A World War II mystery — solved - Dover, DE - Dover Post Former German soldier Richard Ertel has been a presence in Richard Bissonnette’s life for more than 30 years. But although the two have never met – and probably never will — Bissonnette recently helped solve a mystery in Ertel’s life that dated back to the end of World War II. It involved a wallet, some yellowed papers, dog-eared photographs and Bissonnette’s determination to do what was right. According to family tradition, Bissonnette’s cousin, Elton, had gotten the wallet while guarding German prisoners of war in 1945. He kept the wallet until his death in 1970, when Elton’s mother turned it over to him. Bissonnette, then an Air Force flight engineer, was astonished at what the billfold contained: more than 9,600 Reichsmarks, the now worthless currency of the Third Reich, an unmailed Mother’s Day letter, records of time spent in a hospital, photographs and other examples of the bits and pieces of life people carry with them. “Elton never talked about his service,” Bissonnette said. “My dad told me he’d taken [the wallet] from a German prisoner, but there was no way to verify that.” With the divisions of the war at least two generations in the past, Bissonnette wanted to find the soldier’s family – he was sure the wallet’s actual owner was long dead – and return it to its rightful owner. But other than Ertel’s name and some military-related information, there was precious little in the way of clues to work with. Bissonnette made copies of the documents and handed them out during his frequent trips to Europe, but turned up nothing. However, a chance encounter with an airline pilot following his own retirement changed all that. ‘Boom, there it was’ After several years farming in his home state of Idaho, Dean Kidd finally realized his dream of becoming a pilot. For years, he had made frequent trips to Europe out of Dover, flying cargo under contract to the Air Force. About three years ago Bissonnette, now working as a driver for a local transportation company, was taking Kidd to JFK airport when he brought up the wallet mystery. “Richard told me he was quite frustrated after all these years,” Kidd said in a telephone interview from Hong Kong. “He had not been able to find out anything about the prisoner the wallet belonged to.” Kidd, however, had an ace up his sleeve: a German businessman named Arne Helbig. “Arne was an exchange student who had lived with us for a year back in the 1980s,” Kidd explained. “We consider him part of our family. When I found out about the wallet, I just contacted Arne and he’s the one who took the ball and ran with it.” “All of this came up pretty casually, just as a matter of conversation,” Bissonnette recalled, adding he had mailed copies of the documents to Helbig to help with his research. “Dean gave me Mr. Helbig’s email address,” he said. “He wrote back in a week, and boom, there it was.” Interviewed via phone from Germany, Helbig said he had contacted organizations that kept records of German war dead, to no avail. But he also found several other clues in the copies Bissonnette had sent. Logging on to the German version of Google, Helbig found an old newspaper history of Ertel’s home town of Helgau, near Dresden. The history said a local store – a “drogerie” – once had been owned by a Richard Ertel. “I called the editor of the newspaper and said I was trying to find Mr. Ertel,” Helbig said. “She said, ‘I don’t know him, but there’s a Mrs. Ertel living across the street from me.’” The editor called him back the same night with the news the neighbor was Richard Ertel’s sister-in-law, Helbig said. But then she dropped a bombshell. Richard Ertel, at the age of 94, was still alive and living near Dresden. Although he now is nearly deaf, Ertel called Helbig back. “He said he indeed remembered losing his wallet while a POW,” Helbig said. “He had laid down his coat and when he picked it up, it was gone. “As a prisoner of war, he was in no position to argue,” he said. “He felt there was nothing of value in it except for some old photos. He wasn’t too interested in following up on it.” To say Bissonnette was surprised at this turn of events would be an understatement. “It was astonishing to me,” he said. “I’d thought he was dead. It gave me goosebumps. “When I found out, I called my father and asked if he had any problem with my returning the wallet,” Bissonnette said. “He said to go right ahead.” Shortly afterward, Ertel had his wallet back, its contents intact. Helbig remembers Ertel’s reaction after talking to him via phone. “I could sense he was very much moved by the whole thing,” Helbig said. “It must have been very eerie to have his wallet back after 60 years. It was my gut feeling that he was very, very grateful.” Since then, Ertel and Bissonnette have stayed in touch with the occasional note from Ertel’s grandson, who speaks English. Bissonnette is pleased not only that his decades-long search has come to an end, but that he has made some new acquaintances as well. “I’m really gratified that all those old wounds have healed,” he said. “I’m happy that after more than 60 years, his wallet turned up on his doorstep. It’s a rewarding feeling.” Kidd concurs. “I just can’t get over it that I helped to get these two together,” he said “I’m really happy it worked out so well.”
Too true Geoff. I heard a similar tale from WWI, but they were never able to track down the chap or his family, . This is an incredible outcome. Cheers Owen
Amazing what can be done when someone gets stuck in. Geoff, what is this Naked City and how do I get there? :becky:
