Helmut Schmidt

[IrishGunner]

Another of the post-war icons has passed away.  When people ask who you would like to have a dinner with, Helmut Schmidt would be on my list.  He took West Germany through some very difficult and complex times.  Reading his obituary in the NY Times this evening, I never knew he had been in the Luftwaffe and earned the Iron Cross.  Politics aside, this is a man who's life reads like a history book.

I wonder, has did any other post-WWII German Chancellor earn the Iron Cross?

Best photo I could find...  No EK...

(Source: spiegel.de)

[turtle]

Here´s  his wedding picture:

(Source: derwesten.de)

 

 

Ludwig Erhard, chancellor from 1963-1966, served 1916-1918 with an artillery unit on the western front, was severely wounded and promoted to Unteroffizier. He received the Bayrisches Militärverdienstkreuz III. Klasse mit Schwertern

 

Edited November 11, 2015 by turtle

[ixhs]

RIP Hauptmann Schmidt.

Hope, over there, there are also some of you favourite Reyno menthol cigaretts.

Richard von Weizäcker had also some WW2 awards.

 

Edited November 11, 2015 by ixhs

[paul wood]

I suspect the doctors will, despite him being 96, put him down as a smoking related death.

Paul

[The Prussian]

Mr. Schmidt stopped smoking in september 2015.

[Chris Boonzaier]

5 hours ago, The Prussian said:

Mr. Schmidt stopped smoking in september 2015.

Thats probably what did him in!

[Les]

"Mr. Schmidt stopped smoking in september 2015."

If he was using supplied oxygen, smoking in a O2 tent, or even around a tank, could have killed him and possibly others in a flash fire.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Les
typo