WWII Reminscences: Peter Ertel
Peter Ertel was born in Keil Germany on March 5, 1917. He was 95 at the time of this recording. At the out break of WWI, he was forced into the German army. The key word is forced. His unit the Combat Engineering Battalion of the 7th Bavarian Division fought at the blitzkrieg in France and was then sent to take part in the attack on Russia. Peter will describe his experience on the Russian front as a living hell. Yet, he survived and from 1941 to the beginning of 1944, God’s plan for his survival saw him miraculously transferred to Normandy. There he became a prisoner of war by the Americans. He was sent to a POW camp in Aliceville, Alabama. He returned to the U.S. in 1953 with his wife and two sons (a third was added in 1962), received his U.S. citizenship.
“The only job to do in this war of insanity was to save the lives of others and of course, one’s own life…. The little unnamed and unremembered acts of kindness we do will fill the bottom of the ocean of our lives as a treasure that will never perish.” Peter Ertel
