Three WWII era American sailors. RPPC. Private Collection.
Did he lose his front tooth banging into something on the ship? Or maybe he lost it less heroically at a port tavern… :) (I recall having somewhat of the same conversation about another picture in this collection!).
A very handsome trio though. They’re covering the backdrop, only a few flying birds showing by Johnny’s face.
RPPC: EKC 1939-1950
Handsome WWII German sailor. Kriegsmarine Heribert. Bremen 1943. RPPC. Private Collection.
Smiling Heribert could have been an actor. He certainly had the striking good looks. But unfortunately he was a submariner serving under Hitler. Posting a picture of a German military guy from WWII is always an icky affair for some, but not for me.
The Kriegsmarine crews manned U-boats. Those submarines earned the nickname of “iron coffins”.
By war’s end, 28,000 out of 39,000 German sailors had died at sea. That’s 3 out of 4 wiped out, the highest casualty rate of all German forces. They did considerable damage to Allied forces too: 3,000 Allied ships (175 warships; 2,825 merchant ships) were sunk by U-boat torpedoes. The numbers are staggering on both sides.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once wrote “The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.”
But let’s come back to Heribert.
Without a last name there is no way of knowing if he made it through to the end or not, but the statistics are against him. Most German mariner casualties happened in the second half of the war when Allied technology advanced enough to effectively counteract their offensive.
[…] Memory / from Your Friend. Heribert. The other half of the postcard is blank.
There is no address and the postcard wasn’t posted, This was a picture he gave or left behind for his friend to find.
Photographer: Kunstfoto A. Klein. Kiel, Holstenstr. 104. Germany.
A (long) note to the casual reader:
I do not support racism, intolerance or other extreme views.
I have American, Russian and British soldiers who fought the same war in this collection. And while I understand the knee-jerk reaction of demonizing anyone who wore the Nazi uniform I like to dig beyond the surface.
I don’t see the world strictly in black and white terms and believe your average drafted WWII German soldier, sailor and pilot began the war for family and country but ended it disillusioned and horrified. They did what every soldier does in wartime: go on missions and hope they and their friends survived it to see another day. The alternative for the Germans was execution.
By the second half of the war 100,000 of the German military took the risk and deserted, 25,000 of them got caught and executed, and tens of thousands more ended up in concentration camps or “punishment battalions” where they were made to do the most hazardous tasks. By comparison, only one American soldier got executed for desertion, Eddie Slovik.
With all this said the SS and gestapo’s horrifying war crimes were deliberate and absolutely inexcusable in any way; you won’t find any of them on this blog.
“I was a good soldier. I see today that because of that, I was merely a good tool for an unbelievably criminal regime.” Heinz Otto Fausten. WWII German infantry veteran.
This quote is from an insightful article worth a read: A Son’s Quest For The Truth: The Last Battle of a German WWII Veteran
Smiling WWII soldier. RPPC. Private Collection.
This soldier with the wide smile is surrounded by a crowd of one man in pork pie hat and four women (in the shot -looks like there were more people including the photographer). Were they congratulating him, showering him with thanks? We will never know, but what we know is he ate up all this attention! (With his eyes on the brunette closest to him.)
The soldier’s wearing a Brodie helmet -with the camouflage net which was a lot less common. Those helmets were issued for both world wars but to the British, Australian, Canadian, New Zealander and South African troops during the second. Americans wore the more rounded, iconic M1.
RPPC: Divided back.
Sam on the right with his unit, Vietnamese children and women.
I said it before, I’ll make a few timeline exceptions for family and when the pictures are worth sharing. Yet these are still vintage and Sam was brave. Samuel Parker isn’t blood related but he was a medic in my husband’s regiment, and as such he is my husband’s brother.
I told him I collect vintage pictures of gents and have this blog I then showed him. He smiled and said “I wasn’t too bad once upon a time. I have pictures if you want.” Of course I didn’t refuse the offer. He gave me copies of pictures from the Vietnam war in 1968 and these are great. Sam was 17 when he enlisted so he was 18 on the pictures.
I warned him: “Heh, you know I’m going to scan these and put them on my blog!” I was only half joking but he replied, “Put me on it then!” to which my husband had a chuckle, turned to me and said “Oh, here we go!”
I told Sam he’s off my timeline by eight years but “yes I will! Just know you’ll get into wordpress and tumblr jungle this time!” He got giddy!
Sam has a passion for horses. After the war he dedicated the next decades of his life to them.
5″ x 4″ portrait of 1940s sailor. Private Collection.
Well, what have we here, a cute as a button American sailor in white crackerjacks with the square knot neckerchief and dixie cup hat? Why, yes!
I guessed this one to be from the 40s by the style of picture portrait. The truth is this uniform is still to this day a service whites. This enlisted sailor could be from the 50s too, but I don’t see this picture to be more recent.
A little interesting factoid: sailors have a tradition of placing a coin in the center of the Neckerchief knot so if they get lost at sea they will have money to pay the ferryman across the river Styx.
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I have this feeling a good section of my tumblr followers will especially appreciate this one. ;)~
Bowlers And High Collars 