Posted on 12/16/2014 7:23:19 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Nearly 70 years ago, Gordon Russ died fighting for his country and was buried in a foreign field.
The St. Paul man left behind a wife, two little daughters, his parents and sisters. But in the seven decades since Russ fell during a critical and bloody battle in World War II, none of them has been to his grave.
"I would have liked to have my dad's body back here, to go visit him," said Russ' daughter, Judith Doyle, now 75. "I wish I could get out and see his grave. If I could just walk up and touch the stone it would be like touching him, which I don't remember doing."
"He's buried in a cemetery in Luxembourg. None of us have ever been there. That's the sad part," said Russ' sister, Jean Snell, 86, of Sun Prairie, Wis. "I wish we could've gone, that someone could've gone."
Over the years, Doyle, of North St. Paul, has tried to find out more about the father she never knew, how he died and why he never came home. The Pioneer Press tried to answer some of those questions.
One of the few documents Doyle has about her father is a brief newspaper clipping about his death on Jan. 8, 1945.
The 30-year-old private had been in the Army for less than a year. He had lived in the 1400 block of Ames Avenue on St. Paul's East Side. He worked as a bartender in a place called Fleischmann & Muggley's Tavern at University and Lexington Avenue.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
Yep, found the exemption. III-A Registrant with a child or children; registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents.
All my father’s brothers, brother in laws, and cousins, chose not to take the III-A exemption and went into the Army.
My mother's older brother was over 30 years old, married and had 3 kids and he got drafted. He was killed at the battle of the Hurtgen forest, a week or so before the Battle of the Bulge began.
As I understand the story, he and his wife weren't getting along and she threw him out of the house and then called the local draft board and claimed he was not supporting the family. Bang, he got drafted and never came home.
Wow. Hell hath no fury.
As always, it’s often who you know.
That same III-A exemption still existed during the Vietnam War. One of my close friends, who became a father at age 19, had that exemption.
That's how my mother felt about it. My mother always stayed as close as she could to his three children.
His wife never remarried. She died relatively young. But learning what I did, I always felt that she must have felt some guilt for doing what she did and leaving her kids without a father.
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