Just thought I would share a rare opportunity I had to mee t a actual German U-boat sailor. His name was Wolfgang & he was a widower in a place 55+ strata near Duncan, Vancouver Island, Canada. This was in 2013 and he was 92. Still active and played tennis twice a week and sound of mind. The meeting was arranged by a mutual friend who resided there and told me of him. He agreed to speak to me, however I was told not to bring up the politics of the time. He did not remember as much as I had hoped and this really is not that surprising as this was only a few years out of his long life and the submarine he was on only did 4 patrols. I was lucky though to be treated to the "actual" photos he had taken of the time he was on U-1165 and its crew. The old black in whites were still in great shape for their age and he had at lest 40 of them. The sub of course but mostly his crew mates as well as the Captain as shown here on the site. Apparently it was forbidden from taking photos but he said they all did anyway and hid them. He actually had pics of the Captain and his wife as well at their home in Germany during the war. He was a friend apparently with the Captain. He told me he originally was drafted into the army in 1943 seeing no combat, only local duty and hated it so much he immediately applied for U-boat school and transfer. He was very lucky as it turned out, as he likely would not have survived as a foot soldier. U-1165 was not in the war long but did score 1 Russian commercial boat which he told me of at this meeting and I saw confirmed here on U-boat Net many years later. U-1165 was based in Norway and he spent his entire short service there. he only joined the boat in 44' so did not spend much time in the war and they were one of the lucky few that surrendered all intact at the end of war. As most were though he was sent to Canada & put in a POW camp. He never saw the Captain or his other comrades again and they were dispersed all over to different POW's in the world. He never did reconnect. He was released in early 1947 and after a brief period free in Canada he went back to Germany and started his new life. He met his wife and they lived in Germany until the late fifties. He liked what he saw of Canada and they had a good opportunity for him to enter into a business so he immigrated to Ontario. He lived here and raised a family finally retiring to the community on Vancouver Island. His wife had dies in 2011. Sadly as we all must he pasted away I found out a few years after I met him from simple old age after a very long and happy life. I was quite privileged to meet in person one of the last living survivors of the U-boat fleet and see original photos of his short adventure in the terrible war.