bob lembke

One of the hospitals my father was in in 1917 was in a beer-brewing town in Bavaria, a town with 16 export breweries. In each ward there sat a tapped keg of beer. The head nurse in my father's ward was a big nun, and, having nothing better to do, pop kept track of how much beer she drank in a day's shift. 16 liters, or four gallons and one quart. And the sisters had lunch in a separate dining hall, and it would be hard to believe that she took her lunch dry. One mug at lunch, and we are topping four gallons, two quarts.

I await, with bated breath, any feedback stating if I have breached any standards of propriety, or if such standards exist. Other tales come to mind. I don't know how many of the forum's participants are sons or daughters of Great War combat veterans, and can pass along direct "hand me down" anecdotes of life in the Great War. Most of my father's candid anecdotes about social life in his youth (at war) were at his own expense, the perplexities and even terror of interactions with much more experienced women. And after the war, with so many men dead or seriously disabled, sometimes the social s

Well, the topic has been breeched, a bit. I have at least two stories about sex and military hospitals that are worth repeating. First the milder, perhaps. My father spent much of 1917 in and out of military hospitals, which probably saved his life. He had a severe arm wound suffered on Dead Man's Hill (Morte Homme) at Verdun in December 1916, which was infected for a great while and which spit bone for over 10 years. He was in a variety of hospitals with different types of nurses, sometimes nuns. One was staffed by "society lady" volunteers, women of the local upper class. After the

No, these are anecdotes my father told me. I was treated as a little adult, and sex stuff was mentioned to me. Some of the incidents occurred in hospital, he spent a lot of the war in hospitals. Since I never see such matters discussed, I may stay away from the topic. A while ago I was put on trial at another forum for insulting the majesty of the US, or something like that. I might send Kenneth a PM.

Kenneth; How to put this delicately? One aspect of my father's recollections of his WW I medical experiences, which he told me when I was a young lad, might be filed under "Sex in the Hospital". Should I go further? I have been active on a few military fora for over 10 years (on another forum I have over 4000 posts), and can't ever recall anyone mentioning the topic of sex. Bob

Chris; Are you suggesting that you have them? I just want to concoct a suitable formal bibliographical citation. Perhaps: "Lieutenant, RIR 16, Personal war diaries. As posted online at ?????." I agree, with a lot of "elbow grease" one might be able to figure out who he was, using a variety of sources, of course including a regimental history if one was written. I for one don't have the time to do so. Bob

Kenneth; An interesting aspect of the topic of Great War medical care is what I understand was the absolutely awful state of French medical care. (Here, again, I am working from memory on topics examined years ago.) I think that there is objective statistical evidence; I think that the rate of wounded French soldiers dying of their wounds was extremely high; I even think I remember an improbable statistic like three times the rate of well-set up medical services like Germany and the UK. An interesting side to this is a study of medical practice within Paris when besieged by the Germa

Chris; Could you say a bit more about the provenance of the diary, or to put it a bit differently, could you aid me with a suggested source citation? Were the diaries found somewhere, so that the author was not known? (Usually a diary might come thru the family and therefore the author is known.) I read thru it and found a few mentions of topics that I have interest in and wish to enter the data points into my timelines. Thanks for bringing the interesting account to our attention. Bob

I have many letters written by my father during WW I, and one or two of them mention him getting a rail pass and traveling to get an X-ray for an arm wound suffered at Verdun which troubled him for over ten years. This is from memory, and I cannot remember if he mentioned precisely where he went for the X-ray. He lay in no-man's land for three days before being recovered, and he had a bad wound in the back of his left arm whose recurrent infection kept him in and out of hospitals for most of 1917. His Militaerpass has the evaluation "fit for combat, but not Flammenwerfer", so he spent the war

Hi; Did he include his first name, or at least his first initial? My eyes are suffering at this hour. I used to get material from the German Postal Collectors' Society. (Not sure about the exact name.) Heard about books compiled that for different times over the war gives a correlation between Feldpost Stationen Nummern and various dates with the units, say divisions, where the post stations were located and served. Got to go to bed, about to fall over. My Father was Pion. Georg Lembke; served in 2nd Komp. late 1916, badly wounded, for a while associated with 2.

Hello, Preuss! I have been away from my WK I studies for about three years, and I have completed my assignment (building six gorgeous kitchens), and now am coming back. The name Leutnant Hornung seems familiar. When my father was with 2 Komp. they were stationed in Stenay-sur-Meuse, and the Crown Prince often dropped into the company (he and his father were patrons, with money as well as with influence), at least once with his father. (I had beer and pizza a while ago with Prince Fritz of Preuss, and told him a very amusing story about the visit of his grand-father and great-grand-father

Prussian; I have quite a bit of information that should answer many of those questions, as I have accumulated, over 15 years, data on most of the Flammenwerfer engagements of the G=R=P=R during the war, often including the unit they were attacking with or supporting. My father joined the Regiment in the second half of 1916, joining the 2nd Komp., the one company remaining at Verdun, most of the companies had gone north to the Battle of the Somme. (My father wrote that he was delighted to not have gotten into that mess. I think that in the first half of 1916 the 2. Komp. did more fig

Hi, Robin; Pardon my caution, but the placement of the badge on the pocket seems odd and impractical. Was it pinned to the flap? To the pocket? could the pocket open? In the real world, I would think that a real person would pin it to the middle of the pocket. The image stands out so vividly. It could easily be superimposed by a Photoshop artist, which might explain the awkward placement in the real world. Is the photo being sold? Is it an original or a modern copy? Is that another TK on the cap? If so, it seems authentic, but not dramatic. Bob Lembke