Old WC's never die - they just move on! :-)

[12th Air Force]

Joakim: Very interesting! Thanks for posting the dogtag story. I am happy the owner survived the war. I agree some of the metal detector people are not proper.

Thank's for the "moral support" Minnhawk!

In fact has our "collectors hobby" a very dark side - esp. the dog tag "black market": selling tag's without informing authorities or relatives.

All we can do is, to do the very best after all: inform the relatives on our find's and to give the relatives back the peace they need so deeply.

I have seen lately a documentary on TV on official "grave digger's" on battlefield's on the eastern front as in the west (Huertgenwald Forrest) - that are working in a sort of "unfair" competition with illegal "bounty hunters".

- They often find digged up foxholes with bones, but dog tags, weapons and artefacts as medals and insignias have been removed for "silly money" - making it impossible to give those victims back their identity and to inform their relatives / to solve the identity of MIA persons...

It took me a while to understand how deep the scars of WW2 are in so many families - even after 70 years.
And - call me naive or not - it is so important to give them something back.

If I have learned something out of having been at those former battlefields and commemorations with veterans, than it is this.

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[Tony B]

As far as the removal of artifacts from remains found on battlefeilds. Something that makes me very upset, or banned fron the forum if I really start! I will quote from something Andy Robertshaw said to me, though it did come from somone else,'Remove artifacts and you destroy any chance of identification of the remains. You kill the man twice'.

[12th Air Force]

You kill the man twice'.

That's the point!

I have been lately at the militaria fair at La Gleize in the Ardennes - there you could find hundreds of (mostly German) dog tags.
I have no idea where they all came from and I would guess that in 90% (or even more) of them authorities have never been informed.

The sad documentary on TV was stating that specialized gangs in eastern Europe are digging illegal in forests for WW2 artefacts and sell them then to collectors - mainly in western Europe as well as in USA. Some weapons are reconditioned to functional condition in backyard workshops and part wise used by the Russian Mafia.

At La Gleize was an American WW2 dog tag for sale as well. It was a complete set + a German POW Camp dog tag of that soldier.
The price was EUR 350,- - and I bet a box of beer that the relatives have not been informed on that find.

In Germany exists still today a unit of the Red Cross that is collecting information's on missing persons as soldiers or relatives that are reported MIA in WW2 and after. So if you own dog tags and if you have any further information's that can be helpful you can contact the Red Cross Suchdienst. Here is the link: https://www.drk-suchdienst.de/de/suchanfragen

The other address is the "Deutsche Dienststelle" at Berlin. It's the official Wehrmacht personal files archive.
The "official WW2 grave diggers" (as the members of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. association) are sending their finds as dog tags and personal items to that address. The archive is keeping those finds and if there are any living relatives known, they hand them over to them. Here is the Link: https://www.dd-wast.de/en/home.html

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[Tony B]

A bit off topic, but a couple of years back I was at a Sunday Boot Fair, sort of bring and buy sale held in a local feild, a couple of miles from home. One Ghoul, and that's about the only polite word I can think of, was selling what purported to be German WW1 helmet,'With bits of the blokes brain still inside'.
My connections with the local law and a quick phone call got the ***** a very hard morning. Turned out his claims were totally false, but he'd be no loss to the human race.

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

the good thing with unemployment is, that you have plenty of time to take care of some old projects.
So I finished today the Veterans profile on S./Sgt. James McCarthy - one of the liberators of my hometown Frankfurt (and the only I know by name up to now).

So here is the full story from the veterans section of my homepage:

S/Sgt. James McCartney - the "brave Liberator" of Frankfurt
29.03.1945: On Thursday the 29th of March 1945 (the so called German "Gründonnerstag") the official capitulation of the city of Frankfurt am Main is proclaimed via the American Forces Radio Luxemburg. Frankfurt is after a 3 days battle not any longer a so called Frontstadt and officialy liberated by the US-Forces. - "Zero hour" in Frankfurt is about six weeks before WW2 officialy ends in Germany.

The News of the Liberation of the City of Frankfurt was spread soon by the international Press and Signal Corps war corrospondents sended some pictures of the capturing of the strategic important Wilhelmbrücke via wire photo's around the globe. Another major City of the "Reich" had been Liberated by Patton's 3rd Armored Division that was now heading to the east and north.
On one of the dramatic days a Signal Corps photographer made some "iconic" pictures. One is showing US troops at the Baseler Platz heading for the central railway station. The other one is a direct contrast to it: showing S/Sgt. James McCartney from Altoona, Pa. with a German child and his Garand rifle. It might have been a real situation or a sort of "posing" for propaganda purposes. I guess we will never know.



