Trudi, the German Shepherd

A good friend of my father was fighter pilot in the RAF during the war. He saw a lot of action and was shot down several times but always managed to bail out or ditch the kite, whatever was necessary. Towards the end of the last few weeks of the war he was hit again whilst flying over Germany and needed to land. Ahead was a German airfield, and given the imminent ending of hostilities and the closeness of the advancing Allies, he decided to land there and surrender, he didn't have a lot of choice really, so down he went.
On landing he was approached by the members of the Luftwaffe stationed there and was surprised to find them surrendering to him instead. He accepted their surrender, but what could a lone pilot do with them? A solution was suggested by the Commander of the base and he was invited to join their mess until the Allies arrived. In true 'knight's of the air' spirit, the next week or so was spent having a jolly good time as the wine flowed, tales of glory exchanged and friendships struck up.
When the Americans arrived they insisted on taking the surrender documents of the base, but the German in command pointed out that he had already surrendered to the English flyer. Some argument ensued but eventually it was agreed that he kept the surrender (he still has the documents), and the Americans would take the Luftwaffe personnel prisoners.
As they were leaving the German Commander asked him if he would take care of his dog, a very large German Shepherd called Trudi. He agreed and the dog was handed over and was taken back to England, how this was managed I don't know, but I bet it is an interesting tale.
As a child in the 50's I can remember this dog when we visited my father's friend. It was a huge dog and still called Trudi.

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