Drinking Beer With a German Survivor of Normandy

Last week, I stopped in at the Phoenix Club bar in Anaheim  for a couple of beers after attending an Angels game. The Phoenix Club is a German cultural location. They hold an Oktoberfest every year and many other German attractions. I enjoy the pub because they feature nice German music on the weekends and their draft beers are close to the real thing in Germany.  They usually feature Bitburger, Dinkelacker Oktoberfest, Veltins, Koestritzer and Spaten. On this occasion, I was able to add to my collection of German beer glasses buying a .5 liter glass from the Bayreuther Bierbrauerei.

On my previous visit, I had exchanged pleasantries with an elderly German named Karl. He is a regular and comes in with his German hat and German shorts. On this occasion, last week, however he was present with an American couple with whom he participates in a German dance club. Aside from speaking German with Karl, I also talked a lot about Germany with the American. He informed me that Karl had been a German soldier at the Normandy landing at Omaha Beach. He gave copies of  a couple of pages taken from a book entitled, Normandiefront: D-Day to Saint Lo Though German Eyes. One page had the cover and the other photographs of three German soldiers who were at Normandy on June 6, 1944. One of them was our friend Karl. He is pictured at the bottom of the page. Karl showed me the leg wounds he had received at Normandy. One of the other soldiers was killed and one taken prisoner at some point by the British.

As one who has visited Normandy, I urge every American to visit it if in France. It can only reinforce your pride as an American. It is such an experience that I was fascinated by Karl. He was 18 years old at the time and did not want to be there. He gladly signed the page beside his picture for me. I hope the reader will not take it the wrong way when I say I am happy that Karl survived that day in 1944. Today Karl is 92 years old. Of course I mean no disrespect and I do not forget that the Americans, Brits and Canadians who died that day never had the chance to live until a ripe old age.

What a horrible war.