Triumphal journey through Germany

On Wednesday at six o'clock in the morning, the carriage was routed from Kehl to Appenweiler, where it was attached to the scheduled Frankfurt D train. From now on, Manfred's last journey to Berlin turned out to be a triumphal journey through Germany's most beautiful districts, the like of which would be hard to find anywhere else. Everywhere the bells rang in the towns and villages and the flags were lowered, aeroplanes escorted the train and, in accordance with the wishes of the population, the doors of the baggage car, in which fighter pilots from the old army kept the wake, remained open so that the men, women and children standing expectantly in masses on the railway embankments could at least see the coffin as it passed. Wherever the train stopped, in Baden-Oos, Rastatt, Karlsruhe, Durlach, Bruchsal, Heidelberg, authorities and associations stood at the station and patriotic songs greeted the coffin. And there was no difference between the parties and associations. Everyone had turned up to honour the returning dead hero in rare unity. The wreaths piled up like mountains, and between them lay small bouquets and individual flowers, because even those who were only able to spend a few pennies did not miss the opportunity to express their gratitude and veneration for the great fighter pilot. We, who were allowed to escort Manfred's body, clearly felt how the people had understood that his journey home to his fatherland had a symbolic meaning. Not all of the hundreds of thousands who had given their lives for Germany and found their final resting place in foreign soil could be led home. And so the crowds who flocked to greet our dead Manfred may well have seen in him the symbol of self-sacrificing German heroism and honoured in him the sons and brothers whom they themselves had given up for the Fatherland.