Posted on 05/22/2022 7:21:31 AM PDT by Sasparilla
Private John Klopfenstein was our family member killed by German fire in France in WWI. Born April 15, 1896 in Indiana. He was employed at the Brass Foundry in Sturgis, Michigan where he entered the US Army on 9/19/1917. He was sent to Camp Custer, Michigan & was assigned to Company D, 328th Machine Gun Battalion & transferred to Camp Merritt New Jersey. He was subsequently sent overseas to Company C, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, "The Big Red One." John was killed while serving his country after being wounded on 09/13/1918, passing away 09/18/1918.
He was laid to rest at the The St. Mihiel American Cemetery and Memorial, located at the west edge of Thiacourt (Muethe-et Moselle) along with 4,152 brothers in arms lost at the Battle of St. Mihiel, an offensive that resulted in the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient, a point where the German Army threatened Paris.
He was later moved back home to the family section in Huser Cemetery, near Berne, Indiana. It's been 104 years. We will never forget you.
My grandmothers brother was killed at the same battle. His body was brought home and he is buried in a very small cemetery in central Texas.
Due to the fire at the St. Louis warehouse where most of the vital records of WWI and II were kept, his wartime efforts are unknown.
Thank you for always remembering him and them.
Klopfeinstein. Was he a first or second generation immigrant? From the area that became Germany?
WW I was yet another war we should have stayed out of. But almost every president yearns to be a great “war president”. Trump was a rare exception to that.
Thanks for remembering. Sadly, history is fading and a lot of folks have no clue about those buried in Europe or the sacrifices made by everyday heroes.
The carnage of WW I, the Russian Revolution, and WW II accelerated the decline of Western culture into neo pagan decadent hedonism. The best of the genetic pool was forever lost. The world would have been a different, better place if your cousin and millions like him had lived normal and full lives.
My Dad was a motorcycle carrier in the Army during WW1.
He had a severe wreck and broke his back and right shoulder.
After the basic treatment, he was sent of an Army hospital in Kansas.
He ended up with the Spanish Flu and was apparently not aware of it. His older brother visited him in the hospital.
This was in 1918 when the Spanish Flu was infecting and killing people across and around the planet.
Then, his brother returned home, and he had caught the Spanish Flu and died a few days later at the age of 28.
Wars not only kill and maim people in battle.
Wars can maim or kill people not in the military.
Regardless of what Pelosi’s new “land of the free stuff ‘americans’” think, we shouls never forget those who came before us who fought and died for our country.
The largest American military cemetery in Europe is not at Normandy but at the WW1 battle site in Meuse-Argonne, with over 15,000 graves ( includes Spanish flu deaths).
https://www.abmc.gov/Meuse-Argonne
American cemetery in Normandy has over 9,000 graves, 60% of the dead being repatriated.
America is the only country that repatriated its war dead. The rest lie in the countries where they died. The Meuse-Argonne caretaker estimated over 3 million German war graves in the region,
No American president has ever visited this cemetery.
“ too far to travel”
I am a descendent of a Klopfenstein.
My husband’s great uncle of Nova Scotia, was killed in action April 9, 1917 • Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Age 19.
My paternal great uncle, served and returned. No children, though.
My great uncle was from the USA.
My paternal Opa fought for the Germans on the Eastern front. He was a Russian POW but he managed to escape and walk back to Germany. I’ve got
his memoirs and need to pull them out and re-read them. It’s fascinating reading of the first hand experience of a German private. They emigrated to the states in 1927 and he passed in 1969. What I would give to hear more of his life story in person.
My dad’s service records were in that warehouse as well...
It was indeed the high-water mark of Western European cultural dominance, spent in a useless, arrogant orgy of violence.
My dad’s cousin Jimmy Gaffney of Brooklyn was killed in France On November 1, 1918.
He had sight in only one eye and was so proud that he “fooled” the draft board into accepting him.
At least the damned stupid war was still happening. That scumbag Perishing ordered troops into battle to “capture more territory” om the morning of November 11, 1918. 2738 men died because of that pos Pershing.
If the USA had stayed out, the war would have lasted one year longer.
The USA got the chance to sit at the big boys table, to help with the rebirth of nations, and those nations remember, and to start down the road to hyperpower
If you have not done so, you ought to contact the 1st Division Museum at the Cantigny Estate in Wheaton, IL. You may find considerable information and original documents that may add to your wonderful story.
His name is no doubt on the 1st Division Memorial which is next to the White House in Washington
Duty First!
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