Postscript to the Hurtgen Forest Incident.

In January 1973, Reader’s Digest magazine published "Truce in the Forest," an account of the moment humanity was shared deep in the war ravaged Hurtgen Forest written by someone who was there, Fritz Vincken (aged 12 in 1944).

Fritz Vincken, having moved to the USA after the war, used the fame of the story to try to find the three American soldiers. In October 1995 a seventy-six-year-old retired bricklayer named Ralph Henry Blank from Frederick, came forward to claim he was one of the three U.S. soldiers. In 1944, he had been a sergeant serving with the 121st Infantry, 8th Division, of the U.S. Army in Belgium. 

Fritz phoned Ralph and confirmed via a Q&A he was one of the soldiers who had celebrated Christmas with his mother Elizabeth. In an amazing twist Ralph still had the map and compass that one of the German soldiers gave him.

At a joyful reunion in 1996 Ralph told him, "Your mother saved my life."

Fritz and Ralph wanted to be remembered for their true friendship and brotherhood enduring time, distance and the ravages of war. Fritz was able to locate one more of the U.S. soldiers but could not find any of the surviving German soldiers.

On May 21, 1999, Ralph passed away at the age of seventy-nine. 

On December 8, 2001, Fritz passed away at the age of sixty-nine.