Missing in action because of a mistake? The quest to identify unknown soldier X-77, killed in 1944
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ค. 2022
- Unknown US soldier X-77 is buried at the US military cemetery at Draguignan, in southern France. X-77 was found dead near the city of Cannes on August 23rd 1944 after fighting between the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion and German soldiers of Reserve Division 148. This video explains who X-77 probably is, as well as the identity of another unknown body buried in a local French military cemetery. The families of both men are currently battling to get the permission for both bodies to be exhumed and identified. If you can be of any help to persuade the US and French governements to move forward regarding these cases, you are welcome to do so. The important documents concerning the case are accessible on this link: tonnerbergia.blogspot.com/
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researchww2.blogspot.com/
Ich suche die Familie von:
Oelschlegel Hans Oelschlegel Stbs Gefr geb. 21.12.1898 in Hof Bayern gef. 16.8.1944 Stab.Res.Div.148 Adresse: Swidnica Oberschlesien und Wohlau.
A Crocodile Tear Productions documentary. jean-loup@gassend.com
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency - DPAA - 509th PIB - August 15th 1944 - Operation Dragoon Anvill - Graves Registrations Company - Henri Bergia - Francis Tonner - Henri Bergia - Hans Oelschlegel 21.12.1898 + 16.8.1944 Swidnica OS Wohlau Hof Bayern - missing in action - exhumation - identification - archaeology - forensic medicine - Individual deceased personel file - IDPF - Cimetière du Grand Jas - St Cassien - French Resistance - Partisans - FABTF - First Airborne Task Force - Overlord - 1939-1945 - DNA identification - anthropology - battlefield archaeology - identification tags - forensic medicine - wehrmacht - La Napoule - Le Trayas - Groupe Naval d'Assaut de Corse - GNA - World War II - 1939 1945 - Wehrmacht - First Airborne Task Force - Geronimo
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Blown away by the dedication you had to investigate this for several years, find and interview family members, find interviews and documents about the specific incidents and connecting the dots, etc.
Very well put together and presented as well. Hats off to you.
The French response is ridiculous. Not only did it take them years to respond, but theres more than enough evidence you laid out to back your findings up. These 2 men died fighting to liberate their country and they don't even care enough to reopen the case and identify them? The least they could do is bring closure to the families and help these 2 men be remembered, but apparently they can't even do that.
Thanks a lot for your kind comment.
WW2 German veteran
@@CrocodileTear I wonder if you could bring this attention to a local news channel to assist in getting the world out. One of my local news channels often gets contacted by citizens for help in escalating issues with business/governmental agencies. Some well placed bad press goes a long way
@@bentleyspotter It has been in the local news.
Currently we are preparing a response by forensic experts that show that all the ministries argumentation is BS.
@@CrocodileTear Is there any update to this?
Outstanding detective work. It's unfortunate that some bureaucrat is probably too lazy to help the family of a young man that did more for his country than any politician could ever dream. Red tape and government bureaucracy is more frightening than bullets.
our government is a travesty! full of communism rot!
This is indeed outstanding work. These men are heroes. They gave their lives fighting for freedom, they should be identified, their stories told, and they should be remembered as heroes of France.
As a US Soldier, I will say this: if X-77 is Mons. Tonner then I am pleased he is resting among other warriors at our cemetery. It is an honor for us to have him among our men. Warriors fighting on the same side. But still, lets get him identified for the sake of history and his living family.
My grandfather was 101st and fought with these kind of fighters and I think he would agree. He would be honored to have them resting beside men that became his brothers through blood, and earned in blood.
