Schlie family papers

Harry Schlie (1878–1916) Harry Schlie was a career deck officer as a coxswain or mate in the Imperial German Navy [deckoffizier in der Steuermannslaufbahn Berufssoldat in der Kaiserlichen Marine]. In this period, the deck officer was not part of the German Navy’s Officer Corps, but belonged to the category of petty officers and enlisted men.

Schlie was assigned to the crew of the light cruiser SMS Hamburg, which belonged to the Fourth Division of the High See Fleet [IV. Aufklärungsgruppe der Hochseeflotte]. In January 1916, Schlie received the award of the City of Hamburg’s “Hamburg Hanseatic Cross” for service in SMS Hamburg. Five months later, Hamburg participated in the Battle of Jutland [Skagerrakschlacht] on 31 May 1916 andHarry Schlie was one of the 14 killed and 25 wounded out of the total ships company of 326 men. His body was brought ashore and he was buried in the Naval Cemetery, Kiel.

Gunther Wilhelm August Schlie (1906–1995)

Gunther W. Schlie was one of two children born to Harry Schlie and his wife, Augusta Kossow Schlie. Gunther Schlie was born on 10 September 1906 in Schwerin, Germany.

Gunther W. Schlie left a potential naval career in Germany after sailing with Count von Luckner and came to America in 1925 and lived in West Brighton, Staten Island, New York. His first five years in America were spent at sea working for American shipping companies with which he sailed around the world several times. In 1930, he married Helen Grabowska, the daughter of Alexander and Franciska Rozalska Grabowska of New Jersey. In 1933, he became a naturalized American citizen. He took the Civil Service Examination and passed number 1 out of two thousand applicants. He started as a postal worker and retired as First Safety Officer in the U.S. Post Office for the Borough of Richmond, Staten Island, New York. He died on 15 July 1995 at Johnsburg, New York, and was buried in Bates Cemetery, Johnsburg.