training
ground for the Nazi SS.
From 1933 to 1945, the number of
prisoners incarcerated there exceeded
188,000, including approximately 3,000
bishops, priests, and other Religious,
alongside Jews, “asocials” and political
prisoners. In April 1945, as American
forces approached, there were over
67,000 registered prisoners in Dachau
and its sub-camps.
Then 20-year-old Corporal Patrick
Malone fought his way into Dachau on
the morning of April 29, 1945. He was
part of General Patton’s 20th Armored,
27th Battalion, Company “C,” leading
a column of tanks toward liberation.
Pat and his fellow soldiers saw people
“dressed in whit