What does FW stand for?

The pilot, Oberlieutenant Johannes Speck von Steinberg, flight engineer Feldwebel Siegfried Ruhle, an Iron Cross winner, and observer Feldwebel Fritz Mohn were killed.

Its pilot was Feldwebel Joachim Lehnis and there were three other crew members.

Also, as the effort in Afghanistan is supported by allied forces, I'd be willing to bet that some crusty German feldwebels in the ISAF have G-3s stashed away, and the same goes for French sergeant-chefs and their trusty, hard-hitting MAS 49/56s.

Feldwebel Eric Bartel, who served as a Jagdgeschwader mechanic for much of the war, recalled that after just 17 days' action his staffel of 12 Bf 109Es from JG 77 had been reduced to just 5 or 6, including spares, mainly through mechanical failures and normal wear and tear, rather than enemy action.

In the story the young German, Feldwebel, who seems to be infatuated with the narrator's sister, never manages to reach out to her, nor does she dare to show any recognition of his courting; his affection, unfulfilled, may have ended with his life somewhere near Tolbukhin or Stalingrad, while she, unmarried, has "died of cancer before she turned thirty.