World War II - the view from Leipzig
On June 1st, just two days ago, five Germans came through our B-17 Museum here in Tucson. They were from Leipzig, friendly, open, speaking fairly good English. One was making his living in Public Relations (his card reads "Publicizt") and we all talked for nearly an hour.
Late in the war, two of our B-17s crashed on a bomb run over Leipzig, and most of the crew were killed, dying inside the plane on impact. The kids in the plane were all under twenty-one.
The locals dug them out of the wreck and buried them there in the nearby local cemetery. Klaus and his friends copied the names of the fliers, ranks, serial numbers and such from the grave stones, memorized the plane numbers and kept them for 65 years for this trip yesterday to Tucson.
Klaus and his buddies were children when the Americans died and felt a kinship to them, growing up right next to their graves. All through their lives, the felt a need to make a connection to the American families, shoot fotos of the grave-stones and someday make a trip here and connect.
They stopped by the 390th Bomb Group Museum because of the B-17g bomber, and by luck, connected with the research department. They retreaved names, addresses, crew pictures of the airmen, background histories and original home towns before they left. Klaus and his friends, as we say, were
" blown away " by the significant information that helped them complete an emotional journey
Some Germans react and behave differently than others. The war affects them differently, I've found. I cannot make blanket judgements about those people, I have to take them one at a time, a case by case basis. I am surprised every day I'm there, each one of them surprises me, even the young man who cried and begged forgiveness for merely being born in the same village where Adolph Hitler was born.
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Late in the war, two of our B-17s crashed on a bomb run over Leipzig, and most of the crew were killed, dying inside the plane on impact. The kids in the plane were all under twenty-one.
The locals dug them out of the wreck and buried them there in the nearby local cemetery. Klaus and his friends copied the names of the fliers, ranks, serial numbers and such from the grave stones, memorized the plane numbers and kept them for 65 years for this trip yesterday to Tucson.
Klaus and his buddies were children when the Americans died and felt a kinship to them, growing up right next to their graves. All through their lives, the felt a need to make a connection to the American families, shoot fotos of the grave-stones and someday make a trip here and connect.
They stopped by the 390th Bomb Group Museum because of the B-17g bomber, and by luck, connected with the research department. They retreaved names, addresses, crew pictures of the airmen, background histories and original home towns before they left. Klaus and his friends, as we say, were
" blown away " by the significant information that helped them complete an emotional journey
Some Germans react and behave differently than others. The war affects them differently, I've found. I cannot make blanket judgements about those people, I have to take them one at a time, a case by case basis. I am surprised every day I'm there, each one of them surprises me, even the young man who cried and begged forgiveness for merely being born in the same village where Adolph Hitler was born.
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