Many thanks to those of you who sent me references to the German sailors
buried at the Hampton Military Cemetery, and for your observations on the
larger issues.

I was fortunate to be able to find a 1986 Richmond Times Dispatch article in
online archives, and I think the quote it took from a Newport News newspaper
of July 25, 1942 (three months after the 29 German sailors were buried with
full military honors) pretty well tells it like it should be:

        "We followed our code and principles of honor.  War demanded that we
sink the submarine, which was done.  But after victory, we could proceed as
we did         in the recognition that these were human beings.... and they
deserved consideration as such under our Christian code of conduct."

Randy Cabell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deane" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 4:25 PM
Subject: Hampton (Virginia) National Cemetary: 757.723.7104


> 1.Regarding this touchy subject of re-writing history to fit the current
> mode of how people thought and should think, I quote from this week's
issue
> of TIME MAGAZINE's article on "Home Schooling. Is it bad for America?"
> On page 48 of the article,  the writer states: "Thomas Jefferson and the
> other early American crusaders for public education believed (public)
> schools would help sustain democracy by bringing everyone together to
share
> values and learn (a) common history."
>
> This is what seems to have been happening over the past few
> decades......students at all levels of American education have been taught
> to look at a certain aspect of American history, particularly
>  the ante-bellum South and the Civil War, as living a way of life that was
> tantamount to Nazi Germany. We have been taught a "common history" that
may
> not be all that correct.
> I think that it behooves all of us to read and read and read, everything
we
> can get our hands on and, thereby, try to find out what really went on in
> the minds of people who lived then.
> I will never defend the practice of slavery. Slavery was reprehensible
> enough without folks today having to change historical thought and rewrite
> the truth in order to make sure that slavery remains
> condemned.
> The men on the CSS Hunley were heroes. They fought to defend their
country.
> What subsequent generations have not been taught is that until after the
> Civil War, people saw themselves as "Virginians"; "North Carolinians";
> "South Carolinians"; "Georgians".
> Not until after Appomatox, did we become "Americans."
>
> 2. As a life long Tidewater Virginian, I have heard the stories all my
life
> of the U-Boats that sniffed around our coasts during WWII.
> We have known for about 25 years that there were German soldiers who had
> been found dead on the beaches during the war when their U-Boat
> malfunctioned and they all drowned as they were trying to get to shore.
> These men were found dressed in American style clothing , made with
American
> clothing manufacturers' labels sewn inside them, and were carrying all
kinds
> of sophisticatedly created identification documents, such as American
> passports, driver's licences, etc.
> Yes, they are buried in the Hampton National Cemetary and you may call the
> cemetary at 757.723.7104.
> A nice lady there named Gloria will take your name and address and send
you
> information about the German soldiers who are buried there, if you ask.
>
> Deane Ferguson Mills
> York County Virginia
>
> Randy Cabell wrote:
> I note with some sadness that the plans to honor the men of the CSS Hunley
> down in Charleston, SC have been trashed by some few as 'honoring a regime
> which was every bit as bad, and commited atrocities as bad as the NAZIs.'
> But as a partial answer, I wonder if anybody can help me with a bit of
> Virginia history, also involving an 'enemy' submarine.
>
> My father was army liason officer at the 5th Naval District in Norfolk
> through most of WWII.  After the war, he told a story of one of the first
> sinkings of a German UBoat off the Virginia capes, probably late 1942 or
> early 1943.  It seems a PBY on patrol caught U-____ on the surface
charging
> its batteries, dropped bombs or depth charges set to minimal depth and
sank
> it.  The PBY, running low on fuel then radioed its location (before GPS!)
> dropped life rafts to survivors and returned to Norfolk.  Navy ships and
> aircraft could not find it when they reached the area.  Two or three days
> later, a smart staff officer realized the sub was in the Gulf Stream when
> sunk, so calculated the northward movement, dispatched rescue craft, and
> there they found the survivors and unfortunately the bodies of many who
had
> died from exposure.
>
> To make a long story short, a funeral with full military honors was given
> the dead crew members at the US Military Cemetery in Hampton -- German
> flags, German music ('Deuschland uber alles', I guess).  I have never read
> of this anywhere, and 20 minutes ago was unsuccessful finding anything
about
> it at the Library of Virginia or the Hampton Military Cemetery.
>
> Can anybody point me to a source for further information?
>
> Randy Cabell
>
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