And now with trumpets blaring: Larry the Legend has discovered and revealed the Secrets of the Siegburg Cemetery!
Not quite 70 years ago these men faded away into being another WW2 sad statistic - they started this passage of their young lives as MIA and ended up in a little plot of land in Siegburg, Germany with wooden crosses letting folks know they were there.
Some of us who were born after the War might come from one of the maybe 600? American men that passed through the Abbey and survived. These men that survived, while scarred from all of their War experiences, did not end up with the 22 that Larry has so exquisitely researched and summarized above.
If there were 600 men, these 22 would be less than 4% of the total. That is an amazingly small number - especially considering that these 600 all had wounds - wounds bad enough to get them sent to the Abbey - and at that period of time medical supplies and staff, what existed, were very limited. And good food to help nourish the men did not exist either.
At this point in their lives, these wounded men had to depend on others for their survival. They had to depend on the few Americans that were physically capable of helping them. And they had to depend on men from other countries that had been captured and were now organized to help the wounded American Vets. The Germans had to be willing to let these resources be used for the care and survival of the Americans and not for the support of their own wounded men who were also there.
There are American men whose names I am only recently learning - like Otto Tonnesen and John Creighton who appear to have helped so many at the Abbey. Those stories will come later, and if there is any chance of finding Otto's son, Jon, I would make a bet - I will up the ante from our last bet Larry - that you will find him! I I located and spoke with one of the Creighton daughters, it was a few months ago. I have recently confirmed with 2 of the newly discovered Siegburg alumni the important and heroic role that Otto appears to have played while there.
What an incredulous amount of work and determination you have put into this project Larry! There are not enough ways for those men, their mothers and fathers, and ohers to say Thank You!!!
Jean
Jean
A Member of Larry's and Christoph's Fan Clubs