Memorial

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Gerald Wipfli was employed by the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company before he enlisted on 16 September 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In early November 1944, Wipfli was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 112th Infantry, when his unit was engaged in intense combat against German forces in the town of Schmidt, Germany, within the Hürtgen Forest. Due to chaotic fighting, 112th Infantry officers were not able to accurately report the status of each soldier, and it took several days for Company I to gain accountability of their casualties. Wipfli was among 33 soldiers listed as missing in action from his company. No surviving members of his unit had information on his fate, and he was reported missing in action on 4 November 1944.

He was officially declared dead one day and one year after he was reported missing in action.

On 16 April 2010, workers of the Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk (RWE) power company unearthed osseous remains while installing electrical lines in Schmidt. The RWE notified the Voklsbund Deutsche Kriegsbraberfursorge e. V. (VdK, German War Graves Commission), which excavated the site. The VdK notified the Deputy U.S. Forces Liaison Officer and U.S. Army Mortuary Affairs Activity-Europe of the recovery. The remains were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu for analysis on 11 May 2010.
To identify Wipfli’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and autosomal (auSTR) DNA, which matched his sister and niece; anthropological analysis, which matched Wipfli’s records; and historical evidence.

He is permanently mentioned at the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle. On 23 August 2017 a rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate he is accounted for.

Pfc Wipfli has been given his final resting place at the Riverside Cemetery in his hometown on 23 September 2017, next to his parents.