Visit with HaEn - Veteran Member

[John P. Moore]

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I visited the well-known Feldgrau Veteran member HaEn and his wife. They only live about 15 miles away from us, but I had not seen him since his auto accident where his car was struck broadside by a young woman driver. I can report that he is doing very well for an 81 year old and has been very active in his garden. We left with an armload of plants and seeds that I have been adding to my own garden today. I loaned him copies of a few books to include Doug Nash’s great book, “Victory was beyond their Grasp” and the Myth book by our professor friends in Utah. HaEn has not been so active here lately because he has a new Toshiba laptop PC with Windows Vista and he is still in the process of transferring files from his old PC and trying to get old Windows programs to install and work, something most of us can relate to. He is very smart when it comes to PCs and it is just a matter of time before he has everything working the way he wants it to. Here’s a wartime photo of HaEn from his younger days for those who have not seen it before.

John

HaEn---b.jpg (37.2 KiB) Viewed 8525 times

[RaymondG]

Hi John

Thanks for the update.

HaEn is a real gent and I was worried about him following his car accident. I have not heard much from him lately and so it is pleasing to hear the issues are computer related.

it is great to hear that he is doing well.

Raymond

[Annelie]

Thanks John,

Quite a few people have been wondering how HaEn has been doing.
Good to know that he has a friend who keeps tabs on him and how he is
doing.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Hi John,

I must admit I've seen HaEn around the forum over the years but never actually got chatting to him to my eternal shame. From the picture I'm assuming he was Waffen SS. Has he ever been tempted to set down his memories on paper. His life sounds rather remarkable, a bit like Henry Metelmann who settled in England after WW2; there's also a German veteran of Cassino who lives (or was a couple of years ago) in the north-east of England and speaks with a distinctive Geordie accent (a bit like, say, HaEn speaking with a strong Louisiana accent, for example!).

[chambers]

Thanks for sharing that photo, John. It's been a while since I've seen it. I had almost forgotten just how young he was back then.

Please give him my very best. I hope that he is enjoying his garden. I only wish I could swap some seeds with him but there are many miles between us.

I've heard that VISTA can be a real pain. I hope that he is able to get everything sorted out without too much agony.

Richard, HaEn has written his memiors and has been attempting to get the book published for quite sometime. I am looking forward to reading it, along with many other forum members who have gotten to know him and his lively sense of humor.

Brooke

[Mansal D]

Consider yourself lucky you were able to meet such an able man. While not religious, I managed to pray for HaEn's full recovery and I'm glad to see he doing better. I can't wait to see him more online!

[haen2]

Hello Everybody,
I am coming back (like it or not) :-) Two reasons for my absense; first computer trouble, this is my THIRD laptop in a mont an a half; but am finding out the hard way how to fit old DOS and early windows programs into Vista. Frankly I liked XP better, but alas, this thing came preloaded.It also came with a dozen programs I do not want, and the problem of deleting them is that inadvertendly one also deletes DLLs that should stay on there. But hoorah ! i am almost finished with it, and this laptop should last me my lifetime. LOL.

The other reason was a little depression, but Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I am getting out of it. So, on to better and greater things. I am getting the arthritis is both hands better under control, so that is another worry less.

John M. did a little experimenting, and put the "book Chameleon" on a CD; the way he did it is quite professional. I wonder if this is the way to go. I still think a paper edition is more to my liking, but this actually looks quite nice. All I need to do is beg, borrow, steal, etc, some photos to make it a little more presentable, and give the reader a better idea how things looked at the time.

Meanwhile Tom Houlihan has made a couple of maps of the Arnhem and later Rhine area combat zones, so it should turn out pretty good.

That's it for now. Thanks for the responses, and some of your e-mails.

HN

[chambers]

HaEn,

Good to see you back! It seems every time I'm a way for a period of time I find the forum has changed.

My boyfriend is a coumputer guy by trade and he hated Vista. He had it on his last job and reloaded the thing with XP. He doesn't have to worry about it any longer because he has taken another job and left the country for the big sandbox for the next year.

Have you looked into self publishing or print on demand for your book? I know a lady who publishes a book of poems that way, although I haven't seen her in years, she said that whenever she has an order she just gets printed whatever she needs. Whatever option you decide you can put me on the list to purchase a copy (autographed of course )

Chin up dear one, you didn't make it this far to give up now.

Hugs,
Brooke

[phylo_roadking]

Seems to be a trend, that - when XP arrived with all its "ridiculous" demands for ram etc....people wiped it and went "back" to W'98....

NOW they're wiping Vista and reverting to XP!!!

[Jason Pipes]

Welcome back and glad to hear you are feeling better Haen!!

[ghp95134]

Just a short note to say that I just "visited" with HaEn this past Sunday, 3 Aug 08 -- well; actually, I had a nice telephone conversation "visit" with HaEn. I am glad to report that "Our HaEn" sounds very healthy and lively -- I just wish we lived closer so we could chat face to face.

HaEn: It's been a pleasure to know you these past couple of years and, if you don't mind, I'd like to stretch our friendship out over the next twenty years or longer. Can you please oblige me? After all, I need all the great advice from our senior Lehrgangsleiter

Cheers!
--Guy

[ghp95134]

Anybody recognize this person?



--Guy

[John P. Moore]

Guy – Thanks for posting those documents. If I did not know better, I would believe that they are the real thing and HaEn did show me that Soldbuch. You really put a lot of effort into creating such a fine reproduction of a Soldbuch.

These are excellent examples of what a skilled person can accomplish in the way of document forgery to separate an unwitting collector from their money. (I know Guy does not do that) About a year ago someone in Sweden was attempting to sell the original Ritterkreuz Vorschlag of Sören Kam. Quite a few people believed the documents were original when viewing the examples in color on a collecting site. The problem was that I had the original documents on microfilm in Kam’s SS Personalakte and the rubber stamps were in different locations, typeface was different and the signatures were not quite right.

John

[ghp95134]

Hello John,

Thank you for the compliment, but whenever I look at these images all I see are the errors I made! And, I thought I could vary the handwriting more than I did; at least in my practice sessions I was able to do so. I'd be interested to hear from Soldbuch authorities what grade they'd give my effort. Of course someone with a European education would get a better grade due to the style of penmanship (which is one obvious give away of my project).

This was a fun project and I certainly enjoyed it. I am pleased to hear that HaEn thinks it worthy enough to show you the hard-copy.

If you are going to make a thread about copies (honest and "otherwise"), please feel free to use my example.

Cheers!
--Guy

[John P. Moore]

About a week ago my wife and I paid a visit on HaEn and his wife. We had a great visit and I am pleased to be able to report that both of them are doing well. The plant seeds that HaEn gave me last year are growing well in my garden this year and I am not sure how many other Feldgrau members have SS-originated plants growing in their gardens. I wonder if there is a market out there for HaEn to sell his plant seeds since his book may not be published anytime soon?

John