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Stolen map and letter from shot down stuka pilot wolfgang vagler's tank buster stuka ace!

Article about: I am pretty upset right now, a few weeks ago, I discovered that a map that I was given by the family of Wolfgang Vagler, who was a tank buster ace and flew wing man for his Commanding Office

  1. #1

    Default Stolen map and letter from shot down stuka pilot wolfgang vagler's tank buster stuka ace!

    I am pretty upset right now, a few weeks ago, I discovered that a map that I was given by the family of Wolfgang Vagler, who was a tank buster ace and flew wing man for his Commanding Officer was stolen from me up to a year, or year and 1/2 ago is missing. I was given this, along with his medals, by a woman who was his cousin, shortly before she died. She summoned me to her house in Pennsylvania, and gave me the map, a letter from his Commander, given to his family, along with his medals. Her husband was also a stuka pilot, and they were life long friends of my mother and our family, my mother is German, and was a telephone operator during the war. She worked with the woman who gave me these items, along with her husband's medals and dagger. Wolfgang took a news reporter up for a mission and on the return flight, he was hit by flak. He landed the plane perfectly, but hit a rock or something and the plane nose dived into the ground. German recon troops came across the enemy lines to rescue them, the reporter survived, but the pilot, Wolfgang Vagler, was killed. He was impaled on the stick. He was left behind, and has never been found, nor reported to the authorities, so he is still out there, sitting in the plane. I told his cousin, the only survivor of their family, that some day, when I could afford to do it, I would try to find him, and give him a proper burial. I only showed the map and things to a few people, it is a map with a dot on it, and nothing else, a map, in German, ............. I had it sitting with a few other maps, so the person who stole it had seen it. They broke into my house and stole it. I have guns, coins, and military stuff all over the place.... no one is going to steal a map with a dot on it.............
    I do not know how to make it worth it, for anyone to contact me with information about it's whereabouts, but I do know who it was that stole it, I am about 95% sure. Any help would be greatly appriciated, please pass this around, and get as many people to read it as possible. Somehow, I will make it worth your while to assist me.

  2. #2

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    Fantastic story with a terrible ending. (Both the fact that he never was found and that the map is stolen)

    Did they steal anything else?

  3. #3

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    Sorry to hear this but, you would have to release more information than you have for anybody to assist you.
    Ralph.
    Searching for anything relating to, Anton Boos, 934 Stamm. Kp. Pz. Erz. Abt. 7, 3 Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 2, 16th Panzer-Division (My father)

  4. #4
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    Did you by chance take any photos of the map? Because otherwise we have no idea on what type of map to look for? You mentioned acquiring the items in Pennsylvania. Is this where the theft took place?

    Semper Fi
    Phil

  5. #5

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    People steal things from me all the time, one time it was a sledgehemmer, found it a year later in the wrong place... then it was a tap & die set, had to buy another one, then it turned up, tucked away in some weird place, sometimes it's keys, sometimes it's a wallet...

    Happens to my neighbors too, just yesterday one was telling how he couldn't find either one of his axes "for days", then they turned up.

    Sometimes people steal things, then bring them back.

  6. #6

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    this is a german paper map, factory made, with a dot on it. it is a "treasure map" for people only interested in finding and selling the plane, for me, it was a life quest, that has been stolen from me, and it will turn up, because someone's going to go and try to find the plane. the plane was lost up in the baltics,... latvia, estonia, far western belarus. what more information do you need rbminus? if i give out too much information, it might give more clues to the wrong people......... what i think happened, is that someone who saw it, broke in my house, and stole it. it was with several other maps, those were worthless.......... this one is not. but if anyone broke in my house to rob me,... they would have stolen guns,... coins... or militaria, which is all over my house... not a piece of paper, that was sitting on a bookshelf, with a bunch of other papers.
    this belonged to a close friend of our family, and i told the cousin of the pilot, the woman who worked with my mother, that i would try to find it some day, and give him a proper burial,........ of course, the plane is worth a lot of money, but if i was a shit bag, only interested in money, i would have done it a long time ago. i think the people who connected with the guy who stole it, are planning to do a documentary on tv about it. there are so many shitty people in our world,... it is just staggering to me. as i said, the list of people that have seen it is very short............ and i have enough clues as to who actually stole it, that i am pretty sure i know who is involved on this end. it's not like you can drive a truck into eastern europe with a camera crew and a pile of shovels and cover it with a blanket and drive off with it. they are going to get caught, and if i had my way with it, i would make them spend the money to put it right back in the same spot it was, and make them sit there and wait til i come over there. shivering in the woods,...... whatever.... if it was over here, and the old west....... i wouldnt be talking to them about it at all. key word is talking...... i have been a military relic dealer for 30 to 35 years, done this all my life, i could have sold it and his medals years ago for lots of money. i am interested in the money for the plane, but that is not my motivating factor. the rest of the story of him is kind of a tragedy also, even after his death, but that is personal info i am not willing to talk about on here. it will be part of the story at a later time. there are the best, and the worst people in this hobby/business. what more info do you guys need, and we'll go from there.

