Well, Larry as always you are outrageous!!!
What great and incredible research you and Christoph do!!!
Incidentally, 91 year old Joyful Bunny Club member POW Airman Henry is alive and well. Response Henry got from his poker buddies this the 2nd try was "Henry, She's a pretty girl BUT she did not have anything to do with you!"
Goodbye,
Jean
Oh I see, Eddie J. is not Edwin J.
Jean, he could be a family member:
Guidry Name Meaning French: from a personal name based on the Germanic root waido ‘hunt’. The name is particularly associated with Cajuns in LA, who seem all to be descended from Claude Guédry dit Grivois, who arrived in Acadia before 1671.Variant of Guitry, which is based on a personal name composed of the Germanic elements wid(u), wit- ‘wood’ + ric ‘power(ful)’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
There are so many Guidrys, and fighting for your country in all wars, WWI and II, Korea, Vietnam,...
Christoph
'There are so many Guidrys,'
Too many, NARA enlistment records show 542 partial records for the name Guidry
301 partial records of those are from Louisiana, and thats just with name spelled Guidry, not with other variations of the name.
I dont think Eddie J is a close relative. Eddie was from Acadia County, quite a distance from where Edwin lived.
Larry
"I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, Who gave that right to me."
God bless the USA - Lee Greenwood
There is even a POW Guidry (Sam Worthington) in a movie: Hart's war!
And I want to be related to both of you - Larry and Christoph!!!
You 2 can accomplish anything! I only want to be on your teams! Anyone who goes against you guys does not have a chance!
And one day because of you 2 we will get the whole picture and pieces together - no doubt!
Again, Wow, and Thank You So Much!
Bye from your overwhelmed distant Cousin,
Jean
Oh Christoph - I was writing while you were sending - I am laughing so hard - you guys are unbelievable! How did you ever know such a thing...
Jean
Just so you do not think I am shirking my research duties - I too found a Guidry. It was during my 78th Division research which would have been probably around late summer of 2012.
I think it was someone with the WW2 Museum that told me Guidry was a common Louisiana name. They also told me how they knew it to be spelled. I found a Guidry in one of the Flash publications of the 78th Division. Needless to say I was overjoyed - but after reading as much as I could on the gentleman I realized that Guidry was not my Guidry.
And at that time I felt a lot foolish thinking about what I would say if I made random telephone calls to Guidry households. I went through a scenario of "Hello my name is .... I am looking for someone referred to as Guidry. I am not sure how it is spelled but maybe it is Guidry. I do not know if it is a nickname and my Mom can not remember the town he was from. She does however remember the town no longer exists - or did not when she and my Dad were trying to find Guidry." And, the scenario got worse as I thought about what I would saying next.... Best case was I would never give them my name because they would think there was something wrong with the caller and I would have to disguise my caller ID etc...
But now, I could call! Thanks to the Larry research! I have a whole name and feel confident of the spelling and where he was once from, his siblings, etc. And remember, I got lucky with Robert... I made random phone calls and found the nephew that had my Dad's letter. So yes indeed, we know that now anything could happen ....
Thank You Larry and Christoph!
Your Elderly Cousin, Jean
I just found another POW - Wesley P. Newton - who was in Siegburg mentioned in Allen Cronenberg's book "Forth to the Mighty Conflict: Alabama and World War II", also an evacuation to another camper farther east is noted:
http://books.google....iegburg&f=false
Source was Newton's address to the Montgomery section of the Retired Officers' Association in 1992.
Newton was drafted into the army in 1943 at age 18. He has written books about WWII (The Command in the Sky) and was Professor of History at Auburn University. He passed away last year.
Christoph
And a bit more about him:
Christoph
Good find Christoph, will have to chech him out. Right now we are hot on the trail of another POW, Pvt. John S. Beedy, ASN 36681709 from Blue Island, Cook County IL. He may have been a witness to the deaths of Geraqhty & Westgate at the abby in Jan `45.
Larry
"I'm proud to be an American, Where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, Who gave that right to me."
God bless the USA - Lee Greenwood
Christoph - AWESOME! You and Larry had incredible nights for research!
I quickly reviewed the one page I could see from the book that mentioned Siegburg. Fascinating!
Something just came in, I will be back,
Jean
Yep, It was Larry!
And what a night!
Newton would have been a fascinating contact at an earlier stage in his life. But, ..... never fear ... yep, I bet his family knows more than is just there in published info. Oh gad, I must not use the word BET. Yes, Larry won a BIG bet - not because of the amount of money involved - I was a little tight, better said cautious because I know that no matter how impossible something looks Larry has a close to 100% chance to win because well - he is Awesome Larry the Wizard!
More,
Jean
Newton on the Stalag 6G list and wounded Battle of the Bulge and obit says POW in Dec. So he too must have gone there! And maybe with that April clue he was liberated from Waldbrol. Fascinating!!!
Christoph you and Larry are incredible!!!!! Do you both do this professionally?
What Larry figured out last night is again absolutely amazing!!!
I have so much to go do...
Jean
Jean,I just opened my Mailbox and saw that you are incredible as well. You ask other people whether they don't go sleeping, but do you? No, I'm not a professional researcher, but I learned database queries in the early nineties when online connections were very expensive and connections to commercial databases even more.
For the Moment only another UK National Archives record with a Red Cross Report about the Hospital in Bad Münstereifel:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C168927
Christoph
I just found an Information about the end of the hospital at the "Lexikon der Wehramcht" which also explains why we haven't found more about what happended when the 97th inf. arrived.
"Das Reserve-Lazarett Siegburg wurde am 26. April 1940 errichtet und unterstand der Sanitäts-Abteilung Köln. Das Lazarett wurde wie bereits im 1. Weltkrieg in der Abtei auf dem Michaelsberg eingerichtet. Auf den Dachflächen wurde das Lazarettzeichen angebracht. Bereits im Juni 1940 wurde auf dem Turm der Abteikirche ein Luftbeobachtungsposten eingerichtet. Mitte Juni 1940 trafen die ersten Verwundeten aus dem Westfeldzug ein. In den nächsten Jahren wurden bis zu 800 Soldaten im Lazarett untergebracht. Beim Luftangriff auf Siegburg wurde die Abtei am 28. Dezember 1944 schwer beschädigt. Am 6. März 1945 erhalten die Gebäude bei einem weiteren Luftangriff mehrere Volltreffer und zahlreiche Patienten werden getötet. Am 18. März 1945 wurde das Lazarett geschlossen und die Patienten verlegt, da seit dem 9. März 1945 der Amerikaner mit der Artillerie in die Stadt schoß."
The reserve hospital Siegburg was founded on the 26th of April 1940 ans was part of the Medic department Cologne. The hospital was established in the abbey on the Michaelsberg as already in WWI. The hospital sign was attached on the roof. Already in June 1940 an air observation station was established on the abbey's steeple. The first casualties of the western campaign arrived mid-June 1940. The next years up to 800 soldiers were hosted in the Hospital. The abbey was heavily damaged by an air raid on 28th of December 1944. On the 6th of March 1945 the buildings got further direct hits, many patients were killed. On the 18th of March 1945 the hospital was closed and the patients evacuated, because the American shot on the City with artillery since the 9th on March 1945.
Christoph
Christoph
