I love getting letters like this. Sure made me smile and showed me once again how small the world truly is. I forwarded the letter to Ray a few minutes ago, and will be very interested to hear what he has to say. I also sent a letter to the family and informed them of my actions and how happy I was to hear from them.

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Me, my wife and two sons live in the small village of Bunde near Maastricht in The Netherlands. Aprox. 15 km east of our village is located the American Warcemetry in Margraten. About one monthe ago we have adopted the grave of 1 LT Guy A Ringbloom from Minneapolis/Minnesota. Registrationnumber O1293835. 387 INF 97 DIV. He was killed in action on the 9 April 45 in the German village of Allner.

We are wondering if he has still relatives. If yes, and if they want to know, we want to let them know someone has taken care of the grave of their relative. So far our search on the internet did not have any result. On google we found your website with the name Ringbloom. Perhaps our email to you leads us to the relatives of Guy Ringbloom.

Kind regards,

Family R. Meij-Bouwens

Vliegenstraat 46

6241 CH Bunde

The Netherlands

==================

The family found Guy's name on my buddy Ray Repasky's page. Here is the excerpt from his page that deals with the Ruhr Pocket, Germany, April 1945. I am also including the direct link:

TRIDENT'S PRONGS STAB DUSSELDORF

 

ALL three combat teams slashed ahead in near perfect coordination despite extremely difficult terrain and fanatical resistance in densely wooded areas. Col. Lansing’s 386th CT had a tough nut to crack when it moved into the town of Drabenderhoehe. Germans produced intense fire with 88s, 20mm guns, 40mm dual-purpose flak guns, small arms and automatic weapons.

 

From a defensive standpoint, the town was ideally situated. Perched atop the highest hill in the area, Drabenderhoele, communications center and roadnet hub, loomed as the greatest single threat to the 97th's advance. In order to prevent a wide gap from developing on 2nd Bn.'s flank, a single company was given the job of taking the town. The assignment fell to Co. C, commanded by Capt. Llewellyn R. Johnson.

 

Co. C attacked, but after a short, fierce battle was thrown back with heavy casualties. After the 365th Bn. laid. Down an artillery barrage, Capt. Johnson’s company again surged forward, this time with complete success.

 

The battle was brief, but it produced heroism unexcelled in other battles of the Ruhr. Capt. Johnson moved out in front of his troops and led an advance over 1500 yards of fire-swept terrain in the attack that took the town. He was awarded the Silver Star for this action.

T/Sgt. - Merlin C. Godsell, -Hales, Corner, WI, 386th, also played. An important part in the capture of Drabenderhoehe. - In the first attack, fire from enemy automatic weapons isolated approximately half a rifle platoon. The sergeant, acting leader of the platoon, regrouped and rallied his men, advanced in the face of heavy enemy fire, to knock out four enemy automatic weapons. Destruction of these weapons resulted in an unprotected enemy flank, which Capt. Johnson exploited to capture the town.

 

Although Col. Long’s 387th CT made rapid progress against strong points in the central sector of the- division front, the enemy offered stiff resistance in wooded areas. Each town, was a battle in itself. But the courage and determination of the men made them equal to the task.

 

One of the outstanding incidents of courage, loyalty and devotion displayed in the entire, campaign occurred in the small German town of Allner when Co. F, 387th, meet heavy enemy resistance as it moved in. During the fighting, 1st Lt. Guy A. Ringbloom, Minneapolis, Minn. saw one of his platoon fall, completely exposed to Enemy fire. Disregarding personal danger, the lieutenant made his way to the wounded man and attempted to move him to a place of safety. He was mortally wounded as he assisted the injured dough out of the line of fire...

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/RayRepasky.htm

Well folks, this one has a very happy ending. I heard back from Ray, and within a 48 hour period, Ray and his buddy did some super-sleuthing and were able to locate the family. Guy has a younger brother Rodney who is still living, who in turn has two children Sue and Pete. Ray was able to get in contact with Pete and told him that I would contact him and forward the information to the family in the Netherlands.

I will keep everyone posted. Ain't life grand?

That's great.

I like developments like this.

Erwin

Dear Mrs Chard,

Unbelieveble how fast we (actually you and Mr Repasky) found relatives of LT Ringbloom after sending our mail to you. Many thanks for your help! We are really excited about this.

After this email I will send an email to Mr Pete Ringbloom. We can imagine this will be strange for him and his family receiving an email, out of the blue, from strangers regarding their relative who was killed during the war so long time ago. But we hope it will give them a good feeling that someone is taking care of the grave of LT Ringbloom.

