BERLIN — Rochus Misch, who served as Adolf Hitler's devoted bodyguard for most of World War II and was the last remaining witness to the Nazi leader's final hours in his Berlin bunker, has died. He was 96.

Burkhard Nachtigall, who helped Misch ghostwrite his 2008 memoir, told The Associated Press Friday that Misch died Thursday in Berlin after a short illness.

Misch remained proud to the end about his years with Hitler, whom he affectionately called "boss."

In a 2005 interview with the AP, Misch recalled Hitler as "a very normal man" and gave a riveting account of the German dictator's last days before he and his wife Eva Braun killed themselves in their bunker in Berlin.

Misch said, "he was no brute. He was no monster. He was no superman."