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Even though he is 92, Howard Hensleigh of Menlo Park, Calif., remembers 1944 like it was yesterday. That was the year the Army World War II veteran killed a German soldier during a gunbattle in southern France.
"The sergeant that I'd chosen to fire the first shot fired, and of course they (the German soldiers) hit the dirt. And there's firing going back and forth all the time," Hensleigh said.
Hensleigh, who was an intelligence officer and assistant platoon leader, says he knew the German soldiers were not going to give up without a fight. He says he gave them several chances to give up. But a man he later came to find out was named Georg Reick give him no other choice. Hensleigh shot and killed him during a firefight. Hensleigh said he felt it was something he had to do in order to save his men.
"When you take prisoners you get all the information off of all of them," Hensleigh said. "I hate to admit it but they don’t end up with their watches rings and anything else."
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In this case, Reick was stripped of personal artifacts, such as pictures of his wife and family and his wedding photo: It was common to confiscate the goods from the dead Germans at the time. Hensleigh took them, and put his enemy's belongings in his personal scrap book.
They stayed there for 68 years until a young French writer named Jean Loup came along. Loup was interested in interviewing WWII veterans who served their country in southern France for a documentary he was working on. While researching online, Loup found Hensleigh. Loup flew to the San Francisco Peninsula to meet Hensleigh, and during their meeting, learned of his story and started to connect the dots.
Loup then contacted the company that developed pictures. But the company was no longer there.
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He then sent them to the mayor of the small German town where the soldier lived.
The mayor recognized the dead soldier and put Hensleigh in touch with the soldier’s grandson whose name is also Georg Reick.
The grandson and Hensleigh now email each other back and forth. Hensleigh gave Reick's grandson information he's been longing for and Reick has pictures he thought he would never get.
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Leave a Comment:
It is so good that Hensliegh was able and willing to give the picture to Reicks' Grandson. Those picture are one that will means so much to the family of a soldier killed in combat.
They likely could have been friends in life. But a few individuals in the German government had personal ambitions that cost the lives of many, many thousands. That seems to be our nature as a species, because it has happened since recorded time and continues today.
Like the movie "Saints and Soldiers".
WW2 has many many stories like this. 418,000 White Christian American men died along with 700 blacks and 18 women.
Thanks for the useless and irrelevant statistics, mad guy.
Disgusting he didn't return them decades ago. Amazing how some develop a conscience the older they get.
I agree Steve. Much like the scene in War Horse.
I agree
Hard to imagine the mixed feelings that grandson Georg Reick must have felt. As usual, wish that there were more details in this article.
to chefaz;not sure either,maybe though they can be friends.my dad was korea war vet,early days there.several yrs before he passed he noted as he did alot of times about how nothing was gained there.then,as we watched tv a movie came on with koreans in the movie.after the show,he said he only wished he could have gone back to see if the hardwork really helped at all.before that nite ended,he told me that soldiers,both sides are just that and many years later he would of just liked to have coffie w/fmr one there side.point he made was 'it happens' if you can learn to help it dont pass it on.gone now 2yrs.his wisdom last in me my lifetime.
How wonderful of this man to admit that. Hindsight is always perfect. He did a very good thing. May he be blessed during this holiday season.
It could be possible, he took the pictures and identification so that he would remember this man's life.That he had taken it separate from among all the fighting which happened during the war. Not to glory over it, but that this man had a life before the time they had meet and his life had meaning in the bigger scheme of things. Long after the war was over should never be forgotten.
Otherwise, the body would be buried and these would be destroyed.This might have been a way for him taking responsibility for his death. He does mention what happens during prisoner questioning.But in the open battles, pictures might serve another purpose altogether. Like an accountability for some.Not all who fought would have gloated over it.
Uhhh....yeah. Right. How noble. What a martyr he was. So now we are supposed to romanticize and uplift battlefield thieves?
JmB66, I'd take one of his kind over ten thousand idiots like you any day.
It seems rather pointless after all these years. Also, it would appear as though Hensleigh had no intention of giving Reick`s belongings back to the family if it were not for Jean Loup contacting him. Apparently, no effort had been attempted over all the years to contact the Reick family. To the victor go the spoils, yes? I wonder what else besides the pictures Hensleigh kept.
