German sailors render extraordinary honors to US at sea

German Embassy, Washington, D.C. ^ | Sept. 15, 2003

[Gorilla44]

Military vessels routinely render honors to military ships of other countries when they pass at sea by dipping their flag, as a sign of respect. The German frigate FGS Niedersachsen went above and beyond this normal gesture of respect when it asked to come alongside the USS Doyle on September 11, 2003, the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US. On this day, as the two ships approached and passed, the entire crew of the German vessel stood top-side in full dress uniforms, holding their hats over their hearts. And as the ultimate gesture of respect, the FGS Niedersachsen was flying the United States flag from its main mast. A US Naval Officer, in an email that also reached the German Embassy in Washington, told of how touched the US crew were by the “classy and emotional” presentation by their German counterparts.

In an interview on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered on September 14, Commander Bernd Kuhbier of the FGS Niedersachsen explained this extraordinary act. “When you are on a warship, you don't fly a foreign flag on the top mast,” Commander Kuhbier told host Steve Inskeep. “But we thought the occasion was suitable to do that, so that's what we did. We were proud to do so.”

The unexpected gesture touched the US sailors, Vice Admiral Timothy LaFleur described in an unclassified email: “From their main mast they flew our flag and they held their covers over their hearts. Needless to say, the whole crew was choked up and a few tears formed in our eyes. Both ships stayed next to each other in silence for about 5 minutes. These are the days that remind me why I joined the Navy.”

The FGS Niedersachsen and the USS Doyle are both part of NATO’s Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT), a permanent peacetime multinational naval squadron composed of destroyers, cruisers and frigates from the navies of various NATO nations.

[anotherGerman]

Well you need to do your history much better. Hitler came to power on January 30th, 1933, being elected by some 30 percent. He then quickly eliminated the democratic elements and installed a dictatorship. The elections after January 1933 were no really elections any more (even the one in January was no free election as we know it), so the 88 % in 1934 are more like the 99 % the commies always got with their "elections".

[tracer]

"I bet this makes Gerhard Schroeder want to puke."

May he drown in said puke......

[tracer]

"I know my uncle is turning in his grave in that French cemetery."

Call FedEx or whomever and let me know what they'd charge to help repatriate your uncle. No kidding....

[tracer]

My years as a New Yorker enable me to appreciate your screen name.... 8~)

[rochester_veteran]

My Dad served on the USS Doyle during WWII. He saw action escorting convoys across the North Atlantic, shelling postitions above Omaha Beach on D-Day and escorting the ship that transported President Roosevelt to the Malta conference. The USS Doyle was then converted into a mine sweeper and sent to Japan. The old USS Doyle was retired. My Dad got to go aboard the new USS Doyle on a reunion and they actually went out to sea for a few hours.

rochester_veteran

[AngryJawa]

I didn't think we had one European ally except for the Brits and Spain.

Don't forget the Poles! Their GROM special forces unit did some great work near Basra during the opening stages of OIF. They were also among the first to pony up more troops for the post-op.

It's heartening to know that we're not as "alone" as the media says we are.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

The Portugese too. The PM of Portugal was saying on Fox News yesterday that the world needs to remember that it is the TERRORISTS that are the enemies.. not President Bush. That President Bush is right to stand up to them. It was an amazing interview! They don't have a ton of troops over in Iraq.. but they have always been a supporter of us from the start.

[Bonaparte]

Alter Kaker: "August 19, 1934 - 88% of Germans vote to support Hitler assumption of dictator power in plebiscite. You seem to promote myth - very popular after May, 1945 - that there were never Nazis in Germany. Everybody was tricked. Sorry, but overhwleming majority German people supported Hitler. "
__________________________________________________________________

From K.D. Bracher in The Formation of The Third Reich...

...the plebiscite of August 19, 1934, was nothing more than the final farce of the pseudo-legal revolution. The voter was given no genuine choice, either then or in the plebiscites of 1936 and 1938. The vote of August 19 was an act of confirmation without any alternative and without constitutional or political significance. Nonetheless the acclamation was not an unqualified success. Even a new wave of propaganda and psychological coercion, of intimidation and terror, of interference in the electoral process and fraud could not bring the votes up to the 99 per cent to which the plebiscitary acclamations of dictatorial regimes generally aspire. Taking into account the conditions of the elections, a disproportionately high number of no votes were cast, particularly in Hamburg and Berlin, were only 72.6 and 74.2 per cent, respectively, of the qualified voters cast affirmative ballots 23 . Let us keep in mind that in totalitarian 'elections' non-voters and invalid ballots generally should be considered as an opposition voice.

