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-Gregg
I was wondering if Ashley and her father could have an inaccuracy in their genealogy... The Walter Lewis Beitel who is my grandfather was thought to be dead for decades. I'm not sure of the exact date, but he abruptly left his family when my father was an adolescent. Apparently he went, for lack of a better word, insane after WWII. In the war he was a tank commander at the Battle of the Bulge who inadvertently lead his battalion into a massacre. The incident happened when he was hit in the head with shrapnel. (It was a minor wound but the blood ran into his eyes setting him into a panic.... he called in reinforcements, thinking he was surrounded, only to lead his battalion right into a fortified German frontline.)
Anyway, he returned home to NJ, but began to loose his mind because he felt guilty for all of the innocent deaths within his battalion. Like I said before, he abruptly left his family (he just didn’t return home one day), and we all assumed he was dead. BUT, about 3 years ago, we somehow tracked him down; he was still alive -living in Los Angeles! I met him 2 years ago and he has an uncanny resemblance to my father, and he corroborated all of his previous family history we know of… in short, we know it's him.
While we still don’t know exactly drove him to LA, (He claims he became lost going to the Rose Bowl –He’s still a little insane…)
I found it interesting that you mentioned in your posting a Walter Lewis who was single in Los Angeles –He was, for all intents and purposes, single, and in LA since he abandoned his family and forgot he even had one. I’m not sure the dates match up but, could this be the same Walter Lewis? Thanks for the response...
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