@@Questknight12my grandad fought against your grandad. Luckily mine survived. The stories they told and no one will ever hear them…that war for you
I've watched a few of your videos where you document the reclaiming, basic forensics of German soldiers. It's clear to me that you want to advocate for these men lost to war and time and return to them, even for a very brief moment, their voice back, and from the earth, through you, they speak these words - I am dead, this is where I lay, this is how I died and this was my name in life. I admire that a lot about you. As you watch these videos, you can see and observe the body language of these men as they sometimes sit there in silence digging these bones from the earth and you have to wonder what they are thinking about. The first thought that comes to my mind is that the must be thinking, "I do this for you, and God forbid If I die in war, someone can do this for me." The greatest fear of any soldier, besides death ( I was one, 1st Gulf War ) was that you do not want to become an unknown soldier, lost to eternity. Watching this particular video only confirms my suspicion about you and that is, you want to give these men back their identity. It's humbling to consider how important, clearly, this is to you. So thank you for your long hours under the sun, the dirt you must take home with you under your finger nails and in your hair. God and the universe will reward you in someway for being honorable in these tasks. I close this comment with a vision in my mind, and the vision is of all of these dead soldiers gazing upon you from where ever their spirits and souls wander and they are looking at you with their blonde hair, or maybe its dark, a smile, the clear and bright eyes of their youth, looking intently at you and they are all thanking you for returning them home to their homeland and families where there belong.
You mentioned God, God “rewards”you for believing in him and believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins with eternal life so that you don’t have to worry about what becomes of you after your physical body died.
Personally I find your detective work truly outstanding. I find these war stories so interesting. Thanks for all your hard work giving all these nameless soldiers there identitys back.
What an incredible journey! I’m so pleased you have taken the time to do this work. Your tenacity, deep knowledge and patience is truly admirable. 4 years to respond to you - shameful
Impressive detective work! A campaign should be started on social media to identify these men and demand action of the government. They deserve it.
Exactly. This video is step one.
Man, what a crappy situation and response from the government on this. Resistance fighters operated under great peril and with minimal support, and they deserve perhaps the greatest amount of respect of all fighters during the war. To simply wave your hand and say "well, we think it'd be 'wrong' to dig them up and we don't know if it's them anyway" reeks of laziness and a lack of desire to me. I hope something comes of this.
You do a lot of hard work that takes years to come to fruition. Even if the French authorities do not you have honoured these brave individuals.
Damn shame tbh. Man deserves to be honored for defensing his nation.
I just happened to find your channel extremely late at night and I’m obsessed.
Since I was 4, I wanted to be an archaeologist… instead I became a journalist and a filmmaker, but watching what you do is literally what I have dreamt about my whole life.
I did a lot of history units at Uni and they were my absolute favourite - I mainly looked at the Vietnam war in all my research - probably because it’s so close to us (in Australia) and we still have a lot of living veterans I was able to interview.
But thank you so much for doing all of this, and secondly presenting it for us here so we can also learn and watch your historic investigations!
I shall continue to consume in awe and regret my choices in tertiary education!!!
You know, I am not an archaeologist and have no official role in any of this research. It is all done on my spare time. So there are certainly ways of participating without being a professional.
I’ve read about a project in the states where they are exhuming and DNA testing unidentified remains in Detroit to try and give them back their identities. Very similar to what you are doing in following crude drawing and memories of where people are buried without markers (or dog tags). It’s a team of volunteer forensic anthropologists that go and do it.
Perhaps the way I could be involved would be to make a film about what you do? I’m sure there are more people than just myself who would find it fascinating!!!
Or I’d happily excavate and like my Howard Carter dream!
Also you must have a lot of spare time!!! I am extremely jealous!
Fascinating as always thank you.
Can't think of anything more important than identifying war dead ... hats off to you ...sincerely hope there is a positive outcome. Respect.
Fascinating. You are very good at the detective work and following the paper trail to get answers after all these years, impressive. I hope someone in the DoD will catch wind of this and honor our coalition brothers who sacrificed their lives to free their homeland.
@CrocodileTear I forgot to mention that you can try to reach out to Stars and Stripes Magazine, they report on this kind of stuff all the time and part of the Military Journalism network.
