Part 6 Oral History of World War II by Elmer H. Ake -- Fall of the Third Reich

Pvt. Elmer remembers Cologne, Trier and the Bridge at Remagen. In Bavaria, he views an airfield containing the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe ("Swallow") -- the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. The war in Europe finally ends. Video edited by Gilda Tabarez for educational use only. Comments are welcome and very much appreciated.

Pvt. Elmer H. Ake (1925 - 2007) served as a medic with Company B of the 417th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army during World War II. The recipient of two Purple Hearts, he composed a collection of poetry about his wartime experiences in Europe. His poems can be viewed at the Elmer H. Ake Home Page: http://www.gildasattic.com/ehake.html
For more information, please view an interview with Elmer H. Ake at Scorpio's Website -- The Battle of the Huertgen Forest:
http://www.huertgenforest.be/ScoWeb.htm

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• Trier
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[cashstore1]

I knew a man that was assigned to a bomber unit during the war. He told me that they had to avoid the Cathedral in Cologne.  I was surprised by the video how much precision those bombers had as every building around it was destroyed. I visited the Cologne and the Cathedral back in 2000 and it was a good thing they spared the building as it is awesome. The city is now very modern with all of the old buildings being blown up. My bomber friend also told me he encountered one of those jets.

[Parysia77]

I read that construction on the Cathedral started in 1248 and it took 600 years to complete -- thank God for surgical bombing. It is still very tragic that 89 percent of Cologne was destroyed, but wonderful how it has been built up again and remains one of the oldest and greatest cities of Germany. Thanks for your comments!!

[siral000]

There was a British engineer that also was working on jet engines, our military of course at the time didn't think it was worth even looking into. "The old gaurd" is a hard thing to overcome at times, if it wasn't mainly for the persistance of a General Wallace of the air force, we would have been even farther behind in bomber technology and air war stratagic development, the Army thought artillery was the answer, and the Navy still held to the battleship over an aircraft carrier.

[judet2006]

thank you, pvt. Ake.