    - - ------- - -

    the internet is absolutely an amazing thing,....... none of us would ever talk, or meet, were it not for something like this.

  7. #7
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    Have you reported it to the authorities along with your suspicion on who might have stolen it?
    One other thought is that this is a site with international members. What continent/country/state this took place in would also be of some interest.
    Semper Fi
    Phil

  8. #8

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    As Phil has asked, have you any photos of the map? Who is the German printer of the map? What is the title of the map?
    My first suggestion would be, if you are so confident you know who took it, have you gone to the local authorities in your area?
    There are likely hundreds, if not thousands of German maps from the period out there, heck, even I have a German map with a dot on it.
    How can anyone identify the one that you allege you are missing?
    We would be glad to help but without more information, it is unlikely that anyone here will be able to do anything for you.
    Ralph.
    Searching for anything relating to, Anton Boos, 934 Stamm. Kp. Pz. Erz. Abt. 7, 3 Kompanie, Panzer-Regiment 2, 16th Panzer-Division (My father)

  9. #9

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    The theft took place in Bloomington, Indiana, in my house. The woman who had it/family, lived in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. I have been broken into many times, they were looking for another piece I had, which they did not find in my house.... however, they did find much of my other stuff, they ripped off most of my collection over the years, far too much to even try to explain. That stuff is all long gone, but this is a unique piece, and will be easily identifiable, as I know who the pilot was, and the story. It was/is, a unique opportunity, the opportunity of a lifetime, especially for someone in our history minded interest. I am fairly hot on their trail, I know who and how, but dont have the proof, but I will have......... I am going to be a pitt bull, and I am angry and determined. It shouldn't take too long before someone is going to go hunting around, and it's gonna be stepping in a bear trap when they do. As I stated before, the plane is a valuable find, but that is not the motivation for me. I wish I would have the money to mount an expedition when she was alive, it was something that meant a lot to her, and just as if it was my own mother, I am determined. So we'll see what happens. I have made so many police reports they hate me already,.... this would set that record straight. The person who had it here, knew it was mine, we were friends for a long time,.... funny, to use that word, "friend". I guess you really dont know who your real friends are, and who they are not, do you. I had it narrowed down to about 10 people, that focus dropped down to 2 people, and now one of those is not really in the lime light for me. I do not want to drop any names in here, but sometimes the truth is stranger then fiction. It has put me on very high stress level, higher then normal, which I am always kind of stressed anyway. When I first heard about people going out in the woods and looking for things on these battlefields, I was immediately turned off. It is not something that people think is "cool". But actually, being a history minor in college (actually, I have over 1/2 of a college degree, in history classes alone,... I was taking them for fun, instead of the b.s. classes to boost my grade point average), I think that modern archeology is very interesting, and top that with these guys finding stuff from the Vikings, and all the other people that have gone to war in these parts, it is amazing what they find, and how they find it all. I am friends on facebook with a couple of different groups of people that live there, and do this, the historical significance of all of it is truely amazing, and we need to do it. Those guys post amazing photos of what they find up there, and it is 100% the opposite of what anyone would think, just hearing about it for the first time. I collect photographs, mostly WWII, and diaries, any country, any conflict, but mostly WWII, and provided some photos for one of the guys who just put out his/his group's first book about it. Absolutely amazing work. It is far more honorable then most people in the world have in my opinion. It is not "grave robbing", which is what I hear some people calling it, .............. if it were Roman, or Viking, etc,... it would be fascinating to the very same people as are calling it something like that. They are giving the remains burials in military cemeteries, and researching their relatives if possible and giving them their ancestor's personal items to them. That isn't grave robbing... grave robbing, is diffing up someone's grave, and stealing their personal effects, to sell them. It is hard to educate people often, in my old shop, I had uniforms ranging from the American Revolution through the Vietnam War going around the top of my ceiling, I had a 22 foot ceiling, so it looked really cool, and some people would only focus on 2 WWII German uniforms I had on display in there, and call it "A nazi shop". Sorry, but it was a history shop, and if I tried to explain that, and they still didnt get it, I kicked them out politely. It was more of a "See for Free" museum. I had cool stuff in there on display, wasnt a cooler shop in town, in my opinion. ;-) My new shop is called "Lost Empire Antiques", and I carry things from ancient times through modern. Some people think it is a costume shop for holloween,... til the ask the prices on some of it. Then they get it. Happy New Year, hope everyone finds some great stuff this year!!

  10. #10

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    Unfortunately, thieves are usually friends of some one you know. They hear the story about what you have and relate the tale to others who then break in. Sorry to hear for your loss. Welcome to the Forum. I would hope your early posts would be on a more pleasant subject.
    BOB

    LIFE'S LOSERS NEVER LEARN FROM THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS.

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