KLESSIN, Germany — It’s been 75 years since young men went to fight in World War II and many never returned.
Some were given the honor of an official burial, but many still lay in the trenches in which they fell on the battlefield near Klessin, Germany.
But maybe not for long.
For 15 years, people like Thomas Siepert have been excavating the battlefield, looking for soldiers to give them the final honor, The Associated Press reported.
And it doesn’t matter which side the soldiers fought for.
So far, members of the Association for the Recovery of the Fallen in Eastern Europe have found 116 German and 129 Soviet members of the military, the AP reported.
The group tries to identify the remains, not only for historical purposes but also for closure for the families.
Albrecht Laue, who is the chairman of the association, started looking for the final resting place after searching for his grandfather’s grave. Laue found his relative near where he was fighting in Russia in 1942, the AP reported.
Other members of the group are anthropologists, archaeologists, excavators and disposal experts from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
A memorial is being built to those who lost their lives on the same field where they lost their lives.
Click here for more on the movement to reclaim the war dead.