Hello Christoph!

I have just sent you an email and wonder if it worked. It has the Map of the Siegburg Cemetery attached to it.

I checked the names you sent me of Fulton, Kritzer, and Reavill and they are not one of the 22 names on list of who was buried in the same cemetery which included Dryden. Oh I hope they lived. They were referred to as all air-men but could have been Army. Maybe I will sent your document to the Marauder fellow.

Now I did have a stroke of good luck last night as I read the Jan. 2004, edition of The Flash, the newsletter that was put out by the 78th Division. In it someone was requesting information on Waldbrol, Germany. Once again I do not know how to attach it to here and so I will email it to you until I learn how to handle attachments without depending on my husband who is not here right now.

Anyhow, as a reminder, Waldbrol is where Mr. Norton was transported to from Siegburg. I will have to find editions after Jan. 2004 to see if anyone responded.

Also the First Division Museum Research sent me many pages on what the First Division was doing during the period Dad would have escaped, and there is no mention of escapees. If you want me to, I will send you that information

Bye for the moment,

JJ

Christoph,

I did not get a chance to tell you that the people at the Michaelsburg Abbey were kindly towards us. The one gentleman gave us a brochure that said after the Abbey was bombed Dec. 28, 1944, the Abbey was closed. If you would like, I can find it, and scan it for you.

They showed us around a little bit and things have been changed since we were there in the 80's. I have some interior photos from that time. Even then, it was hard for Dad to figure out how the place had been during the War. They told us in 2 years they are going to do a major renovation inside.

Sister Edelrud Koch said there was no mortuary there. But Dad said there was and obviously what he did to bury the men could not be done at the Hospital for everyone to see. I wonder now if that area that they are making the liquor in today, was the mortuary.

I just wrote to the 2 addresses that the First Div. lady suggested I write.

Bye for now,

JJ

What should I say to our vacation, the weather was sun and dry, we were on a camp ground, or tent 10 meters to the Mediterranean Sea, first bath before breakfast every day… but two days of Bora with a braking tent pole and some ruptures in our tent – the next time we’ll need a new one.

Jean, you’re writing about a christmas tree, but I did not find this story, have you sent it to the forum before? After 122 postings I'm loosing the overview.

I got the mentioned book about the end of WWII in the Siebengebirge now. It’s quiet interesting, but written from a german point of view, with some quotes of civil contemporary witnesses, unit numbers etc. are only rarely mentioned. American prisoners are not refered.

You have mentioned commander McNair. Which McNair was it? I first thought Lesley McNair, but he was already dead at that time, commander “Buck” McNair was Canadian... Maybe this could be a way to find the unit who picked them up.

Thank you for the map. It is the Nordfriedhof of which I had posted some photos here. I'll have to go there again and look for the marked place. It seems as if John H Reavill survived the wa, worked as leather merchand and died in Nottigham in 1996, following to the London Gazette which has published several information about him over the years - in 1943 that he got the Distinguished Flying Medal and finally in 1997 the notice about his death.

Waldbröl is not so far from here, but I don't have information concerning the fights there. Ley was not only a war criminal but also a notorious drinker, known as "Reichstrunkenbold" (Imperial boozer), and he called his daughter "Lore"!

I see in the background another mail from you, Jean! Of course I'd like to see what Mr Stolz sent! Shall I publish it here if you have problems to do so?

There have been several changes at the Abbey made while the reconstruction after the war for different reasons, for example because they found the grave of the founder of the abbey St Anno.

Christoph

Christoph,

Your vacation sounds great! Lots of adventure, and oh wow, to be so close to the Sea. Where you live is so charming - I love the little center square area. I do not remember that at all from the 1980's but maybe we just did not go there.

Yes, me too, I need to go back and reread each thing you sent and be sure I followed up on everything. I guess I did not tell you the Christmas tree story. It is short. They were allowed to have a Christmas tree, up at the hospital, not in barracks because Norton did not know about it. The bombing was so horrible that the cook came in furious and made them take it down. My Mom remembers the story too.

Mc Nair was a mistake in my trying to recall who Dad had mentioned. You are right he was dead - would have been a real miracle if it had been him. I am continuing that search by researching but also I am in process of cleaning out my storage unit - maybe there I can find some more of my old notes.

