Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Schroeder
My grandfather was a "Kanzelwart" (a mechanic for the fuselage if I understood him correctly:hmm  for Messerschmitt BF-109 fighter aircrafts in France. He didn't see much combat (except air raids of course). He was then transferred to an area near the German/Italian boarder. While being on the train they were attacked by fighter bombers which destroyed the power line and killed several of his comrades. After being stuck somewhere without transportation his group was "volunteered" to serve as engineers and to build bridges over some river to allow the German forces to retreat from Italy... Unfortunately they were neither trained nor equipped for such tasks and therefore these bridges were never completed.  After being send back to France his unit eventually surrendered to the US Army (where he almost starved being a POW).
Well the result for my family was no loss of lives but they lost there home (and all their possessions) twice to air raids. My family came from Stettin which belongs to Poland nowadays and is now called Szczecin, but after becoming a POW he claimed to be from West-Germany to avoid to be send back to Soviet occupied territory when his POW-time ended (He knew already that his family had fled to the west too).
My grandfather died in january 2002 and has never seen his home city again.  |
Apologies for the double post, but I saw a television documentary a few weeks ago where veterans from the British side and the German side met. Some of them were even shooting at each other. The whole show was very emotional, and there was mutual respect. One German fighter pilot spoke before a whole village and apologised for his actions. I dont think that was appropriate, as he was doing his duty and following orders, but still, to see two veterans of the opposite sides shaking hands and hugging was a very emotional experience for me.