Commander, Seventh Army

Today I would like to write about another recently discovered illustrious veteran ancestor, Wade Hampton Haislip, a four-star Army general who served as the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army from 1949 to 1951. My brother will be writing a guest blog about General Haislip's World War II service, which I will post on Veterans' Day.

Gen. Wade Hampton Haislip; photograph courtesy of
Wikipedia

Gen. Haislip is a by-marriage ancestor, who married my fourth cousin once removed Alice Jennings Shepherd on 14 July 1932.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1912. By January 1913 he was stationed at Fort Meade in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The fort had been established in 1878 as a cavalry fort to protect settlers and the goldmines in Deadwood.

The officers' line at Fort Meade, South Dakota

He was transferred to Fort Crockett in Galvaston, Texas, by April of that same year. It had been established in the late 1890s as a coastal artillery fortification. In 1914 he served in Vera Cruz, Mexico after the Tampico Affair. He returned to Fort Crockett after that assignment and remained there until July 1915 when he was stationed briefly at Fort Sheridan in Illinois. But he was quickly back in Texas next stationed at Fort Sam Houston in September 1915. He served at the fort with Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower and is credited with introducing Ike to Mamie Doud, who became Ike's wife.

He was promoted to major in June 1918. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I serving on the general staff of V Corps, as division machine gun officer with the 3rd Division, and on the general staff with the U.S. Forces in Germany.

During World War II, he organized the 85th Infantry Division and served as its commanding officer until February 1943 when he took command of XV Corps. He later became commander of Seventh Army and served in that capacity until the end of the war.

After World War II he was appointed as Army Vice Chief of Staff for administration. He retired from active service in 1951.

He died on 23 December 1971 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His wife died in 1987 and is buried beside him.

As published in The Washington Post

52 Ancestors #39: 1946 Pittsburgh Steelers

Ancestor Name: KLAPSTEIN, Earl Loren (1922-1997)

My Schalin ancestors immigrated to Alberta, Canada, in 1893, primarily to escape the religious intolerance of Russian Tsar Alexander III. My grandmother's aunt, Pauline (Schalin) Falkenberg, married John Gutche soon after the extended Schalin clan arrived in Alberta. He was her second husband. They had five children between 1895 and 1906.

In 1917, their oldest daughter, Sadie Pauline Gutche, married Emil Klapstein. Emil's family was also from Russia and had immigrated to Alberta about 1898. Soon after their marriage they moved to Lodi, California. Emil worked as a manager at the Enterprise Planning Mill and they lived at 523 East Walnut (which is now a parking lot).

Sadie and Emil had three children: Harvey Cecil, Vernon Sidney, and Earl Loren. Vernon later changed his surname to Kenwood. Earl played college football in California at the University of the Pacific and was a member of the university's ROTC program. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and was later drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 24th round (250th overall) in 1944.

Earl Klapstein in 1943; photograph courtesy of Fanbase

By 1946 he was playing offensive and defensive tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team went 5-5-1 under head coach, Jock Sutherland, who was later inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1951.

1946 Pittsburgh Steelers; photograph courtesy of Tailgating Jerseys

In 1956 he was a defensive line coach and scout for the Green Bay Packers; it was his move up to the coaching ranks of professional football. He didn't stay in Green Bay long. According to an Associated Press card, he became the Director of Physical Education and head football coach at California Junior College in Cerritos soon after it was founded.

Racine Journal Times, 20 April 1956

Earl married Viola C. Wiederrich, on 7 May 1944 in Nevada. He had just completed basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina but had not yet been deployed to the Pacific. They made their home in Lodi most of their entire lives. Viola was a fine athlete in her own right. She played shortstop on a championship softball team in 1939. Earl died in 1997 and Viola in 2009. Both are buried at Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi.

