Eighty-two years ago on Nov. 8, 1944, U.S. Army Pfc. Howard G. Krapf died during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest in Germany in World War II. He was 26 years old.

Eighty-two years ago, his mother, Stella, grieved the loss of her son when she learned he was missing in action. Later, members of his platoon reported he had been killed by enemy machine-gun fire, but circumstances had prevented the recovery of his body. She died in 1984, never having her son returned home.

On June 11, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency made a definitive identification of Krapf’s remains using DNA.

The agency said that in April 1948, a German demining team working to clear the explosives from the forest west of Hürtgen found unidentified human remains. The remains were interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium. In July 2023, the Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission had the remains exhumed and sent to a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency laboratory for analysis.

Krapf’s parents, his brother Henry and sister Grace have all since passed away. But on Monday, his niece and Grace’s daughter Joan Vannatta, her husband, children and other family members gathered to finally lay his remains to rest next to his mother at Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua.

“My grandmother would cry about him all the time,” Vannatta said in an interview. “She would say, ‘I can’t understand why they can’t find him.’

“Because of the miracle of DNA, they were able to identify him. It’s unbelievable — 82 years missing in action and he’s finally coming out of the forest in Germany to come home to the United States,” Vannatta said.

Krapf was “unbelievably kind and loving,” Vannatta said her mother told her. He also was an expert marksman and was honored by the Army for his abilities.

He was assigned to be a machine-gunner and served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

Given her family’s history of military service, Vannatta said she thinks that when Krapf was shot in the hand and stood up, it wasn’t out of surprise or pain, but in order to grab his machine gun and shoot back. Unfortunately, that was when he was fatally struck.

“He died fighting for our country and for our people and for you and I, so that we could live in a free country here in the United States,” she said.

Krapf’s family; Whitehall Township Mayor Joseph Marx Jr.; state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-24th; members of the Whitehall fire police, fire department and public works; U.S. Army Honor Guard from Fort Dix in New Jersey; Gilbert Funeral Home; Fullerton American Legion Post 367; and Egypt Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7293 Honor Guard, as well as members of the community gathered Monday at the Whitehall Township Municipal Building to process to the cemetery.

A long line of police cars, vehicles, veterans on motorcycles and a firetruck followed the hearse as it traveled down MacArthur Road into West Catasauqua neighborhoods and eventually entering Fairview Cemetery beneath a huge American flag flying between firetrucks from Catasauqua Borough and Hokendauqua stations.

The funeral service included comments from Marx and Pennycuick and the singing of “God Bless the USA,” “How Great Thou Art” and the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Aaron Vannatta, Joan’s son, gave the eulogy.

He said he was overwhelmed with emotion, which surprised him since he didn’t know his great-uncle Howard, upon hearing that he was found.

“First, I was hit with an overwhelming sense of pride and honor. To me, Howard represents and is a part of one of the greatest — if not the greatest — generations this country has ever known,” he said.

Then he said he felt a deep sense of remorse.

A father of four, with one son the age Krapf was when he entered the Army, Aaron Vannatta said, “The thought of losing one of my boys in a foreign war, especially without ever having any real closure, is an immense emotional pain. Sadly, this was the reality for Howard’s mother.”

He read one of Stella Krapf’s letters to the military asking them to find her son.

“Dear Sir, On the 9th of March, it will be two years and four months, and my boy hasn’t been recovered. I haven’t written because I just couldn’t, but I do want him home. I want him to have a military service. I do hope he’ll be found alive, but please don’t send anyone but my boy. From a heartbroken mother, Mrs. Stella Viola Krapf. God help you have good news.”

Aaron Vannatta said his third emotion is that of “immense gratitude and thankfulness.” He is thankful that our country never gave up on finding his great-uncle, and he’s comforted that if ever one of his boys was lost, “He would be found and honored by his family, his community, by this nation’s military.”