If you like, we will keep in touch with you about how things are going in future between family Ringbloom and us...

Kind regards,

Robert, Heliet, Stijn and Jesper Meij

Ray Repasky forwarded this letter to me. I have been negligent posting it in a timely manner. I apologize for the delay...

==============

Good afternoon, Meij and family :

My name is Rodney Ringbloom and I am living in Grand Forks, North Dakota, My son, Pete, is the person to whom you wrote. Pete also lives in Grand Forks. Lt. Guy Ringbloom was one of my older brothers.

I was extremely pleased to receive your email note through my son. Yes, either your mother or your father wrote a letter to my parents in 1945 or 1946 saying that they had adopted and were caring for Guy's grave.

My father died in 1960 and my mother died in 1975 thus your family’s name and address were lost to us when they passed away. My other older brother, Burt (now deceased) has a son, Jim, who lives in California and may be one of the Ringbloom names you discovered. Jim was born in 1940 so he may not remember his Uncle Guy.

Guy was a pleasant man who enjoyed people all throughout his life. The last time I had an opportunity to see him was in San Francisco, California, where we met when both of us were in the service. It was a beautiful restaurant a bit out of this apprentice seaman’s level. I had just graduated from Southwest High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June, 1944 and had joined the U.S. Navy in September of that year. Our last dinner together was Guy's treat to me. After our dinner, Guy went to his camp and I went to mine. He left for Europe and I shipped to Okinawa with the SeaBees group to which I belonged. It was in Okinawa that I received the telegram that Guy had been killed.

We are very thankful that you and your family are so kind and generous to visit the cemetery from time to time to watch over the burial site. If you have any additional questions you might like answered, please feel free to write to me at my wife's email address, listed below my name.

Once again, thank you for your continuing connection with our family. We are most grateful.

Rodney Ringbloom

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That's great.

I like developments like this.

 

Erwin

Guy was an uncle to my sister-in-law and I Have been working on the Ringbloom genealogy. If interested search Rootsweb.com for Guy Ringbloom.

Edd in Illinois

Ray Repasky forwarded this letter to me. I have been negligent posting it in a timely manner. I apologize for the delay...

 

==============

 

Good afternoon, Meij and family :

 

My name is Rodney Ringbloom and I am living in Grand Forks, North Dakota, My son, Pete, is the person to whom you wrote. Pete also lives in Grand Forks. Lt. Guy Ringbloom was one of my older brothers.

 

I was extremely pleased to receive your email note through my son. Yes, either your mother or your father wrote a letter to my parents in 1945 or 1946 saying that they had adopted and were caring for Guy's grave.

 

My father died in 1960 and my mother died in 1975 thus your family’s name and address were lost to us when they passed away. My other older brother, Burt (now deceased) has a son, Jim, who lives in California and may be one of the Ringbloom names you discovered. Jim was born in 1940 so he may not remember his Uncle Guy.

 

Guy was a pleasant man who enjoyed people all throughout his life. The last time I had an opportunity to see him was in San Francisco, California, where we met when both of us were in the service. It was a beautiful restaurant a bit out of this apprentice seaman’s level. I had just graduated from Southwest High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June, 1944 and had joined the U.S. Navy in September of that year. Our last dinner together was Guy's treat to me. After our dinner, Guy went to his camp and I went to mine. He left for Europe and I shipped to Okinawa with the SeaBees group to which I belonged. It was in Okinawa that I received the telegram that Guy had been killed.

 

We are very thankful that you and your family are so kind and generous to visit the cemetery from time to time to watch over the burial site. If you have any additional questions you might like answered, please feel free to write to me at my wife's email address, listed below my name.

 

Once again, thank you for your continuing connection with our family. We are most grateful.

 

Rodney Ringbloom

====================

 

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm

I have been working on the genealogy of the Ringbloom family. If interested check Rootsweb.com for Guy Ringbloom. A picture of the cemetery where Guy is buried is on Find A Grave.com.

Edd in Illinois

Thank you Edd. More pieces of the puzzle are coming together. I'll make sure to drop by Rootsweb.

I recently heard from Robert again after this return from Spain. Here's part of his letter that relates to the Ringblooms:

Dear Mrs Chard:

...Regarding LT Ringbloom: I made contact to mr. Pete Ringbloom before we went on our holiday. He wrote me, he and his parents would go out of town till the first week of July. He said he will try to give an email when he gets back. So at this point I am waiting for his reply. I will let you know as soon as I receive a message of mr Ringbloom.

Kind regards,

Robert Meij