Meeting with FJ veteran last week

[tropenmilitaria]

I had the pleasure of meeting a German paratrooper who served with the 1st Parachute Division 44-45 this past week. Walter A. was born in 1925 in Pilsen, Checkoslovakia in a German majority section of the country. He started out as a member of the Hitler Youth before being drafted in 1943 and subsequently joining the Luftwaffe. He attended flight training but fuel shortages and too many pilots meant he was diverted into ground combat as an engineer with the paratroopers in Italy. Walter fondly remembered being outfitted with a paratrooper smock (non-camo) and paratrooper helmet (spray camo) and K98 rifle (never issued a G43). Later he said he replaced the K98 with “an Italian carbine with a folding bayonet “….didn’t remember the model. He did say it let out a lot of flash when fired. He fought only against the American army and remembered being shelled a lot by the 10th Mountain Division in northern Italy. The US had a lot of 105mm cannons that rained down on the paratroopers who moved on foot and dug into the hills for protection. He mentioned fighting along the Po River in Italy and seeing the Tuskegee airmen attacking a German held bridge guarded by Flak guns. Luckily, he recalled the airmen were attacking the bridge and didn’t see the paratroopers hidden nearby in the vineyard. On Thanksgiving Day 1944 his unit was showered with US propaganda leaflets urging the Germans to surrender and come get a nice Thanksgiving dinner. He laughed and said the leaflets “made good toilet paper”. The Germans were constantly being pushed up Italy and he recalled listening to German reports on the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest as they called the Battle of the Bulge. Only later after the war did he find out the truth about German losses. A good friend of his was killed at Monte Cassino (he personally wasn’t in the battle) while his brother Karl was killed in Russia. I asked him if he ever received the paratrooper badge and he said no since he never participated in a drop. Walter returned to visit his family in his home country and was taken prisoner by the Russians in the days following the German surrender. The Russians took all of their blankets, watches, jewelry and especially loved their boots. He was marched and taken by train for 8 weeks until he reached a POW camp in the Russian territory of Georgia. He wasn’t fed for the first week but was so scared that he didn’t notice the hunger. The Germans only received a bucket of water for a large group of soldiers every day. Walter spent 3 years as a Russian POW before returning home and then was arrested again by his country’s government. He escaped and landed a job as a mechanic with the US army. He learned English and came to the US in 1952 with the US military. Later he joined a major US company building power transformers and retired in Georgia. He finds it ironic that he was a POW in the Russian territory of Georgia, moved to the US state of Georgia and married a southern woman from Georgia. Walter said he was lucky never to have been seriously wounded in the war and wished more young people knew about WWII.

[tropenmilitaria]

Walter as a Luftwaffe flieger in 1943 at the age of 18.

[tropenmilitaria]

Walter today.

[tropenmilitaria]

Guys,
i would really like to get Walter a nice paratrooper book with large color photographs as a gift....any ideas as I am not a FJ collector?? thanks.
andy

[besslein]

Guys,
i would really like to get Walter a nice paratrooper book with large color photographs as a gift....any ideas as I am not a FJ collector?? thanks.
andy

great story
try to ask in para forum which book is the best one as a gift for him

[BPA-Paul]

WOW !!, I love veteren meetings and storys like that , hope you find a nice book for him, im not an FJ collector but i own some books by this publisher, i saw some books by Schiffer Military History books that might be of interest to you, great books by this publisher not always the cheapest ,but still great books.Here are three FJ paratrooper related topics,hope this helps !! ,sorry about pics.

fallschirmjager Para.jpg


Collector of Salty, Service Worn Headgear **SSWH**

[tropenmilitaria]

Thanks for the ideas on books! I will search out these books and see which one has the best pictures in it to send to him. I hope to stay in contact with Walter and learn more about life as a paratrooper in the Italian campaign. Spending time talking with veterans is actually more of a rewarding experience than buying a helmet or medal and I hope to meet more.

[militaria.no]

Great story

[Wijtman01]

Great story

took the words from my mouth
did he win awards during the war and did the russians took them all

[History]

Thanks for the ideas on books! I will search out these books and see which one has the best pictures in it to send to him. I hope to stay in contact with Walter and learn more about life as a paratrooper in the Italian campaign. Spending time talking with veterans is actually more of a rewarding experience than buying a helmet or medal and I hope to meet more.

[tropenmilitaria]

In regards to awards that he won...I only asked him if he had the paratrooper badge or iron cross and he said no. He showed me a small cotton bag to hold a few possessions while a POW which is all he had left. The few photos of him were sent to his family before the end of the war. He does have an embroidered luft breast eagle which he got after the war as a momento.

[billmunny]

Thanks for posting...!

Appreciate the story!

[Brendan Hunt]

Great story!

Any info on the POW camp he served in?

Brendan

[helmetbuyers]

In hindsight....

I think he would have enjoyed that Thanksgiving dinner.... than being a POW under the Russians for three years after the war.

[Willi Z.]

Thanks for sharing his story Andy!

As for advice on the book, it all depends what you want to show him. Wartime photos, overall history with photos, history, original uniforms, etc. So far you have some good options, but there are several more. Price range helps too.

BTW, I have placed a copy of this thread in the FJ section.