Please help me return hero's gear home!

Discussions on WW2 in Western Europe & the Atlantic.
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alexandre90thSonlez
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Posts: 14
Joined: 03 Sep 2013, 23:34
Location: USA

Please help me return hero's gear home!

#1

Post by alexandre90thSonlez » 27 Feb 2015, 00:30

Hello to all,

While walking between some farmhouses in the village of Doncols, Luxembourg, I stumbled across a piece of U.S. haversack with a laundry mark stamped onto it. The laundry mark is: P-6171. Doncols was attacked and liberated by the 357th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division but other units that passed through Doncols are the 359th Infantry Regiment, elements of the 26th Yankee Division, the 712th Tank Battalion, and the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion. It would be amazing to have a name and a unit for this laundry mark!

I also discovered a U.S. flashlight with the name "Aronen" engraved onto it inside a house in Sonlez, Luxembourg. There are only two soldiers with the name of Aronen that were in the Army during World War II; Karlo Aronen and Veikko Aronen. I know Karlo Aronen was a Tech.4 in the 28th Infantry Division Signal Company. The 28th Division was not in Sonlez during the Battle of the Bulge but the German Division occupying Sonlez was the 5th Fallschirmjäger-Division. Karlo became a POW on December 21st 1944 (Very probably during the Battle for Wiltz). The 28th Division encountered the 5th Fallschirmjäger-Division between December 19-21st 1944 and many 28th Div. men became POWs, Karlo was one of them!

The flashlight was probably taken from him while he was searched by the Fallschirmjägers, and one of them kept it through December 1944 and left it in Sonlez where the 5th FJD was in early to mid-January 1945. I even read that in one book, some POWs of the 28th Div. were taken to Doncols and Sonlez through the streets for the Germans to see. Maybe the flashlight was taken there.

What is sure is that if the flashlight is Karlo's, we have a story behind it! The problem is I have no information on Veikko Aronen. I do not know his unit and if I do, I'll be able to confirm if the flashlight was either Karlo or Veikko's (except if Veikko was in a unit that was close to Sonlez too but the chances of that are low..) If anyone can help me find Veikko's unit, it would be amazing! I would then try to track down a relative of either one and return the flashlight after 70 years.

Please help me!

Thank you and best regards to all,
Alexandre90thSonlez

EPAZ1
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Posts: 13
Joined: 04 Apr 2009, 14:37
Location: Florida

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#2

Post by EPAZ1 » 27 Feb 2015, 13:03

I'm not sure if this will help, but here is a website that has stories and interviews from members of the 712th Tank Battalion. Perhaps the webmaster who did the interviews, etc can help you. Good luck with your search.

http://www.tankbooks.com/stories/contents.htm


steverodgers801
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Joined: 13 Aug 2011, 19:02

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#3

Post by steverodgers801 » 28 Feb 2015, 00:37

on a wim I found a veikko aronen 103 years old in white pages people search

steverodgers801
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Joined: 13 Aug 2011, 19:02

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#4

Post by steverodgers801 » 28 Feb 2015, 00:56

I did locate a karlo aronen by name but no location. You might try the VFW national

StefanSiverud
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Joined: 29 Dec 2012, 17:03
Location: Sweden

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#5

Post by StefanSiverud » 01 Mar 2015, 10:56

I'm sure there must have been a few more Aronen in the US Army during WW2, but I don't think you will be able to return the flashlight to him. Maybe a relative, however.
Here are a few graves that might be of interest:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 475&df=all&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 969&df=all&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 380&df=all&
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 213&df=all&

Good luck!

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Juha Tompuri
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Joined: 11 Sep 2002, 21:02
Location: Mylsä

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#6

Post by Juha Tompuri » 01 Mar 2015, 20:20

Don't know is it of any help, but Veikko and Aronen are Finnish names.
Karlo might be shortened version of Kaarlo.

Regards, Juha

alexandre90thSonlez
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Posts: 14
Joined: 03 Sep 2013, 23:34
Location: USA

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#7

Post by alexandre90thSonlez » 02 Mar 2015, 00:00

Thank you for all the replies!

EPAZ1, I sent the an email to the creator of the website, I hope I'll get an answer!
Steve, you are right, I will try the VFW.
Stefan, Yes of course, the chance that he is still living is low, but returning it to a relative means just as much to me! Also, Lawrence Aronen enlisted in mid-1945 so I excluded him from the list, which left me with Veikko and Karlo. O Elmer Aronen was with the U.S. Coast Guard, so it leaves us again with Veikko and Karlo, or at least they are the only possible ones that exist in the World War II Enlistement Records.
Juha, thank you for your reply, I will do a bit of research adding an "a" and see what I find!

Best regards,
Alexandre R.

PF
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Joined: 27 Oct 2004, 14:19
Location: USA

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#8

Post by PF » 28 Jun 2015, 21:13

Here a grave memorial for Karlo Aronen
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 475&df=all&

Note to post pictures to this website you have to register with website
It would cerainly make a interesting story

steverodgers801
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Posts: 1147
Joined: 13 Aug 2011, 19:02

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#9

Post by steverodgers801 » 02 Jul 2015, 05:00

if he has a grave site the cemetery should have records of relatives if any

Hawesel
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Posts: 1
Joined: 16 Sep 2016, 04:12
Location: Norwich ct

Re: Please help me return hero's gear home!

#10

Post by Hawesel » 21 Sep 2016, 17:10

Hi my name is Liz Hawes my grandfather was Karlo Aronen I'm reaching out to connect to Alexander

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