Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series detailing the 75th anniversary of the crash of Lt. Fred J. Knauf, a young soldier whose life was cut short unexpectedly on March 28, 1942, when the plane he was flying crashed in the mountains in Nesquehoning. This week, we look at the man who never stepped foot on Carbon County soil, but who was adopted by the town that was the site of his death.

Army Lt. Fred J. Knauf was a young soldier who had hopes for a bright future.He had dreams of proposing to his girlfriend, serving his country during World War II and spending time with his family.But the handsome 21-year-old from Bark River, Michigan, never got the chance to do any of those things.On the foggy morning of March 28, 1942, just three months after Knauf earned his wings, the plane he was piloting near Nesquehoning crashed unexpectedly, killing him instantly. It was the day the mountain cried and a town mourned for a man they had never met.The tragedy was felt both in the Nesquehoning community at the base of the Broad Mountain and nearly 1,000 miles away where the Knauf family lived.The event forged the most unlikely bond between the town and a family who was now mourning the loss of a son and brother — a bond that has been carefully and lovingly nurtured for the last 75 years and continues today.‘A good-hearted instigator’Fred Knauf was born to Fred W. and Pauline Knauf in Rudyard, Michigan, in 1920 and was the eighth born out of nine children.He moved with his family to Bark River shortly after and attended the Bark River School, graduating from St. Joseph High School in Escanaba in 1938.Growing up, his family said he was a person who loved life and who girls swooned over.“My father (Lawrence) and one of my uncles, Uncle Ray, talked of Fred a lot,” his niece, Janice Hood, who never met him, said via email. “My father and uncle told stories of him being a prankster. They told stories of cars in ditches and brawls at dances and the theme that always came through was he was a good-hearted instigator. My father would say that Fred would get people going and then he would sit back and watch the results of his pot stirring.“My dad would say that Fred, along with sister, Teresa, were the instigators, but they had the biggest hearts. Everything they did was in good fun.”Hood said that her mother also always spoke highly of Fred.“She always said he was soft-spoken, kind and was always there to lend a helping hand.”Knauf never had the chance to marry, but according to an article published in the Times News in 2002, his brother, Ray, who visited the site of his brother’s crash on a number of occasions, said that Fred was planning to propose to his girlfriend on March 29 when they met up at his base at Stewart Field in New York, a date with love that would never be fulfilled.Hood said growing up, the Knauf family lived through the Great Depression and money was tight.“In general, the family was very religious and were very giving people,” she said. “They didn’t have much but family and friends and even strangers were always welcome to their table.”Hood believes that, as well as Knauf’s older brother, Leo, who was already enlisted in the service; and his family’s German heritage were all reasons her uncle chose to enlist in the U.S. Army.Preparing for warAfter high school, Knauf attended the Catholic University in Detroit before entering the Army Air Corps in 1941.He earned his wings from the Air Corps Advanced Flying School in Victoria, Texas on Dec. 12, 1941, Hood said.From there, he traveled on Stewart Field, where he would continue his aviation practice and prepare to be deployed.On the fateful morning of March 28, a dense fog hung low in the air over the Broad Mountain, silently hiding the horror that would unfold shortly before noon.Knauf was piloting a Curtiss P-36 Hawk on a routine solo flight and for some reason, according to resident accounts, appeared to circle the area three times, maybe to gain his bearings many felt, before for unknown reasons, his engine failed.The Lansford Evening Record reported that at 11:30 a.m. the plane crashed and a “terrific explosion occurred instantly.”“When police reached the scene, they found plane wreckage strewn over the mountain top for a distance of more than 500 yards,” the paper reported. “The nose of the plane was buried 7 feet in a crater of its own making. The big motor had been thrown 300 yards from the point of crash by the explosion.”Knauf’s burned body was found 400 yards from the crash and his remains were taken to Weatherly funeral director Peter Warner before being returned to his family in Michigan.He was buried next to his grandparents in Rudyard following a funeral at St. George’s Church, Bark River.No real answersIn the hours and days that followed, investigators of the Army and Air Force, as well as the office of Carbon County Sheriff Nathan Pollock, combed through the wreckage, which included the shreds of Knauf’s parachute — an item he never had the chance to use — to try and determine what caused the young pilot’s plane to go down.Hood said that the military never concluded exactly why the plane crashed, but it is believed that the fog was one of the main factors.“My uncle was the first man to be killed from Bark River Township in World War II,” Hood said during her speech in Bark River during the 2016 Memorial Day ceremony. “That is the story of his death, but the story to follow is of a small town not unlike ours and how they have for many years and continue to pay tribute to a fallen soldier that they never knew, but has become a part of their community.”