On the dining room table of her Denver-area home are things that help Barb Barnhart remember her uncle. Photos, medals, memories.
The body of a U.S. Army sergeant was discovered decades after he was killed in World War II. Harold A. Shafer of Denver plans to return to Colorado this summer to be buried in the state where he was raised. It was a long and difficult period of heartbreak for his family.
“He was truly loved,” said Bernhard, the daughter of Schaefer's sister and one of his last remaining relatives. “It was really heartbreaking, especially for her grandmother. Her grandmother was never the same. She just got worse, and so was my grandfather. ”
Schäfer was killed on December 10, 1944 in the German town of Dillingen. He was 28 years old. It happened in the months after D-Day when the Allies pushed German forces back into their homeland. Schaefer landed on Utah Beach the day after D-Day, when the brutal struggle began. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division.
Many months passed before his family received the first terrifying telegram stating simply that he was missing in action. Later, another letter was delivered to his young wife informing her family of his death. However, there was no information about the body. It was never returned.
“My grandfather was a German from Russia,” Bernhard said. “They lived in Globeville, where the immigrants originally lived,” she recalled.
Her uncle worked in Denver and coached women's softball.
“He was everyone's favorite. He loved to dance. You know, he was perfect. You know, the best guy.”
I don't know if he enlisted or was drafted, but in 1943 he was in the Army in basic training and begged his sister to come see him. As a small man, he wasn't sure if the job was for him. However, because he was older than many of those around him, he was eventually commissioned as a sergeant.
“It takes a pretty special person to be a coach, and I knew he would have a great relationship with the young guys that were under his belt,” Bernhardt said.
That was clearly true. In a letter to Schaefer's family after his death, Schaefer's commanding officer and friend, Lt. Robert W. Landis, wrote: Through the same hell. ”
Landis wrote of his friend's service and dedication: “We've all been there, we all had a job to do. Harold did more than his share. Believe me. I want it, it wasn't in vain or in vain. We saw what they did on that side. ”
He died in the trenches during a fierce back-and-forth battle. His family said in a letter that as he stood up to help a wounded fellow soldier, a machine gun bullet struck him in the face, killing him instantly. American forces were forced to retreat across the Saar River, leaving their dead behind. That was the last thing anyone knew.
For years, Schaefer's mother continued to write letters to the military asking about her son's whereabouts. Her mind was thinking about him.
“Her confused mind never rested until she died,” Bernhard said. Mr. Schaefer's wife soon remarried, but, as they had suspected, he was no longer close to his family. As a child, Bernhard felt pain when he made a discovery.
“That's how I first heard about him,” she continued. “I found the letter in the drawer.''
Her mother, the sister of a hero who died in the war, had written a letter to her brother about his death. The letter came back stamped with the word “Deceased” written in large letters.
As the years passed and his family died, Bernhard was left with a pile of books and letters. She looked at them from time to time and read books about her uncle.
“For some reason, I went into the closet, opened Harold's page, and read a little something,” she recalled. “I did this three or four times over the years. Finally, I finally said, 'OK, Harold.'
She investigated the town where he was killed. She told Stars and Stripes, a news outlet run by the Pentagon, that German people's groups spent time searching for lost remains and helped identify soldiers recently killed in Dillingen. Found the article. It was another soldier. She sent a note to Stars and Stripes, and the next day the phone rang. It was a member of the organization named Chris who called her and said yes, he was going to look for her brother. Years later, she kept in touch with Chris. There was nothing. Until 2021.
“And he said they got permission, the DPAA got permission to exhume 13 unknown soldiers from a conspiracy that turned out to be in Normandy,” Bernhardt said. Among the soldiers were those killed at Dillingen.
DPAA is the Defense Prisoner of War/MIA Accounting Agency. The agency has a large facility at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and is responsible for finding and identifying missing soldiers. The three bodies found in a cemetery in the Pachten-Dillingen area, buried by German priests, were eventually removed by the American military and reburied as “unknown” at the Normandy American Cemetery in the Normandy region of France. It was done. In 2018, DPAA historians examined documents in their possession, which were finally destroyed in August 2021 and sent to the DPAA Institute for analysis and identification.
“In Sergeant Schaefer's case, of course we started with the historical aspect of finding out where these unknown remains were recovered in the '40s. And then finding out who went missing in that general area. Is that a possibility?'' said Dr. Carrie Brown, laboratory manager. Forensic anthropologist at DPAA. “We also used anthropology to evaluate the remains, looking at their biological profile and any trauma that may have occurred at or around the time of death.”
Knowing Schaefer had been shot in the face, they searched for a match to the body. They examined the dental records of the remaining teeth. “And we also tested the DNA,” Bernhardt said.
Fortunately, she and her sister had both submitted DNA.
“The forensic process they go through is incredible,” she says.
The call from DPAA went to her sister in Arizona.
“And she said, 'Are you sitting there? You won't believe it,'” Bernhardt said. “I was really happy and surprised. I was just happy and surprised. I was just like, 'Wow.'”
Schaefer's body remains at the DPAA in Omaha. The family is now planning to bring them back to Colorado in July for burial.
“It's going to be really great. It's going to be a celebration,” Bernhardt said. “I think I'll cry then. I don't cry much.”
“Grandma, we brought him home. He's home. All you ever wanted was to bring him home.”
Schaefer will be flown to Colorado, where there will be a procession to Fort Logan National Cemetery. His marker, placed there in 1961 when he was still missing, will be replaced with a new one. He will be buried with full military honors.