-More information about finding missing soldiers:
-Detailled information about this story can be found in the book ‘Autopsy of a Battle, Liberation of the French Riviera’:
-Battlefield archaeology:
-Auf Deutsch:
WWII Veteran paratrooper Returns Wedding Photos 68 Years Later
By Cheryl Hurd | Friday, Dec 7, 2012 | Updated 8:20 PM PST
www.nbcbayarea.com
Even though he is 92, Howard Hensleigh of Menlo Park remembers 1944 like it was yesterday. That was the year the Army World War II veteran killed a German soldier during a gun battle in Southern France.
“The sergeant that I chose to fire the first shot fired and of course they hit the dirt. Firing going back and forth all the time,” Hensleigh said.
Hensleigh, who was an intelligence officer and assistant platoon leader, says he knew the German soldiers were not going to give up without a fight. He says he gave them several chances to give up. But a man he later came to find out was named Georg Reick give him no other choice. Hensleigh shot and killed him during a firefight. Hensleigh said he felt it was something he had to do in order to save his men.
“When you take prisoners you get all the information off of all of them,” Hensleigh said. “I hate to admit it but they don’t end up with their watches rings and anything else.”
In this case, Reick was stripped of personal artifacts, such as pictures of his wife and family and his wedding photo: It was common to confiscate the goods from the dead Germans at the time. Hensleigh took them, and put his enemy’s belongings in his personal scrap book.
They stayed there for 68 years until a young French writer named Jean-Loup Gassend came along out of the blue. Jean-Loup Gassend was interested in interviewing WWII veterans who served their country in Southern France for a documentary he was working on. While researching online, Jean-Loup found Hensleigh as one of the many U.S. soldiers who had fought in World War II. Jean-Loup flew to the Peninsula to meet Hensleigh, and during their meeting, learned of his story and started to connect the dots.
Jean-Loup then contacted the company that developed pictures. But the company was no longer there.
He then sent them to the mayor of the small German town where the soldier lived.
The mayor recognized the dead soldier and put Hensleigh in touch with the soldier’s grandson whose name is also Georg Reick.
The grandson and Hensleigh now e-mail each other back and forth. Hensleigh gave Reick’s grandson information he’s been longing for and Reick Jr. has pictures he thought he would never get.
Casualties of the ambush:
-Private Julius J. Richmond, Regimental HQ Company, 517th PIR
-PFC Jack Whitfield, HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, 517th PIR
-Unteroffizier Martin Janostik, Infanterie Regiment 107, Infanterie Division 34, 6.3.1912, Breslau
-Gefreiter Hans Jantzen, Infanterie Regiment 107, Infanterie Division 34, 20.9.1924, Siemersdorf
Units involved:
USA: 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, First Airborne Task Force
Germany: Infanterie Division 34
Peira Cava, Sospel area, Nice Region, Southern France. Operation Dragoon Anvill, the Champagne Campaign, Liberation of the French Riviera.
A Crocodile Tear battlefield archaeology documentary
Best comments:
“Howard, you are hero. Plain and simple.
I’m sorry you killed a woman’s husband.
I guess war really is hell.”
For the high and the mighty, especially the ones on tall horses, I offer you the words of a poet who fought in World War One, Siegfried Sasoon:
You smug faced crowds with kindling eye
who cheer when soldier lads march by
crawl home and pray you'll never know
the hell where youth and laughter go
I wonder if should tell those of you already starting to type a snarky reply about this "German" poet based upon his name that — Siegfried Sassoon, (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War.
Wow!!! This is memory!!!
Lets just remember that he is a good guy and the German (who was a Nazi) was a bad guy
In the famous words "war is hell". It was war and the situation was kill or be killed. It is just that many years later some peace can be made.
Respect from France to all veterans…
This is a Hero!
How sad
I don´t know why they make such a fuzz about an amareican Soldier who stole the belongings of a dead german Soldier and than returning it after several decades… he is a thief.. nothing more, nothing less
That's War.
Фу, бля!
It's actually pretty depressing but this is most likely his way of apologizing
No soldier wich had honour did take wedding photos as trophy….the family should have ripped your arse US BIMBO
Thank you for killing nazi scum! Love dead nazis.😃😃😃😃😃😃😃
Both sides are fighting for what they believe in or were unfairly drafted so who is really the enemy ?
4:16
It probably was a good thing he kept those photos. If not, they very likely would have been destroyed. And now because of that, this German soldier's grandson will finally have something of his grandfather whom he never knew.
This made me cry so much seeing foes from different sides returning belongings and befriending their families and forgiving one another for what they've done in the past, This is why I don't choose any side when it comes to war. Every soldier has a family, has a life, has an honor and duty to hold for his/her nation. People who say that every Nazi during WW2 was evil are stupid and ignorant. It's like saying every german during WW2 was a murderer. This is why people today are stupid to only support one side of the story rather than to fully grasp each sides view of the war.
These men are true heroes! My grandfather was in Patton’s Third Army and was severely wounded in the Battle of the Bulge… He finally made it back home minus a lung.. And he has 5 grand babies named after him and two nephews! Thank God we had men like this to fight for our freedoms! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Let this sink in I'm a combat veteran who went to Afghanistan and wounded by a mortar I would have peed on my enemy after I dropped one if I had a chance ! This guy is a great man and way better person than me …war is hell
What a psycho
Snowflakes in the comment section.
Nothing to see here, just white people doing honorable stuff.