I hope my readers will take time to read the comments that have come in since I posted the "In Memoriam" blog post about Hermann Blumhardt.  He was a person much loved by many, as you can see.

I have also heard from Wilhelm and Otti Schlegel in Germany who wrote the following, which I have translated from their e-mail:

Dear Mrs. Ruth Cook,

With sadness and dismay, we have received the report of the death of our good friend Hermann Blumhardt.

Deep sympathy accompanies our thoughts for his beloved wife Katie in these difficult hours.  We stand by her side in silent sorrow and heartfelt relationship.

Dear Mrs. Cook, we received your memorial blog post for Hermann Blumhardt with interest and great thankfulness.  This beloved friend that we have lost will live on in our hearts.

Sincerely,

Wilhelm and Otti Schlegel, who also wrote with the wishes of their friend Walter Felholter.

Mary Lu Keef has written from New York state to remind me of her memory that Hermann and Katie Blumhardt called her every year on her birthday.  During the telephone call, Katie always sang a song titled "Mary Lou."  This year was no exception for that annual phone call, and Mary Lu says, "How blessed I am to have met them both and enjoyed their friendship these many years."

When John Gaffey wrote to thank me for the post, he added the observation that Hermann was always willing to help, especially with any projects related to Camp Aliceville or Camp Gordon Johnston.  He often spent hours on the telephone with former POWs or with school teachers and/or children in Germany.  Here is one more picture of our dear friend Hermann that I came across while writing this post.  It was taken during the 2003 Camp Aliceville reunion, and every time I look at it, I can hear Hermann singing, "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Gemuetlichkeit!"

In October 2009, I posted a blog about John Coon's visit to Heidelberg and his chance meeting with a woman who worked at a restaurant there.  She is the daughter of a German POW who spent time at Camp Aliceville.  (See Monday, October 12, 2009 blog post).  This week I heard again from John who recently returned to Heidelberg for a visit.  He spoke with this woman, whose name is Renate, and presented her with two gifts: one, a copy of my book about Camp Aliceville, Guests Behind the Barbed Wire, and two, a t-shirt from the Camp Aliceville Museum.

Renate's father, Wilhelm Heiden (1919 to 1992), was a German POW at Camp Aliceville from 1943 to 1945.  She has relatives in the United States and visited Texas and other locations in 2008.  Her hope is to visit Camp Aliceville in the future, and this would fit well with the Camp Aliceville Museum goal of connecting with the deescendants of those who were Aliceville POWs.

I hope to talk with Renate later in August and find out more about her father's experiences. 

    The family of Dr./Major Arthur J. Klippen (shown left at Camp Aliceville in 1944) has donated a painting of the Camp Aliceville Station Hospital to the Aliceville Museum in his memory.  Earline Lewis Jones, a former civilian employee with the camp's Quartermaster's office, has verified that the painting depicts the Station Hospital. For additional information about Arthur J. Klippen, please see the blog entry for December 15, 2009. The museum has received another painting recently–a portrait of Elsie Milhelic Ruzic who worked as a civilian employee of the US Corps of Engineers while her husband served in the US Navy in the Pacific. This portrait was donated by the subject's daughter, Susan Ruzic Newshelier. Both of these paintings were created by German POWs held in Camp Aliceville during WWII. They are on display at the Aliceville Museum in Aliceville, AL http://www.cityofaliceville.com/

I had a telephone call a couple weeks ago from a ninety-eight year old woman who lives not far from me. She had read Guests Behind the Barbed Wire and was inquiring about one of the Aliceville residents mentioned in the book–Miss Daisy Earle Day. Miss Day's father owned a grocery store in Aliceville during WWII, and she taught school there at that time.

The name was familiar, but I didn't remember anything else. The woman who called explained that she had gone to Judson College with Miss Day and wondered what had become of her.

When I checked my notes, I knew why I remembered the name. Those of you who have read Guests will remember Mary Lu Keef, the little girl whose father brought the family from New York state when he took a job at Camp Aliceville during the war. Pickens County, Alabama was a strange new world for Mary Lu, who attended Aliceville Elementary School while both of her parents worked at the POW camp. In interviews, she often referred to her third grade teacher as an encouragement and inspiration to her when she came to Aliceville. Turns out that teacher was none other than Miss Day. Mary Lu thought so much of Miss Day that she sought her out for a visit when she returned to Aliceville for one of the POW camp reunions after she grew up.

I sent an e-mail to Mary Bess Paluzzi, director of the Aliceville Museum, to see if she knew the whereabouts of Miss Day, who would also be 98 years old now. Mary Bess remembered her well and noted that she had been the organist for the Aliceville First Baptist Church for fifty years. Her nephew had moved her to a nursing home in Brewton in 2003, and she passed away there in 2008.

I called the woman back and told her what I had been able to find out. Although she was sad to hear that her college friend had passed away, she was pleased to know of the many memories others had of her.

Yesterday I made the announcement that Horst Freyhofer, the son of a former Camp Aliceville POW, would visit the Aliceville Museum this Thursday, March 4. That visit has been postponed until Thursday, March 11, at 10 a.m.

If you have not yet explored the Aliceville Museum http://cityofaliceville.com/MuseumMain.htm, it is well worth the trip to Pickens County, Alabama. Many artifacts from Camp Aliceville are there, along with correspondence from former POWs and former MPEG guards, and items pertaining to other aspects of World War II.

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I’d also like to notify my readers today that my first book, North Across the River, is officially sold out. I am extremely grateful to all those who took an interest in this little known tale of the Civil War. This blog will continue to post new information about Roswell and Sweetwater Creek when it becomes available, so please continue to share.