After more than 80 years, a World War II soldier from Whitehall Township will finally be laid to rest.<\/p>\n
Howard George Krapf was just 26 when he was killed in Hurtgen Forest along the Belgian-German border in 1945. His remains would not be identified for decades.<\/p>\n
He will be laid to rest Monday at Fairview Cemetery in Whitehall Township, according to a township news release. He will be buried next to his mother.<\/p>\n
Krapf was killed during a battle with German forces on Nov. 8, 1944, the release states. He was shot in the hand, prompting him to jump up in pain. He was then hit and killed by enemy machine gun fire. He served in the Army with Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.<\/p>\n
Members of Company B witnessed his death, however graves registration personnel did not have his remains to confirm he had been killed, and he was listed as missing in action, according to the release. That status remained until after the war ended, and in October 1945 his status was changed to killed in action.<\/p>\n
The American Graves Registration Command did extensive investigations in the Hurtgen Forest in the years after the war. Remains were recovered in 1948 but AGRC officials could not identify them as Krapf\u2019s. Those remains were interred at Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium, the release states.<\/p>\n
The Department of Defense and the American Battle Monuments Commission exhumed the remains in 2023, and they were identified, with reasonable certainty, as Krapf\u2019s. Extensive historical research of combat in the Hurtgen Forest as well as DNA analysis were used in the identification process.<\/p>\n
Before being inducted Inducted into the Army in November 1942, Krapf was an employee at Brown\u2019s Shoe Factory, according to Morning Call archives. His brother, Henry Krapf, also served in the war; he survived, and died in 1995 at age 78.<\/p>\n
Local honor guards will welcome Krapf home 10 a.m. Monday at Whitehall Township Veterans Memorial at 3219 MacArthur Road. The procession will begin at 10:30 a.m. and pass his childhood home on Front Street in Fullerton before taking him to Fairview Cemetery at 2584 Lehigh St.<\/p>\n