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 John
Withers II is the eldest son of John and Daisy Withers.
He is responsible for reuniting Lieutenant John Withers
with Peewee, over fifty years after the end of World
War II. Growing up in many countries overseas,
lacking television and movies, John and his brother
enjoyed listening to their father's stories about the
war. Very few of these stories involved any combat,
focusing instead on the tales of Peewee and Salomon,
two starving Jewish boys that soldiers had smuggled
into his father's unit after the liberation of Dachau.
Always intrigued by these stories, John encouraged his
father to find the two boys, but John Withers Sr. believed
it to be impossible.
However,
in 2000, at the age of 51, John II began his search
for his father's friends from the war. As the
State Department's Deputy Chief of Mission in Riga,
Latvia, John II received a one-year sabbatical from
his duties. He was awarded the Cox Foundation
Fellowship and used this time to locate the two refugee
boys. Armed with two pieces of evidence, a photo
album and a picture postcard given to him by the boys,
his search began.
There
were many exciting points throughout his search when
John II believed that he was close to finding one of
the boys. Even when these leads did not pan out,
John II persisted despite the disappointment.
Eventually, he learned that Salomon had died of cancer
in 1994, but according to Salomon 's
wife, he had often spoken of Lieutenant John Withers
as an American officer who cared for him and often teased
him. In March 2001, John II located Peewee in
Hartford, Connecticut, and immediately dialed his phone
number, only to discover that it had been disconnected.
With the end of his search at the tip of his fingers,
John II found Peewee's address and began to write a
letter, when the phone rang. The daughter of Martin
Weigen was on the other end of the line. She introduced
her father, also known as Peewee, to John II.
Due to the research of John II, Peewee and Lieutenant
Withers were reunited in April 2001.
Click here to
read a recent interview with Dr. Withers II...
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