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OBIT, obits, Obituary: Delbert L. Shankle Sr., of Latrobe, died Tuesday, May 5, 2015, at Latrobe Hospital. He was 88.
Daily Photo Galleries Thursday - May 7, 2015 By Craig Smith Thursday, May 7, 2015, 12:01 a.m.

In the 1930s, Delbert Shankle was earning 5 or 10 cents a round working as a caddy at Kittanning Country Club.

While the money helped his family get through the Great Depression, he probably was more interested in the fringe benefits, said his son, Delbert Shankle.

“They let the caddies golf on Mondays, so he got to golf for free,” he said.

A decade later, he was among the Army military police who guarded Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials.

Delbert L. Shankle Sr., 88, of Latrobe, died Tuesday, May 5, 2015, at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital of cancer. Born June 7, 1926, in Kittanning, son of the late Frank S. and Maude Bowser Shankle, he worked for 25 years at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

Mr. Shankle served in the Army's 405th Infantry Regiment, which liberated a concentration camp during its march through the Ruhr Valley. He later was a guard at the Nuremberg Trials, serving in the 1st Division.

Defendants in the 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949 included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors who were indicted on charges of crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.

He didn't often talk about the war but did tell his family about the trials.

“He said it was something else to see Nazi officers like Herman Goering so smug. They showed no remorse,” his son said. “He was in the room during the trials.”

Mr. Shankle, one of 11 children, enjoyed spending time with his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, said his daughter, Susan Shankle Sauricki, of Snellville, Ga.

“They loved their big family,” she said.

His wife of 67 years, Nancy, died May 6, 2014.

They held family gatherings three or four times a year at the Loyalhanna Care Center near Latrobe.

“Mom and Dad were all about kids and grandkids,” his son said. “Every year, they'd send a card with a check in it to each one of them. We kept telling them, ‘Don't do it.' ”

In addition to golf, Mr. Shankle enjoyed taking walks, going to flea markets and traveling.

He is survived by three daughters, Carol Shankle Robbins and husband, Gary, of Kent, Ohio, Margaret Shankle Peters and husband, Jerry, of Canton, Ohio, and Susan Shankle Sauricki and husband, Jeff, of Snellville, Ga.; two sons, Delbert L. Shankle and wife, Kathy, of Latrobe and David Shankle and wife, Pat, of Columbia, S.C.; 13 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday and from noon until the services at 1 p.m. Friday in the Snyder-Crissman Funeral Home in Kittanning. Interment will be in Center Hill Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude's Hospital.