My Uncle's Car and our cousin, Louis J. Klein

This is an early photo of my father, Bob and his younger brother Frank, taken in St. Louis MO-- not sure of the exact date, but Longrooffan thinks the car in the drivewayis an early 30s DeSoto.

In 1950 and 1951 my uncle Frank was in Korea.

He passed over in 2000 and is buried in Jefferson Barracks Cemetery. I recently came into possession of his scrapbooks.

These photos were in the scrapbook. Based on the comments on the back of the photos (in my Grandmother's handwriting), it looks like his folks sent these photos to Frank while he was in Korea.

Here are the photos with the comments my grandmother wrote on the back:

"Ain't she purty?"

"A picture of the horns and piping"

"Your Paw and the Hot Rod"

"The sign is the one you had in the car--Official Police or some such Cap"

"Wll f'hevens sake, here's your Mom"

"Even the back looks good but what's Pap so cross about? He's in the picture isn't he?"

"Course we had to take the DeSoto also."

"The new house the brown bomber and a passing car"

Uncle Frank: "My Car. 1936 DeSoto Convert. yellow with black top. Red Leather (top Grain() Seats and Rubble (rumble) Seat. 1951" A tip of the bus driver's hat to Bright Yellow Gun for colorizing the car!

And what was Uncle Frank doing in May, 1951 when these photos of his Mom, Paw and his pride and joy, his 1936 DeSoto were being snapped in front of his home at 4218 Giles Avenue in St. Louis, MO?

From Uncle Frank's photos, "Men and Vehicles of Baker Co, 23rd Regft, 2nd Infantry Div. Hong chon (?) May '51":

"The jeeps and drivers of our company. Merle Rowland on Rt."

"The company resting before taking their objective"

"One of the old timers in our company"

"One of the fellows"

"One of the fellows who worked in the one(?) section. Hoengsong Korea, May, 1951"

This undated photo (probably from 1946)is of Frances "Schatz" Klein and her brother "Louie". That's their grandmother, Moma Freesmeier also in the photo.

Louis was DOW DOI(died of wounds, died of injury) while servicing with the 25th Infantry Regiment in Korea 2 September 1950. A missle got him. This letter needs no comment.

I have lost contact with Louis' sister Schatz and her family. If by chance any of them should stumble across this post, please contact me.

Just as a sidebar, which may relate to the previous post, I did a search for Louis' grave in the Jefferson Barracks Cemetery.

This is what the search result:

KLEIN, LOUIS JOSEPH
CPL US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
DATE OF BIRTH: 01/30/1927
DATE OF DEATH: 09/02/1950
BURIED AT: SECTION 84 SITE 293 Click to view the cemetery map
JEFFERSON BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY
2900 SHERIDAN ROAD ST. LOUIS, MO 63125
(314) 845-8320

None of the records I have for Louis mention him serving in World War II, just in Korea. So, I called the cemetery to inquire why his stone lists service in WWII.

The person who answered the phone, Catherine, pulled up Louis' record, and said Louis' father verified the information at the time of Louis' burial. But she said this was prior to computers and she would go out to his grave and see what is written on his tombstone.

A search of findagrave results in this information on Louis:

Birth: Jan. 30, 1927
Death: Sep. 2, 1950

Corporal Klein was a member of the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.

He was seriously wounded while fighting the enemy in South Korea on September 2, 1950 and died of those wounds later that day.

He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.