I am new to this forum, but thought the rest of you would like to see some photos of my good friend and neighbor who served in LAH during WWII as a pioneer. One of his main jobs was being a motorcycle orinance for among others Sepp Dietrich and Panzer Meyer. During his time in Rumenia he was awarded "Order of the Crown", "Military Virtue Medal" and "Loyal Service cross".

I am trying to find out how to upload photos here but have some problems.

Erik

This post has been edited by erikofnorway on June 20, 2006 11:45 am

What does "LAH" stand for?

Try the Image attachment guide.

LAH = Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler

Thanks for the link. I'll work on it when I get home tonight and see if I can figure this out.

Erik

This post has been edited by erikofnorway on June 20, 2006 01:51 pm

OK, here we go......

I actually just came back from his house.

This photo was taken in 1943. He subseqently (in 1945) also got a RK for singlehandedly taking out 3 Russian tanks. Unfortunately, this was never entered into the official records.

Here is a close up of the medals from that photo.

He still has his medals, but the Order of the Crown is damaged as the center piece is missing. I am planning to replace this medal for him.

Here is his wedding photo.

Some more details from that photo:

And here are both of us taken a couple of months ago.



I hope you enjoyed them.

Erik

Very nice photos, thank you very much for sharing. About the RK for taking out the three Russian tanks, was he awarded the cross before or after May 1945 ? My opinion is that he should at least have the 1957 version, as in the cases of the Kurland cufftitle. Perhaps there is the Soldbuch entry, but not the cross itself. Oh, and does he still has the three TDB ? I would love to see a picture of those three together.

All the best,

Alex

The three tanks were taken out in April 1945 outside of his home town of Breslau. At that time he was under Volksturm command. The three tanks were taken out by Panzerfaust as the Russian forces advanced through the town. The entry was made in the Soldbuch, but unfortunately he has since lost the book. The RK he was given was a EKII on a long ribbon as a RK was not available. He was then given leave and went on vacation to Austria to visit his sister. Before this vacation was over, the war ended. No, he was not given any tank destruction strips for these 3 tanks, even though he should have. He was however awarded a tank destruction strip for taking out a tank in Kherson while in LAH. He was a couple of months later asked to remove this from his uniform as they found out that the tank was already destroyed.

The interesting thing, is while he was in Austria, there was an article in the local paper there about his victory over the 3 tanks where he is named and everything. I have a copy of the article and he still has the original one.

He then went to Italy where he was taken prisoner by the Americans. He managed to escape and went to the Vatican where his wife and himself were given Vatican passports. He then moved to Argentina where he stayed until 1960 when he moved to New York. He is today a U.S. Citizen. He has not had much contact with many other vets since the war, and have not shared his stories until I got in contact with him.

Of interest is also that he was a very close friend of RK w/oakleves holder Heinz Macher. He was able to get in contact with Macher just before his death a few years ago after his wife spotted Macher on a documentary here in the U.S.

Very useful and interesting info. Many thanks Erik. I know for a fact that he is elligible for a RK (1957 version). Perhaps, if he wants, he can make the request through the proper channels, and get it, along with the three TDB (1957 version also). Surely he can prove his claims, as of course there must be some written recordings also in the Bundeswehr archives.

All the best,

Al

Thanks for that Alexei. I have already checked, and the organization that would qualify him for the 57 RK no longer exists. I guess these guys are getting so old and very few are left. At the end I don't think he cares so much, but I would certainly have liked to see it just to get the record straight. But there are many others that never was entered in the last weeks of the war.

I have instead started to record and preserve as much of his history as possible. I have several hours of DVD recordings with him, and spend hours every week going through books as well as his memory. What amazes me is at the age of 87 and after a stroke, 3 wifes and 61 years his mind is so amazingly sharp. But then again, these guys were not regular guys.

He tells me that he was also together with his Rumenian order also given land in Rumenia. He was joking with me and asked what I thought of him going back to claim this.

He further tells me that he was given a Rumenian Ritterkreutz (as he calls it) to wear in the neck. But that he was not allowed to wear it by his commanders. I have not been able to determine what order that would have been as it does not appear on any of his photos, nor does he have in amongthe medals he has left. May be someone else could help me clarify this here? May be he is mixing this up with the Order of the Crown?

Erik

Hi Erik,

I really do not know much about ww2 Romanian orders, but I do know from German sources that the equivalent of the RK in Romanian terms was the Order of Michael the Brave. Known German recipients were:

- Walter von Brauchitsch
- Hermann Göring
- Erich von Manstein
- Gerd von Rundstedt

Perhaps your vet friend is making a confusion, perhaps he is right. With no soldbuch available, we are drawing conclusions based only on his memories.

I will check my LAH files, and see with what I will came up. Could you please PM me with the vet's name ? It will be easier for me to search.

All the best,

Alex

This post has been edited by Alexei2102 on June 21, 2006 07:20 pm

Erik, you have here a list of the German recepients of the Mihai Viteazul Order: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=28244

If he said that the order he received was to be worn around the neck I personally doubt it was the MV Order, because only the 2nd class was worn like this and usually only German generals received it. It was probably the Commander class of the Order of the Romanian Crown, which he already had. This was also worn around the neck.

Victor, am I correct in my understanding that the Order of the Crown can be worn both around the neck and on the chest? Does that mean that what he refers to is actually the medal he is weraing on his chest on the photos?

Erik