My German, Great Uncle's WWII Soldbuch (Soldiers Book)

[indiucky]

Neat story...Thanks for sharing.....

[video=youtube;8JDkdc246QQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JDkdc246QQ[/video]

 

[DoggyDaddy]

My Mom's stepfather, I called him Opa, was a in the Luftwaffe in WWI and was awarded the Iron cross. I have it. I'll take a pic of it and post, will have to search a little for it.

They came to the US in 1936, I should say they fled due to being Jewish. He kept his German military service a secret. I only found out because I was being nosey and was searching through some old boxes when I was about 15, after he had already passed. I brought the wooden box with the medal in it, showed it to my grandmother and asked her what it was. I never saw her so upset with me in my life as she was in that moment. He never wanted his grandchildren to know that he fought against the US. He felt betrayed by Germany, rightly so, and truly loved America for giving him and his family a second chance in life.

My childhood best friend's grandfather fought for Germany in WWI also. He told my friend how he remembered hiding under a bush when he found out the war had ended (saw some allied planes flying over apparently). He was a neat old guy. Used to drink PBR at room temperature and was a very talented carpenter/wood worker. His grandmother was a great cook, but I only really liked her baking. She would make big soft pretzels that were better than anything you can find today. Didn't care much for her other cooking (although I'm sure it was good), but that's just because most everything had vinegar in it (Sauerbraten, German potato salad, etc.) and I'm just not a fan of vinegar.

 

[Gaffer]

All of my parents grandkids called them Oma and Opa, and yes, the Germans love their vinegar, but luckily, so do I.


Talked some with my Mom tonight about my grandfather (her father). It was funny, as she said she thought I always knew he was in the luftwaffe :>). I am sure I have heard this before but she reminded me of a few things about him. She has his unit information and other stuff that my uncle gave her, but she can't find where she put it right now, but promised me she will look for it. I will give her about a week before going over there and tearing her house apart :>)

She did tell me that for a good part of the war, and until the end, he was in Italy. He did get to come home about every 6 months and visit for a week or so. Apparently he was captured about 6 months before the war ended and was in a POW camp. After the war ended they just let them all go and he had to walk back to germany along with many others. When he walked up where they were living at the time (they had to move out of Kassel due to the massive bombings), and my mom, now 12, was the first family member he saw. My mom said he really scared her because she didn't reconize him. He had grown a long beard, was mostly dressed in rags, and had rags on his feet.

One other funny story she told me was that after the war they would get foodstuffs from America and they got a big bag of cornmeal. They had no idea what it was or what to do with it, so my grandmother made some sort of gruel out of it. My mom said it was about the nastiest thing she had ever eaten! Years later they finally figured out that they could have made some yummy corn bread with it.

Ron

 

[gregkl]

^^^great stories!

 

[nra4ever]

Wow. That was way cool! Thanks for sharing!