Kurland cuff title

[jlga]

Anytime, glad I could help a little bit, very interesting indeed your story, very lucky to have met your friend, unfortunately many of those veterans are now passing.
I am lucky enough to still have my grand father, he is 99 and was a veteran on the Spanish Civil War 36-39, belonged to the 18th expeditionary artillery division and thus he was all over Spain and took place in the most fiercests battles and campaigns such as the Ebro battle in the north of Spain.

Thanks, jlga! I had a friend in Seattle who had been with the Ramcke Brigade in Afrika, attended officer candidate school in Utrecht, Holland and was then assigned to the Hermann Goering Division on the Eastern Front. He attained the rank of Hauptmann. He said after an engagement the higher-ranked commanders usually got the medals rather than the lower-ranking officers and enlisted men. He said many times rather than a pat on the back they might get in trouble with the QM troops for losing a gasmask! This is probably true of most armies, although Napoleon has been quoted as saying "Give me enough medals and I will conquer the world"!

Thanks again!

[ebj]

You are blessed to have your grandfather with you! I am sure he has shared many stories with you. My father was an American pilot in WW1 but he passed away many years ago and I did not take advantage of the opportunity to record his many stories.

He was a Foggiani, a group of 500 American Air Service candidates who trained in Foggia Italy, as the US had no flight schools or aircraft at the time. Major LaGuardia was their American commander, he later became mayor of NY. My father finished the war as a 1st Lieutenant. I have his Italian flight log book with over 80 flights. His rank was Primo Tenente while he trained in Italy.

[jlga]

Very interesting to hear about your father, brave men indeed

You are blessed to have your grandfather with you! I am sure he has shared many stories with you. My father was an American pilot in WW1 but he passed away many years ago and I did not take advantage of the opportunity to record his many stories.

He was a Foggiani, a group of 500 American Air Service candidates who trained in Foggia Italy, as the US had no flight schools or aircraft at the time. Major LaGuardia was their American commander, he later became mayor of NY. My father finished the war as a 1st Lieutenant. I have his Italian flight log book with over 80 flights. His rank was Primo Tenente while he trained in Italy.