Anyhow - the symbolic character of the photo is still today impressive - showing the brave G.I. and what I would call "an glimpse of hope" in this insane war.

I tried to find out more about James McCartney, but even knowing his name and hometown I did not find any further traces of him. If someone know's more about him and what happened to him after the photo was made I would be thankfull for any hint.

The dramatic liberation of the City of Frankfurt had started 3 days earlier and ended after the capture of the damaged Wilhelmbrücke (today: Friedensbrücke) that German pioneers could not blow up completely...



... and a "lucky" US howitzer grenade that killed the most commanding German officers in their HQ in the center of the City - with the result that any organized defense collapsed and the fighting in the City ended within the next hours after that.

The full story with more photo-links can be found here: http://www.steel-toys.com/Veterans.html

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

A collection of 53 photos on the liberation of the City of Frankfurt can be found here:
http://www.steel-toys.com/FL45/
The full story can be found here as an pdf file:
http://www.steel-toys.com/VETERANS/TIME ... NKFURT.pdf

The photos are starting at the River Rhein crossing at Germersheim and Nierstein (incl. Patton pissing into it )...



...then showing some photo's of Darmstadt and the push north via the Reichsautobahn to the south of Frankfurt, passing the ruins of the Frankfurt Airport...





...and the further action's as the capture of the damaged Wilhelmbrücke and the Baseler Platz. Only some hundred meters from the badly damaged central railway station:



The primitive barricade's at the side of the Wilhelmbrücke toward's the Baseler Platz had been the last and lousy organized try of the Stadtkommandant to prevent the crossing of the river Main via this bridge.



All other bridges had been blown up by German Wehrmacht pioneer's on the 26th of March. The explosives at the Wilhelmbrücke did not work correctly so that one half was left as a passage for infantry and light vehicles.



Several soldiers have been killed at the bridge...



...and in front of the Gutleutkaserne - about 50 meters from the Baseler Platz. The Gutleut-Kaserne (in the background of the photo is the former main gate to be seen) was then up to the 1980ies a part of the US garrison in Frankfurt.



Then lateron have several officers been killed and wounded when the HQ of the Stadtkommandant Löffler was hit by a 105 mm grenade as a sort of "lucky punch" - ending the organized defense of the "Frontstadt" Frankfurt and opening the gates to the center of the State of Hesse north of Frankfurt. After all about 24 German casualties have been reported + one soldier that had been executed as a deserter... No American casualties have been reported as far as I know.



Then some more photos showing American Jeep's and troops entering the heart of the City, turning left to the Gutleut-Kaserne while other troops climbed over the anti-tank wall at the ramp of the Wilhelmbrücke and followed the Mainuferstrasse on the river banks, heading east.





By the way: the balcony of the building on this photo above has been for a while my office in about 2005.

The spearhed of the infantry was then proceeding north via the Eschersheimer Landstrasse and Berger Strasse with hundreds of remaining citizens around them - most of them smiling or laughing.



The last German troops had left only hours before the City without any further resistance, heading north.

Zero hour in Frankfurt was for many a Liberation from the Nazi-Terror at first (and no occupation).
It's from my point of view a pitty that the City of Frankfurt is not celebrating that day. Instead was a large Event on the 8th of May 2015 (VE-Day) at the Römerberg (the traditional way in Germany to celebrate the end of WW2 instead of certain Liberation Festivals).

In 2013 I was visiting the former Wilhelmbrücke (Today: Friedensbrücke = Peace Bridge) with my Dodge. Most of the building's on the Signal Corps photo's still exist today.



The screenshots are taken from the Signal Corps film material that had partwise been used for the very interesting chronological documentary of the German Spiegel TV production "Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam".
See part 2 (of 4) from 2:46 on at youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9JUNbTn9Qw

The links to all parts:
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYFs1DqnT4U
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9JUNbTn9Qw
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYQE_pBdojc
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1YsMrqRr0Y

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[Andersun]

This is most likely your liberator:


Birth: Nov. 5, 1915
Altoona
Blair County
Pennsylvania, USA
Death: Dec. 23, 1994
Altoona
Blair County
Pennsylvania, USA

