Passing of Gunther Frenzel

[FestungSpanien]

Sorry to hear the news...RIP

[Woolgar]

A great warrior of the skies - RIP

The video is great, cany wait to see more

Nick

[GEBIRGS-JAGER]

Hi R.I.P. Thank you for posting the video link.Did he write a book.Brian

[Craig Gottlieb]

I don't think he wrote a book, but I was so blessed to be able to record about 2 hours of interviews with him, where he related all sorts of great stories. The story of his bombing raid in the Belgian Congo, flying a Wellington Bomber, is priceless. I'll be sure to translate that and get it published soon . . . and please excuse my translation efforts. I speak good enough German, but not perfect by any means.

[Niblet]

Craig
sorry to hear this,,
was he wearing his original RK when you were drinking with him?
or was it a 57?

[Craig Gottlieb]

He does not wear his L/12 that was presented to him, but a 57. He said he had more than one pre-1945 RK. The one he was wearing when he was captured, was taken by a US soldier from his neck.

[Military]

Very sad news.

Just watched the video and the first part was very touching about how much he treasured his Ehrenpokal.

Mil

[Craig Gottlieb]

To make it flow, I had to cut and trim the video, and the part that I think I'll publish separately is the moment when, after decades, I handed him the goblet fir the first time. All he could say is "I remember, I remember . . . "

[Niblet]

Where did you find his goblet?

[mvm71]

Great thread, a true war hero. I look forward to seeing more........

Thank you,
Mike

[pzrwest]

Same here would love to see the rest of the videos. I too have a dear friend who is a uboot vetern, and he honored me by calling me his comrade which goes above and beyond just being friends. I know you will treasure the brief time you got to spend with Gunther. I canjust imagine how his mind raced back to his days of youth when you handed him his goblet

[M Wipf]

Craig,

Cool thing you did there with returning Herr Frenzel's Ehrenpokal.

Sad to hear about the passing of your friend ..

All the best ..

Mike Wipf

[Craig Gottlieb]

Found it at the antique show in Del Mar, Ca - about 3 miles from my house! Regarding the goblet, he actually asked me to take it back about 8 months after I gave it to him - he told me it was enough for him to enjoy it for a while, and was fearful it'd get stolen. So, I picked it up from him on my last visit, which was just after he'd gotten out of the hospital from a very minor stroke.

I remember having some cake with he and his wife in the cafeteria. One of the orderlies came up to chat with us - an older man. The guy asked who I was, and we started to tell the story, at which point, the man exclaimed that he too had been in WWII as a radio operator on the Eastern Front. When we revealed that Gunter was a Ritterkreuztrager, the guy just about fell over with awe and respect. It was amazing to see such passion after so long away from the field.

[Napalm]

Held back on passing on my sincere condolences to the family, Such a loss to all those aquainted and those that were freinds...

[Johnny R]

Craig, I think I heard of him from Nebel vets, was he involved in ferrying Werfer Rgt. 71 over from Italy correct? The was one of the missions they risked exposure of using enigma info to destroy the unit.