Monthly Archives: June 2019

Motts Military Museum

Posted on by under News

Motts Military Museum in Groveport, Ohio, is great. Now when you visit you can also purchase the second edition of my book Why Can’t Somebody Just Die Around Here?

Standing in front of a huge painting of a Civil War battle are Warren Motts, Lori Motts Byrd, and me, Gerhard Maroscher. The painting was commissioned by Warren’s wife. If you look closely, at the bottom of the painting you can see a younger Warren Motts leading the charge. What a clever addition to the painting.

From left to right: Warren Motts, Lt. Mike Pohorilla, a WWII vet, Lori Motts, and Gerhard Maroscher. Mr. Pohorilla, 97, flew 36 bomber missions on The Sky Goddess. In the display case between Pohorilla and Lori is a sketch of The Sky Goddess drawn by one of his crew members. Memorabilia and information about Lt. Mike Pohorilla’s service is on display. He still has a firm handshake and is as sharp as a tack. He says that he flew 36 missions but landed only 35 times.

If you can’t make it to the museum, you can purchase your own copy of the book on either Amazon.com or right on this website (see below). I sign all books purchased from my website!



Why Can't Somebody Just Die Around Here?
by Gerhard Maroscher, 6in x 9in, 344 pages, $17.99
You can pay with a credit card. You do not have to have a PayPal account. Look for the other options on the right hand side of the next screen.

If you want more than one copy you will have the opportunity to change the quantity on the next screen.

Media Mail postage is $3.99 per book. Sales tax will be added to orders for Ohio residents.

For the moment international orders are being handled directly with Gerhard.
Orders will ship within 1-3 days via USPS Media Mail, which takes 2-9 days to arrive.

USS General Ballou Reunion

Posted on by under Daily Life, News, War

Sixty-seven years ago John Diebus and I crossed the stormy Atlantic on the USS General Ballou to the promised land: America. John was 14 and I was 8 at the time.

Recently John and I met for the first time since we set foot on Ellis Island. It was exciting and emotional. We both realize how blessed we were to be allowed to come to this country. Mom, my brother, and I fled our Transylvanian homeland (part of Romania) on a Red Cross train. John, his family, and the citizens of his town, fled the advancing Soviet army by wagon train.

Both his family and my family were Romanian citizens. We were ethnic Germans who had lived in Romania for hundreds of years. Ethnic Germans who did not flee were sent off to slave labor camps in Russia, where 15% of them died.

In communist countries (and under the Nazis) a person does not have inherent rights. What matters first is a person’s group or collective identity. There is a hierarchy of groups. Woe to you if you find yourself with the out-of-favor collective identity.