RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Prepare to be impressed, Bruce. In 1946 I won a prize in a Zone-wide art contest sponsored by the American Red Cross. The prizes were awarded by none other than 4-star General Joseph T. McNarney, who replaced Eisenhower as top U.S. commander in Europe. One of our base photographers, Sgt. Peter Gowland (later famed nationwide for his pin-up photography) also won a prize and was standing with me when the General strolled by. Pete brazenly asked McNarney if he would do a grip-and-grin shot with me, and McNarney said, "Sure!" Our base newspaper ran it above a caption: "Corporal Richard XXXX and friend." (My daughter doesn't want me to post my full name on the Internet.)

Corporal RichardQ with 4-star Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, Eisenhower's replacement - 1946

Fritz59

I really enjoyed my time in Germany, 1962 to 65 Babenhausen, 66 & 67 Aschaffenburg, and 70 to 73 Karlsruhe. While in Babenhausen lived with a Germany family whom the husband was a 1st Sgt in the SS during WWII who had a lot of stories. He said the memory of standing on a hill watching Moscow burn was one of his best.

Marc-Wi Loc: Oshkosh Wi

I enjoy your little "history lessons".

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

RichardQ: were you there when the Berlin Wall went up and do you have any interesting tidbits to share?

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Thank you for your comment, Marc-Wi. The broad sweeps of historical events usually need some human relationships to be accessible to the rest of us. I enjoy describing these, but hope I don't distort the realities. On the other hand, many history books distort, depending on the authors and publishers.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Hi, John. Yes, I was employed in Frankfurt as an advertising TV art director from October 1960 to August 1963. However, I'm so busy describing the Military Occupation years (1945 to 1949) that I don't want to break into that flow of information (I'm almost 88 years old and might get confused). In my narratives and vignettes, I haven't even reached the 1948/49 Berlin Blockade and Airlift yet -- which were pretty much the same story as the Wall, but much shorter.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

If he was standing on a hill watching Moscow burn, I'm sure he didn't stand long. The Nazi Wehrmacht and SS wore summer clothing because Hitler expected to reach Moscow much earlier. In late November they encircled the city with a 200-mile long ring about 20 to 30 miles out. On Dec. 2nd, 1941, a reconnaissance battalion of the German 258th Infantry Division penetrated the Russian defences into a Moscow suburb, Khimki, from which they could see the spires of the Kremlin. That was as far as they got. A small army of Soviet workers from factories, together with some tanks, drove them back the next morning. That was the only time the Nazi foot soldiers saw Moscow. On Dec. 5th the generals wanted to pull back from their ring. The temperature had fallen to minus 36 degrees. Their panzers were "almost immobilized." Then, on Dec. 6th, Marshal Zhukov unleashed 100 divisions of Soviet forces, both fresh and battle-tried, and all equipped and trained to fight in snow and bitter cold. The Nazis crumbled and retreated. Moscow was not taken, nor was Leningrad, nor was Stalingrad, nor the Caucuses oil fields. On Dec. 7th, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and a few days later Hitler declared war on the United States (in support of his Japanese Axis partner). Two months later 91,000 German soldiers (including 24 generals) finally saw Moscow. They were POWs paraded by the Kremlin.

Fritz59

I worked with William (Bill) Crawford who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for action in Italy. But he had been captured by the Germans and taken to a POW camp just outside of Berlin. He said that near the end of the war things were bad, very little food but the pow's ate the same as the guards. They could hear the artillery from the Germans and the Russians. The guards didn't want the Russians to get the American pow's and walked them west across Northern Germany until they met the British Army. Bill was discharged and his PH was taken away because he had not been wounded.

RichardQ Loc: Colorado

Fritz, I'm happy for Bill Crawford's safe return from a POW prison, but those German guards, like the rest of the German army, were much more interested in surrendering themselves to the Yanks or the Brits. I'm sure they hoped having the Allied POWs in tow would protect them while surrendering. The Luftwaffe-run camps reportedly provided better POW care, but the SS-run camps were horrors. Here are two of the less horrible photos of freed but starved Allied POWs.

Pvt. Alvin Abrams was rescued after four months in an SS POW prison


British POWs after five years in a Nazi SS prison

JSPIRAKIS Loc: Florida

One Rude Dawg, could you put in a picture of the cigarette case?