Posted on 12/08/2009 7:55:56 AM PST by GonzoII
Published: 5 Dec 09 18:03 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091205-23749.html
The death certificate of German World War I fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen has turned up in western Poland, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Saturday.
Genealogist Maciej Kowalski came across it in the archives of the town of Ostrow Wielkopolski, which was the base of his regiment and his last official address, the paper said.
Richthofen, a Prussian aristocrat dubbed the Red Baron from the favourite colour of his aircraft, was born in what is now Wroclaw in Poland, formerly Breslau, in 1892.
After scoring victories over 80 allied aircraft during the war, he was finally downed near Vaux-sur-Somme on April 21, 1918, though arguments still rage as to whether he was hit by ground fire or shot down by Canadian pilot Roy Brown.
Richthofen was buried in a local cemetery with full military honours by British and Australian troops, but his body was later moved to the family vault at Wiesbaden in Germany.
Eddie Rickenbacker - - now there is one incredible biography.
Staggers the mind...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker
The bullet that killed the Red Baron came in low on his side and exited higher up from his chest and hit his heart and lungs. It's believed there's no way he could have flown for as long as he did if Brown had been the one to hit him.
Thanks!
Thanks for the input.
About a quarter of the way down this page.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/duigan_3squadron_04.html
Official Cause of Death: Complications due to lead poisoning.
And ground ingestion.
At least Manfred was genuine - unlike the fraud in the White House.
Yep. He definitely helped end the war sooner, especially with bad decisions on the Russian front. I read somewhere that British intelligence actually debated whether they should try to assassinate him if they could figure out how to do it because his dumb decisions were so shortening the war.
I saw a digital version of this on snopes and fightthesmears and it looks different than this...
Don’t worry...Obama has at least 3 more years to get enough of our planes shot down...I am sure he can achieve one of these records...
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