Obergefreiter Herbert Lisser served in the Luftwaffe during World War Two. The rank of Obergefreiter in the Nazi Air Force was similar to a Flight Sergeant in the Royal Air Force.
Lisser was born at 51 Richthofenstrasse, Bremen, Germany. During the Second World War, the 21-year-old German became Prisoner of War number A58170. As a prisoner, he found himself in Northern Ireland.
Herbert received treatment at No. 24 British General Hospital, Campbell College, Belfast, Co. Down. He died as a result of cardiac arrest aged 21 years old on 22nd March 1945.
The following short write-up appeared in the Belfast Telegraph on Saturday 24th March 1945. Although Lisser is not named in the article, the dates and places are consistent with his death and burial.
The Nazi salute was given by more than 100 German soldiers and airmen who stood on the steps of a hospital at a Northern Ireland prisoner of war camp today, and watched the funeral of one of their comrades, an army corporal who was fatally wounded when attempting to escape from a camp.
The coffin, draped with a Swastika flag was carried by six members of the Luftwaffe. Included in the small party who walked behind the coffin were two German nursing sisters who, with a number of others, were taken prisoner in a Brussels hospital. At Belfast City Cemetery, where the interment took place, a brief service was conducted by a German chaplain.
The funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs. Wilton, Rosewood Buildings, Crumlin Road, Belfast.
Herbert Lisser was first buried on 24th March 1945 in Glenalina Section AS, Grave 159, Belfast City Cemetery, Belfast, Co. Antrim. On 26th February 1948, he was reinterred in Glenalina Section ES, Grave 207 before being repatriated on 18th July 1962.