Walter Zeplien

Oberleutnant zur See (Crew 37b)

No ships sunk or damaged.

Born	17 Sep 1918		Greifswald
Died	30 Sep 2001	(83)	Graytown, Ohio

Ranks

9 Oct 1937		Offiziersanwärter
28 Jun 1938		Seekadett
1 Apr 1939		Fähnrich zur See
1 Mar 1940		Oberfähnrich zur See
1 May 1940		Leutnant zur See
1 Apr 1942		Oberleutnant zur See

U-boat Commands

U-boat	From	To
U-971	1 Apr 1943	24 Jun 1944	1 patrol (17 days)

Post-war
The Oswego, New York (USA) Palladium newspaper, July-Sept., 1959, interviewed Walter Zeplien, then 40 years old, who was captain of the German freighter Trahsorie of the Poseidon Line, out of Hamburg. According to his he became a merchant marine captain after the war.

Zeplien apparently moved to the U.S. during the 1960s.

Patrol info for Walter Zeplien

	U-boat	Departure		Arrival
1.	U-971	21 May 1944	Kiel	23 May 1944	Marviken		3 days
2.	U-971	8 Jun 1944	Marviken	24 Jun 1944	Sunk	Patrol 1,	17 days

About ranks and decorations
Ranks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.