I do understand the feeling behind Perzi's sentiment. Our history writes us to be so noble while the other side is always the heartless plunderer. It does hurt to hear that our side did the plundering without a conscience. The excuse that it was commonly expected and done was the same excuse that soldiers in Hitler's horrible 'camps' used regarding the treatment of their prisoners. This kind of reasoning can make us uncomfortable because if we, as Americans, hear other Americans easily accept such platitudes, why would we not do exactly what Hitler did. We did have concentration camps, for example, here in our country. Our country, we, allowed Japanese citizens to be penned up, after confiscating all their hard earned worldly possessions.
There is value in what Perzie said, yet I know many men who went to war in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq and can only say that the herd mentality is the only thing that kept some of them alive. They are brothers (and now bros and sis's) over there, taking care of each other. They cannot afford to be very different from each other in mannerisms or they will be ostracized and not safe. We need them to be safe. WHAT A DILEMMA.
I am happy they lived. I would probably have died because I am a more rebellious type. A lot of good that would have done my family. But I would have wanted to fight for my country.
Just sayin...
Perzi....I would wager that you have not served in the military, much less been in a combat situation in which you either kill or are killed. War is bloody, irrational, desensitizing, and any other negative adjetive that one can think of. This person served our country and risked his life. Yes, terrible things occur...murder, rape, theft, etc. Until you have experienced it, you have NO right to judge. So, join the military and volunteer to Afghanistan as a combat troop (or medic), so you will know what the hell you are talking about.
@Poor dem - Are you seriously saying it is OK to take the personal effects of someone you killed and put them in your scrapbook? It is also OK to take whatever else he had and keep it for yourself? War may be desensitizing but it should not be dehumanizing and it should not strip one of their morals. The only reason he returned the wedding photos is because he was "caught" by Loup. Othewise, he had no intention of ever returning the photos just as soldiers (from all armies) will never return what they steal from those who are killed.
As a military vet having been deployed in combat areas overseas in my youth, I can only say that one feels that you earned the plunder you take, especially after a fight to the death. It's not just me who feels that. Humans have been plundering since time immemorial and honestly is the only reason we go to war - to take someone else's stuff and position of privilege. Unless you've been there, your judgements must be taken with a grain of salt as its easy to have a different perspective having never been there. I'm not saying plunder or worse is morally right or wrong, but as humans, you feel you are entitled to something after coming out on top of a fight to the death. You won and they lost.
@SCLiberal
BALOGNE!
@engnenk - "War may be desensitizing but it should not be dehumanizing and it should not strip one of their morals."
Got news for you...war, by its very nature IS about "dehumanizing" the guy on the other side. Morals, such as "thou shall not kill", go out the window!!! As a veteran, the dehumanizing process occurs in training...you learn how to call the enemy by labels such as "towel heads" or "sand eaters" or fill in the blank. It is basic psychology to train a human being to kill another. My job in the military was to help humanize our personnel in a dehumanizing institution. Irony? Yes, it frankly is. Makes as much sense as bringing peace through war. indeed, the spoils of war are the last step in dehumanizing another human being in battle. It is the last step in stripping the enemy all attributes of their humanity....family life, objects of sentimentality, etc. very "normal" in the kill or be killed arena of battle.
@Kathryne, I believe you were trying to write baloney or bologna, but I'll look past that. GIven you failed highlight how you formed your opinion, I'll ask. Why part of my statement do you disagree with? And why do you disagree?
Just a thought but at 92 he probably forgot he had them until his interview and then he pulled out his album and there they were. Our greatest generation didn't come home and "talk" about what they had done, they put it behind them as best they could and moved forward. It wasn't unusual for the enemies to be searched and items confiscated because there may have been intelligence that could be used for future battles/engagement. If he hadn't taken the pictures and kept them, they would have been lost on the battlefield and the grandson would never have seen them at all. So lighten up on one of our veterans.
I would expect that these mementos are items that he was probably not proud of taking. He probably packed them away and forgot about them. Most veterans that I know do not like to talk about the horrors that happened when they were away at war. It was probably not a wound that he wanted to re-open. Hopefully returning the items gives him a sense of peace and closure.
@SCLiberal
Yes, I misspelled 'bologna'. Dang, I'm human, but I've never tried to appear otherwise. I highlighted the part of your rhetoric that I wished to highlight. What you said, in my lowly opinion, was a very sad statement that you are ascribing to your lasting character. My overall point is that I don't wish our country to stand for that which you appear to stand.
Now, my message is in the words, not the spelling. I hope you understand that. When I read these posts, I don't check people's spelling, I try to understand their point.
Peace out...
