April 10, 1945 sure seems like a very eventful day. It was also the day my father turned 18. By that time he’d been in the fight for almost a year. Unfortunately, he was on the losing team. I know very little about that phase of his life. He was in the kriegsmarine serving on a patrol boat on the eastern front. Around this time 70 years ago he and a buddy decided it was time to take Horace Greeley’s advice and head west. They eventually made it to the British lines and were taken prisoner. After the war he worked as a civilian employee for an American military police unit as an interpreter. In the early 50’s he emigrated to the U.S. and shortly thereafter I entered into this world as the first American of the family’s.
Thank God he made it to the west.
And thank you for sharing your family’s story.