He was a warrior fighting the good fight. I'm honored to have such men rest with fallen Americans.
Fantastic job and thanks for sharing. If nothing else, this will help to preserve the memory of these brave men, who died for what they believed in.
My grandfather was a resistance fighter in Denmark and he used to tell me stories about weapons drops etc when I was a kid. He was caught by the Germans and send to a danish prison camp. Luckily, it was by the end of the war and he survived. He suffered from heavy depression for the rest of his life. He was the kindest and most lovely man I ever knew. I never heard him speak badly about anyone and he always sought to help people.
My grandmother told me that they once went to visit the prison camp in which he was kept by the Germans. It's still a museum. There, he asked for a but of privacy and went to his old cell, where he spent some minutes in silence. And that was it. He was done.
An interesting side note is that he was able to identify a secret compartment in the cell, where they used to keep a radio which they used to listen to the BBC.
Unfortunately I don't know which cell he was in and my grandmother didn't remember either. I didn't know the story before he passed away and my grandmother hasvnow also passed.
I miss them both every day.
I final little not. After the was, the leader of his resistance cell gave my grandfather two knives and a pistol as a memory of the war and their time together. The pistol was handed in at a later stage, but when my brother and I turned 18, we were given one of them knives each. Mine, a German, new from the factory k98 bayonet, is hanging on my wall today. When my son grow up, he will have it from me, along with the story behind it.
Once again, thank you for your great work.
Very interesting indeed. Years ago, I wrote a book about a B-17 crew in the 303rd Bomb Group and many of the other crews they flew with. I found many contemporary references in diaries and official records to lost aircraft crewmen and became obsessed with learning their fates. It was enormously satisfying labor, but sad at the same time. I understand and greatly admire your own dedication to this kind of research.
From a fellow historian: thanks.
I have a German Luger that my grand father brought back from France he took it off of a German soldier in June of 1944 it has a bullet hole in the handle with small bone fragments stuck in the hole you can clearly see it to this day. The bottom of the handle has the initials E.H.R. Man I have always wanted to know the story of that guy so bad.
I would certainly be interested if you could send me a few photos of that impact on the Luger.
Based on initials only it is not normaly possible to do any research.
@@CrocodileTear I would love to send you photos how would I get that to you?
@@CrocodileTear under the initials it has the numbers 2124 and I’ve always wondered if that was maybe a date if significance like a birthdate 2/1/24 that would make sense to me but who knows
@@MikeyD0 You can send me an email at the adress shown in the video jean-loup@gassend.com
I will see if I can make any sence of the inscriptions.
Perhaps there's some DNA to get from the bone fragments?
A job well done and let us hope it gets the proper ending. It's sad that the French are so reluctant to assist with this, even when it concerns one of their own. I work for the museum that is next to the only French War Cemetery in the Netherlands and we've had a group doing grave identifications for several years now. They have found quite a few mistakes by now, but they run into a wall with the French on this using similar arguments to refuse our requests. The only exhumation we managed to get were two pilots, who had been buried in each others graves, in 2020. It took a lot of effort and overwhelming evidence to convince them.
Either way, keep up the good work!
With your post, I grow more and more disheartened by my own country's administration.
love the channel and all you do!! bless you for figuring this stuff out mate.
You are amazing. My grandfather was lost in Yugoslavia in 1945 and my mother and grandmother never learned what happened. Watching your very detailed and beautifully narrated videos it becomes quite clear. He is one of them. Thank you
What was your grandfather's nationality?
Great video! Your work is wonderful and so important for all those who were not recovered, or permanently and properly interred at the time of the war.
Another great video with excellent research that took some time to gather. You’re a blessing to some of these families.
Thank you for all the work you do!
I'm sure that the families involved are very grateful for the research you have done to have the bodies identified. Perhaps in the near future these men will get the honour that they so deserve. Very well researched. I'm a fan of your videos.
Your work is amazing. Thanks for the hard work.
