Returned from Hamburg

[sgriffin383]

Hello all:

Just wanted to share my Hamburg and Schleswig/Holstein trip. I went to meet my German family who lives in Tornesch. I visited Hamburg and seen the St Nickolai church, which is now a memorial to the 1943 bombimg of Hamburg. Not only did I visit with family, but I researched my WWII German military family. They have all passed, except for one but he lives in Canada. However, there were lots of stories from the surviving relatives. Not sure of what units they served with, but I will have to dig further to find that out. I will try to make it short, but here is list of family members who served in WWII for Germany.

Wilhelm Luedemann: He was conscripted at the age of 42. He had large family at the time. He was injured in Russia with frostbite and returned home. They said that they did not remove the affected leg, but he had to change the dressing everyday for the rest of his life. Bone and muscle were still visible.

Klaus Luedemann: Fought in Western Europe. He was in Bremen at the time of surrender.

Kurt Luedemann: Fought in Western Europe. I do know that he was in the SS. He was Klaus's brother. He was also in Bremen at the time of surrender.

Wilhelm Sheide: Lost leg in combat in Russia. Returned home.

Berndt Scheide: Was pronounced MIA in Russia then returned home in 1950. He was a POW in Russia.

Helmut Schiede: KIA in Latvia.

Jorgen Jessen: Firefighter in Hamburg at the time of the 1943 bombing. The Nazis used the firefighters toward the end of the war to haul ammunition and he was captured by the British while delivering ammunition. He was returned home at the end of 1945.

I also had uncles that were too young to be in the army so they were put to use making tank traps and performing mortuary duty. One of my uncles was in Hamburg and watched the Bismarck launched from dry dock. He said that Hitler was there to watch. I have a lot of stories that i could share, but there are too many. Can I use WAST to find the units that my relatives served in or is there a better organization to use?

[Annelie]

Thankyou for sharing. Would love to hear a few of the stories that your relatives have told.

About researching your relatives military history. The Wast is the place where I started
and they sent me all their records. Of course there are other places depending on what you
find. Even the Red Cross has some POW and hospital records.

Good luck but be patient.