Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 41

DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, SEPT. 12, 1985 5D House trims German POW escapee gives up after 40 years of daily deception ft tK 11 I 1 -4 yi 'jMi Jf' i I i ji i By RALPH BLUMENTHAL New York Times NEW YORK After 40 years in hiding in the United States, a World War II German soldier who escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp the last POW escapee still at large surrendered to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Wednesday in California. The fugitive is Georg Gaertner, 64, who lives near Denver under the name of Dennis Whiles. Over the years, he has worked as a ski instructor, tennis pro and construction worker.

Gaertner's exploits are related in a book, "Hitler's Last Soldier in America," by Gaertner with Arnold Kram-mer, published this month by Stein Day. Audrey Eisner of Stein Day acknowledged that the publication was timed to coincide with the subject's planned surrender. GAERTNER WEPT as he described his 1945 escape from Camp Deming, N.M., and his life as a fugitive. Of the 2,000 prisoners of war who escaped American camps during the war, only 12 remained at large in 1946. By 1963, all but Gaertner had been captured.

"During my freedom, I have lived my own version of the American dream," said Gaertner, whose fate now rests with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Denver. His wife of 21 years, Jean, had begun asking questions about missing links in his background. "Her bags were packed, and the taxi was waiting," Gaertner said. "Faced with that, I told the truth to her. She didn't spurn me.

Photo by SCOTT HARMSEN Long-lost family 1 billion in transport spending By Hi JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press WASHINGTON The House cut about $1 billion from a transportation spending measure Wednesday, but it rejected deep cuts in subsidies for Amtrak and mass transit projects. Final action on the $10.1 billion transportation appropriation bill was put off until today after a daylong debate on various amendments. The legislation represented about $2.3 billion in spending beyond what the Reagan administration had proposed on transportation, including rejection of administration attempts to eliminate all money for Amtrak and to cut mass transit subsidies severely. To try to head off pressure for deeper cuts in transportation spending, the House agreed to a series of amendments that cut about $1 billion from the bill that had cleared the Appropriations Committee. The amendments reduced money for Amtrak from the $616 million suggested by the committee to $603 million.

An attempt to cut Amtrak money further was defeated 245-173. Amtrak officials have said they will be able to continue operation at the $603 million level, which represents an 11.4 percent reduction from the $684 million subsidy Amtrak received this year. The House bill also calls for: About $2.7 billion for mass transit, including continuation of operating assistance and money for new rail starts in nine cities. The administration had sought to eliminate operating funds as well as new projects. About $36 million for continuing the federal airline subsidy program at a level that assures air service for about 140 small communities.

The administration had wanted the subsidies eliminated. Federal highway assistance of $13.25 billion and $925 million for airport construction and improvement. Both levels are about the same as this year. Rep. William Lehman, chairman of the transportation appropriations subcommittee, asked for the $1 billion reduction in the bill in a series of amendments that passed by voice vote.

He said they were needed because of pressure to reduce the federal What do you think? Soundoff is on Page 15A. him with regard to an earlier book Krammer had written, "Nazi Prisoners of War in America." That book, published by Stein Day in 1979, cited Gaertner as the last fugitive prisoner of war. It was in response to that, Krammer said, that Gaertner, still in hiding, called him from a telephone booth one night with a desire to tell his story. Officials said Tuesday that it was unlikely that Gaertner would face federal charges or deportation because of questions over which federal statutes, if any, might apply. Gaertner, a former sergeant-trainee in Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afri-kaCorps, was captured in Tunis in 1943.

He escaped from Camp Deming on Sept. 22, 1945, and using his pseudonym worked in Colorado, California and Hawaii as a ski instructor, tennis pro, artist and contractor. IN THE BOOK, Gaertner portrays himself as a reluctant soldier who never joined the Nazi Party and volunteered for combat largely out of boredom in his rural hometown of Schweidnitz. He said he arrived in North Africa just in time for the German rout. The victorious British turned him over to the Americans and he became one of about 425,000 German prisoners incarcerated in some 500 camps in the United States.

After two years, he related, he faced being sent back to his homeland, by then in the Soviet zone of occupation, and managed to escape one night by crawling under two gates and jumping aboard a passing freight train whose schedule he had calculated. Already fluent in English, he assumed the name Whiles and learned American ways. He was living and working in Stockton, when the FBI issued a wanted poster for him in February 1947. Despite his fear of discovery, he helped in the rescue of 226 passengers in a train trapped beneath an avalanche in January 1952. He married in 1964 but it was not until three years ago, when his wife threatened to leave him because he refused to explain why he balked at things like filing for Social Security benefits, that he told her his story.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 4 7 K' UPI Photo Georg Gaertner: "During my freedom, I have lived my own version of the American dream." "I want to stay in the United States with her," he said. INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell said chances were good that Gaertner could remain because he is married to a U.S. citizen. Ezell said the FBI had canceled Gaertner's fugitive arrest warrant in 1976.

