Udet and Voss's decorations

jager1 · 30 June 2005, 06:48 AM

I've often wondered what has become of Udet and Voss' medals etc. (among others). Are they still with the family, in museums or in private collections?

Cheers
Jager1

Patrick · 30 June 2005, 11:31 AM

The Voss family home was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during the Second World War & much of the family archive went with it. I assume his medals were part of that collection.

jager1 · 1 July 2005, 09:45 AM

Hi Patrick

Thats a real shame but I suppose it must have happend to alot of such family collections.

What about Udets decorations? and I presume Voss's PLM went with him, I've never seen photos of his funeral service and Ordenkissen (I presume one was made up for the family and a replacement PLM added)

Jager1

Patrick · 2 July 2005, 02:12 AM

According to Barry Diggens in his book September Evening --

Quote:

Whatever became of Voss' most prized possession, his Pour le Merite, has never been determined. RFC intelligence officers noted he was wearing the award . . .

But likely he was wearing a copy of the PLM, not the original award itself. I wonder whether he was wearing any medals at all, though. The last photo taken of Voss, on the morning of Sept. 23, shows him standing in front of a hanger at Heule with his brothers Max and Otto. He's going to go on leave that day & is dressed in a shirt and knit sweater with a high collar. No PLM, no EK, no Pilot's Badge. The sweater looks too bulky to be worn under a tunic; more likely if he wore it while flying, he pulled a leather jacket over it. So unless he changed clothes for his flights that day, no medals showing at all. Seems like it would be a lot easier to just put a jacket on (or even just fly in the sweater -- the evening was warm and humid according to Diggens).

I assume that after the memorial service, his medals were returned to his family. In addition to his two brothers, he had two sisters -- Margrit and Katherine. It's possible some of Werner's possessions were divided among them & so survived the destruction of the family home in Krefeld. Or, they may have all been destroyed in the 1943 bombing raid.

Regarding Udet, I don't know. He rose in Göring's Luftwaffe to a position for which he was entirely unsuited -- Head of the Technical Office. He botched a number of the key development projects that his office was supposed to manage and finally committed suicide in 1941. His medals would have passed into other hands then, but I have no idea who might have received them.