I discovered Earl Klapstein after having my mother's DNA tested. I wanted to be able to identify which of my DNA matches came from each parent. I also know so little about my mother's side of the family, I was hopeful a test one generation further back would be helpful. One of her 4th to 6th cousin matches had no family tree attached to the test, but I recognized the surname of the person who administered the test from a one-place study I had done of Leduc, Alberta, Canada -- where my Schalin ancestors settled in 1893. I messaged him and we've since shared enough information for me to place him in my family tree. According to my tree software he is the grand nephew of the husband of a first cousin twice removed. That means that from my known information we are not related by blood. So there must have been a Klapstein-Schalin marriage in Russia about which we are both unaware.

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge.

Fearless Females: Immigration
Fearless Females: Religion

Shot down Over Cambodia

On 19 December 1971, Warrant Officer Thomas William Skiles was piloting a Hughes Cayuse Observation (OH-6) helicopter on a bomb damage assessment run southeast of Dambe, Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The aircraft received intense automatic weapons fire and burst into flames and crashed. WO Skiles' remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu memorial.

The Honolulu Memorial is located within the National Memorial of the
Pacific. On either side of the grand stairs leading to the memorial are eight
Courts of the Missing on which are inscribed the names of those missing
from World War II, the Korean Conflict and Vietnam; photograph
courtesy of Findagrave.com members Harold and Wanda Blackwell

WO Skiles served with the Air Cavalry Troop, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, known as the "Blackhorse Regiment." At a Blackhorse reunion some years ago, Brig Gen Terry L Tucker, who was a colonel with the regiment during Vietnam, gave a speech about his work on the Joint Task Force "Full Accounting." In that speech he spoke about WO Skiles:

For the past 2 years, I have been privileged to command Joint Task Force "Full Accounting." In that assignment I led 160 outstanding men and women from all services on a mission to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Americans still unaccounted for as a result of the war in Southeast Asia. We conducted over 1,000 investigations and 125 recovery operations and brought home 67 Americans to their families in that 2 years. Let me tell you about one case that I shared with my brother Blackhorse troopers at the July reunion.

In January 1998, we investigated the site of a 19 December 1971 OH-6 helicopter crash in central Cambodia. In March 1999, we excavated that crash site. The recovery team did not find remains of the crew. However, they did find several items of personal effects. Found were a military identification card and part of another card with an unidentified sticker on it. The recovery team could clearly identify the photograph and name on the identification card, but could not identify the sticker on the second card. Upon my arrival, several possible explanations were offered as to what the sticker might be. After listening to their speculation, I opened my wallet, removed my Blackhorse Association Membership Card, and showed them the exact symbol they were trying to figure out. It was a Blackhorse patch.

The crew of that OH-6 was 1st Lt Peter Forame and WO Thomas Skiles, Air Cavalry Troop, 11 ACR, two of the last Blackhorse troopers to die in Southeast Asia. They were piloting an OH-6A scout helicopter on a bomb damage assessment mission southeast of Dambe, Cambodia. They were hit by .51 caliber and .30 caliber machine gun fire and crashed into a tree line. The helicopter exploded upon impact and was completely destroyed by fire in a short time. Two other helicopters attempted to recover Lt Forame and WO Skiles, but were driven off by heavy automatic weapon fire and rocket propelled grenades. With one helicopter suffering extensive damage. After helicopter gunships arrived to suppress the enemy fire, it was verified that the helicopter was destroyed and that there were no survivors. Further attempts to recover the pilots were unsuccessful despite numerous airstrikes on known and suspected enemy positions.

Thomas William Skiles; source of photograph
unknown

Thomas William Skiles, my sixth cousin, would have been 65 years old on 31 August had he survived the war in Southeast Asia.

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Thomas William Skiles was my 6th cousin. His great grandmother was a Beard. He was born on 31 August 1949 in El Paso, Texas, to William and Dorothy Lou (Warriner) Skiles. On 3 May 1971 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was killed in action on 19 December 1971 in Cambodia. He was married and left a wife and at least one son to mourn his death, likely two. One son has left a lovely memorial to him on Findagrave.com.