bobdina
10-11-2009, 06:50 PM
Son's Search Yields WWII Buddy of Dad's
October 11, 2009
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Karl Duetzmann had been researching his late father's military career for more than a decade when an Internet search led him to the video of a Monroeville man recounting his World War II experiences.
In the video Joseph Mauro, now 89, recounts a story of how his Army jacket got a bullet hole during the Battle of the Bulge. Mauro, who was a tank commander, mentions by name the man who drove his tank.
"He said, 'His name was Hans Duetzmann. We called him Dutch,'" said Karl Duetzmann, 57, of Ansonia, Conn.
Tech Sgt. Hans "Dutch" Duetzmann was Karl Duetzmann's father.
"I let out a big yell and pointed to the ceiling and I said, 'Dad, I found ya,' " he said. "It was an emotional moment, mostly because my dad had died in 1996. Not only was I looking for information about my dad, (but) here, after all these searches, there was a video with this man talking about my dad."
That was about 18 months ago. On Saturday, Duetzmann and Mauro met for the first time at Mauro's home.
Not one for "glamour," Mauro downplayed the meeting, but said he was looking forward to the visit.
"It's really something," said Mauro. "It will be nice to meet the son of one of the guys."
Duetzmann had wanted to talk with his dad about his duties in Germany for years, but by the time the two would have been able to sit down and talk, Hans Duetzmann suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak.
In the video taped by Mauro's grandsons, Mauro, who was a sergeant, said his tank, an M7 105mm self-propelled Howitzer dubbed the "Turtle Creek," pulled over with two other tanks so the soldiers could take a break during the Battle, which raged from December 1944 into January 1945. One man went to retrieve some "souvenirs" from a dead German soldier, Deutzmann recalled.
"But the soldier wasn't dead, and he started firing at the guy coming across the road," Duetzmann recalled. In the gunfire battle that erupted, a bullet grazed Mauro's jacket and another soldier was wounded. Hans Deutzmann volunteered to get the wounded man, Mauro said in the video.
Duetzmann said he planned to share his dad's scrapbook from basic training and hoped to hear more stories about Mauro's and his father's war service.
Mauro and Hans Duetzmann served together in the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division, 73rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion. They went through basic training together at Fort Riley, Kan., in 1942. They were even each awarded a good conduct metal at the same time, Duetzmann's mementos show.
"My dad had been his driver from basic training through action in Europe until the unit was deactivated after D-Day," said Karl Duetzmann. The two soldiers lost touch after that.
"It couldn't get any more miraculous," Duetzmann said. "It's such an amazing crossroads of two families, to find them so many years later by just a random search on the Internet.
October 11, 2009
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Karl Duetzmann had been researching his late father's military career for more than a decade when an Internet search led him to the video of a Monroeville man recounting his World War II experiences.
In the video Joseph Mauro, now 89, recounts a story of how his Army jacket got a bullet hole during the Battle of the Bulge. Mauro, who was a tank commander, mentions by name the man who drove his tank.
"He said, 'His name was Hans Duetzmann. We called him Dutch,'" said Karl Duetzmann, 57, of Ansonia, Conn.
Tech Sgt. Hans "Dutch" Duetzmann was Karl Duetzmann's father.
"I let out a big yell and pointed to the ceiling and I said, 'Dad, I found ya,' " he said. "It was an emotional moment, mostly because my dad had died in 1996. Not only was I looking for information about my dad, (but) here, after all these searches, there was a video with this man talking about my dad."
That was about 18 months ago. On Saturday, Duetzmann and Mauro met for the first time at Mauro's home.
Not one for "glamour," Mauro downplayed the meeting, but said he was looking forward to the visit.
"It's really something," said Mauro. "It will be nice to meet the son of one of the guys."
Duetzmann had wanted to talk with his dad about his duties in Germany for years, but by the time the two would have been able to sit down and talk, Hans Duetzmann suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak.
In the video taped by Mauro's grandsons, Mauro, who was a sergeant, said his tank, an M7 105mm self-propelled Howitzer dubbed the "Turtle Creek," pulled over with two other tanks so the soldiers could take a break during the Battle, which raged from December 1944 into January 1945. One man went to retrieve some "souvenirs" from a dead German soldier, Deutzmann recalled.
"But the soldier wasn't dead, and he started firing at the guy coming across the road," Duetzmann recalled. In the gunfire battle that erupted, a bullet grazed Mauro's jacket and another soldier was wounded. Hans Deutzmann volunteered to get the wounded man, Mauro said in the video.
Duetzmann said he planned to share his dad's scrapbook from basic training and hoped to hear more stories about Mauro's and his father's war service.
Mauro and Hans Duetzmann served together in the U.S. Army's 9th Armored Division, 73rd Armored Field Artillery Battalion. They went through basic training together at Fort Riley, Kan., in 1942. They were even each awarded a good conduct metal at the same time, Duetzmann's mementos show.
"My dad had been his driver from basic training through action in Europe until the unit was deactivated after D-Day," said Karl Duetzmann. The two soldiers lost touch after that.
"It couldn't get any more miraculous," Duetzmann said. "It's such an amazing crossroads of two families, to find them so many years later by just a random search on the Internet.