It was December, 1945, a few months after World War II had ended. A 16 year old John Pacifico, today’s chairman for The John Basilone Parade, was attending a movie at The Raritan Playhouse on Anderson Street in Raritan. One of the newsreels told of the trials of the Nazi leaders for the war crimes they had committed. The footage showed the Nazi war criminals in the courtroom at the Palace of Justice. Standing behind them were several guards. John Pacifico (and many of the other local people attending the movie) quickly recognized that one of the guards was Raritan’s Robert Krachun of 86 First Avenue. Now, 62 years later, parade chairman John Pacifico invites Robert Krachun to be the Grand Marshall for this year’s John Basilone Memorial Parade.

The video (and photos) taken at the Nuremburg trials would become famous images from World War II.

Robert Krachun served in the Army in World War II. His unit saw intense combat in Europe throughout the war. At the wars conclusion, he was assigned to guard duty at the trial for the top 22 war criminals of Nazi Germany. These would come to be known as The Nuremberg Trials. Being tall, he was chosen to serve in the courtroom. Since the guards stood in an uncomfortable position, their shifts in the courtroom lasted just 2 hours. But fate had Robert Krachun on duty at the time the justices allowed the media to take their photos and video. The photographs of the Nazi criminals with Robert in the background are found today in many history books as well as on the internet.

After the newsreel, the local paper The Raritan Valley News published the photo of Robert Krachun with Nazis Hermann Goring and Rudolph Hess on the front page. Several articles also appeared in local papers. (Some of these articles can be seen on this website).

One article had a quote from Robert which was taken from a letter he had written home. It said his experience will give him something to tell his grandchildren. However, years later, he was hesitant to tell of his part in history. Like most of the greatest generation, he felt no need to boast of his war record. Robert’s son Jeff (who now owns the Agway in Raritan) found out about his father’s appearance in the famous Nuremburg images only when he was in his twenties. His dad was watching a World War II special on T. V. and footage of the Nuremburg trial was shown. Robert said to his son Jeff, there I am - right behind Hermann Goring. Jeff sat in disbelief, had his dad lost it - gone crazy in some illusion. But indeed Raritan’s Robert Krachun had been there standing behind some of the most evil men the world has ever known.

Robert has said that the Nazis on trial were arrogant and showed no remorse for the atrocities they had committed. Especially arrogant was Hermann Goring, who often stood up and yelled out stinging comments in the courtroom. The chief prosecutor of the trial was U.S. justice Robert Jackson. As witness to the proceedings, Robert Krachun said that Jackson did a excellent job as he took no crap from the Nazis.

The guard duty for these Nazi war criminals mostly included watching them outside the courtroom. Early in the trial, one Nazi managed to commit suicide by hanging himself in his cell. The authorities wanted these men brought to justice. So to prevent further suicides, the guards watched the prisoners constantly in their cells through a small window. Even while the Nazis slept, the guards watched.

The entire trial lasted for almost a year. Toward the end of the trial, Robert Krachun’s term of duty was up, thus he was sent home. He recalled hearing the verdicts for the 21 defendants announced over the radio. Eleven were sentenced to death. Several were given life imprisonment. Several others had prison sentences ranging from 10–20 years. Three were surprisingly acquitted. In 2007, when asked if he agreed with the three Nazis being acquitted, he said “they were all guilty and deserved to be hanged.”