Incredible documentary and thanks for showing this video. Every person had a battle and story to tell and in a violent historic moment their life ended. You do a great work bringing them back to "life".
At the very least, there can be some small comfort that they are resting alongside the men with whom they fought and died with to liberate their homeland. Hopefully they will be properly identified eventually. Excellent work.
Your videos are AMAZING! Awesome research!
Thank you so much for the work you do and have done. These men need to be identified for the family and for the country which they gave their lives for need to step up.
Fascinating! Thank you for all your hard work.
Thanks for the work you do man. Those who gave it all for freedom need to be remembered. It's a shame bureaucracy has to be the same problem around the globe , keep up the great work ! Hopefully this will convince them
you are so wonderful doing this for the families and for history
Outstanding detective work. I watched a few of your videos today and I am so impressed. Thank you!
Thank you, I am just putting out in video format my last 20 years or so of research.
Sweat, library work, interviews, and piecing together interviews and information.
It takes a lot of legwork, but the results are priceless.
Its too bad some bureaucrat can declare it all worthless.
Outstanding video, you do great work. Thanks!
your videos are simply amazing. Thanks for posting and please don't stop!
Thanks a lot. The next one is similar to this one and will be out soon :)
What a beautiful work you do with so much passion!!!
God, could you imagine finding the body of you child and not being able to identify them? And worse, your child is simply listed as missing until the day you died? It's absolutely sickening to think about. Thank you for the work you do to bring these people 'home'.
Fernand Tonner didnt even know the name of the man he killed. Most soldiers never do. So to be able to figure this out is pretty wild considering then you could learn more and Hans' life with the knowledge of how it ended and by whom.
Thanks for the video!
Fantastic videos, thank you!!
Typical French bureaucracy. Years to respond.. Great detective work on your part. Your findings make perfect sense. Thank you for all you do.
Man you do such a good job… And though they deal with such sadness I really like all your videos,,, this war was so terrible I just can’t believe what mankind can do to each other… my father fought on the island of Saipan on the other side of the world and I can imagine the same thing happening over there,, so many mistakes so many unknowns..
It seems that it’s never too late to find the truth,,
We need more people like you out there,,
Keep up the great work..👍
Excellent as always TY 👍
Brilliant work. You have this American’s gratitude.
Cant believe such soul exist itching to know fellow beings. Thanks for the hard work you'd pulled.
Amazing work. Very interesting, thanks!
The work you do is incredible. Merci, du fond du coeur, merci.
I think "vaporized" is just a subjective trench statement. When a man is standing there one minute, he's hit by artillery, and when the dust settles he's no longer there constitutes "Vaporized". That's pretty much the definition. That doesn't mean appendages are not 100ft away in trees or rolled up in the dirt.
Indeed, it is a "way of putting in" but that is not medically or factually correct, and that may discourage people to search for the remains because they assume there are none to be searched for.
Makes you stop to think about things. Thanks for the hard work. New subscriber.
Thanks. Take a look at some of my other videos on these themes, such as Deadly Typos and Very Friendly Fire
It’s a crime not finding out and doing the right thing for the family.. you have done so much yourself
your work is amazing. and god it must be frustrating to deal with those kind of people
Yes it sure is.... Parasites in control.
EXCELLENT MY MAN YOU NEVER DISAPPOINT WITH YOUR INFORMATION GOOD STUFF AS I AWLAYS SAY NICE DETAILS
My friends killed in Vietnam body was thrown 700 meters into a clump of trees when his APC armored carrier exploded. He was found four days later on a follow up patrol search. Always look farther out from the incident.
Excellent work! And I really hope they reconsider and exhume the body for proper identification for the families involved. They absolutely deserve a thorough investigation into this with a final determination. I believe your due diligence shows overwhelmingly that there’s enough evidence to go ahead with the process.
Love your channel and thank you for all the hard work you do to help bring some closure to some families of these heroes! Frank from Philadelphia, PA. USA
Thanks Frank. I remember you kind comments in some of the old videos.
