Life

Editor's Note: This is a somewhat expanded version of the original “life story” written in English by W.L. Kreissmann for his family, which he completed when he was 88 years old. It was 34 pages with added picture pages, spiral-bound, with a cover designed by Willi in his own inimitable way. He sent it to me in that same year, 2008, because I had asked him for more information about himself on the German World Alliance forum. I was thrilled to receive it and, after reading it, asked if he minded if I edited it. He answered that he wouldn't mind, in fact he would appreciate it. Over the period of time that I worked on it, we naturally corresponded quite a lot. From what I discovered in our conversations and some pictures he sent me, I noticed that he barely mentioned his most dangerous bombing missions, especially the tragedy at Welikije Luki, and the beginning of the Battle of Kursk when he successfully crash landed his damaged plane in a wheat field. He had not even mentioned his two Iron Crosses, I and II! He agreed to write more about those wartime events and we added it into the narrative. He also provided more pictures which he identified for me.

Considering some of the evolution of his political views that is apparent from earlier to later life, the reader can appreciate that Willi, married to his American-born 2nd wife and with his children born or growing up in the USA, was under the usual pressure to conform to, or at least not challenge, the American popular beliefs about history, even the history he lived through and participated in. This was more true before his retirement than after. Because I was more interested in his early life experiences with his parents and sisters and as a Hitlerjugend than I was in his later life, he sent me two additional essays titled “Confessions” and "Marching Conquerors," which I'm also publishing now for the first time. ~CY