I am descended from Emil Prillwitz, born 15-Jan-1871, who immigrated from Prussia as a boy in the 1870s or 1880s as an apprentice upholster. It is my understanding that for a time, he lived in New York City. Then, he moved to Milwaukee WI where he married Claire/Clara Schellin the daughter of Henry Schellin and Wilhelmina Schellin nee Kampe, who later died in childbirth, on 19-September-1895 and continued his upholster's trade and was a police officer. At one time, I had more information on his. But, I lost it when my old computer got a virus and I couldn't access most of my earlier email.

Emil had several children including my grandfather Walter Julius Prillwitz, born 1896.. At one time, the family owned the land where a large Catholic hospital in Milwaukee is located as a family farm. Walter enlisted early in the First World War and served with a New York Division, the 27th Division. Walter married Camille Wessel, the daughter of Carl or Karl Wessel. They had three children, Claire, Armand born 06-September-1926, and Walter Jr. born in January of 1941. Between the World Wars, he stayed in contact with relatives in Germany.

Armand was my father and died on 16-June-2002, which was Father's Day. He spent 22 years 8 months and some odd days in the U.S. Air Force. It is possible that after the Second World War, he spent time in Asia working for Chennault. He saw service in the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He married Margaret Howell, who originally came from Goldsboro NC whose family were sharecroppers. They had two sons, Jeffrey Armand and, myself, Christopher Charles. One of the planes that Armand worked on in Vietnam is currently on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton OH, since it's pilot the year after Dad was in Vietnam won the Medal of Honor.

Walter Jr. was still a minor when Walter Sr. died, Camille having died much earlier. He was a career man in the U.S. Army and spent three tours in Vietnam. His first tour was during Armand's tour in Vietname. He maried Joan (I'll have to ask Cousin Marla for her mother's maiden name and their wedding date) and had two daughters, Marla and another who was either born stillborn or died soon after birth. He also had another daughter by a Vietnamese woman who he met during one of his tours in Vietnam, who he sought to bring to the United States at the time of the fall of Saigon but who Aunt Joan wouldn't let him bring to the United States. He died in an automobile accident in Germany in November of 1972.