occupied by
Company C

somewhat like a small American town -- one main street

come back to this one
see if you can locate the house
with the green front and 12 windows

find me in the photographs
(above or below)
this is what I looked like in 1997

737 "Ortenburgers" remember the Green House today
it's still located at the head of the Marktplatz (marketplace)

every soldier had a home town in Germany after the war
can you read the 10 miles per hour speed limit sign
over this guy's left shoulder





someone took our sign down after we went home to the States



        

the Rathaus (City Hall)
in 1940 before we arrived
in 1998 long after we left



    

a peaceful day with nothing to do but watch the people go by

what's that soldier on the left doing with a broom
sweeping the street like a fastidious German
who always cleans the sidewalk in front of his house

		when the war ended Ortenburg had acquired displaced persons
		this little girl with the sweet smile is now married
		she has returned to her native Hungary
		we are looking for her on the Internet
		please help us find Elisabeth

our soldiers do not recall where the three German trucks and the bus
obtained their gasoline one month after the end of the war
it's possible some Americans may have "loaned" them a few gallons

animals no longer roam the main drag
and the KINO (movie house) has closed
(like any American "one-horse" town)

that's a horse-drawn "honey dipper" cart at the front of the street
today's models (aluminum) are pulled by a green John Deere tractor
to fertilize the farmer's crops

      

Gasthof zur Post is across the street
pumping beer and serving meals to the townspeople

where we drank beer made from whey because hops were not available

it's still a good place to drink beer

good German food goes well with good German beer
Ortenburg's favorite watering hole





the Soldenau Brauerei always kept a keg of beer in our mess hall

your webmaster's gunner is on the right
Cpl Joseph L Messina
we thought this picture was taken in Ortenburg

    

can we agree the Hakenkreuz flag picture was taken in front of this house in
Soldenau, several kilometers down the road from Ortenburg
(courtesy of Walter Fuchs, a Bavarian historian)

Herr Walter Fuchs and Frau Gertrud Huber
standing in front of the (now closed) Soldenau Brauerei

she and her husband made the Soldenau beer we drank
in the Tankers Tank Room in Ortenburg

your webmaster stayed at the Schloss-Pension in 1998
at a cost of $31.80 per day including breakfast




the castle (Schloss) has a simple architecture





Schloss Ortenburg is still a beautiful castle
with a wonderful museum
(it was destroyed twice and rebuilt)

the German Army used this building
during World War II
as a military hospital for 800 patients

Walter Fuchs sent your webmaster this Christmas card
Foto: Walter Fuchs, Ortenburg
he is a superb historian and photographer

Photographs Contributed By