Christoph! Are you kidding me! This is another Oh Wow! You have got to be kidding me! You went to the Cemetery - you actually know where it is and walked around the grounds! How many people (and let's first think about Americans) do you think have ever done that! How many people are buried there - not just from the Siegburg Abbey/WW2 period? Do the families realize their loved ones that died at the Abbey are buried there? Do they come visit? What battles did these men fight in that caused them to be wounded? Were most of them wounded during the Battle of the Bulge period or were they from the Hurtgen Forest Battles or when?

I want to go look up the weather on weather underground, but afraid I will lose this message, and try to visualize the kind of day it was when you went back to this Cemetery. Maybe it was a bright day or maybe a wintery gloomy day.

On a future visit, and with time, I might be inclined to find a place to perch and everyday come and see who visits the Cemetery. Maybe there is an office for the Cemetery that has records and people pay a perpetual maintenance fee like here in the States. I wonder if the monument stones are all the same and if you were able to easily see the engravings on them.

Do you think the men were buried here after their death or removed from a temporary spot to here? And how far is this Cemetery from the Abbey - knowing the weather conditions that winter? Would you pass that Cemetery or be aware of it as you went in and out of the Abbey?

And did my Dad know where that Cemetery you have visited was located? He never mentioned it. But then foolishly I never asked him that question or many others that I should have. On our journey to Siegburg with Dad, one of the important things Dad wanted to do was to see the Cemetery where he had buried the men. That is how we ended our visit to Siegburg. And as I have mentioned before, let me just say to put it mildly, it was not a happy ending. The history of the Abbey and the Prison Camp and the Cemetery had all been wiped away.

I apologize for putting in question marks, because I realize most of these things will probably never be answerable.

So Theo, now where did he go or would he have gone. Maybe to his home town or oh my gosh, suppose he was not found or identifiable. Oh Gross!

I am reading a book Medic! by R. Smith and in there he mentions the kinds of wounds you deal with in war and it is not like wounds/medical issues that are normally encountered. Dad mentioned in his Vmails/letters, (I must go back and review the exact wording) but he says how sick it made him in the beginning. R. Smith said the same thing.

So back to Theo, do you suppose, when I can get back to Germany - Maybe in Dec, we could visit his son? Maybe his son has more information to share on the whole era of Siegburg Abbey in WW2 - not because he remembers it but because he researched it.

Oh man, so much to think about and want to do.

And just quickly, I am glad you saw the Movie the Bridge at Remagen. What a Great True Story!

I am glad that TV producer found you! He got really lucky! And guess what? I did too!!! You are amazing!!!

You are so funny! I think I will be trying to get the information on my Dad's story for years to come because I want it to be accurate.

Bye for the moment,

Jean J

Jean,

I'm not so funny, it's the same cemetery where Dryden was buried and of whitch I have posted some fotos before (on memorial day). I have made a photo of a map of the cemetery. You see field "D" where Dryden was buried, and the big green field at the bottom "Ehrenfriedhof" with the graves of soldiers of both world wars and some civil victims. There are wreaths or lights on some of the graves, someone still visits them, but I don't think many Americans as there are no american soldiers anymore, they were brought to Margraten or home to the states. I think the local victims of WWII were buried here directly, but the soldiers from WWI?

Sister Edeltrud Koch has written, that Theo Mauel and his wife got submerged at the bomb raid and that Theo could be recovered only dead, so he was found and identified.

Christoph

Christoph, Hello!

Did you see we have some kind of star to the left of this forum. Are we in trouble?

Now I am going to get interrupted because a girlfriend who is staying nearby is coming over so we (the famous we) can charge her car battery. No, she is not coming by car, she is walking and Steve will have to go take our car a couple of blocks away to garage to help her. I had War stuff all spread out but now have tucked it away so do not look messy.

Now by funny I meant that you were going to call back the documentary producer. But you have made me gasp many many times with your incredible responses!!!

I went back to the May 31, 2012, entry to see the Cemetery picture again. I need to print that and the picture above. Is this the Cemetery that Dad was looking for?

Does this mean that Theo's wife died too in the bombing raid? Gad, how hideous! The word submerged must be that they were both buried under rubble?

Man, I have so many things going on and leads to pursue and things to share. I get so frustrated because of such limited time and then access to what I want to look at. And then of course, if it is in German, I can not even read it. I recently looked up the book you referred me to Oben Auf Dem Berg. It is still only available in German on Kindle.

