HONOR ROLL

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Freiherr von Lützow

The first I heard of Ludwig was long time ago when I was talking to Grandma about genealogy. We were discussing her family, when she brought out manila envelope, in it was a term paper written in 1968 by a young man – Don Bridge. When Don researched his paper, he found my Grandma in his family tree. After completing his paper, he made a copy of it and sent to her with a nice letter saying he thought she would be interested in this story. I forgot about Don's term paper for many years until another person contacted me about the Luetzow family. Unfortunately she was just interested in being related to Ludwig and not about recording family history accurately.
This is Ludwig's story. Ludwig was born May 18, 1782 in Berlin, from the House of Mecklenburg. His father was also an officer in the Prussian Army. He entered military service in 1795, at the young age of 13. At 24 he was a lieutenant, but he didn't gain distinction until the siege of Kolberg. He retired the first time at the rank of major in 1808, angry over what he perceived to being a humiliating treaty of Tilsit. In 1811 he rejoined the Prussian army as a major, at the outbreak of the German War of Liberation. He received permission to organize a free corps which consisted of infantry, cavalry and Tirolese marksmen. These free corps, were known as the “Black Troopers” or “Black Riflemen”,because of the color of their uniforms. The free corps played a marked part in the campaign of 1813, but the wanderings of the corps had little military influence. While at Kitzen the corps were warned too late of the armistice of Poischwitz and the corps were all but annihilated. Lützow was wounded, and with his surviving men, he immediately reorganized and recruited new men. During the second part of the campaign the corps were more a part of the regular forces and distinguished themselves in several battles. Lützow is wounded again and is taken before Napoleon and is sent to France, on the way he escapes. His last campaign is in Denmark where he is wounded one more time. He retires in 1830 as a lieutenant-general. I have found no mention of a wife or children, his legacy has been in the way of warships named after him; including the SMS Lützow of WWI and the heavy cruiser of WWII. The 37th SS Volunteer Cavalry Division was also named after him.

Lützow's wild hunt

Veteran's Day

November 11th, Veterans Day, as most of us know started out as Armistice Day; a day dedicated to the cause of world peace and to honor WWI veterans. It wasn't until May 13, 1938, that it was amended to all veterans and renamed Veterans Day.
My family has a rich history in serving the armed forces of their lands, starting with an uncle in the Napoleonic wars and ending with desert storm. Not all of us served on foreign soil or in war, but a few of us did, and we all served honorably.
I started out writing about all of my relatives who have served in the armed forces, but it became too long to be fair to the veterans. So, I'm breaking it down into groups. The first two in my “Honor Roll” are Great Great Grandpa and Grandpa. Great grandpa, pictured to the left, volunteered and served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was a private. He was in the 45th Wisconsin Infantry, Company I, which was organized in Camp Randall, Madison on November 8, 1864. As companies of the 45th were organized, they were ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, where, they fought in the Battle of Nashville and served on garrison and guard duty there until July 1865. The regiment mustered out on July 17, 1865. It lost a total of 34 men during service, all from disease. Adam Gleitzmann mustered out in Tennessee and returned to his cooperage in Cedarburg,Wisconsin.
Pictured below is my Grandpa, a private in the US Army, served in World War I. He served from 28 May 1918 to 9 Feb 1919. I wish I knew if this photograph was taken here in the United States before he shipped over seas or if this was taken during his time in France. He didn't talk much about what he did there to any of us. He told two friends of mine that he that he was a general's driver, and told my cousins that his MOS was a truck driver. While serving in the army he severely broke his leg, it wasn't set well and never really healed. Grandpa never complained in front of us if it cause him any pain; because of this injury he drew a small disability pension from the army.