At age twelve, Walter Maschmeyer traversed Germany amid the turmoil of World War II. Traveling only with his mother, Maschmeyer saw miles of German countryside during 1945 as they used whatever transportation was available to find a safe place in the war-torn nation. With Maschmeyer’s father on the German front and the Soviet army fast approaching, this journey was both frightening and essential. Only upon the arrival of American soldiers did the Maschmeyer family reunite and settle again into a peaceful life.
