My grandfather told me how he was shot — A World Wars Story

This story was told to me by my father. My great-grandfather, or as my father affectionately calls him Opa, fought for the Germans in both World Wars, and they were on the losing side both times. Through these stories, I have learned to love my Opa deeply for his patriotism and goodness in loving Germany and his German family with all his heart and courage.

This is my father’s Opa (grandfather), Josef Semar, recovering in the hospital during World War I as a result of being shot in the stomach. He has two friends standing behind him. Note the document; it is the certificate award of the Iron Cross. My father recalls Opa still had the scar from the battle wound and even showed it to the boys (the grandsons).

This story was told to me by my father. It is from his perspective.

My grandfather, Josef Semar, was born in 1886 and fought in both World Wars on the German side. He was a farmer who came from the small town of Zweibrücken in Germany. He didn’t talk all that much as he was a man of that era: an ironman that took action and didn’t need words, one that did things like work in the field all day, come home, and go straight to bed — that kind of a guy.

I first met him in 1957 when he visited the United States by ship. I was just a young boy at the time. Unbeknownst to my mother, prior to the visit, he had suffered a heart attack. He hadn’t told her because that’s just how he was. In that way, she didn’t…