One-hundred year-old Bill Wagaman jokingly said he’s “slowed down a little,” but you’d never know it.
“They call me their ‘poster boy’ at the V.A. Center (in Martinsburg, West Virginia),” added Wagaman, who celebrated his birthday Oct. 31. An Army veteran, he was injured and held as a prisoner of war for nine months during World War II.
Wagaman said he and his wife, Rosie, who will be 97 on Dec. 27, are not as spry as they used to be. “I no longer mow, but we do everything else. Rosie has the cleaning bug, and we each wash and iron our own clothes.” The Wagamans, married June 21, 1947, “don’t stay home very much,” according to Wagaman. “Our neighbors in Cold Spring Estates call us the ‘Energizer Bunnies.’”
Wagaman, who still drives, said he and Rosie are “pretty ordinary. We travel around a lot – here and there. We’ll go to Gettysburg and look around. We do a lot of shopping, and Rosie likes to look a lot. And we eat out a good bit. Our favorite place is The Parlor House.”
The Wagmans have two children, Karen (Brian) MacWilliams of Chambersburg and Kurt (Nancy) Wagaman of Waynesboro; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild on the way.
After their children married and left home, the couple traveled extensively. “We took over 25 cruises and went to Europe. I traced my World War II service. We also went to Switzerland with a group and liked it so well we went back by ourselves.
“And Rosie and I danced a lot. One anniversary she asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate, and I said ‘ballroom dance.’ We took lessons and then joined a number of dance clubs, mostly local. We went to Pen Mar every summer and belonged to a York dance club. Wherever they had a ballroom and dancing, that’s where we were. We danced all the time. After Rosie fell and broke her right foot seven years ago, we gave up dancing.”
Born in Chambersburg, Wagaman was the only child of Charles W. and Hazel May (Price) Wagaman.
“I was brought up in Baltimore. My father worked with the Western Maryland Railroad. I attended high school at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, and I was close to graduation when I received my ‘invitation’ from the Army April 29, 1943. After I was drafted, I went to Fort Hood, Texas, for basic training, and was transferred to a camp in Colorado where I took mountain training.”
Wagaman, a staff sergeant, said he arrived in Italy Jan. 31, 1944, assigned to the 36th Infantry Division “I took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy – there was a big monastery there – and in the invasion of southern France on Aug. 15. I was wounded – shot in the leg – Aug. 20, 1944, near Grenoble, France, and taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans. There was a piece of shell in my leg. The Germans took me to a field station, and a surgeon removed it.”
Wagaman was liberated April 27, 1945, and flown to France. “The most important thing was I weighed 150 when I was captured and close to 70 when I was liberated. Our main menu was a cup of coffee – ersatz – which wasn’t really coffee, for breakfast, a baked potato for lunch and a loaf of black bread shared by 30 prisoners for dinner.
“I eventually got my weight back up – my goal was 140 – and I got close to that. We were put on a hospital ship and sent home. We landed in New Jersey,” he added. After a stay to further recover at Fort Dix, Wagaman returned to Baltimore and was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. “I stayed there for a couple months, and at the time, they had a points system, and you got so much time, based on your Army life. As soon as that came out, they said any ex-POW would be automatically discharged.” About 10 years ago, Wagaman began offering presentations to local civic and service organizations about his life as an American prisoner of war in Germany.
Wagaman began his career at Frick Co. of Waynesboro, where he was an engineering apprentice. “I started out at 45 cents an hour, and we got a nickel raise every 750 hours. If I hadn’t lived at home, I would have starved to death.”
Wagaman met his future wife at Frick Co. “Apprentices worked so many hours in each division, and part of our training was in the drafting shop, where Rosie was a secretary.” They dated for a year and a half, and married at Salem Church, where Rosie’s mother was superintendent of Sunday School. “All the church people came. It was a big wedding,” he added.
Wagaman’s work as a refrigeration troubleshooter took the couple to Piedmont Engineering, Charlotte, N.C., for two years, and then to Virginia Ice Machine Co., in Richmond, Va. They returned to Waynesboro where he became superintendent of installations at Frick Co. “I started troubleshooting all over the country trying to solve problems with their equipment.”
“Then I took a job with West Penn Power Co., part of Allegheny power system, formerly Potomac Edison. They were starting a new program and trained me to work with high voltage. I worked with the city of Hagerstown, and Mack Trucks.” Wagaman retired Aug. 1, 1988, after more than 29 years service.
Wagaman said he has a cell phone, “but I’m not an expert at it. I don’t like all the hustle and bustle, and I don’t like the politics. I miss some of the old stores closing and the malls shutting down. If I need something online I get my daughter to do it.”
He enjoys watching Westerns and older Western movies on TV and Channel 8 news. “I still follow professional football on TV. The Ravens are my favorite team. “I remember when they used to be the Colts. I also saw Babe Ruth at a Baltimore Orioles game.”
