Enemies in War, 2 Vets Bond As Seniors-- Part 2: Joined German Army at 14

Gunter Buhrdorf found out that George Williams had been a bomb-dropping Allied pilot over Germany.  Gunter had been manning anti-aircraft guns for the Germans.

At first, he said nothing.

Then one evening in the spring of 2013, several weeks later, a few men were sitting in the lobby at Commonwealth Assisted Living Facility in Christiansburg, Virginia, and they began swapping stories.  Williams began reminiscing about the war and flying through heavy German flak.

Gunter Buhrdorf overcame his fear and started telling about his World War II experience for 45 minutes.

He had only been 14 years old when he joined the German Army in 1939.  His family hadn't supported Adolph Hitler.  Fighting for Germany was for love of country, not its leader.

During the war, Hitler's government kept what was happening with Jews in the concentration camps secret.  Buhrdorf clearly remembers the moment in August 1945 after the fighting had ended, when he first read a newspaper account of the horror.

--GreGen