The case was revived when Gaertner's attorneys, Ronald Oldenburg of Hawaii and Michael-John Biber of Los Angeles, contacted INS officials in San Pedro and arranged for Gaertner's surrender. Co-author Krammer, a professor of history at Texas University in College Station, Texas, said in an interview that he wrote the book with Gaertner after the German contacted rule out the possibility that some candi dates for the clergy could be disqualified because of their disabilities, saying that "pastors are expected to be able to carry out their tasks in diverse settings and to respond rapidly in the event of emergencies. "The church also needs to say a caring but firm 'no' to those who, after due consideration, demonstrate that they cannot meet these expectations." the revised statement reads. The two Lutheran denominations larger than the American Lutheran Church are the Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. fir v.

I Clyde Day and his sister, Lillian (Van Meda) Day, share a close moment Wednesday at the Provincial House in Battle Creek after a separation of about 54 years. Clyde Day, 60, of East Lake, Ohio, and his sister, 59, of Battle Creek, are the youngest and only survivors of four siblings. They were separated when their mother died. For the last 1 Vi years. Donna Jaeger of Provincial House and James Schmidt of the state Department of Social Services had tried to find Lillian Day's relatives.

Clyde Day said that until Monday morning he had thought his sister had died. "I was absolutely flabbergasted," he said. "It takes a long time for something like this to soak in." Lutheran group rescinds ban on disabled ministers to the leeal review than public reac tion, which he described as "intense." The church received hundreds of phone calls and letters complaining about the policy, David said. "We're pleased they're willing to consider each case on its own merits," said Sandra North, a spokeswoman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "We're glad the (American) Lutheran Church is giving it more thought." The June statement said that "pastors are expected to be sufficiently able-bodied, ambulatory and mobile" to carry out their duties.

THE REVISED statement does not By GILES HUDSON Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS The American Lutheran Church, after a flood of complaints, has dropped plans to bar severely disabled people from entering the ministry, and advocacy groups for the handicapped said Wednesday they are happy with the decision. "It must be simply and forthrightly stated that the American Lutheran Church does not categorically bar persons with disablities," said the Rev. David Preus, the church's presiding bishop. The church, which has 2.3 million members in 4,950 U.S. congregations and is the smallest of the three major Lutheran denominations, said in a statement in June that people with significant physical or mental handicaps may not be suited for the ministry.

Cystic Fibrosis, certain types of neurological and heart disorders and advanced forms of diabetes and arthritis were grounds for disqualification, said the June statement, adopted by the 41-member church council. THAT POLICY never took effect because it was submitted for a review by church attorneys, who recommended that it be modified. Church spokesman Herb David said the church's decision, announced Friday, to drop the proposal was due more Astonishing, but true. As part of a national marketing campaign to prove that our perfumes are the most authentic versions of the original perfumes, Giorgio and Opium, we are giving away full 14 oz. bottles for only $2.00 for both to the first one million (1,000,000) people who write to the company address below, before midnight October 31, 1985.

Only orders accompanying the original ad will be processed. Neither copies nor photostats are acceptable. Giorgio and Opium are perfume classics. Only a few people can afford the kind of money it takes to buy even a 14 oz. bottle.

For years, Claudia Collette has been unlocking the secrets of the world's greatest perfumes and we feel that our versions are the best in the country today. Aged and blended by our master French perfumers skilled in the art of perfumery, our perfumes are so close to the originals, we challenge you to tell the difference. To prove it, we are giving away both of these perfumes for just $2.00 in the hope that you will purchase our full-sized perfumes from now a fraction of the price of the originals. Over 600.000 satisfied customers tells us that our perfumes are among the most glorious and desirable in the world. Send this entire original printed ad (no copies or photostats) together with your name and address and $2.00 for both 14 oz.

bottles of our versions of Giorgio and Opium. Add only $1.00 for shipping and handling no matter how many sets you order. There is a limit of three (3) sets per customer, but those who make their requests early enough (before October 26, 1985) may order up to five sets. NJ residents, please add 6 Sales Tax. mmmimmm WM pi i Mm i jif, I I 188 4 i -i72 .1.

Mail to: Claudia Collette, 768 Carver Avenue, Westwoo.