1936 Olympics and WW2 personnel

wasn't there a german pilot flew spanish civil war that had olympic rings painted on his airplane?

 

Here is a British Sailing Bronze Medalist


Lieutenant-Commander Sir Peter Markham Scott CH,CBE,DSC*,(mid X3), Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Who Commanded a Flotilla of Steam Gun Boats in the English Channel During the War, was Honoured For His Gallantry at the Actions in the Baie de la Seine, April 1943, and off Cap d'Antifer, September 1943, and was Mentioned in Despatches for the Dieppe Raid, August 1942; A Celebrated Painter, Naturalist, and Olympic Sportsman, He Later Founded the World Wide Fund For Nature and was Knighted For His Services to Conservation.



ATB

Simon

 

Wing Commander A.W. Sweeney, Royal Air Force,

competed for Great Britian in the 1936 Ilympics, eliminated in the simi finals of the 100m dash & round 1 of the 200m.

died in flying accident & buried in Ghana 1940.ATB

Simon

 

Joseph Philipps Indian Army.
Gold medalist Indian Hockey Team def Germany 8-1.

Philipps went on to obtain a commision in the army I have the sale catalogue of his medals at home & will edit this post when I have details to hand,

 

I was in Germany at the time of the 1936 Olympic Games but was not in Berlin. I well remember the almost total disbelief amongst our accompanying Hitler Youth that a black American could have won a gold medal,let alone four. I seem to recall that Hitler refused to shake Owens’ hand or put any of the gold medals round his neck because he did not want to be photographed doing so..

In 1945 our unit HQ (Berlin HQ Signals) was on Olympischerstrasse just a short walk from the stadium. My avatar picture was taken in 1945 at a soccer match there between a British army team and one from the Red Army. The officers’ mess was on Badenallee, a few minutes walk away. That area of Berlin was one of the few that had little bomb or shelling damage.

Nevil.

 

a quick search on Geoffs Search Engine


001 Link CHERRY JC - HMS WELSHMAN 01/02/1943 ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE
73, 3.

003 Link SWEENEY AW 32132 - 27/12/1940 ROYAL AIR FORCE
GRAVE 90.
004 Link THORNTON JSL 137019 - 18/08/1944 SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS
V. D. 21.

 

TWELVE YEARS FROM BERLIN TO LONDON
As with World War I, the outbreak of hostilities, first in Japan and China and then in Europe, would make it impossible for the Games of the XII and XIII Olympiads to be held in 1940 and 1944 respectively. In fact, it would be 12 years before the Olympic flame would once again burn in an Olympic stadium, in London, in 1948.

JESSE OWENS
The Berlin Games are best remembered for Adolf Hitler’s failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As it turned out, the most popular hero of the Games was the African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.

TELEVISION COVERAGE
The 1936 Games were the first to be broadcast on television. Twenty-five television viewing rooms were set up in the Greater Berlin area, allowing the locals to follow the Games free of charge.

YOUNG OLYMPIANS
Thirteen-year-old Marjorie Gestring of the US won the gold medal in springboard diving. She remains the youngest female gold medallist in the history of the Summer Olympic Games. Twelve-year-old Inge Sorensen of Denmark earned a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke, making her the youngest medallist ever in an individual event.

DEBUTS AND FIRSTS
Basketball, canoeing and field handball all made their first appearances. The Berlin Games also became the first to introduce the torch relay, in which a lighted torch is carried from Olympia in Greece to the site of the current Games.
NOCs: 49
Athletes: 3,963 (331 women, 3,632 men)
Events: 129
Volunteers: n/a
Media: n/a


https://www.olympic.org/berlin-1936

 

Hermann Blazejezak took part in the Mens 400m in the 1936 Olympics. He won Heat 6 in the 1st Round with a time of 47.9secs, beating the Brit Godfrey Rampling into second place.
He then won Heat 2 in the Quarterfinals with a time of 48.2secs, beating the Brit Godfrey Brown into second place but finished 6th in Heat 2 of the Semifinals with a time of 49.2secs, with Godfrey Brown finishing 2nd (and 2nd again in the Final) and Godfrey Rampling finishing 4th.

(He would win Gold in the 4x400m in the 1938 European Championships)

Blazejezak joined the German Army in 1929 and served through to 1945 ending the war as a Major. At the time of the Olympics he held the rank of Feldwebel (Sergeant).
He served in infantry units and was wounded on 1st September 1939 in Poland and again on 14th November 1941 in northern Finland, an area where he fought for most of the war. He won the Iron Cross 1st Class in November 1941.

After the war he went into the fruit & veg wholesale business before working in the large pastry company 'Heinemann' which was set up by his sister and her husband. He died on 13th January 2008 (aged 95) in Mönchengladbach.

 

Most of the familiar photographs we have of Jesse Owens - and 'Luz' Long - were taken by Heinrich von der Becke. He had been a press photographer since 1925 and from 1935 until his conscription into the army, he worked for the Max Schirner press agency, well known for sports photography. In WW2, Von der Becke initially served in the anti-tank company of an infantry regiment throughout the Polish campaign, but was then recruited into the Propaganda Kompanies, where he served until the end of the war, including an attachment to the Gross Deutschland Division.

The story goes that it was Long and von der Becke who persuaded Owens to wear the first pair of track shoes designed by the Dassler brothers, long serving Nazi party members, who later split to form Adidas and Puma separately. On the infamous handshake, Owens never confirmed nor denied the act, but did emphasise he had been better treated in Germany than in the USA - and that FDR was the only person who refused to shake his hand. Indeed, the US authorities replaced two black women athletes in the 4x400m rely team, supposedly not to offend the Germans after Owens' victories. A German journalist, Siegfried Mischner claimed Hitler did indeed shake hands with Owens and furthermore that Owens carried a picture of the event around in his wallet for years after.

Incidentally, Hans Ertl, the cameraman who shot a great deal of Leni Riefenstahl's film of the games later went on to work for the PK, winning an Iron Cross for his filming of the assault on Eben Emael. He later worked for Rommel reconstructing the battles on the Somme and escaped to South America after the war.