I heard from Kevin Bailey, the wonderful Archivist from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, and received this information:

"I have checked the U.S. Army Unit Records Collection for the two units you mentioned. We do not have much on the 299th Engineer Combat Battalion, (Box 642) about 30 to 40 pages of miscellaneous records is all consisting of an Operations Log for May 1st to VE-Day on May 8th, daily log for the month of April and a two-page one for March. All it has to say about the period that your father and his buddy reappeared is, and this is a direct quote,

"9 March - 26 March, 1945: During this period the battalion constructed and operated ponton ferries on the Rhine River." [Note: "ponton" is an old Army spelling of pontoon and was still frequently used in WWII]

There is also a 5 page report from the battalion's Chief Medical Officer and while he notes that in March that his personnel dealt with several wounded men and deaths from enemy attacks on the Rhine ferry service he makes no mention of anything else. One might assume had your father and the other man arrived in the battalion's area they might have been checked over by the medical personnel.

As for the 15th Field Artillery Battalion, (Box 372) we have even less in the way of records, only 15 pages and only for July, August and October of 1944.

The National Archives at College Park, MD may have more if you want to further check into these two units. Sometimes they have more complete records for some World War II units."

With your love of water, the Rhine, bridges, engineers, pontoon vs ponton, and so much more, I thought you and Marion would especially appreciate that response. What an incredible help Kevin has been for me!

Bye for the moment,

Jean J

Okay, we are back, so you can post again. Sorry for the long interruption in service.

Marion, You are amazing! You never have to say I am sorry to me. I am just so grateful for the time you have allowed us on your website.

THANK YOU!!!

Jean J

Let's just say it's all team work. As mom used to say, one hand washes the other!

Marion, the last days I thought of you going down to chips in your server...

Christoph, Hello!

 

Did you see we have some kind of star to the left of this forum. Are we in trouble?

I'm sorry, what star? In space, from Hollywood or a General? What trouble?

Perhaps Marion's trouble with the database - Who is General Failure and what is doing on my disk?

Thank you for the e-mails in times without the forum, I knew the links, unfortunately nothing in there about the camp. Answering your question about the cemetery: here I have another photo with a part of the area where I was looking for Theo. Alle the names are very clear in the stones, on most of the tombstones there are 2 names on each side. In the text about his dead it sems as if he died, but his wife was rescued alive.

Christoph

Christoph, it is late and man did I need a big laugh! You are great!

I had a lot happen while the site was down. Well, by that I mean another incredible thing. I am so thrilled I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to hear what you think. I talked to 2 men who were in the 97th Division, 303rd Regiment, who were in the battle of Siegburg! Neither were in Co. B which were the men who actually went up to the Abbey, but these are great men and willing to share their experiences and knowledge! I am soooo excited! These were the guys that were on the South while 386th and 387th were father to the East on their invasion of Siegburg. I hope to go visit them. I will tell you more as time permits.

I wonder if where they came into Siegburg is where Dad went out. Time will reveal it, I am confident.

NARA in St. Louis has some records I requested. But I have to go there, and Mom is not doing good. Just got the call from NARA today. It is info on a few of the flight crews and a couple of the men buried at Siegburg and also on McClara who I believe was a prisoner there and at Waldbrol.

Bye for the moment,

JJ

Marion, the last days I thought of you going down to chips in your server...

 

 

Ya, that's what it felt like. 0's and 1's!

Christoph, I did not have a chance to say Wow and Thank you for the new cemetery picture and information. I look forward to going there whenever it is that we get to come back to Siegburg, based on all of our schedules.

How awful - that bombing - for Theo's son, thank goodness his Mom lived, hope she was okay. Sister E. Koch maybe will know what physical area was bombed at that time.

These 2 303rd men I met on the telephone, went back to Siegburg with other members of their Regiment.

It was such an incredible experience for me to get to hear a man say he went from Buell to Hangelar and then to the plain area of Nieder. and then told to "be ready to move!" This was around 4 or 4:30PM. Six men lifted each boat, 3 on each side, it was a wooden boat, and they jumped in and paddled across the Sieg River. Then they ditched the boats. All the while being fired upon. Then they ran up the bank so they could get to somewhere protected.

More to follow but wanted to share that and this: Marion, you and Christoph and others will love to hear that the Division had an Engineering component that helped handle all of this!

Bye for the moment,

Jean J

Guys and Gals, the STAR is simply an indication of a busy topic. You will see stars next to any topic which is "hopping"!

Hey Christoph, General Failure must have a flock of brothers, because they guy really gets around. :pdt12: I cracked up when I read that. You are too funny. We all need laughs!

 

I'm sorry, what star? In space, from Hollywood or a General? What trouble?

Perhaps Marion's trouble with the database - Who is General Failure and what is doing on my disk?

 

Hi Guys!

Thank goodness this forum is here. I need to to go back to each entry and study it.

I have had a chance to speak again to Harold of the 303rd Regiment. I want to be sure that whatever I write is as accurate as it can be. Harold was in Company C. He said that he knew several of the B Co. men who went up to the top of the hill to the hospital/Abbey and they went up the back side. As of now, he does not remember these men ever mentioning that they found people up there.

