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Sunday, 18 March, 1945 – Monday, 19 March, 1945

Sunday, 18 March [1945] Obern, Germany
Up at 0600, spent morning on reconnaissance of new position. Returned at noon, supervised the loading of Btry HQRS and was ready to move at 1400. We moved a distance of about 7 miles and landed in a veritable paradise. Our new location is a pleasant, seemingly peaceful, valley which wears the placid, blue, Moselle as a ribbon in its hair.¹ The Huge, sloping hills which form the walls of our hideaway are terraced and planted with vineyards for as far and as high as the eye can see. The higher hills are as pedestals for the huge medieval fortresses which adorn them. I have read of such places but never hoped to see them. Every cellar is a tribute to the productivity of both the soil and the people. They are invariably well stocked with potatoes, apples and wine (especially wine). It isn’t bad. We have taken Coblentz and probably in a day or two we will move our C.P. to a spot overlooking the Rhine. Our C.P. was evidently some big Party Member in good standing. Huge homes, beautiful garden, modern plumbing and a well provisioned cellar. I had a real bath last night. The first for a long time. Except for a few snipers we have had no activity. I hit the sack at 2300.

Monday, 19 March [1945] Obern, Germany
Up at 0600. Washed and had breakfast by 0800. We move within a mile of the Rhine tomorrow. From now on we live only in the field. (A health measure). The B.C. and I went to within sight of the Rhine in search of a good C.P. location. We formally [continued on next page]

Inserts

A post-war letter written to Donald (Tom) Ford from Dr. Ernst Waldemar Ittershagen of Frankfurt,Germany, dated 13 November 1947. The letter was written in response to a letter that Ford had sent, thanking Ittershagen for setting his broken leg during the war and inquiring about his fate during the difficulty post-war period in Germany. Dr. Ittershagen was a surgeon who worked at the hospital at Hohemark, which was attached to the POW camp, Stalag Luft III. Ittershagen pioneered the surgical procedure of using steel pins to set badly fractured legs, and Ford, an airman who had been severely injured in a plane crash in Germany in 1943, benefitted from his surgical innovation. In the letter, Ittershagen informs Ford that he still has the x-rays of his leg, “broken and nailed.” Ittershagen eventually sent those x-rays to Ford.
This poignant letter speaks to the suffering of the German people during the post-war era. Ittershagen was somewhat surprised that Ford seemed “to understand how badly we suffer at present under unpleasant living conditions. . . . I have a family of 6 to support, three little ones and my wife’s sister—a tough job in such times.” He then embraces Ford’s offer of assistance: “I would greatly welcome and appreciate your offer of a package.”
In the postscript, Ittershagen mentioned Hanns Scharff. During the war, Hanns-Joachim Gottlob Scharff (1907-1992) was a highly successful interrogator for the Luftwaffe who was also well-liked by the POWs. His marriage to a British woman may have accounted for his “Limie-accent.” After the war, Scharff moved to the United States where he presented lectures to the Air Force and Army on his interrogation techniques. Beginning in the 1950s, he turned his attention to art and became well-known for his mosaic designs. Scharff’s designs are featured in numerous locations in the United States, including the Los Angeles City Hall and the Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World, Florida.

Donald (Tom) Ford (1920-2015) grew up together with Vernon Goetz in Aberdeen, Maryland. They remained friends throughout their lives. At some point after the war, Ford shared this letter with Goetz and allowed him to keep it. Interview with Donald (Tom) Ford, 17 September 2014, Goucher College Special Collections and Archives; Marilyn Jeffers Walton, Rhapsody in Junk: A Daughter’s Return to Germany to Finish Her Father’s Story (Bloomington, Indiana, 2007). E-Book.

German staff and American POWs at Hohemark Hospital near Oberursel, Germany. Donald Ford is standing, second from the left, next to Dr. Ernst Ittershagen. https://stalagluft3.wordpress.com/2015/09/