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.

Fall Colors

I live in a state that has all four seasons. I'm asked from time to time which is my favorite season, I'm not sure if I have a favorite. Each season has something special to offer, but as I get older winter is the least appealing. Summer is nice because it's summer, green, warm and fun. Spring and Fall I think are the most interesting. Spring is the rebirth after the long cold winter, the dull and gray gives way to color and new life. Fall is the opposite of Spring. It's the ending of the growing season, shorter days and cooler nights, but it does have a lot in it's favor. It has brilliant colors, textures and a smell that you can't describe.

Every fall for as long as I can remember, my Grandma Beck would come and stay with us kids and my parents would go “Up North” with their two best friends from high school days and all through their lives – Nina and Bob. They would try and time these trips to get to the northwoods when color was at its peak. The four of them would sight see, hike, take photographs and just hang out. Bob was a professional photographer and would take most of the pictures, but Dad also took some of the photos. These are just a couple from their trip in 1971.

Arthur Charles Luetzow – b. 23 Dec 1876 d. 21 Apr 1912 . This doesn't really say much of my Great Grandpa. All references made about him state his name as Arthur not “Art” or “Artie”. He was the oldest child of Albert and Elizabeth (Meyer) Luetzow and the first generation born here in Wisconsin. He was my Grandma, Louise Luetzow Beck's, father. Grandma never spoke much of him, but I think it was more because she didn't really get a chance to know him. She was only 9 years old when he died of a massive heart attack at the young age of 35. The only things Grandma said about him was that he was a butcher in Cedarburg and that he didn't much speak to his father From this undated photograph this is what I know - it was right before the start of prohibition, maybe around 1910-11. Like I said I don't know much about Arthur Luetzow, I do know from the few photographs of him that he had a very kind face, although Grandma used to said that he was a stern father. This is one the few surviving photos of Arthur,and probably one of the more interesting ones. It makes you think, why a picture here on this day? Was it a special day, did someone just get a camera – a luxury item back than I'd think? Arthur is the gentleman in the white shirt, standing with the beer in his hand on the right hand side of the photo . Arthur's father Albert is also in it, but I don't know which man. Looking at their faces I think it's the gentleman in the foreground with the shot.

Jim "Muscles" Piekarski

I always knew my Dad like to golf, but I didn't really realized that it was a life's love. This is an undated photo, but from the newspaper clippings I found with it, I believe it was from 1948. Dad was about 16. When Dad was in Messemer High School, he and twelve other students formed the first Messemer golf club/team. There were several other newspaper clippings with this photo. Most of them were from when he was in high school. The reporters all referred to him as Jim “Muscles” Piekarski, because he was a long ball hitter - a power driver. One of the players in matches to keep your eye on. The only fault they mentioned was that he sometimes struggled with his putting. The clippings that he saved from the high school tournaments never listed him finishing lower then fourth place.
Now, looking back, I understand why my Dad, when I asked him to teach how to play, had me practice my swing for hours, before he'd take me to a course to play. Golf was more then a walk on the course, it was a challenge. It was playing the game the way it was suppose to be played. Unfortunately, we didn't get to play on the courses until I was an adult and he was a senior player. I would have liked to have played with him when he was a little younger and still had his full swing. Even as a senior, his drives were long and straight, rarely out of the fairways. His short game was good, but I think he felt his putting always needed work and it seemed liked he was always looking for the “perfect” putter.
So “Muscles” I'm sure you and Mom are playing golf as I write this, and that your playing a perfect round.

Grandpa Beck

This is one of my favorite photos of my Grandpa. On the back of this photo, Grandma wrote “John and his sunglasses – 1923 Cedarburg”. Grandpa didn't say much, but I thought he was one of the coolest Grandpa's ever. I “met” my grandpa when he was 69 yrs old. As I got a little older, I thought all grandpas were retired and didn't go to work. Like most families we got together over holidays, Thanksgiving at one grandparents home, Christmas at the others etc. Also like a lot of kids I'd spend sleepovers at grandma and grandpa's. When I was young and I visited Grandpa and Grandma, I just hung out and didn't do much at their home. If I did visited over Christmas break, grandpa would ask that I'd let him watch the bowl games. That's the only thing I remember him asking me to do. Other then that we just talked a little, but that was about it. After my family moved away, I started visiting them for a week every fall (it was a great way to miss the first week of school) . During the first few visits, Grandpa and I didn't do much together, we hung out in their living room, where he'd be playing solitaire or reading his bible and I'd be reading a book. Then during one visit, I over heard the two of them talking and grandma telling him he should do something with me. He didn't know what to do with me, so Grandma suggested taking me to the zoo. So he did. This became our time together and the best times for me. We'd go to the Milwaukee County Zoo early in the morning and spend the whole day there. We'd wander from animal group to animal group; of course always stopping by Samson's cage hoping to see him move and not just stare at you. Talking about nothing and just enjoying each others company. After taking the zoo train once, we decided that we only visit the zoo as long as Grandpa could walk and we could wander where we wanted. The last time we went was when he 94 and I was 25. From these trips to the zoo, we became friends, We'd talk about a lots of things, mostly about his love of flowers and gardening. He lived in apartments or flats in Milwaukee all of his life, so he never really had his own yard, but in Cedarburg by relatives he would help tend their gardens and grow gladiolus.

Father's Day

Father's Day is just a day away and it's the first one without him. Well not really last year was but that was just a blur because we had just lost him in May. Lost really isn't a term I like. He and other loved ones who have passed, aren't lost, I know where they are, they're in my heart, so they are not “lost”.
Anyway, back to my Dad. He was a typical dad from his time, went to work, got home late, did yard work on the weekends, and so on.
The things I remember best about him, were his love of pets, which is where I probably got it from, golf and fishing.
When we were younger, I didn't get to golf on a course with him, but he taught me how to grip the club and how to swing, so I practiced hoping I'd get to play with him. We didn't golf together until I was an adult and Mom had taken up the sport with him, and we'd play a couple times a year when they came to visit. He did take my oldest brother to the GMO(Greater Milwaukee Open) one year, my brother had a great time.
The times I remember best of all were the vacations with fishing. Dad taught all four of us how to fish, first with bamboo poles and then how to cast. There was one trip up to Canada, that's the picture, it's my brothers and my Dad after a day with a guide, Mom, my sister and me stayed back at the cabin and fished off the pier. Mostly the trips were up “North” to my grandparents cabin (his parents), where we fished from the wooden row boat. He'd motored us out to a spot, get us set-up remind us to watch what direction we were casting and fish. We catch mostly perch, sunfish and crappies with the occasional walleye or northern. Those were some of the best summers.
Happy Father's Day to all Dad's.