Timeline

Roy Long is born in Blair, Nebraska.

Roy Long was recruited to join the University of Nebraska-Lincoln football team as a halfback, going from benchwarmer to setting a national record of 55 attempts in one game. Long participated in the ROTC, and was drafted into the army in September of 1942, sent to Officers Candidate School at Fort Knox, KY, soon becoming an artillery officer and Second Lieutenant.

Following Long’s training, he traveled to Europe on the USS Explorer with "H" Company, 66th Infantry Regiment, 71st Infantry Division arriving at Camp Old Gold near Le Havre, France. Long and his fellow comrades endured harsh living conditions, including land mines, cold and damp weather, improvised cooking methods, and a lack of sanitation facilities.

Long, along with the rest of the 71st Division, liberated the Gunskirchen Lager concentration camp in Wels, Austria. Long discovered survivors in a barracks, and quickly reported his findings to headquarters, allowing them to receive medical attention and safe extraction from the camp.

Following the end of WWII, Roy Long, promoted to First Lieutenant, and assigned to “M” Company, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. “M” Company was tasked with guarding the British, American, and Soviet judges at the Nuremberg War Trials. Long specifically guarded their living quarters. In his speeches, Long recounted that Nazi war criminals Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, and Alfred Yodl falsified their role in the Holocaust, making a mockery of the judicial process.

Long returned to UNL to finish his education and football career, graduating in 1947 with a bachelor of science in education. Long became an industrial arts teacher in Fredonia, KS until he was called to service once again in the Korean War in 1951. Long returned in 1953, earned his master of arts from UNL, and taught industrial arts and worked with special needs students in Omaha Public Schools until his retirement in 1984.

Even after Long retired, he continued to speak with and educate students in Nebraska, offering a unique first-hand account about the Holocaust, Nuremberg War Trials, and other events related to WWII. Long hoped future generations would learn from the horrors of the Holocaust, understanding that we all share responsibility in preventing crimes against humanity.

Roy Long was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Education at the University of Nebraska at the age of 95.

Roy Long passes away, leaving behind a legacy that will inspire Nebraska's youth for generations.