Posted on 11/29/2017 2:54:50 PM PST by Morgana
Helen Francisco was just 3 years old when her older brother, Shirley “Eugene” Bailey, died in World War II.
He was one of 12 children in the family’s home on the West Side of Charleston. He and two other brothers were drafted into the Army and fought in Germany at the same time.
Francisco was too young to remember her brother, but she can still remember her mother’s fight to bring him home after his remains went unaccounted for after the war.
“I was little but I can remember her writing to everyone,” she said.
“She never gave up looking for him [and] writing letters to the Army,” Francisco’s husband, Carl, said. “She had Sen. [Robert C.] Byrd write letters to the Army. We’ve got copies of all the letters.”
Though Francisco’s mother died in 1951, her family will see her dreams realized this week. Bailey’s remains are expected to arrive at Yeager Airport late Wednesday night, 73 years to the day after he was killed by enemy fire during a battle in Germany’s Hurtgen Forest.
“I know Mom would probably be jumping up and down,” Helen said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wvgazettemail.com ...
RIP, soldier.
Mr. niteowl77
Welcome Home and, yes, Rest In Peace. So glad for his family. I’m a Gold Star sister, too, and cannot imagine not having them home.
I know of another medic, PVT James Monroe Derflinger, who was also KIA in the Hurtgen Forest. The official account is that his remains were also buried in Ardennes Cemetary, but nothing else.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” (General George Patton) Thank God All Mighty for you and for your sacrifice in the name of the American people.
RIP.
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