@@CrocodileTear your welcome! Yes i love watching your videos of the lost soldiers and how hard you work to find out who that soldier was. It’s really fascinating to watch all pieces come together and then present us with the story. To me it’s amazing! You really do amazing work!
I had 3 of my grandparents in WW2 and the history of the war always intrigues me. Keep up the great work you do, it’s very much appreciated!👍
Outstanding video, the research is fantastic 👏 👌
My father was a WWII vet that served with the 36th Engineer Regiment. He spoke of families that wanted their lives ones that were KIAd repatriated to the US after the war. He said they had no way of knowing who’s remains they were receiving. Dad said he saw at either Salerno and or Anzio Americans, Germans and Italians buried in the same mass grave.
The US graves registration did serious work. they didnt consider a body as identified unless they had good reason to do so: ID tag, finger prints, tooth charts, serious circumstancial evidence, etc. All their work can be consulted freely via the IDPF files.
Magnificent work you do!
Just discovered this channel today. Really interesting material, subscribed immediately
Thanks mate
Fantastic information, very interesting, keep up the great work.
Merci à ces hommes pour leurs sacrifices. Encore merci à vous pour votre travail, votre dévouement dans celui-ci et pour le partage de vos recherches.
another great video. thanks
Wow you are really showing us the reality of war here. A local family in Canada recently identified a family member from WWI with DNA so that claim that it's too old is bogus.
You honor those who sacrificed all! I too, hope that someone will help identify the brave individual!
Continue with your search, sir! I appreciate you! 🇺🇸
It’s kind of ironic to think that some of these governmental bureaucrats are only alive today because of the bravery of these French resistance fighters. When I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C., one of the most impactful exhibits was the one about the French resistance fighters.
Great work bro - salute!
I think they've hung out with their comrades long enough and its time to go back to the family ❤
*This popped up again in my feed and remembered it from when you first posted it and really hoped it was an update on these brave men.
I really admire you. It doesn't matter what or who the dead were you make sure they get home.
This is incredible work that you do! I'm happy to say my father survived WWII and Korea, and I know where he is buried.
You are an expert investigator. Very well done. I believe you are correct.
thank you for your research
What fabulous work you are doing.
Very interesting. I love your videos.
I am obsessed with your video's man, very very thorough research. I salute you 🙌🙌
So much of the resistance goes unknown… and these men and women weren’t drafted or basically forced into the flight,, They stepped up on their own to take on tyranny and many paying the ultimate price…
True heroes..
Your research skills and persistence are amazing
Thanks. I will be posting a similar research case in a few hours. I am just doing the editing now :)
I enjoy those videos so much… ahhh such an amazing work this guy is doing… love it to bits…
There will be a similar video online soon. I already posted it yesterday, but had to take it back diwn because one photo was too gruesome for youtube standards. I will repost a version without the photo soon.
It fascinates me that all this info has still remained for so long. Theoretically, one could probably make a map of all american, maybe even German on the western front, based on your spreadsheet, casualties throughout the whole war. Most all of them.
Bon chance, these brave gentlemen deserve to be found, identified for sure and balance given to their families.
The same applies to RAF aircrew and SAS soldiers lost on 17th June 1944, Stirling bomber "The Yorkshire Rose" LJ850 620 Squadron crashed near Calvados, still missing, French authorities seem not to want to allow ground search by researchers who think they know the location. Seven aircrew and 16 SAS still missing. My admiration for the depth of your research sir.
I must congratulation you on this extensive and thorough work you have done
Excellent production and facts.
