Posted on 11/28/2003 2:18:21 PM PST by Paladin2b
MUNICH, Germany (AFP) - DNA tests have confirmed that all-American hero and aviator Charles Lindbergh fathered three illegitimate children in Germany, their spokesman said.
In a statement, he said the tests supported their assertions that Lindbergh, who won instant celebrity for making the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight in 1927, was their father.
The probes, examined by a Munich university medical centre, compared their DNA with a sample from a member of Lindbergh's family.
The result, handed in writing to the three last week, showed a probability of paternity of more than 99 percent."They never had any doubt about the question," the spokesman Anton Schwenk told AFP when asked about their reaction.
He said they had since made contact with Lindbergh's US family.
Astrid Bouteuil, now 43, and brothers Dyrk and David Hesshaimer, 45 and 36 respectively, told the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily in August that they only learned their father's identity after his death in 1974.
According to them, quoting a clutch of letters he wrote, Lindbergh fell in love with a 31-year-old Munich hat maker, Brigitte Hesshaimer, during a visit to Germany in 1957 and continued to see her until his death.
The children were born between 1958 and 1967. They were listed in official records as "father unknown," but they say he visited them often and supported them financially.
They said they only felt able to come forward after their mother died two years ago.
The spokesman said the children would not be making any comment.
A book and a television documentary are currently in production in Germany about the affair.
Traditionally, Lindbergh has been portrayed as a happily married family man with five children. The claims that he fathered illegitimate children were met with deep scepticism in the United States.
Schwenk said, however, that Bouteuil and the Hesshaimers had met in Europe with members of Lindbergh's US family since August. "The establishment of family relations will grow naturally," he added. "The gap of so many years cannot be bridged in a few hours." Later in August, the German news magazine Focus claimed that Lindbergh had another two illegitimate children in Germany -- the fruits of a relationship with Hesshaimer's sister Marietta. It said Marietta was now living in Switzerland in a house built for her by the aviator.
Who knows. He had three different families and was willing to ruin their lives so he could get his jollies. As big of a creep as they come.
Lindbergh was a part of the America First Movement along with Henry Ford and others. He traveled to Germany before WWII and his communiques regarding the development of the German Aircraft Industry might be considered espionage in favor of the US of A. He was not a NAZI sympathizer. He had resigned his commission when he thought that FDR was pursuing an improper foreign policy, (sound like Iraq today?) since the America First Movement was an isolationist organization. Dec 7, 1941 changed that for the America Firsters. Ford pledged his fortune and industrial might to the war effort and he would convert the famous River Rouge facility from auto to aircraft manufacture.
Lindbergh would accept a training position as a Col. and would eventually fly Corsair and P-38 combat missions in the South Pacific. In 1964, while at ROTC summer camp, I met a Col who headed the Syracuse ROTC detachment. He was one of the P-38 pilots who was instructed by Lindbergh on how to maximize your range by proper flight control and fuel mixture maintenance. This Col., then, a Lieutenant, had participated on the famous Yammamoto mission. He had flown top cover when the intercept was made and splashed a couple of Zeros. The flight commander directed him to dive on and finish off the Yammamoto aircraft but as he lined up the Betty was buring and crashed into the jungle. You can imagine our attention as we cadets listened to this war story on that sunny August day in 1964 at Otis AFB. He did specify that the mission was successful for the training that Lindebergh had provided!
Hauptman was guilty through and through. The Lindberg baby certainly did NOT die at the hands of either parent or any other relatives. There is simply no evidence that this was the case. In the 1930's crime victims did not do tell-alls for the press. They kept their dignity, and both Linberghs were shy introverts who avoided the press, in any case.
Please read Jim Fisher's two books on the subject and/or visit the New Jersey state police archives where the Lindbergh evidence and documenation are stored and see for yourself if the evidence looks "cooked". Anyone can look at the evidence, freely. If it were tampered with, would the State Police make it public?
The handwriting evidence which ties Hauptman to the ransom notes is as compelling and obvious as any I have ever seen, both in writing style and phrasing. His criminal past in Germany was of a type that foreshadowed the kidnapping.
His wife's long campaign notwithstanding, Hauptman was guilty. So-called "evidence" presented by sensational authors is just plain made-up and is not factual; it is also riddled with errors that are easy to spot with even the most basic research.
Read Jim Fisher. He has exonerated others who were blamed for crimes in other books of his. He started his research thinking Hauptman was framed but learned otherwise. He spent years on the Lindbergh case and is the world's leading authority on the crime, and his books are fascinating, as well.
Hauptman was not framed, and he was not innocent. He was caught because he passed ransom bills for years in and around the Bronx and Manhattan. Salesclerks who took the bills from him described him on several occasions, and the descriptions matched him when he was caught. He had ransom bills on him when he was taken in, and a large cache of them was buried under the floor in his garage. A wood-products expert spent years tracing the wood in the kidnap ladder from a sawmill with a mis-adjusted blade which showed up on the ladder rails, to a Bronx lumberyard which turned out to be very near Hauptman's home, and finally to a piece of missing board from Hauptman's attic flooring. His research was very, very convincing.
It always hurts me to see the old "Hauptman was innocent and framed" stuff repeated because the truth has been published and is so easy to access.
I would suspect more in Moscow. He seemed to favor commies anyway.
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Note: this topic is dated November 28, 2003. |
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Different sides of same coin
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