Photo By Scott Sturkol | Family members of former Army Pvt. Robert Skaar tour the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area...... read more read more
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Several family members of fallen World War II Soldier Pvt. Robert L. Skaar made a special visit to Fort McCoy’s Commemorative Area on Sept. 30 to not only tour the area but also donate a uniform of Skaar’s to the Fort McCoy History Center at the area.
The family members were in Wisconsin for the funeral service for Skaar, which took place Oct. 1 in La Crosse, Wis. Skaar had been recently identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and after 79 years was being returned to his hometown of La Crosse.
The family members visiting the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area were Skaar’s nieces and nephews from southern Illinois. The uniform they brought to donate was not one Skaar had actually worn, but rather one the Army provided as a final uniform for the graveside service.
“We wanted to see that his uniform was donated somewhere, and his story would be told instead of the uniform being interred with him,” said John Cauble, Skaar’s nephew from Dongola, Ill.
John was visiting the area with his brother Scott Cauble of Cobden, Ill.; sister Sandra Dillow, also from Cobden; sister Ginger (GiGi) Hurt of Elkton, Ky., and sister Cheri Honey of Ullin, Ill.
Honey is the oldest of the siblings who were part of the visit. She said she was glad to be able to visit Fort McCoy as well as to be able to experience the honors being given to her uncle.
“Makes me glad that I’m an American, and it makes me realize that freedom is not free,” Honey said.
Honey also said the overall experience for Skaar’s service was something many in their family had been hoping would happen for a long time, and it finally did.
“We’re just glad, and we’re just honored that so many people worked on this for so long to get us to come together,” Honey said.
Honey, in speaking for the others, said they were mostly happy to see their uncle finally make it home.
“When we were driving from the airport from St. Paul (Minn.), when we were being escorted in, one of the most emotional parts of it was when … I saw the sign that said La Crosse,” Honey said. “It hit me that after 79 years, he was brought back home again.”
And the uniform will be a continued reminder that Skaar is home. Since Skaar had lived in La Crosse, less than 50 miles from then-Camp McCoy in the early 1940s, there’s a solid chance that as a teenager he experience the installation’s new cantonment area when it was completed in 1942. Those same buildings are part of the Commemorative Area.
One of those buildings in the Fort McCoy History Center. Through every major operation, and everything else supported, that history is remembered in the Fort McCoy History Center. The History Center features exhibits as well as displays of artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia that tell the story of Fort McCoy since its founding in 1909. The center first was opened in 1999 in building 902 when the Fort McCoy observed its 90th anniversary.
The donated uniform will most likely be put on display inside the History Center, garrison officials said.
There’s also a chance Skaar, after joining the Army, saw and rode on similar vehicles that can be found on display in the Commemorative Area’s Equipment Park. The Equipment Park is an outdoor display of historic and present-day equipment representative of the types used on the installation. The design of the park allows for display of 70 pieces of equipment, ranging from helicopters and howitzers to trucks and trailers.
Skaar likely also stayed in accommodations like those found set up like World War II within the Commemorative Area, which also includes a former dining facility. Three of the many historical buildings at the area — an administrative facility, a dining facility, and a barracks — are set up to depict Soldier life during the 1940s. Display items include a World War II chapel, bunk beds, footlockers, mannequins, and potbelly stoves. Another building highlights four different modern military training venues, and a separate facility shows various training aids.
All of Skaar’s family members who stopped got to get a taste of what his life might have been like as a young Soldier via their Commemorative Area visit. John said it was a great experience. He also looks forward to remembering that his uncle will be a part of the historic area.
“We’re happy his name is going to be on that uniform,” John said. “People will get to know where he’s from and maybe some of the family members will make it here.”
In a Sept. 5 press release, the DPAA announced that Skaar, who was 18 and killed during World War II, was accounted for June 7, 2024.
“In early 1945, Skaar was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 222nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division. On March 10, Skaar was killed in action while his unit was on patrol near Wildenguth, France. The Germans never reported Skaar as a prisoner of war, and his remains were not immediately recovered. Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Wildenguth. None of the investigations uncovered any leads regarding the disposition of Skaar’s remains. Consequently, he was declared non-recoverable on March 12, 1951.”
DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Wildenguth and found that X-5726 Neuville (X-5726), buried in Ardennes American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Neupré, Belgium, could be associated with Skaar. X-5726 was disinterred in August 2022 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for analysis, the release states.
“To identify Skaar’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis,” the release states. “Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA, mitochondrial genome DNA, and autosomal DNA analysis.”
Skaar’s profile with DPAA can be viewed here https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001nzSxZEAU.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 10.10.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.10.2024 18:03 |
| Story ID: | 482964 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 185 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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