The Story Without an Ending

Most of you know that I was drawn to Luxembourg in an attempt to find some answers regarding the MIA status of Marty's uncle, Pvt. Frederick W. Goempel, who, at the age of 19, joined the American forces in the ETO, but never returned.

I began with virtually nothing, but managed to piece a great deal of information together.  It took a lot of persistence on my part, and countless hours of reading, requesting, and waiting.  Years of work, sometimes put aside for a little while, but never put away, as something bugged me to pull it out again and look for new information.

Somewhere along the way, I was introduced to Ernest Kirpach, who willingly joined me in my search for information.

Ernest led me to Mike Boehler,  who eagerly answered my e-mail in Aug. 2009.  There were days where I did nothing but scan and send info to Mike, who reviewed each piece in search of clues.

Marty and I met with the DPMO on several occasions, and thanks to aerial photos supplied by these men, and a simple hand-drawn map from a man who was there in Feb. 1945,  JPAC finally took all of my research seriously, and sent a crew over in Sept. 2011 to this site.

Of course, I could not be there, but Mike and Ernest were, and thanks to the wonders of technology, I received first hand information within hours.  Despite the careful efforts of JPAC, no evidence was found to identify a spot where Fred may be buried.

But, there was a new development that Mike identified when he was on the field with JPAC.  It became quite obvious that there was an indentation in the ground that ran in zig-zag format from the bunker in the woods to another bunker further inland and somewhat up the hill.

Earlier this month, we headed all headed out to the site.

It may be difficult for you to see, but there is definitely an indentation in the ground that runs from the tree in the center, towards the bunker which would be on the right of this photo.
There's no missing it now that we know that it is there.  Mike has accumulated enough information to substantiate that Company F, 11th Regt. 5th Infantry Division was in this spot on Feb. 9, 1945.

When I first began my search, I could never have dreamed that it would come so far.  One could say that we have proven nothing regarding Fred's final resting place.  And that would certainly be a valid argument.

But those of you who have taken the time to read the story and review my work, know that we have a reason to believe that Fred lies here in these woods, more than likely within yards of this old tree.  We cannot prove it....but when you stand there in the woods....somehow... you can just feel it.

I am blessed to have had the opportunity to walk the ground where Fred once stood.  And although this search for information began as one frustrating obstacle after another, I can say with all honesty that this has been one of the most rewarding efforts of my life.

I have met two of the most awesome men who have made my dream a deliberate goal in their lives.  They receive no payment....only the satisfaction in knowing that they have offered some consolation to a family an ocean away who have wondered all of these years about the fate of their loved one.

I cannot thank these men enough.

I found this quote from a book that makes a statement far better than I could ever write:

"...26,694 American soldiers found their last earthly resting place in the cemeteries of Margraten (the Netherlands) , Henri-Chapelle (Belgium) , Neuville-en-Condroz (Belgium) and Hamm (Luxembourg) .  A further 3,006 fell in battle but have no grave , no cross , no Star of David .  Their remains lie desolate in foreign soil , far away from their homeland .  No human hand has been able to protect their secret grave from sorrowful loneliness .  No flower has ever adorned their last resting place .  No priest has ever walked around , blessing the graves .  No one has ever spent time at the grave in quiet remembrance .  There is no one who has stood there in silent conversation .  They have passed away without leaving a trace of them behind .
The blood of all these people was shed to free our homelands .  It is part of our duty to keep the memory alive of these Americans who died and this remembrance may never cease .  It is the duty of the living to remember the dead .  Whether we are from the Netherlands , Belgium or Luxembourg , we all have the Americans to thank for our national identity , our independence , our freedom and our well-being .
These sons of America , who fought for months or years here in Europe against an unrelenting enemy , have a right to our permanent appreciation and our eternal gratitude..."

Camile P. Kohn , Luxembourg .

(Excerpt from : Foreword War Graves .  Book :  " Im Schatten der Wälder . In the Shadow of the Forests . Dans l'Ombre des Forêts . In de Schaduw van de Bossen ." by Armand Blau 1996 , Imprimerie Saint-Paul S.A. , Luxembourg)

And, I, for one, am thankful for that eternal gratitude.

How Now, Brown Cow?

The phrase, "How Now, Brown Cow" sticks in my mind from some childhood memory that I cannot place, but it popped right into my head when I opened this photo.  Although my blog generally relays my exciting adventures with Marty, today's subject matter is worth deviating from my normal course.

The picture was taken by the one and only Ernest Kirpach of Luxembourg fame.  If you have followed this blog from the start, you might remember Ernest as the delightful "tour guide" of our Echternach adventure, who greeted Marty and me at the airport, and drove us around the area in May 2010.  Ernest and I have been e-mail buddies for many years, as he took an avid interest in helping me with my research regarding Marty's uncle, Pvt. Frederick W. Goempel who went MIA on 9 Feb. 1945.  If you are interested in the details, you can take a look at my website:  http://www.searchforfrederickgoempel.com

In June, Marty and I attended another DPMO update meeting, this time armed with fresh photos including pictures that recreated the flood stage of the Sauer River, taken by Ernest this past winter.  I'm not certain if it was the new historian assigned to our case, or the "on the ground" photos that we presented at the meeting, but we were finally added to the list of field investigations by the DPMO.  I was informed in late August that a team would be on the ground on Sept.10 and 11th, responsible for an investigation.  Although I would have loved to have been part of the experience, I felt confident relying on my Luxembourg friends for updates. 

The team was eager to meet with Ernest and Mike Boehler, another Luxembourg native who has been out in the field searching for clues, for over two years.  Mike has managed to unearth several US Army military items in that area,  strongly suggesting that this area was never thoroughly searched after the war.  The blog photo features Mike at work with his metal detector, being checked out by a curious German Brown Cow.  Apparently the cow-in-the-field was a first for this American Team out searching, and all got quite a kick out of her curiosity.  

With the team marking and charting the landscape's pertinent details, Mike was able to locate the old tree that stands on the hand-drawn map from Leonard Maslanka, a survivor of the river crossing.  This man was kind enough to put pen to loose-leaf paper and sketch me an unbelievably accurate presentation of this area which included a bunker and a spot where he saw a new recruit step on a landmine. Leonard documents his own location near an old tree.  With so much "new growth" over 60 + years of time, this old tree was hidden among scrub trees, and not easily recognized.  But, quite remarkably, the tree stands pretty much in the spot drawn on the map.  This gives a reference point that narrows down the possible location of F company during this river crossing advance.

In addition to discovering "the Tree", Mike remembered that the Germans dug trenches that would connect bunkers in the event that the soldiers needed to escape "out the back door," so to say.  Mike was able to locate the trench and the team was able to sight an indentation in the ground that worked its way over to another bunker.  These trenches are 1 meter deep.  This discovery opens up the possibility that this "new recruit" could have stepped on a land mine, and thereby fell into the trench, disappearing from sight.  

I haven't received a report from the DPMO yet, but I am grateful, that after 9 years of hard work on my part, I was finally taken seriously by this organization.  Mike intends to continue searching out in the field, concentrating on the trench area between the bunker and "The Tree", in the hopes of locating items that could place Fred in this area.  This is a huge discovery, and one that extends the hope that Fred's remains just may be located in the woods that are just a few meters away from the watchful eye of  one Brown Cow.

I cannot thank Ernest and Mike enough, for their enthusiasm and their willingness to spend so many hours attempting to solve the mystery of what happened to Fred.  I am thrilled to know both of them and I look forward to the day when Marty and I can once again spend some time with them, and who knows?  Perhaps we'll even get to meet Miss Brown Cow ourselves!