Uncovering the past

YOUNGSTOWN — Without warning this past Christmas Eve came startling news of a father who was killed more than 63 years ago on Christmas Day 1944 during World War II’s Battle of the Bulge.

Barbara Mondok of Austintown listened to the telephone in stunned silence as she learned that an I.D. bracelet given to her father, Thomas E.L. Gent, by his wife, Edith, had been found after all those years on the spot where he was killed by an artillery shell.

On that same Christmas Eve, Raymond Gent of Akron, Thomas’ son, also received a call about the bracelet.

“My mother had told me we didn’t get anything of my father’s back except a ring. She always told me about that bracelet. She said she was still paying for it after he died,” Raymond said.

The bracelet, missing its chain, has “Thomas E. Gent” and his military serial number engraved on the outside and “Your Wife Edith” on the underside.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator and at Vindy.com