CPT Donald H. Froemke
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (2023)
Captain (CPT) Donald Harvey Froemke of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion (AEB), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Vancouver, Clark County, Washington, to Harry E. C. and Emma C. (Komm) Froemke on October 15, 1912. Donald had one younger brother, Virgil, who was born in 1916.
After the family had moved to Yakima, Washington, Donald attended Nob Hill Grammar School and North Yakima High School, graduating in 1931. He then went to Washington State College, where he graduated with a degree in Forestry and Range Management in 1938.
Donald registered for the draft in Yakima, Washington, on October 16, 1940. At the time, he was employed as a range manager by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in McCall, Idaho, Valley County. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Tacoma, Washington, on March 6, 1941, and was appointed to Officer Candidate School, from which he graduated with honors. He was then sent to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to get his military engineer training.
Donald was honorably discharged on September 1, 1942, to accept a Second Lieutenant commission on September 2, 1942. He was assigned to Baker Company of the 326th AEB and received a promotion to First Lieutenant on May 4, 1943. He departed on the SS Samaria for England from New York Harbor on September 5, 1943. The 326th AEB was housed at Basildon Park, thirty miles west of London. While in England, his unit participated in the final preparations for the Allied invasion of France on D-Day.
Lieutenant Froemke’s first combat mission was in Normandy, France. While in Normandy, at the end of the campaign, he received a battlefield commission as captain, effective from July 9, 1944. After some recuperation and additional training in England, he was deployed to the Netherlands, where the 326th AEB took part in Operation Market Garden with the 101st Airborne Division.
At the beginning of October 1944, the Germans attacked Opheusden, trying to get a hold of the town. The 506th PIR defended the town, supported by the 81st AAA, Baker Company of the 326th AEB, and, in a later stage, also by the 3rd Battalion of the 327th GIR.
On October 5, the enemy pushed forward on two flanks, and the only additional option available to Colonel Sink, the 506th regimental commander, was to deploy the engineers of B/326 and have them fight as regular infantrymen. As the company moved forward, they came under enemy small arms fire, in which PVT Charles Wilbur was wounded. Next, CPT Froemke deployed his men in an open area of pasture where the company came under artillery fire.
There are two versions of his death.
In one account, Froemke stopped to ask an infantryman for directions when a German artillery shell exploded at his feet, dismembering him and throwing his body a hundred yards from where he stood. In the other one, Froemke was trying to assist PVT Wilbur when an artillery shell exploded nearby, which hurled him high in the air, killing him.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
Source: Find a Grave, c/o Bill & Laurie Gilbert-Jonas
It is thought that after the battle died down, local Dutch citizens recovered CPT Froemke’s body and buried him in a local cemetery, and that Froemke’s remains were recovered in 1946 by members of the American Graves Registration in a cemetery near Opheusden. However, it appears they did not do a careful analysis of the remains with the biological and dental records the Army had for Froemke, and instead used circumstantial evidence to make a positive identification.
After finishing the complete process, the remains were buried in a military cemetery in Belgium. The U.S. Government arranged for the return of these remains, thought to be Froemke’s, in 1949. On May 27, 1949, they were buried in Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima, Washington.
In 1951, another set of remains, identified as X-3325 Neuville, was recovered from the old Opheusden civilian cemetery. The remains contained an identification bracelet with the name “DONALD H. FROEMKE”, a set of glider pilot wings, and a set of captain’s bars. Despite this, the Grave Registration did not believe they had found the body of CPT Froemke. As a result, the remains were marked as unidentifiable and buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
X-3325's body at Neuville rested for decades, unidentified at the Ardennes Cemetery, until the 2010s, when these remains were recovered and went to a Defense POW/MIA Account Agency in Nebraska for further analysis.. Based upon DNA analysis and dental records, the remains were positively identified as being those of CPT Donald Froemke.
The agency publicly announced Froemke’s identification on August 24, 2022. In 2023, Froemke’s remains were flown to SeaTac Airport, and then brought to Tahoma Cemetery, Yakima, where he was laid to rest for good on Saturday, September 9, 2023.
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Donald.
Lest we forget! 🇺🇸
Sources:
Family Search
“Yakima man killed in World War II to be buried in Tahoma Cemetery”, Yakima Herald-Republic, September 2, 2023
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