Hanna Kranz Bodle

Hanna's Story Hanna Kranz Bodle

Hanna lives each day to its fullest. This is her autobiography, a true story of growing up in Nazi Germany, marrying an American GI, and homesteading in Wyoming. Hanna grew up in a quiet self-sufficient village, part of Germany at the time. But, Germany was under siege, being torn apart with the rise of Nazi dogma, Russian invasion, and World War II. At age sixteen, Hanna was drafted into the German medical corps, an arm of the Nazi war machine. During the bombing of Dresden she found her chance to escape. Turning herself into the Allies, she meets the dashing Army Master Sargent Marvin Bodle and became his bride, a war bride. Hanna left Germany leaving everything she knew and not knowing if any of her family had survived the War. The family's first home would be in Wyoming, wherever that was. Hanna and Marvin ranched, farmed, and homesteaded. It was a rugged yet loving life not easily wrestled from the extremes of land, weather, and progress. Believing in the ideals of her new land, Hanna proudly became an American citizen. She embraced life, learned to hunt, and was an active part of her community. Hardships didn't break her spirit, even when it meant starting over. Family was and is the center of Hanna's life; raising her own growing family and searching for her German family left behind.