Hi, I am Sig (junge1),
I was born in Dominikus- Krankenhaus in Berlin-Hermsdorf, Bezirk Reinickendorf in December 1939. Bezirk Reinickendorf was one of 20 Bezirke that made up Gross-Berlin before World War II and one of 12 Bezirke that made up former West-Berlin, the other 8 Bezirke were Russian occupied and became East-Berlin after the war. Moved from Berlin to Neurohlau (Nova Role) Sudetenland (now Czech Republic), in August 1943 (our entire block of apartment buildings was bombed out in November 1943) and returned back to Berlin in November 1945. Saw my dad the first time in my life in August/September 1946 after he returned from POW camp. Attended elementary school in Berlin-Waidmannslust, high school in Berlin-Hermsdorf, and trade school in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Was an apprentice for the trade of Klischeeaetzer (photo engraver) at Burrath & Schmidt on Friedrichstrasse between U-Bahnhof Kochstrasse (near to what later became Checkpoint Charlie) and Hallisches Tor.
While watching Allied planes supplying West-Berlin by air during the Berliner Luftbruecke in 1948-49 I developed my love for aircraft. I guess I could be considered a 'Berliner Grosschnauze", or at least I used to be.
'Wanderlust' led me to leave Berlin in summer 1960 to emigrate to Toronto, Canada and in February 1962 to move from Canada to New York City, NY, USA. In January 1963 I joined the United States Air Force, one step ahead of Uncle Sam drafting me. Became a United States citizen within 7 weeks after it became a security issue because of my military career. One day after I was sworn in as a citizen in Seattle, my entire unit left for Southeast Asia in June 1966. After nearly 5 years of active duty (extended 11 months to make it an 18 months overseas deployment) I got discharged and moved to New York City. In 1973 I moved to Phoenix, Arizona and two years later joined the Arizona Air National Guard.
Received my higher education at Arizona State University and the University of Georgia and worked for 22 years for the Arizona Department of Water Resources in various capacities. Upon military retirement in 1999 and State retirement in 2005 I looked at a number of things to keep me occupied. Traveling and joining 'renderosity' in September 2007 were a couple of them,
Sig..
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Comments (34)
Faemike55
Very beautiful memorial and great capture
junge1
It was kind of tough getting a decent shot of this since it was so tall, and i didn't want any wires in it!
dbrv6
Great shot - new to me, very interesting.
Sea_Dog
Excellent shot and interesting story.
jayfar
An excellently composed shot.
Jay-el-Jay
A very good shot of this war memorial.Bonus points for the difficulty factor of the height.
virginiese
stunning memorial : great capture
bobrgallegos
Wonderful very interesting capture and narrative!!!
Flint_Hawk
Great POV & composition! Impressive memorial!
flaviok
Fascinante captura e informação meu amigo, aplausos (5)
renecyberdoc
very intersting.
Fidelity2
I am loving it. Thank you. 5+!
West_coaster07
Fantastic info and image Sig!!!
Manfred78
a lot of informations about the 42 and 43 squadrons in WWII and their memorial
bazza
Fabulous Sig that's one amazing looking memorial!!
drifterlee
Very interesting shot and story!
kgb224
Superb capture my friend. Thank you for sharing the information as well. God Bless.
Crudelitas
Oh, man! I would not be up there to clean the windows ... Cool shot!
neiwil
Bloody cool capture! great memorial to brave men who roamed far taking the fight to the enemy.. (daft question, out of curiosity "How big is that plane?") ?
jocko500
real cool
adrie
Wonderful and interesting photoshot my friend.
dakotabluemoon
That is really cool great stuff u are bringing to the table.
debbielove
Great history Sig, well posted.. A worthy post indeed.. Well done mate.. And a super POV.. Rob
jophoto
Nice shot!
sandra46
GREAT SHOT
flavia49
outstanding image
bmac62
Like it Sig...historical notes shed more light on a part of the war I don't know very much about. That's got to be a model up there, right?
Maxidyne
A very impressive shot of a fine memorial. Good to see that these often overlooked crews are given a worthy tribute.
emmecielle
Excellent perspective! Great shot! :)
sharky_
Interesting memorial flying high. Salute to them. Aloha