Fallschirmjäger Bio

[noblackie69]

awesome stroy...thanks for sharing......

[tropenmilitaria]

Just came across this great story when searching old threads.
Naxos: Did your dad bring home his medals and/or uniform after leaving the POW camp? Thanks for sharing his story.

[naxos]

He did not wear his awards when he surrendered, except for the Afrika cuff title.
He told me, that the soldiers he surrendered to were Moroccans belonging to the French Army, when they noticed the title they treated him almost like he was one of their allies. Later he was handed over to the Americans and was held at the POW camp near Heilbronn. He was able to keep the cuff title by removing it from the tunic and carrying it in his pocket.

BTW ; I can still remember my father wearing his Knochensack in the 1960s (it was left at home when he surrendered) to make oil changes on his Mercedes. It hung always in the garage, my mother eventually threw the “filthy thing” out.

[bjack]

Amazing story..... thanks for sharing.

[B. Dietz]

Naxos great story, thanks for sharing.
I still have family in Heilbronn, the camp conditions there were very poor. All in all Heilbronn was a wasteland by 45.
Shame about the Springerkombi, would have been a nice keep sake for you today. At least you have the photo's and history.

[naxos]

Thanks for the kind replies

[Mike Yokum]

Naxos,

Thank you for sharing your brave fathers story. You share it with pride and for good reason. How sad that he passed at such an early age. He no longer needs a chute as he now has wings!

Best regards,

[eniram]

Hi, great ,informative story of your father Naxos.My grandad fought through out the whole of the Italian campaign.He was a tank comander at Cassino and interestingly enough also did not like to speak of the war,rather to spend his days with pet sheep and animals.He did tell me that the German Paras were "nasty buggers",and gave the kiwis a good scrap!

[mufasa]

... thanks Naxos for the story and for the photos! many, many thanks....

[grndevil44]

Thanks for sharing this Naxos,

was interested to learn what your fathers occupation was before the war? The story about swapping boots in Rome, a first hand account of what items of clothing could be possible, brilliant

thanks

john

[naxos]

Thanks for sharing this Naxos,

was interested to learn what your fathers occupation was before the war? The story about swapping boots in Rome, a first hand account of what items of clothing could be possible, brilliant

thanks

john

He was a mechanic apprentice (Kfz Schlosser)

I added this picture, taken near Rome - note the fine Italian boots (It shows as well how slow the award of the Afrika title was, September 1943 and no cuff title. The first picture I have of my father wearing it is from April 1944. The award entry is in January 1944)

[naxos]

Years ago my mother (while watching a documentary on the German Television Station SWR) identified my father in an old news reel from the Wochenschau.

It took me years to find the footage again.

It shows a group of Paras at Qattara in November 1942.



from the same group my father emerges:

[Tim R. B.]

Naxos, a superb piece of family FJ history, it must have been moving to be able to identify your father in the news reel. Thanks for posting. Tim.

[naxos]

Naxos, a superb piece of family FJ history, it must have been moving to be able to identify your father in the news reel. Thanks for posting. Tim.

Yes, thanks Tim.

... seeing my father as a young man, I notice in his walk how my twenty-four year old son shares the same traits with him.

[grndevil44]

thanks for letting me know his previous job, always interesting to find these out in the soldbuch and the photo of the boots

as for finding the newsreel footage, amazing

john