蜜桃传媒

One of those sisters, Barbara Farrell Wilson, would go on to have a son. She called him Jack, after her brother. Jack Wilson followed in his uncle鈥檚 footsteps, attending Boston College and, after receiving a bachelor鈥檚 degree in 1971, serving his country in the U.S. Army. Years later, Wilson would be instrumental in bringing home his uncle鈥檚 remains, uncovering the story of his uncle鈥檚 death on a battlefield in Europe, and delivering closure to his uncle鈥檚 octogenarian sisters, who had waited 66 years to know what happened to their brother.

Jack Farrell, Jr.鈥檚 story is told in a new book,听 (Potomac Books), co-authored by Wilson and Joseph M. Pereira, an award-winning journalist who had a two-decade career with the听Wall Street Journal听and was a member of the听WSJ听staff that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 9/11 attacks.

All Souls Day听is part investigative journalism, part military history, and part memoir. Together, the authors lay out the story of a bloody conflict in the H眉rtgen听Forest along the Germany-Belgium border that would go on to be 鈥渢he worst defeat the Americans suffered in Europe during World War II.鈥� The personnel losses and flawed decision-making associated with this campaign were such a poor reflection on the U.S. military that the story of battle has been largely untold.

It turns out that Jack Farrell, Jr., a member of the 28^th听Infantry Division of the U.S. First Army, lost his life during the Battle of H眉rtgen听Forest, not at the Battle of Bulge as the Farrell/Wilson family had long believed.

But more stunning than this truth, was that Farrell鈥檚 complete skeletal remains were found in 2008 in the village of Kommerscheidt, Germany.

The homecoming of Farrell would likely not have happened were it not for the dogged determination of his nephew and namesake Jack Wilson '71. Sparked by a photograph of a recently discovered WWII Army boot he saw on Boston.com in 2009, a moment he now says was 鈥淕od talking to me,鈥� Wilson embarked on a quest to find out what happened to his uncle. After a visit to the听Boston Globe听archives and phone calls to several offices in the Washington, D.C., he connected with the U.S. Army Human Resources Past Conflicts and Repatriation office. After several months, a representative of that office sent Wilson kits to collect DNA from Farrell鈥檚 two sisters, Wilson鈥檚 mother and his aunt, both in their 80s.

On September 30, 2009, Wilson got a phone call from the same office. The caller said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e made positive identification of the remains of your uncle, Staff Sergeant John Farrell.鈥�

鈥淭his was the phone call that was 66 years in the waiting,鈥� recalled Wilson. 鈥淚t was a life-changing moment for our entire family.鈥�

It would be more than six months and many more follow-up calls from Wilson before the family would get more details from the Army. In April 2010, two Army officials traveled to Norwood, Mass., to meet with the Farrell/Wilson family. During the five-hour meeting, the officials shared an 111-page report. The report is described in听All Souls Day听as 鈥減erhaps the most precious gift the military can give to a fallen soldier鈥檚 family鈥攁 painstaking effort by a team of researchers, historians, and forensic experts with the Department of Defense that details the final days and death of a heroic soldier.鈥�

What the family and the public now knows:

Staff Sergeant John (Jack) Farrell, Jr. was killed during the Battle of H眉rtgen听Forest in November, 1944. He was 22 years old.

His remains, declared 鈥渘on-recoverable鈥� in 1950 by the U.S. Army鈥檚 American Graves Registration Command, were discovered in Germany in 2008 by a German Explosive Ordnance Disposal team that was sweeping the area as required by German law before excavation can begin on a construction project. Along with Farrell鈥檚 full skeletal remains and dog tags, personal items were recovered such as a wallet, a Waterman fountain pen, and a canteen, which still contained water.

The family held a funeral Mass for Farrell on April 30, 2010. He was buried with full military honors and laid to rest in a family plot.

In 2012, Wilson and his wife Mary traveled to Germany and visited the exact location where his uncle鈥檚 remains were discovered, in the backyard of a private home.

鈥淢y heart skipped a beat,鈥� Wilson said of being in the spot where his uncle was found. 鈥淚t was probably one of the most emotional parts of my life鈥攐utside of my daughters being born鈥攖o see the site that had delivered excruciating pain to my grandparents because they had never gotten a word from the U.S. Army after the war about where their son was. It was unbelievable.鈥�

The German homeowner who greeted Wilson said something that shook him: 鈥淭here are still many more American boys buried here.鈥�

While the Farrell/Wilson family was 鈥渆xtremely gratified and very happy鈥�, according to Wilson, to learn what happened to their family member, Wilson knew there were others in his uncle鈥檚 squad who had met the same fate, but whose families were still in the dark.

That鈥檚 the kind of grief, write the authors, that 鈥渉as been handed down like an ugly heirloom.鈥�

Wilson personally tracked down the surviving relatives of all the soldiers in his uncle鈥檚 squad. He met with them and shared with them what he knew about what happened as well as advice on how to track down their loved ones鈥� remains.

鈥淚t was quite an emotional experience,鈥� said Wilson, of his trips throughout the U.S. from 2014-2016 meeting with the families.

There are more than 72,000 American service members still missing from the cumulative conflicts fought by the U.S. Wilson hopes his book will give these families hope and insight and encourage families to put pressure on U.S. officials to help bring fallen soldiers home.

As Wilson writes in听All Souls Day, the 鈥渕issing warriors鈥�deserve nothing less.鈥�

John (Jack) Farrell, Jr. '44 earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.听His name graces the Boston College Veterans Memorial on Burns Library Lawn.

听

Kathleen Sullivan | University Communications | November 2020