This plebiscite was not a free election. Hitler had already been virtual dictator of Germany for the past year. The Army had already sworn a personal oath of loyalty to him. Political parties other than the nazi party had been outlawed. And all over the country, his political opponents had been beaten, imprisoned, murdered. The nazis were already in complete control and Hitler was already ruling by edict, including his own declaration that his unconstitutional assumption of absolute power was "legal." His uniformed goons were stationed at every polling place to "oversee" the vote, and although the nazis went to great lengths to present the appearance of a "fair election," they possessed the voter rolls pairing every voter's name with the unique number on his ballot. If a German voter had wanted to imperil the lives of his family and himself, all he needed to do was vote "no."

IOW, this was no "free election," as you've falsely implied. In the previous elections which were free, Germans had handed Hitler two resounding defeats and had denied the nazis majority status in the Reichstag. His vote in the August 1934 plebiscite more than doubled for one reason only: Fear.

And your claim that I said "there were never nazis in Germany" is a blatant lie. I never said anything like that and you know it. Nor did I ever say that "everybody was tricked" into voting Hitler's way. Another lie. As I've stated above, the phony plebiscite of 1934 was not a free election. Hitler made it illegal to not vote or to submit an illegible or mutilated ballot. Germans had to vote and once they did, the nazis knew exactly who their opponents were.

Under these circumstances, how would you have voted?

[fortaydoos]

Yeah, this more than makes up for all their backchannel obstruction, provision of arms and aid to saddam, things are all better now.

Germans are good at one thing: losing wars big time. What other country has had its national capital leveled like berlin?

[Bigg Red]

Goosebumps!

Thanks for the flag.

[Michael81Dus]

Paris, Warsaw?
Well, the resistance in Paris and Warsaw was not that heavy as it was in Berlin... the French raised their arms faster than the Germans invaded the country... ;-)

[PhilDragoo]

This photo was taken by an ensign aboard the AEGIS destroyer USS Winston Churchill, the only active U.S. Navy warship named after a foreign national. The young officer sent the photo to his parents with this email [excerpted]:

About two hours ago, we were hailed by a German Navy destroyer, Lutjens, requesting permission to pass close by our port side. Strange, since we're in the middle of an empty ocean, but the captain acquiesced and we prepared to render them honors from our bridgewing. As they were making their approach, our conning officer used binoculars and announced that Lutjens was flying not the German, but the American flag. As she came alongside us, we saw the American flag flying half-mast and her entire crew topside standing at silent, rigid attention in their dress uniforms. They had made a sign that was displayed on her side that read, "We Stand By You." There was not a dry eye on the bridge as they stayed alongside us for a few minutes and saluted. It was the most powerful thing I have seen in my life. The German Navy did an incredible thing for this crew, and it has truly been the highest point in the days since the attacks.

[windchime]

Good (and touching) story.

[getgoing]

Great follow-up from one of our sailors. Thank you for sharing.

[anotherGerman]

Thank you for going into more detail. It is sad to see how many people make stupid allegations without doing some research first.

[Bonaparte]

Yes, you are right. And I could have gone into much greater detail than I did. For instance, it is well documented that both Jews and communists, who had every reason to despise Hitler, nonetheless voted in large numbers to support his consolidation of power in the 1934 plebiscite. Fear can do that. Only six weeks before, Hitler had shown all of Germany, including Hindenburg, that he was not afraid to commit mass murder in the barracks of the SA.

[SoCal Pubbie]

According to the book Who's Who In WWII Fritsch was the last person in the Army who might have stood up to Hitler. The Commander in Chief of the German Army, Field Marshall Werner von Blomberg, who was also Hitler's first War Minister, was forced from office in 1938 because of a second marriage to a woman reputed to have been a prostitute. That trumped up charge, along with the later accusations against Fritsch, paved the way for the retirement of 16 high ranking generals, incuding von Leeb and von Rundstedt, and the transfer of of 44 others to new commands. The Nazis were then able to put their picked officrs in place.

[chilepepper]

Adolph Galland it was...

[swany]

"I meant to say that this was posted on FR on 9/12/03. Billie posted it."

I, for one, am glad it has been reposted. News like this needs to be repeated for those of us who miss it the first time around. I am a TV newshound and never saw it reported there. Imagine that.

[JoeSchem]

Their chancellor is an idiot, but the German military are a different breed. Much different than their grandfathers who my father chased across North Africa...but I digress.

Generally, it's not the soldiers and sailors who are the problem, it's the morons at the top. As long as we remain optimistic about our fellow humans and cynical about those alien creatures known as politicians, there may yet be hope for life on this planet.