A series of post-WWII negatives from the 82nd Airborne Division is keeping me busy at the V700 Scanner! Nearly 200 superb images of life in and around Fort Bragg in the years between 1943 and 1948 keep me clicking the SCAN button. These photos were taken in a downtown Fayetteville diner in 1947. Love the stereotypical activity in the background. Check out the prices on the sandwiches – Twenty cents? WHAT? Also, apparently everyone drank coffee upside down in the 1940s……………….
Today’s post comes from a loyal PortraitsofWar follower from the Netherlands. He recently stumbled across a single snapshot at a Dutch flea market and did some savvy investigative work to tease out the historical significance. Thanks Werner!
Wartime German Snapshot of the Graves
Begraafplaats Engelse Vliegeniers
By: Werner Peters
Here we have a photo taken by a German soldier depicting the graves of three Allied airmen who lost their lives in the skies over Germany. These soldiers were likely recovered from their crashed plane and buried with full military honors by their German adversaries. A Nazi laurel wreath can be seen in the left corner of the photo.
At the time, two of the airmen could be positively identified by the Germans; one body was unidentifiable. One the left side of the burial plot lies Mr.Hammond whose RAF identification number was 562535RAF. On the right side of the grave lies J. MCI. Cameron, Offr res 24225RAF. The middle marker merely says , Engl. Flieger(English Airman). On all three grave posts is written “Hier ruht ein Engl. Flieger – im luftkampf gefallen 28.9.1939 Vorden” – which translates as “here rests an English airman who died in aerial combat on 28.9.1939 Vorden(?)”.
With a little research it turns out that this crew belonged to the 110th RAF squadron. They were flying a Bristol Blenheim type IV, number N6212 which crashed on September 28th, 1939 during a recon mission over Munster in the neighborhood of Kiel, Germany. They were shot down by a German pilot named Klaus Faber, a feldwebel of the Ersten Abiteilung. Jagdgeschwader Eins (1st Section of the 1st Fighter Group).
It turns out that the man buried on the right is wing commander Ivan McLoed Cameron, an Australian who, in fact, is the first Australian to die in action during WWII. The man to the left is Thomas Cecil Hammond, an Irishman. The last grave belongs to Thomas Fullerton.
For more information regarding the crash, please check out the following website: http://ww2chat.com/biographies/5839-raf-australians-wing-commander-ivan-mcleod-cameron.html
After researching the photograph, Werner visited the current grave site in Kleve, Germany where the three men were reburied after the war. He snapped some great photos and generously allowed for them to be posted here at PortraitsofWar.
Thanks Werner!
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery Gates
The Three Graves
Cameron's Headstone
Fullerton
Hammond
| The discovery of a photo and clipping from a Massachusetts flea market yields a wealth of interesting material related to the last hours of Captain Chester Coggeshall’s life. A sad story, but one that deserves to be told. Captain Coggeshall was born and raised on Cape Cod (Hyannis) and entered the war after attending Barnstable High School. He flew two tours in the ETO, the first with a P-38 (pictured below) and a P-51. His final mission of the war ended in his tragic murder. Please read below for more details.
343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group. From Find A Grave Contributer #47444799 Entered service from Hyannis, Massachusetts After action report from his wingman: A postwar inquiry found that Capt. Coggeshall had been executed by the mayor of the town of Freilassing, Germany. After being denied medical care, he was taken to a wooded area outside of the town and shot twice in the head by Burgermeister August Korbus. This was done by the civilian authorities of the town over the objections of German Army medical personnel. The two Nazi party officials responsible were tried and sentenced to death by a U.S. Military Court. |
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| Burial: Long Island National Cemetery Farmingdale Suffolk County New York, USA Plot: J, 15558 |
Chester and his P-38
An amazing oral history account of the story of Captain Coggeshall:
Snapped by a member of the 16th Infantry Regiment towards the tail end of the war near Falkenau, Czechoslovakia, the following pair of photos gives a brief glimpse of some of the encounters made by US infantry troops during the closing period of the war. In this instance, a German soldier dressed in civilian garb was shot in the leg with an M1 while attempting to run away from the concentration camp near Falkenau. Luckily for him, a medic is standing in the left center of the image.
The myriad of uniform variations and service branches in the following images is a reminder of the chaotic nature of the late war in Germany. A member of the 9th Armored Division snapped a series of two dozen images of captured German soldiers. I’ve chosen a small selection to share here. These medium format negatives scan with great quality.
These young German soldiers, likely taken directly from the rank of a local Hitler Youth group, were captured somewhere outside of Leipzig Germany in May of 1945. The recent discovery of a 600+ negative grouping from a chaplain in the 9th armored division yielded this yielded this gem of an image. The emotion and raw sadness of the war can be seen in the eyes of the boy smoking the cigarette in the left side of the photo. They can’t be more than eight or nine years old.
A nice grouping of 150+ color slides taken in Germany during the 3rd Army occupation in late 1945. Enjoy the vibrant colors of Germany!
German POW Camp
Caught in the act of painting!
We here at Portraits of War have spent countless hours scanning and editing the photographic work of Alva, but have neglected to post a series of photos relating to what he looked like while stationed at Kennishall nearly 70 years ago. I hope you enjoy seeing the face of the man responsible for recording the everyday activities around Knettishall.
Portraits of War 