美国国家公共电台 NPR Mysterious Suitcase Helps Connecticut Man Discover His Grandfather's WWII Service

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And now we have a story about a young African-American boy who grew up with two mysteries. One was his grandmother's old suitcase. It was full of stuff she shared with no one. The other mystery was about the boy's grandfather, who died before he was born. The boy grew into a man, and the suitcase became his after his grandmother died. When he opened it, his journey of discovery took off. Connecticut Public Radio's David DesRoches picks up the story here.

DAVID DESROCHES, BYLINE¹: Effie Payne was the only person who knew what was inside that suitcase. Not even her three children had a clue. But one day, her grandson, David McGhee, about 9 at the time, got a glimpse.

DAVID MCGHEE: She was actually going in for something else. But I saw that picture. And I asked, what was it? And it was her mother and her father. And it just disappeared.

DESROCHES: She zipped up the suitcase, wouldn't say anything else about it. She died about 20 years ago, and David got that suitcase. But it sat in his basement, gathering² dust for years.

MCGHEE: I had to be emotionally ready to open this up. And so at some point years later, I opened it up.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUITCASE UNZIPPING)

DESROCHES: When he opens the blue, faded leather and denim³ suitcase, it hits you.

MCGHEE: It has that musty smell to it.

DESROCHES: Inside is treasure - not gold and silver but something else, something priceless.

MCGHEE: Here is something that came from President Truman at the time in regards to his service.

DESROCHES: The suitcase is full of information about David's grandfather, Sergeant⁴ Willie F. Williams. He'd served in Europe during World War II, died in Germany years before David was born. And nobody ever talked about him, including David's grandmother.

MCGHEE: This suitcase was started with documents that were sent to her from the military. And it continued to grow until the date of her death.

DESROCHES: There are photos, commendations and medals, Western Union telegrams. His grandfather had penmanship that bordered on artistry. He drew cross sections of German bombs and meticulous⁵ trekking⁶ maps.

MCGHEE: Here's that map tracing his route from Belgium into Germany.

DESROCHES: He folds up the map, then pulls out a handwritten letter. Sergeant Williams wrote it to his wife from somewhere in Germany.

MCGHEE: (Reading) Darling wife, while thinking of you today, I thought I'd write...

DESROCHES: David learned that his grandfather served in an African-American unit managing ammunition⁷ and explosives. David also learned that he died in an explosion. But one thing he didn't learn - where his grandfather was buried. So he turned to more modern research tools - the Internet. It wasn't long before he and his wife were on a plane flying nearly 4,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean on Memorial Day.

On this warm, fall day in the Netherlands, historian Mieke Kierkels walks through the American Military Cemetary in Margraten. It's a city a few miles west of Germany. Large oak trees flank the path as she winds through a sea of crosses and Stars of David. An American flag waves in the distance.

MIEKE KIERKELS: There are leaves on the grass. And that's all in between 8,301 marble gravestones.

DESROCHES: Among the dead are 172 African-American soldiers killed during World War II. Americans helped liberate⁸ the Netherlands from the Nazis⁹ in 1945. Mieke's looking for one specific grave.

KIERKELS: Here is the number of the plot. Yes, this is the right one.

DESROCHES: She continues walking between the headstones. Minutes later, she finds the one she's looking for.

KIERKELS: We are standing¹⁰ in front of the gravestone of Willie F. Williams, David McGhee's grandfather.

DESROCHES: Sergeant Williams was killed in June of 1945 and buried here in Margraten, a little-known piece of history that David discovered when he turned on his computer and typed in his grandfather's name. He found a website called Black Liberators of the Netherlands. It was Mieke Kierkels' project. She started the site to learn about the black soldiers buried there.

Military records have a code to indicate the soldiers' race. But beyond that, there's not much else Mieke knows about them. It's hard to get more information because a lot of records were kept by veterans' organizations, and most didn't allow black members in those days.

KIERKELS: People should know that history keeps out things that are not fitting in at the time the history is written.

DESROCHES: Her website includes the soldiers' names and where they're from, but Meike wants their stories. She's only been able to get information on a handful of them. David's suitcase, though, offers a window to one soldier's story, so at least his service won't be lost to history.

MCGHEE: You have to really understand the African-American experience to know that part of the history is missing. And that's why this project is so important to me, because it's now being told.

DESROCHES: In the Netherlands, these stories are also being kept alive. David's grandfather's grave has a caretaker, a local couple, Jan and Jos Smeets. They never met Sergeant Williams. But they visit the site on special occasions and lay flowers. And when they die, their daughter will take over. All 8,301 American graves in Margraten are adopted by Dutch families. It's something David never expected.

MCGHEE: To know that, you know, Jan and Jos Smeets have been tending to his grave and knowing that others are being tended to the same way is - it's hard to put into words.

DESROCHES: When David visited the Smeets' home, he found a framed photo of his grandfather, Sergeant Willie Williams, on display next to the Smeets' own children as if he were family. For NPR News, I'm David DesRoches in Hartford.

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