James E. McCARTNEY
December 23, 1994

James E. (Jim) McCartney, 79, of Box 920. RD 1, Pinecroft, died early Friday morning, Dec. 23, 1994, at Altoona Hospital, following an extended illness. He was born Nov. 5, 1915, in Altoona, the son of William D. and Mary (Meredith) McCartney. He married Mary C. Sager on Dec. 23, 1943, in Winchester, VA.Mr. McCartney retired as a welder from Penn. Central Railroad in 1970, after 36 years of service.
He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean conflict. He served in Patton's Third Army at the Battle of the Bulge and received the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals. He also served as a sharpshooter.Surviving are his wife, four daughters: Corinda Finochio of Altoona, JaNean Karlie of Riggles Gap, Kathleen Aikens of Greenwood and Denise Wolfe of Bellwood; two sons; William D. of Bellwood and David J. of Pinecroft; 17 grandchildren and 11 great grand-children. Friends will be received Monday and Tuesday at Mauk & Yates Funeral Home, Juniata. Interment at Logan Valley Cemetery, Bellwood. Surviving are two nieces: Sharon Russell and Kay Templeton.
Altoona Mirror, December 24, 1994



Burial:
Logan Valley Cemetery
Bellwood
Blair County
Pennsylvania, USA

[12th Air Force]

This is most likely your liberator:

Hello Steve,

that's a great info!
I'm not registred (anymore) at ancestry.com - a great source for finding informations like this.

As soon as I have updated the profile I will give you a ping.

Thank's a lot,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

not much to write about from the Garage, but I had a pretty nice tour thru Rhein-Main with Dave from NC on last Thursday afternoon, following the path's of Patton's 3AD from Darmstadt to Frankfurt, incl. a stop-over at the Berlin Airlift Memorial and a beer at my my Garage.
Dave was here for a week with his family and we used this chance for a quick "transatlantic hello" between two Dodge Brothers.

Keep 'em Rolling and greetings to NC,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

last Sunday was the monthly US-Car meeting of the Street Rat's US Car Club here at the Harley Factory Frankfurt (the largest HD dealer in Germany). It was after a quite cold week pretty hot again with about 33°C and several other US Car Events that weekend - so that only about a quarter of the normal amout of car's found their way to the Event.



But instead we had a nice group of MV in place, starting with a nice "nearly as new" Mutt, a nice Ford GPW, Holger's M38A1, Uli's Ambo and my Dodge as well. So we had some "OD networking", good gasoline talk's, steaks and beer. + American Ice-Cream.
= The "perfect day". :mrgreen:







All photos can be found here: http://www.steel-toys.com/HDF15/

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

after adding the HD Factory photo's from Sunday I remembered that I have some more nice MV photo's from this Event in 2012 and added them as well to my hp.
See: http://www.steel-toys.com/HDF12/



I have also added the link to the Remagen Commemoration article in the latest issue of the MVPA's Army Motors Magazine (pdf file for download).
Link: http://www.steel-toys.com/RB15/Remagen_final.pdf

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

I just updated my photo page and added several video links to it.

See: http://www.steel-toys.com/Events.html

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

I finished today my D-Day 2014 photo-book and uploaded the screenshots of it.



Here is the link: http://www.steel-toys.com/DD14FB/
Notice: click on "next image" on top to open each next photo

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

I finished today the upload of the screenshots of my first D-Day photo-book from 2013.
It contains some additional background infos (text) so it's in a larger resolution for easier reading.



Here is the link: http://www.steel-toys.com/DD13FB/
Notice: click on "next image" on top to open each next photo

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

yesterday we had the chance to support the Elvis Presley Association and the Elvis Presley Society Germany at their annual Elvis Festivals at Friedberg and Bad Nauheim. Friedberg is with the former Ray Barrack's known as "The Army Home of Elvis" and the nearby city of Bad Nauheim as the "German Graceland" - because he lived there at the Goethestrasse from 1058 to 1960 with his parents.

This year my "Brother in Arms" Andi and I had the invitation to join the bus tour to the Ray Barrack's - together with some folk's that had met Elvis during his time in Germany and supported by the Major of the city of Friedberg that joined the tour as well.





We did two tours with two busses full with Elvis Fans from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Germany and had a pretty good time at Elvis former garrison and at the two Events incl. a Cadillac Parade from Bad Nauheim to Friedberg lateron.

So you can find some photos of Ray Barrack's that are closed since 2007 and of the legendary Capri Club here:

http://www.steel-toys.com/EF15/

Some more photos are published here by the newspaper Frankfurter Neue Presse:
http://www.fnp.de/rhein-main/Tausende-F ... 11,1125971

They are today a sort of time capsule and nobody know's exactly what will happen with the area in the future.
For us maybe the last chance to see this place "untouched" as it was.

Keep 'em Roling,

Joakim
















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