... an old photo found in my father-in-law's files taken somewhere in Russia in 1942. This is obviously a temporary military gravesite and the fallen German soldier was 22-yr old Karl Heinz Lehnert. The inscription shows his date of birth as 6/6/1920 and his date of death as 12/9/1942.
... My father-in-law was a Private in the German Army and lost a leg in a battle near Riga, Poland. After the war, he became a noted architect and spent much of his remaining years restoring old churches throughout southern Germany.
... Even though I enjoyed a 22-yr military career in the US Army, as I creep (rush?) into old age, I'm beginning to see the futility of it all. So many young men then and now ... perhaps wasted.