Excellent video! Very strange that the French government would take such a nonchalant attitude towards their war dead. These men are heros, not only of France, but of all freedom loving people everywhere
I'll tell you a short family story that I found interesting. My mom's family is in Floyd County Kentucky and just like a lot of families there they have a family burial plot. My mom was a very young girl when world War 2 was going. She had an older cousin serving in the army and one day 2 men came and notified her aunt and uncle that their boy was KIA. They made arrangements for a burial, days later that met the train and the military turned over his body to be buried. Of course it was a closed coffin. They, being the family, escorted his body to the burial plot and he was buried. Life for hisi family was slowly GETTING back on track and about 3 weeks later, 2 more men showed up and said we have some bad news. Your sons body has been found in Belgium and identified by dog tags and personal items. The military came to the conclusion that the soldier buried in the family plot was more than likely a German soldier.
I am very interested in such cases of mistakes and have written an article on this sort of topic. Do you have this soldier's name so that I can look into it?
In any case the body would not have been brought back a few weeks later, as it is only after the war that they started repatriating the soldier's remains.
Interesting and Sad
My mom is now 83 and is in the nursing home here. Some days she doesn't know me and some days she is sharp as a tack. Let me see what she remembers. The way I know about this story was I was visiting family in Kentucky and went to visit my grandads grave. As I was standing at his grave my mother and my uncle walked me over to the grave and told me the story. My grandad was of the Cherokee Nation and my mom's family was very good at remembering history and telling the stories that went with it. If you know any native American families you'll will understand.
@@Cutter-jx3xj Well, if you can find out his name, I will certainly look into it and ask for copies of his documentation.
@@Cutter-jx3xj was the incorrect body removed, and the correct body brought home and laid to rest?
Hard to listen to but absolutely fascinating. Thank you.
Well done research! I hope your appeal will be heard and that Tonner and Bergia will be able to be identified!
Superlative detective work! How the French can ignore someone who may well be one of their own is beyond me. It seems like they'd be eager to give this hero his own name, and to give him back to his family. It really wouldn't be that difficult.
bureaucrats.... what more is there to say?
French bureaucracy is some of the most convulated and slowest in western Europe.
Outstanding detective work, your research is amazing and fills in the gaps on what most likely happened to those killed. Typical lazy government organizations that can't be bothered to do there jobs, I have heard horror stories with the current us pow/mia involving the missing and dead from ww2. Keep up the great work and hopefully soon these 2 French heroes are given the honor that they deserve and are identified.
My uncle was in the 101 airborne he was shot down sometime during the Normandy invasion he said the French resistance helped them get back to friendly lines.
The letter from Mme. Piffeteau is preposterous to say the least!
Since we are going to have to work with these people, I tried to sound neutral in the video... But yes I fully agree with you.
Sir, what fabulous work you have done here. It's an amazing story, backed up by evidence. We live in France and often experience French bureaucracy. It's infuriating and can change depending upon whom you are lucky (or not) enough to deal with. I believe bureaucracy is a French word!
Wow that is real detective work WELL DONE and thank you.
Very well done. Excellent use of a half hour of ones time.👍
Great detective work!
Thank you
16:43: In other words, "It's your problem, not ours". So much for going that extra mile for a veteran of France.
I really hope this makes a difference to come to the final conclusion, thank you
So sad and disappointing that two brave men died for the Allies in WWII and their government doesn’t care to help recognize their courage and contribution to winning the war. Somebody just didn’t want to be bothered to make an effort for the dead or their families.
Ne znam tacno zasto burazeru ali si mi vrh. Ima nesto posebno u svemu. Samo nastavi. Iskeno uzivam u tvojim klipovima :) pozz
Hvala ti ljepa brat ;) Pozdravi
Amazing research
I find this very interesting. I've been enjoying your detective skills.
Good work, you should be proud of yourself , you make effort that the authorities who have their positions due to the efforts of these men sadly will not do. That is shameful
If you're going to go unidentified for 70 years you could do worse than a designation like "X-77." Sounds badass.
I had to giggle at this comment. It does sound bada*s, but it also sounds like the name of Elon Musk's next child. Hopefully Monsieur Crocodile can solve this 70 year old mystery, and we can name the deceased properly!!