When I see you in Siegburg, is there a place I can purchase the book about Siebengebirge. No I will not have learned German by then. Actually, if I started right now, I could not learn it in my lifetime. It is very difficult to pronounce so many of the sounds. I am still struggling with the Good Night or Good Morning in German.

Gad the news on Reavil is exciting! Fantastic! He lived! Amazing! How I wish my Dad was alive to hear each of these new discoveries! Do you suppose he ever told his family or the outfit he was in, about his Siegburg experiences. I am sending Mr. Norton a copy of what you recently sent me on these guys plus a copy of what you wrote about it on here.

I sent the Marauder organization your news on those 3 men and maybe they will know something about the 2 Americans. Maybe they will say they were Army and not Air Force. Who knows.

I am also going to mail to Mr. Norton (I wish he had email) the 78th Division Waldbrol request and your comments about it as well. And then I have to unearth the 78th Div. newsletters from after that date and then I have to review them.

I do not understand about the grave of St. Anno. Was it under the building?

I need to go back to your earlier post to see Nordfriedhof photos. Because Stolz is ill I can not ask him any questions at this time. That might have been a stroke of good luck for him.

You should be asleep. And I am working away so I can justify taking a little time off so I can see the last show in a new series of "Dallas." JR is back.

Gosh so much more to write about. I should keep a list of what I still need to share.

JJ

Christoph,

I found the Waldbrol info in After Action Reports for the 78th Division in April of 1945. I scanned and will try to figure out how to attach it.

JJ

If you need help, let me know. You should simply be able to upload them, but if they are too large, it will let you know. If so, email them to me and I will upload them to the server.

All of you continue to astound me with the stories and your great discoveries. This is one hell of a topic!!!

Here it is - the information on Waldbrol. Let's hope it attaches. And Thank You Marion for everything!!!The Flash.July 2004.Waldbrol.After Action Rpt Apr. 1945.PDF

YEAH, looks like you did it!!!

Hi Guys!

Mr. Norton was so interested as I read him the Waldbrol information over the telephone. It was so exciting to get to share this piece of history with him! He was not one of the ambulatory people. Then I mailed him copies of that and the latest information on the 3 gentleman that Christoph sent me and lots of other little things.

Last night I received in an email 2 photographs taken at the Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Colorado and next week I will share them with you. Again I need my husband to help me get them in a form so that I can include them. One is a drawing of Life in a German Prison Camp and the other appears to be the Red Cross Map that I sent earlier in my posts on this site. I have to go back and see if it is up there.

Now I see that the word Lazarett must mean Hospital in German. And the map shows Lazarett VIG North of Stalag VIG and North of Cologne. Wonder what the G was for? This map has a legend that is a little different from the map I have and also it shows Camps for Airmen, Naval and Merchant Marine Camps, and Ground Force Officers Camps. The photo does not show what was on the back of the map. It does state that this map is Based on Information received to December 31, 1944 and my map says the same thing.

And still the question lingers - where did Dad run to when he left the Camp on March 15th, 1945? No luck yet finding debriefing information.

It is so hard to stop doing WW2 things but I had better for now,

Jean J

Jean

I decribed the system of POW camps on page 2 of this thread in posting #34. The G ist just a "running letter" in a row from A to K in area VI.

I was on the cemetary again yesterday and there is nothing about prisoners of war, only new graves of the last 20 years and those of which I have made in posting #31.

Christoph

Christoph,

I am so lucky and so grateful that you are there and working on this puzzle!

Thank you for referring me back to those postings.

I may have mentioned in a past entry that when we took Dad to Siegburg and tried to figure out where the cemetery was, and he remembered it was a long walk to the location, all we found that he thought could have been the place was a patch of nice green grass.

I need to write Ernst another note to see how his Grandson is doing and to see if he would like a photo of the Sisters. I can ask him to let me know when he thinks Mr. Stolz will be able to communicate with us. I have lots of questions and I am sure you do too. I wonder if Mr. Stolz personally went to the site and how he obtained his information. The fact he obtained information implies it is somewhere. Does the same information he found on Dryden exist for everyone and if so, where.

If you want, I can send you a photo of the Sisters off line, next week when Steve returns. Hopefully, we will all be going to see them, based on your schedule late Sept. or October. They were precious! I just saw the photos yesterday.

