Now that we’re celebrating Christmas and New Year with our Loved Ones, let us remember our Fallen Heroes.

Those who gave everything. Who sacrificed their lives, perhaps in some cases even their souls…

So that we can be here today: alive and well and safe, without the Bolshevist gun aimed at our head.

The Story of Friedrich ‘Eppo’ Thiemann.

A True Hero: Friedrich ‘Eppo’ Thiemann

Here is his story…

The first time he was called into action, Eppo got shot through the arm. This sort of thing was called a ‘Heimschuß’, a ‘Home-Shot’ as told to me by a German vet.

What it means is that you get sent home into ‘Heimaturlaub’, or Home Leave.

You have done your duty, paid a price, and can go home. Usually you don’t even need to ever go back into battle again.

So, in a way, this was a welcome sort of thing amongst soldiers in WW 2…

Make no mistake about it: war was and is pure hell, and this meant that they could go home, to their friends and families, and away from the suffering.

But Eppo was cut from a different sort of cloth – ‘aus anderem Holz geschnitzt’.

When the next call of duty came, he was told: ‘You stay home Eppo, you have done your part!’

But he replied that, No!, he will not let his Kameraden go in there alone. He would not let them down!

That second time, he got shot through the carotid artery in his neck, and left for dead.

But oh no: Eppo was not dead!

He regained consciousness and crawled back behind German lines, where he was found, rescued. From that day onwards his voice was all rough and gravely.

Again sent home, again told he never needed to return to the front. But then the third call came, in 1944. His reaction was the same: he would not let his friends go alone. ‘Meine Ehre heißt Treue’.

He fought in the Grenadier-Regiment 58, on the Russian border in Estland. This is where he fell, in Udria, just west of Narva, on the 17th February 1944.

Eppo lies buried in the Soldatenfriedhof in Narva, am Hain der Helden.

SoldatenFriedhof Narva

Hab’ Dank, Eppo, I will not forget you and what you did for me, for us, as long as I live.

Der Gute Kamerad

For all our Fallen. Honor them, and never forget their sacrifice!

This is what life was like back then, for our brave Soldiers…