My dad went over to Germany to visit my grandfather for a week and brought back his authentic tunic from 1944. It was his last one he was given during the war. He served with an engineer unit and both Russia and France until he was badly injured in France from an American shell. He lost his leg from the knee down. From bullet wounds to shrapnel he still set off metal detectors. After the hospital patched him up, he wanted to go home, at at the end of WW2 and with all the bombing getting home was a challenge. He was roughly 500kms away from his home town. After spending two days and nights on a train (travelling at night) he ended up back exactly where he started. He decided to walk it. Literally, with a fresh wound, on crutches. Again, travelling mainly at night, he walked, got rides and travelled by boat when he could. He traded smokes for rides when he could. He didn't smoke, so naturally he had alot of cigarettes. He eventually made it home to his inlaws that wouldn't let him in the house. They thought he was a gypsy by the way he looked. The jacket below is the one he wore.
My grandfather told my dad this story for the first time in his life two years ago. When he told me, I was speechless.
http://www.teametf.ca/gallery/main.p...g2_itemId=1564