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| The following is a biography of one of the
Paratroops who jumped on Crete, Egon Radeck, supplied by his
granddaughter, for which I am very grateful. |
| All photos are the copyright
of Nanette Murphy |
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Egon Konrad Radeck was born in Dresden
on the 27th of September, 1921. He was an only child. His
father was an Architect and his mother, a printer.
In his later years Egon described how, during war time Germany,
the loud speakers in the
streets put out a constant barrage of political comment and
propaganda. Germany
was at war, and men were being conscripted. Egon began his trade as a 'Fitter and
Turner' at the age of 14 in Dresden.
At the time of being conscripted in
1940, at age 19, he was a tradesman. He chose to enter the
Luftwaffe, but had a preference for the Fallschirmjager (paratroops)
primarily because of the higher pay rates. It was not
easy to be accepted into the paratroops. Selection was tough and
all men had to undergo a rigorous selection process that included not
only demonstration of physical strength but also intelligence and
commitment.
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Egon Radeck |
| Egon was
involved in one of the first paratroop campaigns in Holland, he also
fought in Crete, Corinth, France and Russia. In
France, Egon was wounded by shrapnel and later was awarded the 'Black
Wound Badge'. After his time in Russia, he was sent to Hamburg to
retrain as a lorry driver. After his training, Egon was sent to
Belgium where, towards the end of the war, he was captured by the
American and English forces. |
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After being released from the British
POW camp, and returned to Germany, Egon decided to go to Hamburg, to
try and link up with a young woman (his future wife, Wilma Voss) who
he had met one year before. She had not heard from him in a
year...but she remembered him...and his forward and frank nature.
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Egon, on left, while
training |
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One year before he had
spotted her in a bakery where she worked. She used to issue him,
at times, a little more than rations allowed. After all, he was a
striking, good looking soldier in uniform and she was a young
woman. At any rate, he had spotted her and had decided to give her
a gift and to also let her know of his attraction to her. He
purchased a small card with the Virgin Mary cradling the Christ child in
her arms. On the back of this card he wrote, "I wish to
have many children with you"...and he passed this card over the
counter of the bakery shop, to her, with a smile and a grin. They
fell in love...but he had to leave ,to return to the front. She
did not hear from him for some time and did not know if he was still
alive |
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5th from the left - looking
down into the plane. He told a story once whereby he accidentally
got on the wrong plane - late or something...the plane that he was meant
to board was blown out of the sky |
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| As it turned out, both he
and she met up again in Hamburg. The war was over. He
returned to her house and buzzed the door bell. From over the
balcony she saw him and her heart leapt with joy. They were
married the day after her 21st birthday, unable to be married
beforehand, for no one was alive or contactable in her family to
consent to the marriage (the age of consent was 21). |
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Egon in uniform |
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A short time after their
marriage, they decided to return to Dresden, thinking that life may have
been a little easier there. It wasn't. At one stage, Egon
was captured by border guards and had his papers confiscated, making it
impossible for him to return to his love in Dresden. It was
decided that she would cross the border and return to Hamburg. In
places she crawled on her pregnant stomach to avoid border guards, but
she made it back to him. |
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Egon training with
machine-gun |
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| At this time, Egon was
employed by the occupying forces to drive trucks. This is how he
met an American officer, who told him about migration to Canada.
Given that things were so hard in Germany for Egon, his wife and young
family, it was decided that they would make enquiries about migration.
At the 'Migration Office', Egon was
told that he had too many children (4 by this time) to migrate to
Canada. However, it was possible for them to go to Australia.
There were no limits for migration to this country. Neither Egon nor
his wife knew anything about Australia, nor did they speak English.
But they decided to take the plunge and to migrate to a country that his
wife thought still had 'savages and cannibals' within it. |
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Egon, training |
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They traveled by boat to
Perth, Western Australia and then by train to Townsville, Queensland.
A journey made more difficult by the fact that they had a young family
of four children, all under 6 years of age. At Townsville, Egon
undertook studies at Townsville State High School and the family lived
in a migration camp. When he successfully completed his course in
English, so as to be recognized for his trade qualifications in
Australia, Egon was employed in sugar mills throughout North Queensland. |
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Believe Egon is on
the left |
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| Egon and his wife (Wilma
Radeck nee Voss) raised 8 children together. Wilma claims that it
was 'love at first sight' and that he was 'the love of her life'.
His dream to have many children with his love most certainly came true.
At the time of his death on January 22nd, 2002, Egon had been blessed
with 24 grandchildren and 18 great-grand children.
"From his achievements we seek to
gain inspiration and courage to meet the trials and tribulations of our
own lives. May you, Opa, enjoy your eternal rest and the
rewards that you have earned" - Grandaughter, Nanette Murphy nee
Radeck.
On the right, Egon
& Wilma, new arrivals in Australia, to start a new life. |
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Egon, in a nightclub
in Hamburg, the "Ballhaus Trichter" in the St Pauli district.
In the photograph Egon is wearing the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class (EK1
and EK2). He was most likely awarded these (although not yet
confirmed) for his service on Crete as 2./FJR2 and had a very hard time
there (against the Australians). He is also wearing a black wound
badge, indicating one wound requiring treatment by a Field Hospital. |
| A little history of what happened to the
nightclub.
On the night of 3/4/05.1942, 81 aircraft (43
Wellingtons, 20 Halifaxes, 13 Stirlings, 5 Hampdens) were dispatched
to Hamburg. The city was completely cloud covered, so only 54
a/c bombed on estimated position. It started 113 fires (57
large) burning out a larger entertainment palace, a theatre and cinema
(Reeperbahn area) a dockside warehouse. 77 people killed, 243
injured, 1624 bombed out. The raid was the 100th anniversary of
a large fire in Hamburg.
After the war the "Trichter" as well as the
rest of Reeperbahn was rebuilt and the Trichter was active until 1958
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