WWII veterans’ stories uncovered in research project at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery
The World War II veterans — members of the “Greatest Generation” — are the focus of an extensive research project at Brooklyn’s famed Green-Wood Cemetery.
The men and women profiled will be honored at a ceremony at their picturesque resting place on Saturday, the day after Veterans Day.
The World War II Project began at Green-Wood in early 2021 and has identified 370 people buried at the 478-acre cemetery who worked to defeat Adolf Hitler.
“Some of them fought their way from island to island in the Pacific, and some of them fought their way from Normandy to Germany, some were in Dachau. We have a fellow here who was a guard during the Nuremberg trials,” said Jeff Richman, the cemetery’s historian.
Brooklyn native and Army Nurse Elizabeth Feldhusen helped treat prisoners in a concentration camp in 1945, having no idea of the atrocities that she would witness.
“She wound up in Germany never having heard of a concentration camp,” said Richman. “Then they saw this incredible horror there, people were dying of starvation and disease.”
Stories initially came in from family members of veterans, but in some cases, researchers picked up where family lore left off, resulting in surprises for their children or great-grandchildren.
“People in reading their biographies have discovered things they had no idea about,” said Richman. “We even had one or two marriages that people didn’t know their parents were involved in.”
One couple, Anna and Frederick Eidinger, met because of their shared work in the war effort and have been laid to rest together at Green-Wood.
“Mom and Dad met after Dad came back from his service in World War II. They both worked at the Sperry Gyroscope company,” said Barbara Eidinger of Greenwood Heights. “All of his civvy trousers were too short and people were laughing, but Mom felt bad about it. She offered to turn the cuffs down on his trousers, so that sparked something.”
Anna worked on electrical panels for battleships and enjoyed the camaraderie, said her daughter.
“When they had to work during the holidays they would manage to make it merry. They were with each other, so someone would collect everyone’s meat rations, someone would bring in meat and vegetables, someone would bring in a roasting pan. They had an oven that they used to put the panels in for part of that process and they would put the meat in.”
Eidinger says her mother went to work each day in a dress and high heels, switching to pants and saddle shoes for the factory.
“If you worked hard, it didn’t matter whether you were a man or a woman, that’s what she imparted in me,” she said.
Eidinger’s father, a veteran of the Army Air Corps, as the Air Force was known then, ended up working at Sperry for 49 years, and frequently on projects she knew nothing about until later in life.
“He worked on control systems and guidance systems,” said Eidinger. “He didn’t talk about these things at home until maybe the project was over. He had security clearances.”
Eidinger found certificates from NASA honoring her father’s work on Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 as well as the Polaris missle.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” she said. “You put things away and say you’ll look at them someday. This turned out to be the someday.”
The event on Saturday runs from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and will feature researchers, volunteers, a photographer who took pictures of the vets’ headstones and family members.
One special guest will be sharing firsthand memories of World War II.
Richman described meeting veteran Joe Coury by chance on the cemetery grounds as he paid respects to his brother, who also served.
“He turned around and he had a baseball cap that has his ship on it that said Navy. I said, ‘Excuse me are you a World War II veteran?’ and he said he was.”
“Ordinary people and extraordinary people both stepped forward and served their country,” said Richman. “It’s important to tell these stories and get this perspective and not be an isolationist, and you have to defend the world order and democracy.”
