Christoph,
Your getting me in touch with Mr. Stolz was incredible. In next couple of days I will scan his little drawing which has the map of where Dryden and the others were buried. What a shame that Mr. Stolz was in hospital and now in recovery he said that would take several months. I hope he will be okay!
Sister E. Koch said the Russian Dr. was not Russian but Polish! There is a Polish Dr. mentioned in the Dryden paperwork and that must be who they thought was a Russian Dr; and he was still there after the War was over.
Sister E. Koch said that the Cook would never of told my Dad and the Allies to take down the Christmas tree. She was in disbelief when I told her the story about the Cook. She said It had to be the SS German Dr. who maybe told the cook. I think she said 31 wounded Germans in the hospital were killed in that bombing Dec. 28th. It must have been horrific! Dad was still talking about it in a Jan. 3rd Vmail.
Mr. Norton never knew of a Christmas tree. So now I know the tree story was from up in the Allied section of the Hospital. Mr. Norton did not realize there was an Allied Hospital up there. He realizes now that he never saw my Dad at night - it was always during the day. Mr. Norton had his leg surgery done by a German Dr. behind the front lines and before coming to Siegburg. And the Polish Dr. came to see them in the Barracks.
So Dad slept with the Allies in the Allied portion of the Hospital up above and not down in the barracks where Norton was. .And Walter Brinegar was handled up at the Allied Hospital and not down below in the Barracks. And it was my Dad who told him to be careful of his language. All the other men that were up at the hospital were too sick. They were too sick to qualify to go down the hill to the Barracks section or to get moved on to another camp. And because there was only room for so many at the Allied hospital section and even German section had limits of maybe 125 to 150 men? at some point they moved you on to a different camp. Wow, finally thanks to Norton, the Sister,You - Christoph, Walter, and Dad I am getting a full picture of what was happening!
And when I asked Norton about inspections - he could not imagine such a thing - so now we know the inspections were not done at the barracks but up at the hospital. It will be interesting to see if from Dad's documents I can figure out an approximate date an inspection occurred at the hospital and then see if there is official documentation for that inspection. Your newly sent documentation shows they had instpections!
No luck on debriefing info. Had Eisenhower Museum and First Division Research Library both see if there was anything. The answer was no. Thus my conclusion is that he was not rescued by the First Division.
I have gotten lots of the Newsletters from the 78th Division, so kind for someone to send them to me, and maybe there will be some clues there.
Found a great researcher Mr. Kleemann in Remagen, he works at the tourist office. He was fantastic! I think I could live in Remagen. It was such an idyllic town. What a story with the bridge crossing and loved the Museum and the plaques outside. Those 78th Division newsletters have pictures of some of the Veterans returning to celebrate putting the plaque up to recognize their efforts.
Made it up to the Hurtgen Forest and saw the Museum and also the home that has the WW2 medical hospital in its basement. I am so glad that was preserved. It would be hard to envision such a thing. I do not know if you know Mr. Esser but he is another great human being who tries to help all of us, both German and Allies, locate information from up in that area.
I am so anxious to see what you find from the Cologne documents.
Oh I left the candy with the 2 Sisters and the Mother - but I Confess I did eat some.
Good night!
Jean J