Belgians' persistence leads to discovery
of graves of U.S. soldiers killed in WWII
Story and photos by Gregory
Piatt, Stars and Stripes
A cross marks the spot
along the Siegfried Line in the Monschau Forest in Germany where the remains of three U.S.
soldiers, who were killed during the first days of Battle of the Bulge, were buried. A
Belgian team found the shallow grave after deciding to look across the road from where
records and veterans said the three were buried. |
HASSELPAT TRAIL, Germany — It was here in the Monschau Forest, on the north
shoulder of the Battle of Bulge, that soldiers from Company C of the 395th Infantry
Regiment fought, died and were buried during some of the fiercest fighting of World War
II.
Since the opening days of the Battle of Bulge in December 1944, forest mulch and
56-year-old battlefield debris have covered these unmarked GI graves.
"Nobody knows how many missing soldiers on both sides are still buried in this
forest," said David Roath, director of the U.S. Army Memorial Affairs Activity Europe
in Landstuhl, Germany.
But the dwindling number of Bulge veterans haven’t forgotten their missing
comrades from the 99th Infantry Division. A team of four Belgian men hasn’t forgotten
them, either.
Since the mid-1980s, the Belgians have volunteered their time to scour this battlefield
still speckled with the foxholes and pillboxes. Armed with metal detectors, shovels and
documents, they search for the remains of 33 99th ID soldiers, who are still listed as
missing in action. The Belgians are members of the 99th Infantry Division Association and
work through the group’s MIA project.
"You won’t find better guys," said Vernon Swanson, author of "Up
Front with Charlie Company, a Combat History of Company C 395th Infantry Regiment."
"They are out there practically every weekend, and they have jobs and families.
But they do it because they want to remember the GIs who liberated their country."
The Diggers, as they are
known by the 99th Infantry Division Association, scour the Battle of the Bulge battlefield
in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg looking for remains of World War II soldiers missing in
action. They are, from left to right, Jean-Philippe Spedem, Marc Habique, Jean-Louis Seel
and Jean-Luc Menestrey. |
The Diggers, as the 99th Infantry Division Association calls the Belgians, have had
some success finding a couple of missing soldiers since 1988. But recently they made a big
discovery, finding the remains of three Company C soldiers, who died on Dec. 15 and 16,
1944, and whose bodies subsequently disappeared.
"It was like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Digger Jean-Louis Seel
of the search for the three.
Off and on for nearly a decade, the Diggers looked for the three GIs near an aid
station where medics checked soldiers’ feet for frostbite and trench foot during the
battle. But after repeated attempts, they couldn’t find the remains near the pile of
discarded boots that are still strewn on the Monschau Forest floor.
Then, on April 11, Seel went to search again. This time he looked across the one-lane
trail from the aid station. There he found a grenade damaged by shrapnel and an ammo belt,
but left as night fell in the forest.
"I didn’t think I was on the grave site," Seel said about the find that
day. "I was sure they removed the equipment from dead soldiers."
Seel returned with the full team on April 17. Within 10 minutes, Seel unearthed a belt
buckle. As he reached for the buckle, Seel saw bones and began to shout.
"Stop, stop," Seel called out. "I have one of them!"
"Are you sure, are you sure it’s not a rock?" asked Marc Habique,
another Digger.
"I’m sure," Seel replied.
The team checked the remains’ dog tag and confirmed it was one of three soldiers
they had been looking for. German and Army officials were called in and the remains with
dog tags of all three missing Company C soldiers were found.
A soldier salutes as the
casket of one of three soldiers killed during the Battle of the Bulge is loaded into a
van. The three soldiers' remains were found recently by a Belgian team working for the
99th Infantry Division Association. |
However, V Corps, the Diggers or members of the 99th ID Association won’t make the
names public until the Army positively identifies the bones that are now at the Memorial
Affairs Activity in Landstuhl. But stories on the association’s Web site identify two
of three privates who were missing.
"We would like to officially identify the remains by Memorial Day," Swanson
said in a phone interview last week from Deerfield, Ill. "We hope the Army
doesn’t take as long to identify them as they did when the remains of a soldier was
found in the Huertgen Forest last year. It took them a year to make an official
identification."
The night Pfc. Saul Kokotivich died, Company C was bogged down in eight inches of snow
on the slope of what was later called Hill 88 because the Germans fired so many 88 mm
artillery shells at the U.S. troops there. The Americans fought from foxholes on this
battlefield of shattered tree trunks, shell craters and concrete pillboxes.
The night before the Bulge’s first assault, Kokotivich was preparing for another
night in a frozen foxhole. About 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, a barrage of 30 or 40 artillery
rounds rained down on the company, Swanson said. Shells exploded around their positions
and one soldier yelled, "Something’s wrong with Koke," recalled Swanson,
explaining how his comrades died but not talking about the newly found remains.
"Koke was dying," said Swanson, even though he didn’t have any injuries.
Another soldier said Kokotivich, who was married that October, died from a heart attack,
Swanson said. His corpse was carried to the aid station the next morning.
On Dec. 16, Swanson’s foxhole mate, Pfc. Jack Beckwith, returned from the aid
station where medics were checking for trench foot or frostbite when an 88 mm shell fell
between them.
"I got the concussion and it knocked me down," Swanson said about the shell
that killed his buddy from North Dakota. "Jack got the shell fragments."
The third private was attached to the regiment as a forward observer and also died from
artillery that day. On the morning of Dec. 17, Company C was ordered to withdraw and the
frozen corpses of Kokotivich, Beckwith and the unknown private were hurriedly buried.
Their graves were marked with their helmets atop sticks.
After the war, some marked graves were found and the GIs reburied. However, these three
remained MIA and now the families and veterans are hoping to bring them home after 56
years.
"I’ve been looking for Jack’s remains since 1946, and the two others for
many years," Swanson said. "I will express sadness and relief once they attach
the names to the remains because this has been an excruciating search — a long
marathon hopefully coming to end."
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