On March 19, 1945, the fighter my father was flying crashed in Germany.  My mother was 17 years old.  She turned 18 less than a month after he was declared missing and presumed dead.  I was born three months later.  By the time I was old enough to understand he was gone, my mother had remarried and my father was not talked about. When I was eight years old, my father was declared "unrecoverable".  I do not  know if my mother knew this, but if she did, she never mentioned it to me.  When I became an adult, I had no knowledge of my father and no hope of ever finding information about him.  When I was contacted by the Army and asked to come to the Family Update, I was skeptical; after all these years, why would anyone have any new information?  I had literally spent my life wishing and wanting to know more about my father, but I did not realize that anyone else cared or was still looking for him.  I went to the Family Update with high hopes and low expectations; it just didn’t seem possible that anyone could tell me anything because my family had not even mentioned my father.  My search for my father was a personal search to find some kind of inner peace with the belief that he was gone and I would never understand what happened and why.

The Family Update I attended was the first I had ever gone to.  Before I was contacted by the Army I had no knowledge that the Family Updates were conducted.   I was totally unaware of the heroic efforts that are being made to recover and identify the men missing in the wars.  I was emotionally stretched as I listened to the stories and descriptions of the work that is being done.  More than once I was brought to tears as I learned, for the first time, to how much my country cares about the men who have still not been given a final resting place in a place of honor in this country.  I listened and learned and resolved to do whatever I could to find my father.  For the first time in my life, I had hope of closure.  That, had it been all, would have been a wonderful gift  To see the dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to find and identify the missing, and to feel the energy of the relatives who live for a glimmer of hope of finding a close relative still missing in the wars, filled me with new energy and resolve.

I could have left the update energized and ready to go to work, but all that changed when I learned my father had been positively identified.  I went into shock, and I am not certain I have recovered yet.  I have a very vague memory of the time after I received the information, but I do remember being very grateful for the efforts that had been made to find my father.  It is not possible to describe the joy and sorrow that fills your heart when a dream comes true; to know for certain and to weep for the lost years.  I picture a young pilot sitting in a peaceful field in Germany waiting for someone to come pick him up and take him home.  He is coming home now, and I am so happy to be able to have a place to go to honor him and to know he is resting with his buddies.  Now, I am equally resolved to take action, but now I feel I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the men and women who have never given up looking for my father. I also want to add my support to the relatives who still wait.  I received a great gift at the update.  I truly wish I could share it with every family who is still waiting.  I truly believe that some day every man and women who is still missing will be brought home.  And I truly believe we can and must do what we can to give those who are searching and waiting our unconditional support.

Source: World War II Families for Recovery of the Missing (WWRM)
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