In the past week my father-in-law, Ernest Klingenberg, passed away. He will be greatly missed as he was a truly grand fellow. I had always wished that he had stopped to write an autobiography as it would have been one heck of a read. He was a child-soldier under the Nazis, a displaced person after the war ended, he emigrated to Canada and eventually the US where he became a citizen, joined the Army to opposed the hated Reds and retired as a Command Sergeant-Major of the Army after twenty-seven years of service. Along the way he fell in love with my mother-in-law and was father to three children, one of whom is my lovely wife.
We wargamers often push our toy soldiers around with little consideration to the fact that they are supposed to represent REAL men, men like my father-in-law. People with real lives. It made me stop and think a bit.
Vaya Con Dios, Ernie. We will miss you.
It would have been a fascinating read I'm sure, if he'd been able to put those early memories down on paper...
ReplyDeleteSorry to here about your father in law passing. He sounded like a great American. I bet he had some great stories.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your family's loss.
ReplyDeleteBoth my ownand my wife's family have many stories of the war years that have not been recorded anywhere.