Battle Axe

I hope a quilter on the board, who is German or Austrian or French can help me with some geography.

In 1946 my Dad was stationed in Germany after the war was over. He was a pilot, but had been grounded as he is red-green color blind and by that time digital instrumentation had come out. He spent the entire war sitting in Orlando, Florida teaching other boys how to fly and how to take apart a jet engine. He would volunteer for the front every morning, he felt so guilty he could not go. But they needed him here to teach more pilots and mechanics. His brother, Carl, was a civilian but taught the Canadian boys how to fly in Tulsa, OK.

After the war was over, he was the officer (Lt. Col.) who was in charge of taking all of the bits and pieces of Nazi planes, and some of our planes that were over in Germany, and blowing them up. Dad was sent to Germany in March of 1946. Mom was pregnant with me.

Dad had a squadron of pilots and they determined where all the planes were, then flew them into a central location, called ordinance (dynamite guys) had them wired up and KaBoom!. Dad cried. He loved airplanes. But the mood at the time was that the bad guys could rise up at any time and we needed to take all the planes from them. They took the props off, the guns off and some of the electronic equipment and then blew up the rest.

During this time, he got a pass and went hunting. He got a Roebuck. I still have the horns. I want to know where did he get this little deer, what forest?

I have all their letters and it is so emotional reading them. I had hoped that he would mention what forest he shot the Roebuck, but I haven't found it so far. You can see from the pile of letters, I have a ways to go.

Battle Axe

[ATTACH=CONFIG]596857[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]596858[/ATTACH] I think someone in German would know more than anyone.

Marcia

osewme

From the looks of this information and the range map on the right, the Roe Deer can range in a very large area so there is no telling where he might have shot his Roebuck. Looks like you have a lot of wonderful history in all the letters, etc. What cherished memories you have from your mom & dad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_deer

Battle Axe

Yes, I found that link to Roe deer. I had hoped to glean through the 300 plus letters and find a mention of where he had gone. So far I've found the actual ticket he had to sit at the Nuremberg War Trials. He always said he was there the day before one of them took a cyanide pill and died.

After they are gone, you have so many questions. And one question was always, Why didn't I pay more attention to the details?

I think I need to know whey is the season and then I can find those letters. So far they are two lonely people in love separated by war.

vschieve

Interesting story and you are so lucky to have those letters. You will learn so much more to his historical military tour as you open and read on. I know that feeling of how regrets move in after all the years gone by leave just a memory of our ancestors, parents, grand parents, telling us some of their history of their parents, etc, and not paying close enough attention and letting it go by.

pennycandy

You are so fortunate to have those letters. Here's a link to a chart of the German hunting season https://www.realtree.com/global-hunt...ing-in-germany . Hope this helps.

Battle Axe

Thanks so much for that. I wonder if the hunting season has changed from 1946 when this little Roebuck was taken? And would it be different from the public, since he was an Air Force Officer.

I'm up to August now, sometimes 3 long letters a day, they missed each other so much, but I only have Dad's letters, not Mom's. Dad got a pass and attended the Nuremberg War Trials. He was surprised it was so well organized and he sent Mom the actual map of where he was to sit in the press box and his ticket to get in. They gave him a set of headphones and he was able to listen to the proceeding for a day. He always told us that he picked the wrong buddy to go there. The buddy was a loudmouth and capable of getting in trouble. So during a break, the buddy got up and went over to one of the prosecutors and asked him if they were going to hang them all. And the prosecutor said, "Only the guilty ones." And they did release some.

SusieQOH

Are the couple in the photo your parents? That photo is so adorable, as they were. I love it!

tranum

Two books I read this summer and found interesting:
“The Occupied Garden” a Dutch family’s experience.
”A 50 Year Silence”. a married couple’s life. He was involved in the Nuremburg trials