Knights Cross Recipients Who Are Still Living

Keep in mind that responding to letters may not be these men's first priority. Some are quite considerate and are happy to devote their time to those interested, but others only respond when they have nothing more pressing to do. I wouldn't harass them -- if they are not interested in the first place, they probably won't be even if you send them multiple letters. On the other hand, if they are interested and just don't have time to reply, sending more request will likely serve only to annoy them. As Erich said, patience is a virtue. Just sit it out and see what happens. If you don't hear back, you are only out 5 bucks. These men are in their late 80s and 90s (some are even over 100), we should be respectable in our correspondences.

 

I stand corrected. You are right, multiple letters would probably serve to annoy these men.

 

I will post a few pictures of the ones I have framed sometime next week

 

Okay, good advice. I suppose Sverige is different, maybe they are busy and will send the photos back later. Thanks.

 

*everyone

 

Well said , please remember also that many of those who are fit enough may well be on holiday at this time of year and as Alan says at 90 years old their priorities may not be replying to your letter which will almost certainly with the likes of Fritz Langanke will be one of dozens he recieves every week so show a little patience !!!! Many are ill or are suffering from illness and old age and are frequently in and out of hospital and many of them cannot be bothered to reply to collectors or stopped long ago due to rude collectors demanding this that and the other , offering to buy their awards , documents et al.

Many do not like signing photos that are then sold on e bay and others including hogh profile cases such as Erich Topp , Willi Bitrich etc have had all their awards stolen by robbers masquerading as collectors !!

For the members here who know me i am a member of the Odr and have corresponded with or met over 800 RKT's , some of whom rely quickly , some of whom won't reply at all and some of whom due to many different circumstances may take many months to reply , i have had letters after a year from some !!!

regards

Paul

 

If Heder replies which he doesn't always he is notoriously slow , even at his age he is a busy, active guy !!

 

All good point Paul. I make sure to let them know that these will not be sold on ebay or on any other site. They are for a continuation of my passion for WW2 German history and a way to pass that passion onto my son who has also caught the bug. I have found that they are very pleased that a 17 year old would be as interested in them and thier lives. When I was in Germany, I found that most young people wanted nothing to do with that period in German history and knew very lttle about it. I was an exchange student and the fathers of several in my group were veterans. I spent three months in Munich when I was 18 and when these men learned of my interest, they invited me to play a weekly poker game with them. They were absolutly thrilled that someone my age was interested in the history that they lived since thier own children seemed not to care to talk about it.
By the way anyone who would ask for an award of anything else like that from these vets should have his/her head examined

 

Okay, Herr samatreiter replied. Nw I'm just waiting for Herr langanke...by the way, has anyone contacted Soren kam? I just sent him some photos. Wll scan and post if I receive a reply.

 

VonKoenigsberg> I have sent you a couple of PM's. Could you check them or provide an email address I can contact you with.


Greg

 

I just received a reply from none other than Soren Kam! He wrote on the photos, "fuer Adam, mit hertze gruessen!" how cool is that? What a nice guy. Patience is a virtue when writing these veterans, I suppose.

 

Please check out List of living Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For information on almost all known living knights cross recipients. I spent a lot of time working on it. Before I started editing that wikipedia page, there was only 37 names. Now there are 125 and counting. Please add to it if you see someone missing.

 

Thanks for sharing the info with us and glad you got Soren Kam's signed picture!

 

Here are the framed pics we have received

 

Ok can someone help me post pics

 

congrats on obtaining Soren's sig personalized to you ...........

just a note about your listing of recipients please check and you probably are aware of the living RK's on WAF so that is an excellent base plus LW ace A. Benning has not corresponded with anyone not even his own Kameraden of JG 301 for years, I tired already as well. the JG 301 wiki link is full of errors as well as a side notation......I'll be correcting much of that later in a dual volume

 

I received a package today and it contained a very nice signed picture card from Walter Bohm. I also received a letter from one of his children indicating that Herr Bohm is in a retirement home and is ill. They did say that he was able to sign the card but not to write a personal letter. Sad to hear that he is ill.

 

Came home to a surprise today. Two return packages from Germany. I got back autographs from Hans Ekkerd Bob and they were all three pics I sent, signed. Then I opened the second one and found that I hit the mother load. Dr Alfred Regeniter returned my pics signed and enclosed 10 pictures of his, also signed. He also put in a unit history, maps (with adavnce and retreat arrows) as well as descriptions of each battle on the back. He also drew four drawing s on how to ambush each type of Soviet tank and where to hit them to kill them.
WOW!!!

 

Nice to hear you got the signed pic. Not so nice that Herr Bohm is ill...

 

Got autographs back from Fritz Langanke and Walter Fasel! Nice guys, langanke even wrote me a letter back.