Enemies in War, 2 Vets Bond As Seniors-- Part 3: Manned A.A. Gun and Worked on U-boats

As a teenager, Gunter Buhrdorf manned 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, but action was relatively calm until the United States entered the war.

He said:  "When America got into the war, that's when things changed.  The bombings changed, the size of the attacking force was increased from 50 to 500."

Bremen, the northwestern German town where his family lived, was leveled.

At age 18 Burhdorf was put in charge of a crew of foreign laborers tasked with building Hitler's ambitious submarine fleet.  The men were prisoners, but Burhdorf saw to it that they were fed.  "Hitler would not have liked that.  That was not to be advertised during the war."

--GreGen