Standing in the shade of a tree, among the mortal remains of other great men is the headstone belonging to one Lemuel M. Herbert, a Sgt. in the American Army. His journey to this final hallowed resting place has been a long time in coming.
Born in 1910 in Lackawanna County in Pennsylvania Lemuel Herbert grew up among the miners and hard working townspeople of his community. He went to Grammar school and no doubt worked hard. When war came to Europe he answered the call of his heart and enlisted in April 1941. He joined the Pennsylvanian unit that had won honours in another war, the 28th Infantry Division.
When the 28th came across the Atlantic to Wales Herbert met relations. Then he went overseas.
On 3rd November 1944, men of 1st Batt. 112th Infantry Regt ventured into the forest, they are to support the attack on Kommerscheidt/Schmidt. The 112th Infantry Regiment, was part of the US 28th Infantry Division. As the men crossed the ravine shells fell ahead of them on Kommerscheidt. There were few Germans in Kommerscheidt that November day when Sgt. Lemuel Herbert 33023842 and his comrades arrived. Those that were there put up little resistance. The Americans went on the Schmidt, a larger village beyond the hamlet.
The German Army had always been known for not giving ground easily, and would always counterattack at the earliest possibility. They did so the following day. Shellfire and infantry forced the Americans out of Schmidt towards Kommerscheidt. The combat during the following days cost them ground and men too. The Germans pursued them out of Kommerscheidt. As men fell back they passed foxholes with their comrades crouched in, firing at the enemy infantry and tanks, covering the withdrawal. Survivors reached the tree line at the northern end of the Kall trail and crouched among the trees, digging foxholes in the hard, stony earth.
By the 8 November Kommerscheidt had fallen to the German again. Bravery alone could not influence the outcome. The Americans were inadequately supplied and too few in number to retake Schmidt. The main supply route for the attack also the route for supplies, the Kall trail was too fragile and prone to attack by the Germans.
The Americans held out until they were forced to retreat back through the trees to the Kall river and up the other side to Vossenack. Behind them, in the fields before Kommerscheidt, the houses and gardens around the hamlet itself lay men of 112th who would not share in the final celebrations of peace a mere six months later.
During "after battle interviews" two men from Herbert's squad reported that they had seen him hit in the head and fall. (Subsequent examination has concluded that he was killed as a result of shell splinters to the head). He was therefore initially listed as MIA, this was subsequently changed to KIA. Lemuel M. Herbert had fought his last action for the men of the "Keystone" Division, but he had yet to be brought home and given the respect he had so dearly earned.
During March 1998, as a highlight to a strategic war game being held in Germany for members of the 28th Infantry Division the Divisional commander Maj. Gen. Walter Pudlowski used the final two days in Europe as an opportunity to revisit the battlefields fought over by past soldiers of the "Keystone" Division. Among the places the tour went to was the Kall Trail.
As the group walked through the area they met Herbert Trumm, (above right) an elderly forest worker, he had grown up in the area during the war and proceeded to lead the soldiers as their impromptu guide.
Herr Trumm led them to the spot where earlier in the year a GI's remains had been found, among them an ID disc. Above, Major General Pudlowski and fellow officers of 28th Infantry Division ponder the circumstances of a fellow soldiers death so far from home.
Above: Herberts helmet held by General Pudlowski while another officer examines the remains of his M1 rifle. The helmet holed by the shell splinters that killed him. At right, the farmer on whose land Herbert had lain undiscovered. 6 March 1999 Lemuel M. Herbert was finally laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, with full military honours. A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania now among good company, home from the war. Maj. Gen. Pudlowski sums up with these words; "Seldom will you find a place where you can see where you were, where you are, and where you are going. We have just seen that place"
