A Keepsake Edition
Fascinating of Folks Delavan 2018
VICKY WEDIG Fascinating Folks
Servicemen move the body of Cpl. Raymond Barker, of Delavan, from the hearse into Betzer Funeral Home on May 4 for a private family visitation. Barker’s remains were recovered on the Pacific Island of Tarawa in September – nearly 75 years after he died on his first day of battle there in World War II — and flown from Hawaii to Milwaukee before being transported home.
Homecoming
World War II soldier returned to Delavan for burial 75 years after death The family of Cpl. BY Vicky Wedig Raymond Barker, many of EDITOR whom weren’t born when the 22-year-old left for war in 1943, were lost for words at the reception the U.S. Marine received upon his return to Delavan on May 4. “I never expected anything like this,” said Sigfried “Siggy” Pelz, of Florida, the husband of Barker’s oldest living relative, his niece Ellen Pelz, 80. “It’s a great honor for a fallen soldier.”
Barker, of Delavan, was listed as missing in action in 1943 during World War II. After seven decades of not knowing his fate, his family was notified in September that his remains were found on the Pacific island of Tarawa. “We never dreamed this would happen,” said Ellen Pelz. Pelz said she was asked seven or eight years ago to provide her DNA, but largely forgot about it before being notified in September that her uncle’s remains had been
found. Barker’s remains were transported from the location where he was found to Hawaii and then flown on a military aircraft to Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. Upon the plane’s arrival, firetrucks on each side of the runway sprayed their hoses together to create a water gun salute – a bridge of water arched over the aircraft as it landed, said John Gibas, of Denver, Colo.,
See HOMECOMING, Page 7