Hi,
I found some other facts you might be interested in:
Erwin
This is amazing stuff. I can now start doing a time line to better help me understand where he was. He told us very few stories, but he did talk about the DP's (displaced persons) and how he enjoyed talking to the Poles. My father was fluent in Polish. He didnt encounter a lot of them, but it kinda reminded him of being home where they spoke Polish.
My father and I had a difficult relationship. Come to think of it, he had many difficult relationships in his lifetime. Part of my reason for doing this research is to understand why he was like he was, and also to focus on the really good things he did in his life. Now that we have The History Channel, History international and the Military Channel I often wonder what other stories he would have told had we been watching these shows.
My favorite story took place in the early 70's. My father had to go to Germany on a business trip. I asked him if he saw anything familiar. He remarked that it looked sooooo different with buildings standing whole and roads unclogged. He did go through a town where they placed a bridge over the river, and the cab driver, being a little older knew where the crossing had been and took my father there. He went down to the river and stood for several minutes. I asked him what that felt like and his comment was. It was nice to see it with "noone taking potshots at you".