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Postcard from St. Catharines: Where My Ancestors Worshipped

This beautiful rose window features the broken Catherine Wheel, a symbol of St. Catherine of Alexandria, as well as the Alpha and Omega symbols of Christ. The fifth in a series about discoveries made during my trip to western New York and Ontario, where I researched my Becker/Baker, Cassidy, Sheridan, Cailteux, and Schiltz families.    Dear Family,  On a stiflingly hot day in July, in the city of St. Catharines, Ontario, I made my way into the darkened church to attend a midday Mass. Afterwards, I was to meet Rev. Paul McDonald, who kindly agreed to give me a tour of the building. This was the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a must-see on my summer research trip as the setting for numerous ancestral baptisms, wedding, and funerals for members of my Becker/Baker, Cassidy, and Sheridan families.   I walked down a side aisle to a pew about midway to the back. I sat down. I was surprised to discover that there was no air conditioning. Perhaps it wa...
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Military Photo Mystery: Where Did Anton Saurmann Serve?

Anton Saurmann

I'm helping a friend with her family history, and she has given me some great raw materials to work with to piece together her family's story.

One such item is a black-and-white photo of her great-grandfather Anton Saurmann in a military uniform. His name was written on the photo back, and she knew that he was German. 

Knowing virtually nothing about German military units, I turned to the internet to see if I could figure out what branch he served in.

I focused on the uniform's distinguishing features. There were three:

  • the open jacket collar
  • the various insignia
  • the belt buckle

I thought perhaps Saurmann was not a high-ranking officer since his uniform with the open collar seemed plain and a little informal. Though the photo's details were blurry when I zoomed in, it appeared his jacket had an eagle insignia above one pocket, and each collar point had a single patch with a v-shape. Lastly, his belt buckle had a raised oval shape with what appeared to be a dot in the center.

Fortunately, there are quite a few German WWII army uniforms images online. The first thing I noticed was that many uniform belts buckles featured a round shape, not an oval one. But I found several uniform illustrations and a few had the same spread-open collar as the man in the photo did. 

Focusing on the belt buckle, I Googled "German army belt buckles WWII" and found images from a website selling reproduction military uniforms. Some images showed belt buckles with either a circle or an oval insignia. Inside the oval-shaped one was a flying eagle with spread wings and a swastika in its talons. The buckles were titled "WW2 Luftwaffe EM." Could Saurmann have served in the Luftwaffe?1

Reproduction Luftwaffe belt buckles from an online website.

Turning back to Anton Saurmann's photo and zooming in on the belt buckle, I could see the faint outline of the same eagle wings. What I had thought was a dot in the buckle's center was likely the eagle's beak. 

Closeup of Anton Saurmann's belt buckle.

Googling Luftwaffe uniform images revealed even more specific illustrations for that branch. An enlisted man's uniform looked most like the one worn by our man in the photo. It had the open collar, the various insignia in the same places...

and the all-important belt buckle with the oval insignia.2

Luftwaffe enlisted man's belt buckle.

But was I correct in my assumption? I emailed our friend with my theory. She consulted her father and he confirmed that, yes, his grandfather Anton Saurmann had served in the Luftwaffe during WWII.

Discovering more about Anton Saurmann's military service and private life are a project for another day. But what a fascinating photo to research. 

Do you have an unidentified photo of a man in uniform? Wikipedia is a great resource for images of various countries' military uniforms.

Until next time...

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PHOTO
Undated photograph of Anton Saurmann, unknown location or photographer. Private collection of G. Hood, Chandler, Oklahoma, 2023.

NOTES

1 Epic Militaria (https://www.epicmilitaria.com/german-ww2-militaria/personal-equipment/belt-buckles.html : 8 September 2023), "Enlisted Man Belt Buckles."

2 Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com), JAN #1 a joint Army and Navy publication UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA prepared by the Military Intelligence Service and the Division of Naval Intelligence, United States Department of War, 1943-44, p. 26, "German Air Force Luftwaffe WW2 Continental uniforms Officers and men." The publication was a recognition manual released by the U.S. War Department during World War II for field use by the American fighting forces. Image in the public domain.


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  1. AnonymousSeptember 13, 2023 at 11:13 AM

    Nancy, I love how interesting your posts are. I especially am impressed with your detailed sources. Your posts are great models for our family history stories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy Gilbride CaseySeptember 15, 2023 at 12:21 PM

    Thank you so much for reading, and for your kind words. I love to dig in to the records and enjoy finding new and interesting sources.

    ReplyDelete

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