Speaking of photos, I wonder where the mortuary door was. The Sister said there was no mortuary but Dad knew he did certain work.

I better post this so I do not lose it because I want to go look at an earlier post where you commented on the door.

Bye for the moment,

Jean J

I

Hello Christoph,

I am back. Well where the mortuary was actually located may never be known. All I know is from Dad's memory it had to be one of those rounded, Moorish type doors. Thank goodness I never bought a house with that style/shaped door.

I was even confused about the Abbey this time and I am eager to get out all of the old photos and the new. That photo I sent in the earlier post does show the building on the left as stone and not stuccoed over.

I want to locate a map of Siegburg from some point during or at the end of the War. I ordered it several years ago. I can figure out, actually Steve can figure out, how best to get it to you. I do not believe the military library that I purchased it from put a copyright or anything on it.

Well now I understand that POW's had numbers and I wonder about the ones who were liberated from Waldbrol. Where are their records and who did the administration of the liberation. The men had to be taken to other hospitals from there. Like Norton went to Paris. I doubt the hospitals in Paris would have the information or if they did, that it would be sorted in a way that it could be accessed on who came from Waldbrol.

I have so much more to comment on this but briefly Mr. Norton never joined the Ex POW organization in America. When I asked Mr. Norton his POW number recently, he said he did not know he had one. I do not know when Dad joined the POW organization, but he did, and he was always looking for members who had been at Siegburg. He never found any. He never had closure on what happened to all of the boys! or the Camp! or on anyone!

Your research on the Englishman shows even he, with those horrible problems lived. Did he get out before Dad was walked to Siegburg that fateful October day in 1944 or was he too one of the boys. Did the Englishmen get taken to Waldbrol or was he one of the ones that was too ill to move and found at Siegburg.

While unlikely maybe some of those that survived are still alive today. Mr. Norton was young and in good health and maybe there were others like him because it was the Battle of the Bulge that brought so many men to Siegburg. In some of Dad's Vmails home while he does not refer to the battle by name he talks about all of the new cases coming in and the conditions outside.

Gad I wonder too many things, but where was the SS Officer (Captain) physically located that directed cases to Siegburg. Was it just his outfit or other outfits in some geographic area that sent the men to Siegburg. Was there a central point, (where numbers might have been given) and if so is there history on that outfit. How do you locate SS Officers by name.

There was the Doctor, that we now know was SS. I assume the Commandant had to be. And I have the SS Captain's name that placed Dad at Siegburg. Is there a way to find information out on the Doctor that might lead to the Commandant.

If I go to the NARA Library at St. Louis, it could take days, but I could try to locate records on those that had been buried at Siegburg. And someday, I plan to do that, but now is there still any chance that someone is still alive that was there.

I am still trying to figure out what outfit debriefed Dad. No luck so far!

Gad, day seems like it is over and I must get to Mom's - bringing lunch.

Thank you for Everything Christoph!

Jean J

I'm reading "The last Offensive" by charles B. MacDonald at the moment, downloaded here from the main site, and found the attached map in the book which shows the units arraund Siegburg in early April 45. I have marked Siegburg on the map.

Also from this book, page 366:

"In the course of the advance almost every division overran a number of military hospitals, and several units liberated prisoner-of-war camps. At Waldbroel, not far north of the Sieg River, the 78th Division freed 71 hospitalized American soldiers, only 2 of whom were able to walk. At Hemer the 7th Armored Division rescued 23,302 prisoners of war, most of them Russians, living under appalling conditions of filth, disease, and hunger. The only Americans, a group of 99, were in fair condition, having been assigned to the camp only a few days."

...but no word about Siegburg

Christoph

Oops, her's the map.

Christoph,

You are awesome! I have some MacDonald books and think they are great. I do not have the one you referred to and will look for it. And I will print the map.

I have been looking through books too for maps of what was going on around Siegburg that mid March of 1945. A few thoughts on other Divisions - maybe the 9th, but then have to find some kind of After Action Reports for them, so trying to narrow it down.

I am anxious to find and then send you the WW2 map of the area. Maybe it will give you a clue as to where the POW cemetery would have been located. It will be fascinating to hear what you think of how the town appeared to be then. Now that I have recently been to Siegburg (and I really like it there) I am anxious to again look over the map.

Bye for the moment,

Jean J