Lots of Success from trip to NARA in St. Louis. Now I need lots of time to analyze what I was able to find.
The most shocking and emotional thing I discovered was a letter from my Dad to a deceased gentleman's father. The letter is pretty well destroyed but the back side of the paper is clearer. So knowing my Dad's handwriting and going in reverse from the back side, I was able to figure out a great deal of what was there. For the moment I will say the beginning part written on Jan. 15, 1945 appears to be:
Dear Sir
This is one of those letters we must
write and yet Sir it is very hard indeed.
Your son was a hero till the very end
He was severely wounded and it was ---
There is more to follow but I want to see if I can get the next couple of lines figured out before I go on. The italics are words I can not definitely confirm at this time.
The evidence of the fire on the records is everywhere - burnt/scorched edges on partial pieces of paper. I am grateful I found what I did.
Christoph, I believe there are German clues in here. And for certain, these hospital records have to exist in Germany. So many wounded men passed through here. And maybe some are still alive - even Germans that were there!
I am slowed down because I caught a cold or something.
Bye for the moment,
Jean J