Scanning decades of family photos, slides, negatives, and documents brought back many family memories and new stories; however, one represented discovering family beyond blood and marriage.

Photo That Tells Half the Story: A Soldier and His Girl

Note: Because memories of Vivian are relatively fresh, I’m omitting last names.

Vivian and Edward: A couple in love. A man in uniform. A photo worthy of an iconic statue.

Imagine Vivian’s emotions as she hugged her soldier: Fear of losing him to a World War. Faith, perhaps, that God would protect him or that the war would end by Christmas. Optimism of a life together.

I knew their story had no happy ending years before I saw this sweet photo of the couple together.

Exploring memorabilia in the family lake-side cottage on a rainy day, my then-boyfriend and I came across a soldier’s prayer book.

His face dropped. “That must have been Vivian’s first husband, Edward.”

Discovering Family Beyond Blood and Marriage

The story he told me aligns with the research.

Edward K. was working as a riveter in the Willow Run Bomber plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, when he enlisted in the army on August 25, 1942.[1] (Makes me wonder which Rosie replaced him.) 

Two years later, during a leave, the couple married on September 11, 1944, at the Second Methodist Church in Grand Rapids.

By December 30, 1944, the Grand Rapids Press broadcast Edward’s fate.

…Sgt. [sic. Pvt correct rank] Edward K., Jr., 20, was killed in Germany, Dec. 15, five days after he had written his bride of four months … ‘It won’t be long before I’m moving to the front.’[2]

He wasn’t wrong about moving to the front.

Family tradition reports that Edward K. died in the Battle of the Bulge, and his tombstone application sites that he served in F (aka Fox) Company, in the 310th Infantry Regiment and died on December 15, 1944.[3]

However, William E Brubeck and Lewis S. Hollis’s book, The Story of the 310th Infantry Regiment, 78h Infantry Division in the War against Germany, 1942-1945, provides deep insight and specifics of the days before and after Edward K.’s death during the Battle of Kesternich.

They write, “At 1800 on December 11, in complete blackout and in a driving snow, the Regiment marched 10 miles to an assembly area in the vicinity of Lammersdorf, Germany,” their part of the overall mission to secure the dams on the Roer River.[4] The 301th attacked Kesternich on December 13 and 14. [5] A well-sourced Wikipedia article reports Fox company lost all four of its platoon leaders on December 14.[6]

A re-organized and “much-depleted Fox Company of around seventy men” moved towards the town of Kesternich a second time on December 15.[7]

This offensive during which Fox and other companies of the 310th engaged with the German Volksgrenadiers started late afternoon and ended the next day. Fox company ran into a Schu mine field and took mortar fire. Cut off from allied forces, survivors and the wounded holed up in a house on the southern outskirts of Kesternich, where they struggled to tend injured, warm their swollen, frozen feet, or find food and water. It took until the 20th to evacuate survivors.[8]

Edward didn’t suffer his fate alone.

In eight days of battle, Fox company sustained a staggering 95% casualty rate.[9]

Caption: Photo of Fox Company during basic training at Camp Pickett, Courtesy of Smearsett21, CC 4.0 via Wikipedia.org.

The 310th Infantry Regiment lost 542 men.[10]

The Grand Rapids Press article reveals a heartbreaking nugget I’d never heard before. That letter Edward K. wrote to his new bride? It arrived three hours after the war department’s telegram informing her of his death.[11]

A Pruned Branch of the Family Tree

Vivian’s life, her story, continued without her soldier spouse. His part of the family story, his threads in the family tapestry were tied off after he lost his life in a gory, frozen battle.

Or so it seemed.

But photos, like family trees, often capture only half the story. They are a great way to elicit family stories. See Photo Reminiscence Therapy Leads to Family Stories and Better Health.

But they aren’t the only way.

The Invisible Continuation

As my mother-in-law, Vivian’s sister, reached her 90s, she occasionally spoke about those wartime days in Grand Rapids.

She confirmed another part of the family tradition: Edward’s parents stayed in close contact with Vivian. Eventually, they introduced her to the man who became her second husband.

Touching right? They loved her and wanted happiness for her. And their love for her allowed her just that.

Vivian built a wonderful life with her second husband. She’s pictured below (in the wheel chair) with family celebrating her 90th birthday.

Where does that leave Mr. and Mrs. K. on the family tree?

Of roughly 2000 photos I scanned, Edward K’s father was only in 2. His mother in 1. Yet they fostered a new line of the family.

Until recently, I thought their closeness was with Vivian alone. However, my mother-in-law told me that Edward’s parents also looked out for Vivian’s two sisters. They helped them find jobs and had them all three over for dinner every Friday night.

For my mother-in-law and her sisters, Mr. and Mrs. K. were like family. They might not be prominent in the photo albums, but my mother-in-law still spoke fondly of them at age 95.

Your Turn

If we look back at the first photos, we not only see loss, but of how human connections continue and adapt in unexpected—and often beautiful—ways.

Look beyond the obvious relationships in your own photos and family trees.

• What supportive figures might be missing from family albums altogether?
• Which relationships defied conventional categories?

• How might the story change if we follow the people at the edges of the frame?

Practical Prompts

Think about or ask older relative questions such as:

• Who helped your family during difficult times?

• Were there people who weren’t relatives but who you considered family?
• Who shared regular meals or traditions with you that weren’t immediate family?
• Who introduced significant people to each other in your family? Were there matchmakers, friends, or colleagues who created the connections that led to marriages or lifelong friendships?
• After difficult transitions like deaths, divorces, or moves, which relationships surprised you by continuing or even strengthening despite no ‘official’ reason to stay connected?

Here’s hoping you uncover hidden relationships and connections!

[1] “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” Ancestry.com Operations, Provo, Ut.

[2] “Dies in First Battle in Germany,” The Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Sat, Dec 30, 1944, page 15, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1113008359/.

[3] “U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963,” [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

[4] United States Army, Brubeck, and Hollins, “The Story of the 310th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division in the War against Germany, 1942-1945,” pages 24-25.

[5] Ibid, page 32.

[6] “F Company, 310th Infantry Regiment (United States),” https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F_Company,_310th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)&oldid=1285657312#cite_ref-19.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Brubeck and Hollins, page 45

[9] “F Company, 310th Infantry Regiment (United States)”

[10] Brubeck and Hollins, page 46.

[11] Grand Rapids Press, Dec 30, 1944.

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