To: Dorine Essey who wrote (71539 ) 11/11/1999 6:27:00 PM From: Captain Jack Read Replies (5) | Respond to
Dorine-- A short NICE story. My father served in the Army during WWII. He was in many big battles including the Battle of the Bulge. A young man im Belgium named Jean Philippe Speder is a military historian and has a small museum. He has a special interest in my fathers unit,Company H 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division. A few years ago while walking the northen end of the 80 mile front of the battle field with a metal detector he found a mess kit cover (aluminum). My dad had carved his last name and the last 4 numbers of his serial number on the cover. Mr Speder put the cover in his museum. Mr Speder tried to locate my father who died in 1976. After 50 years covered with earth one number was difficult to read. To make matters worse the military misspelled the last name on their records. Through much work and with the help of the VA and a Pennsylvania man who was also in that unit (and a light cleaning of the cover to get the proper number) Mr Speder was able to get the correct information. He sent my mother a few letters. He was happy to keep a picture of his find and sent the cover to my mother. We were not even permitted to cover postage costs(he said my father already paid enough), all he requested was a picture of my father in uniform. The cover arrived about 2 weeks ago. My mother had a shadow box made with a little ID plate. The people that made it up contacted the local paper,,, An article was on page one tonight. Mom, who never remarried was pictured on page 2 holding the cover. Mom just called,, local TV 21 wants to tape a segment for the 11 PM news and she (at 70) is nervous and wants me with her.
