The Thief Whose Dreams Were Stolen.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/3/3/1186013/-The-thief-whose-dreams-were-stolen

This is a true story about a real person.

A young man immigrates to America. He is persuaded to leave the village where he grew up by his Uncle, who promises him a job and a place to stay. He goes to a town in the USA where many others from his village have also settled. His sister and her husband live nearby. They sweat and scrape to eke out a living from the soil.

He has a funny-sounding name and speaks no English, but when he arrives in his new home, his family and friends are there to greet him in his native tongue. He is full of promise, dreams and hard work.

How did he become a fugitive? How did he get back to his homeland, only to have his life and hopes swallowed up in an imperialist war.

How do such bright hopes come to confusion? ...

I confess that I have embellished the story a bit. But the bare facts are all there. Vinzenz took all of Uncle Max's money and absconded to Germany in the summer of 1914. If you were paying attention in history class, you know what happened in August of that year. There is no happy ending here.

Vinzenz Kandlbinder served in the German Army in the First World War. He was killed on August 18, 1916.

[His name is] included on a monument in Mauth, Bavaria, with other men from that area who died in the First and Second World Wars. The monument states that he served in a Jäger regiment. Jäger translated literally means "hunter". Jäger troops were an elite light infantry, sort of like paratroopers or rangers. Scouting was one of the jobs often assigned to Jäger troops. The funeral card gives the information that he was a Sergeant (Unteroffizier) of Company #9, 80th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

The ribbon in the buttonhole of his tunic is the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. It is roughly equivalent to the American Bronze Star and can only be won in combat.