A US veteran returns wedding photos he found on the body of a German he had killed in 1944.
For free help researching WWII veterans or named items, contact me at jean-loup@gassend.com
The author is always searching for photos, documents, letters and manuscripts about the liberation of the French Riviera and Operation Dragoon in August 1944. If you are a relative of a veteran who fought in southern France, please contact me at jean-loup@gassend.com
-Detailled information about this story can be found in the book 'Autopsy of a Battle, Liberation of the French Riviera': [ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
-More information about finding missing soldiers: [ Ссылка ]
-Battlefield archaeology: [ Ссылка ]
-Auf Deutsch: [ Ссылка ]
WWII Veteran paratrooper Returns Wedding Photos 68 Years Later
By Cheryl Hurd | Friday, Dec 7, 2012 | Updated 8:20 PM PST
www.nbcbayarea.com
Even though he is 92, Howard Hensleigh of Menlo Park remembers 1944 like it was yesterday. That was the year the Army World War II veteran killed a German soldier during a gun battle in Southern France.
"The sergeant that I chose to fire the first shot fired and of course they hit the dirt. Firing going back and forth all the time," Hensleigh said.
Hensleigh, who was an intelligence officer and assistant platoon leader, says he knew the German soldiers were not going to give up without a fight. He says he gave them several chances to give up. But a man he later came to find out was named Georg Reick give him no other choice. Hensleigh shot and killed him during a firefight. Hensleigh said he felt it was something he had to do in order to save his men.
"When you take prisoners you get all the information off of all of them," Hensleigh said. "I hate to admit it but they don't end up with their watches rings and anything else."
In this case, Reick was stripped of personal artifacts, such as pictures of his wife and family and his wedding photo: It was common to confiscate the goods from the dead Germans at the time. Hensleigh took them, and put his enemy's belongings in his personal scrap book.
They stayed there for 68 years until a young French writer named Jean-Loup Gassend came along out of the blue. Jean-Loup Gassend was interested in interviewing WWII veterans who served their country in Southern France for a documentary he was working on. While researching online, Jean-Loup found Hensleigh as one of the many U.S. soldiers who had fought in World War II. Jean-Loup flew to the Peninsula to meet Hensleigh, and during their meeting, learned of his story and started to connect the dots.
Jean-Loup then contacted the company that developed pictures. But the company was no longer there.
He then sent them to the mayor of the small German town where the soldier lived.
The mayor recognized the dead soldier and put Hensleigh in touch with the soldier's grandson whose name is also Georg Reick.
The grandson and Hensleigh now e-mail each other back and forth. Hensleigh gave Reick's grandson information he's been longing for and Reick Jr. has pictures he thought he would never get.
Casualties of the ambush:
-Private Julius J. Richmond, Regimental HQ Company, 517th PIR
-PFC Jack Whitfield, HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, 517th PIR
-Unteroffizier Martin Janostik, Infanterie Regiment 107, Infanterie Division 34, 6.3.1912, Breslau
-Gefreiter Hans Jantzen, Infanterie Regiment 107, Infanterie Division 34, 20.9.1924, Siemersdorf
Units involved:
USA: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, First Airborne Task Force
Germany: Infanterie Division 34
Peira Cava, Sospel area, Nice Region, Southern France. Operation Dragoon Anvill, the Champagne Campaign, Liberation of the French Riviera.
jean-loup@gassend.com
A Crocodile Tear battlefield archaeology documentary
Militaria - collector - wehrmacht - researching veteran - army service number - ASN - IDPF - killed in action - missing in action - MIA - KIA - POW - First airborne task force - FABTF - D-Day - August 15th 1944 - june 6th 1944 - veteran's day - genealogy - investigation - track down - NARA -
