An interesting A4, single page, document given to me by Herr Engelbert Hoppe (and was given to him by St. Thomass Church in St. Helier), which is the service sheet for the Whitsun service held at the above church on May 28th 1944. It was a Roman Catholic service in German. On the 1st photo (which is the outer cover) there are interesting notes in English, particularly; On this night of Pentecost I experienced my finest bombardment on the Ruhr region :-/ On the inner page there are 2 names on the lower left which have been noted by Engelbert. The first is Ltg. Uffz. Denis: As I passed the bunkers of Resistance Nest L’Oeillière when going between the M19 and Action Post Height 201 I would sometimes chat to the commanding NCO there, an Unteroffizier by the name of Theodor Denis. One night during a sentry between Petit Port and La Pulente, I found an ‘old’ man (40 to 45) from Cologne (he was the former organist of the cathedral there) sitting at the La Pulente entrance to Resistance nest L’Oeillière. He was in tears as he had received news that his home town had been heavily bombed but, thankfully, his family was save and hadn’t been injured. The 2nd name highlighted is Uffz. Richard Gruenewald who is playing the Orgel (Organ): My religious life was mostly private except for once a month when there was a Catholic Sunday Service at the St Brelade’s Bay Soldatenheim, either held by Division Chaplain Quecke or by Father Martin Clar and Father Richard Grünewald who also did Red Cross medical duties as Corporals. They were part of the Oblate Order, OMI and both were 32 years of age and had been leaders of the Catholic youth. To me they were men of the highest regard and exemplary in their belief and attitude. Father Richard was also a wonderful musician, playing the piano, organ and trumpet. Occasionally, we would meet in groups of Catholics at the Soldatenheim with one of the Red Cross nurses calling us the ‘black corner’. I once overheard a nurse saying to her colleague while pointing at Fathers Richard and Martin, ‘Look at these two handsome and good looking Corporals. Would you imagine them being in a monastery!’ I thought her to be rather keen on them. It was always a highlight walking or riding by bike to St. Brelade’s Bay and the Soldatenheim, but it didn’t happen to often.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:57:37 +0000
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