# List of last occurences in WWII **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2015, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709 "2015-05-24T07:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dr\_zippermeyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dr\_zippermeyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_zippermeyer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/41 "2015-05-27T19:36:10Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Last German servicemen to be executed for desertion: Sailors Bruno Dörfer and Rainer Beck on Mai 13, 1945 (i. e. 5 days after Germany surrendered). > > → [13 May 1945 German deserter execution - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_May_1945_German_deserter_execution) So this happened in the presence of Canadians. 😕 I remember that in biography of one u-boat captain (Iron Coffins) there was also an ugly, messy execution of two German soldiers after surrender. But I guess it was like a day or two after surrender and there weren’t allies nearby. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/42 "2015-05-27T19:37:25Z")
[According to this](http://www.cracked.com/article_21572_5-outdated-practices-that-are-more-modern-than-you-think.html), the last battle between sailing vessels. Scroll to #3. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/43 "2015-05-27T19:53:02Z")
> [@dr\_zippermeyer](#): > > So this happened in the presence of Canadians. 😕 > > I remember that in biography of one u-boat captain (Iron Coffins) there was also an ugly, messy execution of two German soldiers after surrender. But I guess it was like a day or two after surrender and there weren’t allies nearby. There were many “irregular” killings/lynchings of suspected German deserters in the last weeks and days before the surrender. I am not aware of any that occurred after May 8 (except the one mentioned before). There were, however, two cases of German POWs murdering fellow POWs who they considered “traitors”. This happened in Oklahoma in 1943 and in Arizona in 1944. The killers were sentenced to death and executed by the US military in the summer of 1945. Their graves are in the Fort Leavenworth cemetery: → [http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/article/20110813/NEWS/308139935](http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/article/20110813/NEWS/308139935) ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/44 "2015-05-27T19:57:55Z")
Last German POW to surrender to US authorities after having escaped from a POW camp: Georg Gärtner in 1985: > [@](#): > > Gärtner came from Schweidnitz, Lower Silesia (now Świdnica, Poland). He served with the Afrika Korps. He was captured by Allied troops in Tunis in 1943 and was brought to America as a prisoner of war. He escaped from his prison camp in Deming, New Mexico, at the war’s end because he was afraid of being turned over to the Soviets. He created a new identity as Dennis Whiles, marrying and leading a relatively quiet life. According to his book, an exception was taking part of the first ski rescue team to the City of San Francisco in January 1952, immediately after which Life magazine took his and the group’s picture. Meanwhile, his FBI wanted posters were in most post offices. > > Gärtner was never caught by the authorities, but came forward 40 years later in 1985, “surrendering” to Bryant Gumbel on the Today Show. He effectively became the last World War II German prisoner of war in America.[1] → [Georg Gaertner - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_G%C3%A4rtner) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/45 "2015-05-28T13:27:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As I said above, that sounds to me more like a defensive operation than an offensive. And I’d also question whether the operation ever got going. Hmmm. I would have called the order a “counter attack”. 🙂 Obviously, your mileage varies. ---
**Author:** ![CraterLayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CraterLayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CraterLayer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/46 "2015-05-30T04:11:15Z")
On August 16, 1945, the day after Japan surrendered, there were only four American airmen still alive at the Osaka Kempei Tai prison. The men were told that they were being freed and were given back their uniforms, unloaded weapons, personal effects and even their parachutes. Korean forced-laborers reported that the men were smiling and waved to them as they were leaving the camp. One even yelled that they were “going home”. Instead the Japanese led them to the cemetery where a large hole had been dug. They were beheaded and thrown into the ditch. On top of them were piled their personal effects, along with those of the 55 Americans previously killed, and any other evidence that Americans had ever been held there. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Cite? I’m sorry, I’ve been very sick all week and haven’t been on the computer. My uncle was one of the other 55, so I am close to the subject. For some reason the government classified what occurred there, I think probably because they didn’t uncover what happened until 1947, when China and eastern Europe where falling to the communists. In the early 90’s I was able to get the declassified documents from the National Archives, and its a horrible story. There is little on the internet concerning this, at least the last time I checked. However there was kind of a humorous story of a downed airmen who bullshitted the Japs about his knowledge of tha atomic bomb, which saved his life because he was sent to Tokyo, unlike his crewmates who were sent to Osaka. I’ll look that story up and provide a link. If you want more cites, I have boxes of documents, some of which I’ll scan into the computer. If there are any writers out there looking for an intense story, contact me. This is a piece of history that needs to be told. ---
**Author:** ![CraterLayer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CraterLayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CraterLayer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/47 "2015-05-30T04:31:14Z")
Found the link: > **[Lieutenant Marcus McDilda, Unsung Hero of World War II](http://kentmitchellsramblings.blogspot.com/2009/10/lieutenant-marcus-mcdilda-unsung-hero.html)** > > Lieutenant Marcus McDilda was a P-51 pilot who was shot down over Japan in the closing days of World War II. In fact, he was captured the da... ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/48 "2015-05-30T05:23:31Z")
August 9, 1945 was the last time an atomic bomb was used in combat. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/49 "2015-05-30T05:29:57Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > August 9, 1945 was the last time an atomic bomb was used in combat. One can hope anyway. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709/50 "2015-06-02T13:57:56Z")
The last looted asset returned to its proper owner - yet to be determined. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-last-occurences-in-wwii/720709.md?page=2)