Harold has a couple of hand drawn maps that he will copy and send me. I believe he said that it shows the 303rd Regt. and where they were to fight in Siegburg.

Harold and a lot of them went back to Europe as a group in 1995, 2000, and by 2005 the group dwindled and the same for 2010. In 1995 the Mayor of Siegburg met with them at breakfast. The first gentleman I found, Sam, has a copy of an article in, I guess the German paper, because the article he said is in German. The Mayor said, "I hope you do not think you were conquerors of Siegburg. You were the liberators of our country. I was a teenager. I had never had a good meal until you liberated the city and I have never been hungry since."

I did not get the name of the Mayor. When I visit Sam, I hope to photograph what he has including some Division and/or Regiment newsletters.

More to follow when I return from St. Louis trip to NARA, assuming I get to go.

Jean J

This is a quick note: I have a book, Tigers in the Mud, by Otto Carious, a German Panzer Commander, and he has a chapter on the Ruhr Pocket. He mentions Siegburg and the railroad. It did not sound like, from my limited knowledge, that Otto was in the area of the Abbey during the Battle for Siegburg because he did not mention that. Harold, of the 303rd Regiment mentioned railroad tracks in our conversation and they may be on the map he wants to sent me. I would assume there are a lot of railroad tracks but will be interesting to see why Harold remembers them. What point of reference they were for Harold.

I can't wait to have you see the map Christoph and whatever else he sends me. And you wonder what was going on in each of the houses in Siegburg. Harold and a couple of guys did occupy a house in Siegburg that night of the Battle. I will eventually further refine details of the battle from the American side and it will be interesting to see how that compares to what you have heard Christoph. And now we will have more to talk to Sister E. Koch about. Also, I think Co. B spent the night at the Abbey - but not sure until I see it written down somewhere.

Still trying to go to NARA. I am getting anxious to see what I can learn from the few requests I made. I have so many requests that I want to make but felt I should only do a few each time. Maybe some information on McClara will be there that lets me track him down, or maybe someone in his family. It would be wonderful if he did what Walter Brineger did with and for his family! What a great gift that Walter provided to all of us with his information on his time as a POW!

I now have the announcement of McClara being awarded the Bronze Medal for his heroic services on Dec. 12th and 13th. The entry says it was awarded to the following enlisted man now Missing in Action. I also have an item that the 78th Inf Div reported April 10, 1945 that on April 9th McClara was admitted with diagnosis as "SF, Pan w rt buttock, sacral area, Recovered POW." "No further info available at this time." So this sounds like Waldbrol.

There is also like a card file card that I got from the Archives in Md and it came up in a search on my Dad. It has some data about someone Dad would have buried, Morelock, but it says 'Memo From' McClara. Did Dad provide the info or Memo From sure sounds like McClara provided the info. Did McClara remember my Dad's real name after he was liberated. Or did my Dad have McClara's name in his papers when he escaped. How interesting that Dad, McClara, and Morelock are all referred to together.

So it goes, lots of questions, and slowly over time lets hope the answers appear.

One day I should be able to locate this 78th Div report and maybe solve lots of puzzles.

Bye for the moment,

Jean J

And maybe with Harold's information I can determine what outfit was so far East that it could have met up with Dad after his escape.

More to follow,

Jean J

I got done at NARA quicker than I thought and just got in. Not much info on McClara but stunned with the news on Stang. Stang suffered horrible wounds and was a prisoner at Siegburg. I just looked on internet. and seems he died in 2001. I would be surprised if he ever discussed his time in Siegburg - he had 3 surgeries while there and by a Polish Dr.

Christoph I miss you! I respect how busy you are!

Jean J

I'm back now, my parents-in-law relocated and we were there for a week for some final works in the new dwelling.

The Mayor of Siegburg in 1995 was Rolf Krieger, I knew him then because the City of Siegburg is also a member of the DLRG there.

I have also heard that Otto Carius was in Siegburg, but already on 8th March 1945. He is 90 years old now and still working as pharmacist: http://www.tiger-apotheke.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=56 , in the Tiger's Drugstore!

The Michaelsberg with the Abbey is (or better: was) nearly surrounded by railways. In one text I read something about a blocked road which was passed via a marshalling yard, but I dont find the text at the moment

Some parts of the railways are taken down now, a crossing-keeper's hut which stood in Siegburg some years ago is still available as model http://www.ebay.de/itm/Posten-Siegburg-1-Agertalbahn-Bausatz-aus-Resin-geeignet-fur-Spur-H0-1-87-NEU-/130672125944?pt=DE_Modellbau_Modelleisenbahnen&hash=item1e6caa67f8

Christoph