The war room is a bit untidy at the moment but I decided to shoot some photos of a fairly recent arrival.

Gerhard Strien was a Gefreiter and reserve officer candidate in Aufklärungs - Abteilung 29 of the 29. Infanterie Division. He fell in battle during the invasion of France on 18 June, 1940. His parents evidently kept both his visor cap and a newspaper clipping of his death announcement.

The announcement roughly says "Our deeply beloved and only son, Gerhard Strien Gefreiter and reserve officer candidate in a reconnaissance battalion fell on 18 June 1940 at the age of 20 on the earth of France. He took our big hopes and our joy with him. In deep pain, Gustav Strien and wife Elsa (maiden name Klöppel)."

It’s easy to hold the clipping and imagine their pain as they gazed on this very same piece of paper 79 years ago.

The cap has a couple moth nips but is overall in clean and brightly colorful condition. Curiously someone at some time seems to have partly crushed the metal cockade and the chinstrap end was torn and re-anchored to the cap by driving the push-pin back in at another spot in the chin strap. I can only speculate at one time a kid (young relative?) got a hold of the cap and played around with it.

According to the Volksbund grave registration data base, Gerhard is buried in the war cemetery in Andilly, France.

Click to enlarge the picture