Engnenk, I can't believe I just read what you said, "It should not be dehumanizing and should not strip one of their morals." Morals must be stripped of you before you begin killing other humans. Otherwise, few soldiers could emotionally handle the killing of humans. It helps one deal with something so traumatizing by thinking of them not as humans, but as evil animals that would have killed you if you didn't get them first. War by its nature is dehumanizing.
Maybe he forgot about them for all these years. And might not have known where or who to send them to.
Lots of combat veterans try not to be reminded of their wartime experiences.
@ Perzi: I was actually feeling a little good about this article... old wounds being healed, a family learning a little more about their deceased relative, then you have to go spew your cynical crap.
How difficult do you think it would be for this man to have 1) FOUND the correct family, then 2) Confessed to them "I killed your relative." Think about those points!
Several years ago, I ran over a family's dog... just darted out in front of me. I couldn't just leave the dog lying there, especially since it was still breathing, so I asked around the neighborhood until I found the owners, there was a little girl who had been calling the dog for dinner, which prompted it to run in front of me. I helped them load the dog in their car so they could take it to the vet or whatever they needed to do. To this day, I wonder if the dog was somehow saved. However, I don't want to contact the family to find out because I don't know how they feel, and it might bring up bad memories. And I'm talking about a DOG, not a human being, and an accident not "I took aim and deliberately pulled the trigger..."
I am a veteran, but fortunately never had to kill anyone. But I can understand the dilemma this man might have faced.
As for "pointless..." why don't YOU get in touch with the Reick family and make that statement.
Sam, don't pay too much mind to Perzi. His comments fit those of a troll who's only objective is to make negative comments about an uplifting story in order to elicit angry or adversarial comments from other readers.
An uplifting story? How so? This is a story about one man who took the life of another and then robbed his body of any and all meaningful artifacts that the mans family had every right to. Hensleigh had no right to them and they, no doubt, would have meant everything to that soldiers family. He is nothing more than a ghoul. What's even worse is that life meant nothing to him witnessed by the fact he never made the slightest attempt to return those items to their rightful owner.
I judge him this harshly because I too am a veteran who saw combat in an immensely less popular "police action" and had I found myself in this same situation I couldn't have lived with myself had I even considered doing such a thing.
So much for the "Greatest Generation". By the accounts of this a$$hole, they aren't heroes, they're nothing more than blood-thirsty murderers. No better or more honorable than the German soldiers who marched the Jews into the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
@RGS-3812384 So in the blogging world, if someone states there opinion that illicits controversial thoughts or comments thoses posters are called "Trolls"? How lame. Engaging in a discussion does not mean everyone has to sing kumbya and leave a feel good comment.
Magic Rat - Taking some papers off a dead enemy shot across the battlefield in hot combat is in no way comparable to marching innocent civilians into an extermination camp. Please crack open a history book before making any more idiotic comparisons like that.
Well, think of it this way. If he hadn't taken them, they would have rotted in the battlefield along with their owner and would never have been returned to the family.
Bodies were most often recovered. Still, I'm sure I would have rather my possessions rotted with me than go home with a German soldier...
I can't believe the stupid comments, probably from those that never spent 1 second in country. No, you don't walk across dead mans land, offering to give the enemy everything the dead soldier had, that would be about as dumb as a box of rocks. What you do is completely strip the dead soldier, leave nothing that might be considered an asset, nothing another enemy could use against you or your buddies, that is what is done, it is not kindergarten, it is war.
Wonderful. It was a World War, and occurrences devastates families, and changed many forever.To have the grandson, and allied soldier communicate, reflects on the spirit of good caring people.
Great story.
There's nothing good about war. Death, destruction, oblivion, young and old dying for some obscure reason. To the victor the spoils, it's been that way since the first war and will be that way until the last war. That this man was able to answer some questions about his enemy is wonderful. He fought against a tyrant like no other, then along came Stalin and God only knows how many others who killed millions because they had different opinions thean there's. Man's inhumanity to man.
We have to remember that after the War many of these patriots came home and tried to resume their lives, no matter how much horror they witnessed. It is warming that this gentleman has contacted the German soldiers family and sent them the pictures. I have visited Germany many times and yes i am a retired officer and spoke to many of m friends there. The war was a tragic event orcestrated by some evil people. Unfortunately it is the soldier who has to suffer the pain. For Perzi, not sure if you have ever served or had a relative that was a member of the "Greatest Generation" but your sarcasm is way off course and distasteful and disrespectful. case Closed!
