WWII soldier ID’d and laid to rest in Colorado hometown 80 years after his death in combat

A World War II soldier was finally brought back home to Colorado 80 years after he was killed in combat overseas.

Staff Sgt. Harold Schafer was buried at Denvers’ Fort Logan National Cemetery Monday morning with a full military honors service — complete with bagpipes and a 21-gun salute — after he was killed while fighting in Germany in 1944. He was 28 years old.

The young soldier joined the Army in 1943 and was shipped to Europe the following year as part of the 90th Infantry Division. His unit crossed the Saar River on Dec. 6, 1944, and attempted to capture and hold the towns of Pachten and Dillingen, Germany, according to the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Four days later, Schafer was “mortally wounded” by machine gun fire. His fellow servicemen were unable to recover his body and those of other fallen soldiers before relocating to a safe area, according to the agency.

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command conducted several investigations in the Pachten-Dillingen area from 1946 to 1950, recovering and identifying bodies of servicemen from Schater’s division who had been buried at a civilian cemetery in Reimsbach, Germany. 

But they were unable to match the young Denver soldier with a body and his remains wouldn’t be identified until many years later on Sept. 26, 2023, the agency reported.

Schafer was reportedly killed in a foxhole while trying to help a fellow soldier, CBS News reported.

“It was just heartbreaking, especially to my grandma,” Barb Bernhard, Schafer’s niece, told the news station of his death. “My grandma was never the same.”

The family’s pain was only exacerbated by the reality that they never got to bury Schafer’s body.

The identification so many years later was a welcome surprise.

“I was just so happy and amazed,” Bernhardt said to CBS.

She said Monday’s service brought her family both relief and peace as they finally got to honor her uncle and lay him to rest.

“Grandma, we got him home. He’s home. It’s all you ever wanted was to have him home,” Bernhardt said.