From Hitler Youth to American Soldier

Born in 1933, in the village of Rothenen, East Prussia, Germany, Herb Flemming grew up under Hitler, the son of Pentecostal parents, third in a family of eight children. Forced to join the Hitler Youth, and with a blacksmith father who joined the German Army to avoid joining the Nazi Party, Herb's childhood was a contrast between the good at home and the evil all around him. From Gestapo shootings to Tom Sawyer-like boyhood adventures to Allied bombings, Herb learned of God's love and the power of prayer. Then, in February, 1945, at the age of eleven, with Russian tanks and cannon just a few hundred yards away, Herb and his family escaped to Pillau on the Baltic coast, only to become ensnared in a endless jumble of refugees, all trying to flee East Prussia by sea. Yet Herb's father had prayed for their deliverance and protection, so they had faith that God would guide them. Sure enough, God took the tragedy of being turned away from the doorstep of the very ship that was to take them to safety, and He transformed it into a miracle of deliverance, since that same ship was torpedoed and sunk by a Russian submarine, with thousands of lives lost, just a day later. In the days and weeks that followed, Herb and his family were attacked on another ship by Allied aircraft, which flew away as soon as his family finished praying for safety. He missed being bombed again by other Allied aircraft at a railroad station by a matter of half a mile. He was machine gunned at by British troops and strafed by a Spitfire, but God spared him unharmed. Herb's father was taken prisoner by the Russians, yet was reunited with them four years later, on Christmas Eve, as his family was having their prayers and devotions. God continued to provide for Herb and his family as they immigrated to America in 1951, even though they knew little to no English, in the form of American relatives, a house, and jobs. When Herb was drafted into the US Army, he came full circle and was sent back to Germany, as part of the occupying forces in his own land.