The Rest of the Story: The Vincken family survived the war. Fritz grew up, married, and became an American citizen. He opened a bakery after settling in Honolulu, Hawaii. Yet he never forgot that special Christmas, and he yearned to meet the soldiers again.
Flash forward to 1995. Season 7, Episode 16 of the popular Unsolved Mysteries television program recreated the Christmas Eve meeting between the American and German soldiers. In a strange coincidence, a volunteer chaplain at a nursing home in Fredrick, Maryland, had watched the program. The story was similar to one that an elderly resident in poor health, named Ralph Blank, kept telling anyone who would listen. The chaplain contacted Unsolved Mysteries which, in turn, contacted Fritz in Hawaii. Fritz phoned Ralph, who said that he was one of the three Americans who had spent Christmas Eve with him. Fritz flew to Maryland in 1996 and was finally reunited with one of the soldiers he had met on that Christmas so many years prior.
Fritz later was able to find another one of the Americans, but never tracked down the third nor any of the Germans.
Here's the episode from the TV show - this story starts at 21:05:
Wonderful Christmas story. Thanks so much, and Merry Christmas to you.
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