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Post by AztecWilliam on May 7, 2017 12:37:48 GMT -8
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Post by uwphoto on May 7, 2017 15:03:11 GMT -8
My Dad was German. He was 16 years old in 1945. As things were winding down, he and my grandmother knew that the Russians were coming for all the boys and men of fighting age. They left the east zone, and marched to the west with thousands of others. They left their house with just the clothes on their backs. My dad eventually received a Fullbright scholorship and ended up at Iowa State U. He then joined the US military and went to Fort Ord and eventually taught Russian and German at the Army language school. There are theories about how my dad learned to speak fluent Russian. Sadly, we will never know the answer, as he was killed in a car accident at the age of 39. |
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Post by davdesid on May 8, 2017 10:20:49 GMT -8
My Dad was German. He was 16 years old in 1945. As things were winding down, he and my grandmother knew that the Russians were coming for all the boys and men of fighting age. They left the east zone, and marched to the west with thousands of others. They left their house with just the clothes on their backs. My dad eventually received a Fullbright scholorship and ended up at Iowa State U. He then joined the US military and went to Fort Ord and eventually taught Russian and German at the Army language school. There are theories about how my dad learned to speak fluent Russian. Sadly, we will never know the answer, as he was killed in a car accident at the age of 39. Interesting. I spent some time in Germany right after the war. My Dad was with the Occupation, I had a young gal for a nanny named Annalisa for a while until her husband Wolfgang came home from POW status. I don't know if he was Wehrmacht or Waffen SS, probably the latter because they were held longer. Sorry about your Dad. I lost mine in the Korean War. |
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Post by uwphoto on May 8, 2017 11:28:22 GMT -8
My Dad was German. He was 16 years old in 1945. As things were winding down, he and my grandmother knew that the Russians were coming for all the boys and men of fighting age. They left the east zone, and marched to the west with thousands of others. They left their house with just the clothes on their backs. My dad eventually received a Fullbright scholorship and ended up at Iowa State U. He then joined the US military and went to Fort Ord and eventually taught Russian and German at the Army language school. There are theories about how my dad learned to speak fluent Russian. Sadly, we will never know the answer, as he was killed in a car accident at the age of 39. Interesting. I spent some time in Germany right after the war. My Dad was with the Occupation, I had a young gal for a nanny named Annalisa for a while until her husband Wolfgang came home from POW status. I don't know if he was Wehrmacht or Waffen SS, probably the latter because they were held longer. Sorry about your Dad. I lost mine in the Korean War. Yes, I remember your stories about your Dad. Funny, my Dad's name was Wolfgang... but went by "Fred" (Friedrich his middle name) in America. I won't go in to details here, but my dad remains a mystery. His father was in Russian prison camps in WW1 and WW2. My dad was a single child with not many relatives I could ever connect to. He never talked about WW2 much, but came from the town of Plauen, which was the center of the Hitler youth. He had 4 children. All of us are still alive, but none of us know the whole story of my father. He died in 1969 when we were 11,12,13 and 14 (my mother was very fertile!). |
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Post by AztecWilliam on May 8, 2017 12:11:18 GMT -8
My Dad was German. He was 16 years old in 1945. As things were winding down, he and my grandmother knew that the Russians were coming for all the boys and men of fighting age. They left the east zone, and marched to the west with thousands of others. They left their house with just the clothes on their backs. My dad eventually received a Fullbright scholorship and ended up at Iowa State U. He then joined the US military and went to Fort Ord and eventually taught Russian and German at the Army language school. There are theories about how my dad learned to speak fluent Russian. Sadly, we will never know the answer, as he was killed in a car accident at the age of 39. For the record, my great-grandfather was German; came to the U.S. That's why I am named Rupp, though most of my ancestors were basically Anglo-Saxon. AzWm |
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