German WW1 Vet living in the US.

[maxstiebritz]

WW1 vet here fought for Germany

By Harry Levins - 11/11/06

WW1 German vet in the US story...

On this Veterans Day, consider that rarest of veterans, Walter Heiman of University City.

First, he?s 105 years old and a World War I veteran.

Second, in WWI, he wore the field-gray uniform of the German army.

Heiman is Jewish. He fled from Nazi Germany in 1938. "All I had when I left was $25 and a pregnant wife," he says.

From 1938-41, Heiman lived a hardscrabble life in Chicago. He moved to St. Louis in 1941. Starting from scratch, he built a career as a purveyor of electrical supplies. In the ?50s, he moved to Olivette, where he and his wife, Trude, reared two children.

Shortly after Trude Heiman died in 1994, Walter Heiman moved to University City, to The Gatesworth, the complex for the elderly. There, he says, he?s the sole WWI vet, from either side.

Heiman was born on March 12, 1901, in Essen, Germany. He was 13 when Germany marched off to war. As soon as Heiman finished high school in March 1918, he enlisted, a 17-year-old private.

He wanted to fly, as an observer in the back seat of a warplane. The army sent him off for training to an air base in Hanover. But Heiman?s flight career never got off the ground. He says, "My training hadn?t finished when revolution broke out on Nov. 9. Then the Kaiser fled, and everybody was on his own, and I went home."

As the German war effort collapsed, so did support for Kaiser Wilhelm?s regime. A revolutionary republic was proclaimed on Nov. 9, 1918. The Kaiser fled to the Netherlands on Nov. 10. On Nov. 11 " 88 years ago today" an armistice ended the war.

By then, Heiman was back home in Essen. Soon, the French army occupied the city. Heiman wanted to go to college. But even before the Nazis rose to power, anti-Semitism pervaded Germany. "They had a law that only one member of a Jewish family could be in college," Heiman says, "and my brother Kurt was already there."

Like Walter Heiman, Kurt Heiman had served in the German army. Unlike the younger Walter, Kurt Heiman saw combat and was wounded, in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He never fully recovered from his wounds and died in 1920.

By then, Walter Heiman was an apprentice in the grain distribution business. In 1926, he started his own grain business in Essen. He got married on the last day of 1935. Three years later, he made up his mind to leave Nazi Germany. Thanks to relatives in Chicago, he had a place to go.

The Nazis seized all of Heiman?s assets. He said farewell to his parents, his in-laws and his older sister, Lily. He would never see them again. They all perished in the Holocaust.

In Chicago, Heiman learned English, thanks to night school and a small radio. He wanted to become a U.S. citizen. "But that was delayed until 1945," he says. He adds with a sardonic smile, "I was considered an enemy alien."

His son John was born shortly after the couple arrived in the United States. A daughter, Shirley, followed. Today, both live in Creve Coeur.

Shirley Heiman is on hand to help her father cope with an interview. "He?s hard of hearing," she says, "but he?s really quite sharp." Indeed, with only momentary pauses, Heiman can retrieve long-ago names, dates and places.

But one memory he skirts is his service as a German soldier. "Anything that had to do with the army, I want to forget," he says. "I have very bad memories."

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Max

Not meaning to downgrade the event, but can Mr. Walter Heiman really be called a WW1 Veteran?

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...64?OpenDocument

"Walter Heiman, of University City, reads the newspaper headlines with a magnifying glass. Heiman ,105, fought in WWI as a member of the German Air Force. He recalls fleeing Nazi persecution of Jews like himself and pursuing life in the United States.

(Noah Devereaux/P-D).

According to the story he was "in training" and "He wanted to fly, as an observer in the back seat of a warplane. The army sent him off for training to an air base in Hanover. But Heiman?s flight career never got off the ground. He says, ?My training hadn?t finished when revolution broke out on Nov. 9. Then the Kaiser fled, and everybody was on his own, and I went home.?

Strange, where he he himself states:But one memory he skirts is his service as a German soldier. ?Anything that had to do with the army, I want to forget,? he says. ?I have very bad memories.?

Yeah war is hell when you are on a training course

So at the most he could be described as a Non-Combatant or just a militray student on a course back in Germany, there is no evidence he fought anywhere, or that he set foot out of Germany during WW1.

Kevin in Deva

[maxstiebritz]

Hallo Max

Not meaning to downgrade the event, but can Mr. Walter Heiman really be called a WW1 Veteran?

Strange, where he he himself states: But one memory he skirts is his service as a German soldier. ?Anything that had to do with the army, I want to forget,? he says. ?I have very bad memories.?

Yeah war is hell when you are on a training course

So at the most he could be described as a Non-Combatant or just a militray student on a course back in Germany, there is no evidence he fought anywhere, or that he set foot out of Germany during WW1.

Kevin in Deva

Kevin, It's not my story I just help the news along - but I have a few thoughts along and about the same idealogy - The Landsturm or Landwehr Soldat guarding a train station or bridge - never firing a shot but still can be considered a "WW1 veteran."

There is a lady in Maryland who is 106 years old, She is the last female WW1 Veteran - She was a Yoeman but I could never say she was or is not a veteran because she did not see combat...

In modern terms another note: A soldier who sits off the coast in a "Gator" ship waiting to be deployed in the last Gulf War can still be considered a veteran of the "Gulf Wars" but never saw combat...at least in the eyes of the US military

As for his memories, I can't say what he saw and what he did not. How many friends or realitives were lost. How many were disfigured or how many came back out of their minds.

Just a humble observation,

Thanks for your comments!

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Max,

perhaps the real fault lies with the newspaper reporter after all they used the words:

"fought in WWI as a member of the German Air Force." and then go on to describe how he never finished his training.

They seem to have taken the story out of proportion.

As for members of the Landwehr many of them probably could count more time in service than, Mr. Heiman, who haveing joined up in March 1918 had less than 9 months service.

I wonder did Mr. Heiman rate a mention in the newspaper on his 100th , 101st, 102nd, 103rd and 104th birthday's

Hopefully he will be around for a good few more.

Kevin in Deva.

[coastie]

"A rose by any other name is a rose". Likewise anyone who is a member of a military organization of a state is a veteran.

[Guest Rick Research]

We just lost a veteran here at 106. He was aboard ship in the harbor waiting to ship out for France on Armistice Day.

In uniform was in uniform. (Remember: for many of these soldiers the influenza pandemic of 1918/19 was deadlier than enemy fire!)

BTW, the old boy felt ashamed that he had not done his duty and re-enlisted--and fought--in the SECOND world war.

There is absolutely no danger whatsoever of our generation ever being called the greatest.

[Daniel Murphy]

In uniform was in uniform.

Agreed. He was in uniform and is as much a WW1 veteran, as a stateside US soldier that never even saw a boat. He had completed his "boot camp" and was an active service soldier getting his specialized training. My maternal grandfather who was drafted and reported for duty on November 11, 1918, is not a veteran of WW1. He was told to go back home. Off topic, but I never got to meet my Dad's father. He died in 1941 (when my dad was 13 years old) due to complications from being gassed in WW1. He WAS a veteran.

Dan

Edited December 12, 2006 by Daniel Murphy