Henry A Weikel KIA WWI Funeral Mahanoy City December 9, 2010

• published: 17 Nov 2015
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This video was edited Nov 16, 2015, By David Truskowsky. HONOR Henry A. Weikel KIA WW I September 16th, 1918 Repatriated. Henry A Weikel, Killed in action 1918 in France, finally received a full military funeral 92 years after losing his life in the service of his country. For complete story visit: http://www.truskowskyfuneralhome.com/home/index.cfm/obituaries/view/fh_id/11570/id/752434 He arrived at the Philadelphia airport on Monday December 6th 2010 just before noon with plane side military honors with the Patriot Guard Riders present on the tarmac. He was escorted by the Pennsylvania State Police Troop "K" and "L" to Mahanoy City were he was met with the American Legion and Patriot Guard, as well as assistance from the Mahanoy City Fire Department, Mahanoy City Fire Police and Mahanoy City Police Department. A funeral was held at the Louis D. Truskowsky Funeral Home & Crematory Inc. Mahanoy City on Thursday December 9th. Pvt Henry Albert Weikel hailed from Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania.7 Pvt Weikels file also includes a similar statement from 1st Sgt Engdahl, naming Pvt Weikel and two others as having been killed within the wood, but other correspondence with 1st Sgt Engdahl does not mention Pvt Weikel by name. In 1931, Pvt Weikels mother, Eliza Weikel, at age 60, joined a Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimage to the St. Mihiel battle zone where her son was lost. Despite Mrs. Weikels profound deafness and ill health during he journey aboard the S.S. Roosevelt to France, and then returning on the S.S. George Washington, the Gold Star Mothers Association and the War Department brought her safely home. The handles of her bag, however, were pulled loose and efforts to repair them in France evidently did not succeed. Subsequent searches of the wood conducted under the direction of the American Graves Registration Service failed to relocate the grave or recover remains that could be identified as among those known still to be missing within the Bois de Bonvaux. On 8June 1921 the Cemeterial Division of the Office of the Quartermaster General noted that the grave location of Pvt Costello was still “unconfirmed” and that all of the bodies from isolated graves had been consolidated to the Thiaucourt or Romagne cemeteries. On 19 May 1922 the Chief of Operations for the American Graves Registration Service directed a thorough search of the Bois de Bonvaux for five "H" Company soldiers who were believed interred in the woods. This directive lists Privates Costello, Weikel, and Willigas well as Pvt Shallow and Pvt Adam Spohn. The notation indicates that Pvt Shallow had been identified previously, and later research determined that Pvt Spohn had also been identified and his remains permanently interred in the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in Plot H, Row 43, Grave 37. On 20 July 1918 the Graves Registration Service noted that a physical search of several days within the Bois de Bonvaux had not had satisfactory results. On 25 November 1923 the headquarters of the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery reported that physical investigation of the recorded burial location had been conducted including opening former trenches, shell holes, and other depressions without result. During a 2006 Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Recovery mission to Europe, Mme Elisabeth Gozzo, a resident of Corny-sur-Moselle, France, informed the recovery team operating in the Foret de Parroy in Lorraine that she had learned of a recent discovery of possible remains of American “dough boys.” The JPAC team visited the site, evaluated the recovered material, and initiated a small scale excavation.Due to limited recovery time, the site was suspended on 28 September 2006. The comparison of the coordinates from Pvt Costellos Grave Location Blank and the site recovery location documented by the JPAC archaeologist demonstrates the close match between the two locations and provides considerable circumstantial evidence that the remains recovered by the JPAC team are associated with the three "H" Company enlisted men killed within the Bois de Bonvaux at approximately 7:30 p.m. on the evening of 16 September 1918.