Loved Ones Lost

Eight soldiers play cards in their stable billet near Nancy, France, 1944. One soldier is from Irvington, Douglas County, Nebraska. Donated by PFC Lawrence E. Hansen (Hanson?).

Eight soldiers play cards in their stable billet near Nancy, France, 1944. One soldier is from Irvington, Douglas County, Nebraska. Donated by PFC Lawrence E. Hansen (Hanson?).
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG2842-05-02

"Outside of the death of one’s own child, I think sending a boy to war would be the most difficult."
—Marialyse Hager Knobel
Fairbury High School Student

What happened to Corporal William E. Green is one of the many stories of a mother experiencing both the anxiety of sending her son to war, and then, the pain of losing him there. Bill Green was in Europe only a few months before he was killed at the Siegfried Line between Luxemburg and Germany on February 27, 1945.

William E. Green; Corporal, 76th Division, 304th Infantry, circa 1944 - 1945

William E. Green; Corporal, 76th Division, 304th Infantry, circa 1944 - 1945
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG2025-WILLIAMGREEN

War Letters
An NET Television’s THE WAR: NEBRASKA STORIES interstitial.
Courtesy 2007 NET Foundation for Television

Green wrote his mother, Mrs. Roy M. Green. This series ends with a letter from Chaplain Edmund R. Lynnand the Lincoln Journal newspaper story about Bill Green’s death.

Green wrote his mother, Mrs. Roy M. Green. This series ends with a letter from Chaplain Edmund R. Lynnand the Lincoln Journal newspaper story about Bill Green’s death.
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG2025-WILLIAMGREEN
Read some of the letters Green wrote his mother, Mrs. Roy M. Green.

This series ends with a letter from Chaplain Edmund R. Lynn

and the Lincoln Journal newspaper story about Bill Green’s death.

When a person was killed overseas during World War II, a telegram would be hand-delivered to the closest family member. That’s how Margaret Van Neste heard that her husband, Captain Keith G. Van Neste, had become another of the over 4000 Nebraskans killed in World War II. He was killed in a mortar attack while trying to repair a wire line in Schkopau, Germany on April 13, 1945.


Capt. Keith G. Van Neste

Capt. Keith G. Van Neste
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, 10275-15
Telegram with notice of Capt. Van Neste’s death

Telegram with notice of Capt. Van Neste’s death
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, 10275-11