wow' check out this CHRISTMAS MEMORY. my grand father fought on the Western front in the fighting 69 he came home became a druck beat my grand mother to death and put my father in an orphanage . my father serverd 101 Screaming Eagles battle of the bulge also cut the fingers of dead german soldiers came home beat my mother brother and me. and drank himself to death. when it was christmas he would scream in german KUM UND ZEE HERE flash forward my brother 1969 also a Screaming Eagle showing my mother the severed hands of viet cong HE ALSO BECAME A ALCHOLIC AND SCREAED at his kids in viet nam eze his son joined the 82 airborne and served in iraq. god only knows . so while you all bask in the christmas glow of memory i served in the navy and have no such glorious memories of combat
I'm confused. So, your grandfather served in 'Nam in '69? Came back, killed his wife, and your dad became an orphan? Then, in '69, your dad killed germans in 'Nam, along with your brother? So, your dad, brother, and grandfather all served the 101st in '69 together, battling germans, and Vietnamese? And then killed your grandmother?
No, the grand father fought in WW I. He came back and killed his wife (the Grandmother)
The commenters father fought in WWII assigned to the 101 Screaming Eagles
The commenters brother served in Vietnam 101st Screaming Eagles.
The commenters nephew served in Iraq, assigned to 101st Screaming Eagles
Thanks, Disturbed.
I picked up on the Western Front reference but couldn't figure out all the details "distant relative" was trying to convey. Sounds like his family has a history of seeing some horrible crap and not dealing with it when they get home. I hope the nephew is more fortunate.
Sounds like Lt. Dan's lineage from Forest Gump.
My father had a picture of a Japanese soldier and his family in a box along with his Army ID bracelet. My half-sister stole these items from our mother's home after they died and I have not seen them since. The photo was encased in a yellowed plastic and had some Japanese writing under the photo of his wife and child. I had always wanted to have it translated and possibly identified so I could try and contact the family to tell them their loved one died a very heroic death in a cave in the South Pacific. But because of my half-sister's greed and hatred this can never happen. She probably pawned the photo and bracelet.
If you ever find it again, you can contact the Japanese Defence Force Bureau of Personnel and Training（人事教育局）at 5-1 Ichigaya honmura-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. If you send them a scanned image, they will try to match it up with the family for you.
My father was a Marine and while in Saipan he came across a Japanese officer sitting on a tree stump surveilling the american ships using binoculars and with a radioman beside him. My father shot and killed both of them. He went through their belongings and took needed items. The radio and binoculars which were highly important items for the Marines, a sword in case my father ran out of ammo, a watch, and as for a personal spoils of war a silk japanese flag with japanese writing on it. My father brought the flag home with him after the war. In the 1980s my sister worked as a dental assistant for a japanese dentist. This dentist was some kind of official for the Boston marathon and he knew many news reporters including ones in japan. When my father learned about him he gave my sister the flag to give to him. What was written in japanese on the flag was the name of this japanese officer, the name of the town or whatever where he came from and the name of the mayor where he lived. The flag was brought back to Japan and japanese news reporters located the japanese officer's surviving daughter. She was in a hospital at the time dying from cancer when she was reunited with her father's flag. When realized it was her father's flag she got out of her bed and stood up and held the flag. Later the japanese news reporters mailed my father a news paper with a photo of the daughter holding the flag. Underneath the photo was a translation for my father to read and the title of the news report said "Father returns home". The flag was the only thing the daughter ever had of her fathers'. Months later the daughter died from her cancer.
My father passed away last December and is now resting at a veterans cemetery. Two bronze combat stars and one purple heart after being wounded in Saipan. He never talked about the war very much.
@ distant relative - maybe you & yours need therapy... or more than likely you are TROLLING...
People, not governments build the bridges for peace. Why is it so hard for people to learn this lesson?
It has been said many times before that "all's fair in love and war!!"
I subscribe to what George Bernard Shaw once said----------"I am now convinced that this Earth is an Interplanetary Lunatic Asylum!!!"
I can't help but wonder if reconciliation with one's once enemy that the article is about will ever take place with the U.S. and it's current enemies. No need to list them here.
Reconciliation comes about when the "enemy of my enemy becomes my friend!!"-------it has been repeated again and again in history!!
Nice story.
Great story and many old soldiers who fought the German in WW2 have come to terms with that experience and reconcilied with the Germans. And many old Marines who fought in the Pacific have finally reconciled with the Japanese, although some are still very bitter and never will and that is their choice
I knew a Marine Gunny who was captured on Wake Island and taught classes on being a POW. He spent four years in a Japanese Prison camp mining coal. His stories of capitivity by the Japanese were very troubling to say the least.
