The "Mike on a bike" photo from WWII

There are times when Larry or I'll flip thru our online files or scroll down the blog and see something that brings up a question, which, knowing us, NEEDS to be investigated. Besides, we've found that it's worthwhile to re-visit stuff since there seems to be new info and pics online every week.  Like this, for instance:

The red tag is Dessau .

 We were talking about the picture (we've posted before) of dad on a flat-tired motorcycle in Dessau, Germany, in April 1945.  Larry'd found a pic of a German officer in a similar pose, also in Dessau, in 1945.  We started comparing the bikes, the setting and the two men.  No its not the same bike or the same building, but look, there are similarities, like the stone window sill above their heads and the position of the motorcycles and how much you can see of them.  The officer seems resigned to the war's end (and defeat), while dad looks jubilant and cocky. Too bad--he had 8 more months before he was discharged.

 I think this morning was the first time I saw dad's gun propped against the wall, too. 

An incredible connection

Our world is truly amazing.  Probably 2 years ago, Larry found an online collection of WWII photos...(talking about it this morning, we seem to recall that it was online only temporarily in a bid to sell original photos)...and one was labeled, in German,  "Frau Hesch surveys the destruction..."  Both our memories are fuzzy on this tho.

Anyway, now, there's something called TINEYE, that will find other places online where your photo appeared.

Larry took this picture and ran it thru tineye, and found THESE results, the cover of a book available on Amazon.  (The first link there has to be where we first saw the photo).  WOW.

I would love to find that street again...was it Berlin?

More about Eddie!

Dessau, Germany, April 1945

Remember this photo of dad (Mike Hesch)? Yesterday, Larry saw a clip on YouTube from a movie called "Band of Brothers". It's a scene where American troops first realize what German "work camps" were.

Dessau was a town near the boarder with Russia, and at the end of the war, it became a displaced persons camp from which people were sent "home".

Here's what Larry said:

"...in the town your dad was stationed in where he poses with the bike? They had a camp there.
A unique thing happen: (the Americans) brought in the local citizens who lived nearby and made them see what was going on in the camp, as if to ask "didn't you know this was going on?"
Whew...they must have known, but objecting would have jeopardized their own lives...

No wonder he/they never talked about the war.

More about Schmolkes...

I don't know why we keep encountering the Schmolke name online--I don't think theres a Hesch relationship involved--but as an 'old' family in Buckman, they're part of the story. Also, I suspect MR. RESEARCH googled the name...lol
This feel-good news photo was from 1945. Army nurses celebrating a birthday. The woman on the left is Cecelia Schmolke, daughter of John Schmolke, from Buckman, Minnesota. Pretty cool, huh?
But then....Larry found this tragic ending. From 3 March, 1945...Dinjan, India...the C-47 cargo plane she was in was "attempting to land, made a low turn and crashed".

Those who died are listed here...

Of the birthday photo women, Cecelia Schmolke and Margie Camper died in the crash.

How odd to feel sad about something that happened 64 years ago to people I didn't know...

Mike on a Bike (in Germany)