anybody writing vets NOW ?

Stefan :

Could you possibly post a scan of yourself here in kit for all of us to gaze at ?
Instead of writing him , Don Bryan, 13 victory ace with P-51 group the 352nd blue nosers has asked me to call him tonight. this in regards to his damaging 1 Ar 234 and the successful shooting down of another later in 1945. Will let everyone know how this went...... already had 6 e-mails from him the last 3 days.

~E

 

Hi Stefan, woops--my mistake I dont see why not? send some pics to the vet and he can tell you exactly what you need. I dont think they would be offended and I do think they would actually get a thrill out of it.

I have sent Remy all-kinds of pictures of my stuff--even with me holding my Mauser sniper rifle--me firing a Winchester 30 30 and me wearing my Artillery peaked visor.

I also from timt - to - time, send Remy pics of some of my militaria--and he enjoys seeing this stuff.

As a matter - of - fact, I need to get him scans of my new stuff encluding brass-cored 1939 ek1, my uboat badge, and my soon - to - be Grossdeutschland Division Panzer Hauptmanns shoulderboards.

 

I would love to do this! Can someone please give me some info. on where to get address etc...?

Thanks,

 

David:

Anyone in particular on your list ?

~E

 

No, not really, I just would like to let all I can know one more person appreciates what they did. I know one vet that lives pretty close to my grandmother, I have talked to him several times before but havn't found out much. I think he may want me to take him to a VFW meeting. that would be cool!

 

Next few questions...

Who do you want?
American?
British?
German?

 

ohh, American for now. Any army signal corps would be cool!
Thanks guys

 

You'll have to ask Erich and Stevin for American addys--I only have German--well I do have SOME American addys but--I haven't written to any of them yet.

 

An update on my contacting 12th SS vets for you guys, I sent off 14 letters or so about 2 weeks ago, essentially a list of questions with a covering letter explaining who I am, why I am interested and so on. I decided against sending the images, I will see who responds and maybe send something then. I did a load of research on the vets before I wrote to them and found out the units, ranks and some personal information about 3 of them, the others were more elusive but one turns out to be an author. I will keep you guys posted on how it goes, if anyone has any addresses of SS vets, preferably from the divisions that saw service in Normandy, the Ardennes or the the battle for Lake Balaton, I would be most greatful if you could pass on addresses to me.

 

Today I got my first 'response', well actually the letter was returned with the following message on the front:

'annahme verweigert zuruckan absender empfinger verstorben'

A rough translation of which is something like 'acceptance refused as adressee is deceased', something like that anyhow. Basically it means the veteran I wrote to, Herr Wilhelm Fecht, is no longer with us. There is nothing else really to say except RIP

 

Stefan,

Unfortunately you are writing to Vets in circumstances where it is very difficult to be able to check whether they are still alive or not.

With Ritterkreuztragers it is generally possible to find out who is still on the go and therefore not send letters to the deceased but with the other less well known Vets it is more difficult.

It is worth checking with your sources for the addresses how current they are,when they had contact with them etc.

I am currently writing to some Waffen SS Vets myself and do have a few avenues to try to check if people are still alive so if you need any help let me know,

Paul

 

Thanks Paul, the thing is that I have already sent off my letters so I guess if I get a response I will assume they are alive, if not well I will assume they are either not replying or no longer with us. At least I know about one of them.

 

or check the German telephon buch

or are you sure your letter even arrived ? If so don't get uptight if you do not receive a response for some months down the road. I still await four letters sent off at the first week of April..

~E

 

Just as an example of what Erich has said last week i received a letter and photo from a Fallschirmjager RKT having written to him on 12th November 2002 !!

Most of the vets reply fairly quickly but we must remember that due to their age they are sometimes ill or in hospital.This has happened to me a few times but they have replied once they have regained their health.

Stefan,if you get any addresses in the future let me know the names and i will try and ascertain if they are still alive.Like Erich says if you have the address you can check if it is still in the German telephone book.

Paul

 

Cheers Paul, now my letters are off I think I will just wait and see what I get. I will let you guys know what I get, when I have translated it anyhow.