Staff Sgt. John J. Farrell. (Courtesy photo)
To lose a loved one to war is devastating, but even harder is to have had that person reported missing in action and to have no certainty as to where the remains may be and therefore to have had no closure. Imagine then, an 86-year-old woman who learns that the body of her brother, who left to fight in World War II at age 22, has been located and will be coming home after 66 years for a military burial. Harvard resident Jack Wilson gave that gift of closure to his mother and to his aunt. The yearslong journey to find the truth about his uncle ended happily for Wilson and his family, but it raised his awareness—and his anger— about how delinquent the United States government is about looking for military personnel missing in action and being proactive in helping a family with its search. His research shows that there are still 73,000 World War II soldiers missing in Europe. Wilson, who served in the Army for three years of active duty and three in the reserves, finds this unacceptable, and he is passionate in his mission to bring about change.
Wilson’s journey to find his uncle, Staff Sgt. Jack Farrell, began with what Wilson says was “divine intervention.” Early in 2009 while he was still working with a company doing international business, he was browsing through boston.com, when he came upon a story titled “More U.S. artifacts found in Germany from World War II.” He looked at the picture of the worn Army boot, and he thought, “That’s Uncle Jack’s boot.” Then he caught himself because he had been brought up with the family story that Uncle Jack had been killed in the Battle of the Bulge and buried in Belgium. So this boot, found in Germany, couldn’t possibly belong to him. But the image continued to nag at him.
In his spare time, Wilson began to do some research. What he found were roadblocks and a lot of passing the buck from one government department to another. But he also found some people willing to help. Wilson talked to someone from the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch, who asked numerous questions about Uncle Jack, then ended the call quite abruptly. To Wilson’s surprise, the person called back the next day asking if Wilson could collect DNA from Uncle Jack’s relatives for a database. Wilson was again surprised when the very next day two DNA kits arrived. These he took to his mother and aunt, obtaining swabs with a vague explanation that the Army was collecting information. The government official had told Wilson that the identification lab was backlogged and he might hear nothing for a year.
A casualty of Hürtgen Forest
Meanwhile, Wilson continued doing research. The National Personnel Center in St. Louis sent him a personnel file record of Staff Sgt. John Farrell. His short time at Devens was documented. Wilson found one account that no one seemed to have read; it reported that Farrell was declared missing in action in Germany in 1945. More research confirmed that his death had been at the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, five months before the war ended, in the worst defeat of U.S. troops in the entire war. The Battle of the Bulge occurred during Hürtgen, and the overlap may explain the assumption that those men who were actually at Hürtgen had been lost in the larger, well-known battle. Later, Wilson could find only a couple of books about the battle, but the opinion seemed to be that unwise military strategy was the reason for the U.S. defeat.
In September 2009 the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch called to say that the central identification lab in Hawaii had made a positive identification of Staff Sgt. John Farrell. “It was a call my family had been waiting for for 66 years,” said Wilson.
In spring 2010, the Army made arrangements for Uncle Jack’s casket, covered with a flag, to be brought to Boston, accompanied by a staff sergeant in full uniform. Wilson learned from her later that as the plane landed, the pilot announced that there was a World War II soldier aboard and that his casket would be removed from the plane before any passengers could depart. At that point, everyone aboard rose and gave Uncle Jack a standing ovation. At the terminal, fire engines, Army officials, and a color guard from Delta Airlines honored the returning vet. Hundreds of people had gathered at windows of the building to see what was going on. Wilson said it was a moving scene for the family. “The Army waits too long and has poor communication, but they know how to do ceremony,” he said. A burial was held in Arlington.
Personal effects
The Past Conflict Repatriations Branch sent an Army representative to the family with two boxes, one of personal effects (dogtags encrusted with dirt and a canteen still holding water) and the other with the flag, some medals, and a 100-page booklet full of pictures about the battles. There were photos of the soldiers’ effects, and there were tougher images, too: skeletons being removed from the ground. Over the course of five hours, the family learned about the small village of Kommen in the Hürtgen Forest, high in the mountains of western Germany. Uncle Jack had been buried 2 feet underground. He and another young man had been buried side by side, with all their gear. When excavation started for a new house, the first thing the machine pulled up was an American Army boot. When Wilson asked, the Army office said the family of the man buried with Uncle Jack had not been notified.
The boot belonging to Jack Wilson’s uncle, Staff Sgt. John Farrell. (Courtesy photo)
Later that spring an Army captain brought boots and other items to Wilson’s mother. Again, Wilson asked about the other soldier, the boy from Vermont, to which the captain replied with words to the effect that it wasn’t his department. While Wilson was happy that his family had found closure, he continued to think about those other families. He was now on a new mission. Wilson started with the young man who had been found in the grave beside Uncle Jack. Through persistent phone calls, he located a nephew. Wilson shared what he knew and gave him contacts. In September 2010 the nephew sent Wilson a note: “My uncle’s remains arrive tomorrow.”
A six-month mission
In 2012 Jack visited the Hürtgen Forest and visited the original burial site. “This is where the two American boys were found,” said the son of the man who had found the two. “There are still many American boys buried here,” he added. Those words deeply affected Wilson, who later said, “To hear it from a German made it real.” Those 10 days changed his life, he said; since then, “I’ve done nothing but this project.”
Part of that mission was to find relatives of the men in Uncle Jack’s unit who had been killed in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. It took him six months to track down the families, none of whom knew about Hürtgen. In spring 2014 he traveled to each family to tell them about Hürtgen Forest, driving to Virginia, Georgia, and Ohio, and flying to Minnesota. People thanked him for bringing closure and the chance to remember their loved ones. A young man in Minnesota told Wilson, “I’ve just learned more about World War II than in all the courses I’ve taken.”
Wilson is passionate about continuing his work. There are still more than 73,000 MIAs in Europe from World War II. He was recently at the Pentagon, where he talked about his work and shared some of the contacts and avenues he has discovered that can lead to connections. It is his strong belief that the Army could do more than it is doing to find missing soldiers and to bring closure for their families.
Writer’s note: During our conversation, Wilson often mentioned how invaluable his wife, Mary (Harvard library director), has been with research help—though never, he assured me, on library time.
