During the 1996 trip, we headed for Paris after visiting northern Germany. On the way, we took a little side trip and visited the Normandy region of France which was the site of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

There are large cemeteries with thousands and thousands of crosses and stars of David grave markers. It really brings home what a tragedy war is for everyone involved.

A short distance from the American cemeteries is one devoted to German solders. They have plain sandstone crosses without any names. Most just said Zwei Deutsche Soldaten meaning that two and sometimes more German solders were buried anonymously in each grave.

There was, however, a small welcome center which had several computers available for visitor use. You could do a search on a last name and, although the graves were unmarked, you could find the names of potential relatives that were buried in this or other plain resting places. So, I sat down and entered Heiden, Rambow and Dreier and here is the result of the search.
 
 
Name Military Rank Birthdate Death Date Age

 - Cemetery: La Cambe, France Block 28 Grave 44
Alfonse Heiden Oberpionier March 27, 1925 August 14, 1944

19

- Cemetery: Champigny-St Andre, France Block 13 Grave 810
Karl Heiden Oberpionier January 9, 1913 August 19, 1944

31

- Cemetery: Orglandes, France Block 14 Grave 380
Hans Rambow Gefreiter November 15, 1911 July 4, 1944

33

- Cemetery: Champigny-St Andre, France Block 13 Grave 88
Heinrich Rambow Gefreiter July 29, 1908 August 20, 1944

36

 - Cemetery: Marigny, France Block 5 Riehe 19 Grave 931
Anton Dreier Gefreiter January 13, 1905 June 21, 1944

39

- Cemetery: La Cambe, France Block 16 Reihe 4 Grave 142
Heinrich Dreier Gefreiter December 16, 1904 June 10, 1944

40
 
* Operpionier is a private first class   * Gefreiter is a private
 

Of course, we have no idea whether any of these people were our blood relatives. It is interesting to see that one of them was 19 years old but others were closer to 40 at the time of their deaths.