This Memorial Day I decided to see if I could research the history of my husband’s uncle that died in World War II. In the past when I asked my husband about his middle name, Ludwig, he told me he was given this name in honor of his father’s brother that had died in World War II. After doing a little research I discovered that several men in my husband’s family had the name Ludwig, including his grandfather Ludwig Jacob Krein. I was surprised to see that his country of birth was Moldova which is between Ukraine and Romania. This brought home the current conflict to my mind.
Ludwig Jacob Krein obviously had immigrated to the United States long ago, and he married a German woman, Magdalena Schoepp, and they lived in South Dakota and raised a large family.
Ludwig Otto Krein was the second to the youngest of their children. He was born in 1925 and died in 1945 in a battle in France. I was surprised to see that he was buried at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial –Epinal, Department Des Vosges, Lorraine France. Later I discovered that there are many cemeteries and memorials around the world, outside of the United States, where our American soldiers have been buried.
Ludwig Otto Krein was only 19 years old when he died in a bloody battle. My husband never got to know him since he died before my husband was born.
Five thousand two hundred and fifty-two of our military dead are buried here. Many were probably just as young as Ludwig was.
movingforwardslowly 