Exactly USMC. My grandfather fought in the big one . Never held a grudge towards his enemies. He always said it was kill or be killed on both sides of the coin......
I am amazed at the ignorance along with lack of context and understanding some of these posts display.
1) War & killing is horrible.
2) This man was an Intelligence officer
3) His job was to learn as much as he could about the enemy (Germans in this case)
4) As part of learning about the enemy, he took papers and possessions from enemy prisoners, wounded, and dead. These would sometimes yield orders, maps, codes, etc. to be used against the enemy. In this case, it included some personal items from a dead soldier. Check your WW II history... there were many clever means employed to hide operational items.
I don't know what else I can say to push back on the ignorance displayed here. I guess you can choose to remain ignorant and stupid, or learn a little about what actually happened during this terrible conflict.
This man was serving his country, so was the German. It was a battle to the death or surrender. The unfortunate German chose death instead of surrender.
Wow, this board is full of trolls. I'd bet not a single one of them ever served their country in any way. Isn't it great that you have the freedom of speech that these men and women fought for and that we, as a nation, were not part of the plunder of the Nazi and Japanese regimes? Who are we to question this man who did his part to protect us from the horrors that were the Nazis? I have some of the tokens that my own father took from the Germans during the war. I'm not about to track down the families and give them back. Who the hell cares if they lost some trinkets, when the were executing the atrocities against their own people, as well as the gays, Romanians, Jews, and whoever else wasn't a blue-eyed, blonde.
After reading this story and reading all the comments I'm saddened to think that so many think this man did a bad thing. Has anyone thought that this man did what he did, kept what he kept for reasons other than to bring out his "scrapbook" and brag about it? How about remembering what he took away from who, that those Germans were just men following their orders and they had lives and familys just like him?
These men, brought up in the 20's, had a different outlook on life, perhaps a harder outlook than we do today. Who are you to Judge?
clint eastwood broched this subject in the movie "Grand Torino". he may have saved the wedding pictures because he had killed this human being up close and personal and did not want them to just be put in the trash like yesterdays newspaper. how do you know that he has not regretted being put in this position by Democrat FDR?killing didnt seem to bother hillary clinton......we came, we saw, he died (Kadafi).......with a @!$%# eating grin and a laugh on her ugly mug!
Some of the comments of the folks reading this surprise me. They assume that it was the French journalist who broached the subject of returning the pictures. I highly doubt this. It is a MUCH more likely scenario that Hensleigh showed Loup the pictures during their interview and probably mentioned something to the effect of wishing to find some way to return the pictures, and the journalist offering to facilitate that. As for condemning Hensleigh and others for taking personal effects, trophy taking did not originate with him, it is as old as warfare itself. Reasons for it are numerous. Intelligence gathering is one reason, much can be learned from personal effects taken off dead enemies. Gathering personal affects is also "proof" of having killed an enemy to show your superiors. Also frankly souvenirs can be used to swap for things you need in the field. Swapping captured German pistols, belt buckles, knives, etc for smokes, extra rations, socks, and other things was a common practice. The removal of personal pictures may be the most "human" and understandable action of all. Taking them would serve as a reminder to the taker of the fact that though this man was an enemy he had people back home who loved him, that hoped and prayed for his safe return. In taking these picturesd from the dead enemy the survivor was actually reaffirming his own hope to be able to survive and return to his loved ones in the end.
How touching, I wonder if some of the Vietnam vets still have the ears and gold teeth they collected...I really don't know how they could give them back..I guess each generation has different taste in war throphies!
I imagine the booty that comes from war probably all gets thrown on a truck, rather than being in one's personal possession and gets mixed up with other people's booty. I know I have German helmet with someone's partial name in it that my dad brought home. It's not his name. I'm not sure if the name was from an American who marked it or the German who wore it. My dad was a medic, so he didn't kill anybody, just got strafed at about 3 times. One time he dropped his camera that he got a nice picture of in the river that he had taken a nice picture of that Italian abbey before it got bombed where the allies were stalled in Italy during one such strafing. Monte Cassino was the mountain. At that place, another soldier gave him a German's saxophone that the German had been playing and told my dad to play "In the mood". My dad doesn't know where the saxophone ended up. He had it for a while but probably got mixed in with everyone else's booty. Dad said up to Monte Cassino, both side did not generally shoot at medics, of course artillery can't tell. At Monte Cassino though the Germans appeared to be using Medic helmets to move men, 2 would carry a stretcher out of a cave and 4 would carry it out, so the Americans started shooting at the German medics and then the Germans did the same to our medics.