Bloomfield soldier memorialized in Dutch book
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Sgt. Larry S. Wassil from Bloomfield has been memorialized in a book created by residents of the Netherlands to honor soldiers killed fighting to free their homeland.
Wassil was reported missing in action on Dec. 28, 1944, after leading a three-man reconnaissance team during the Hurtgen Forest offensive, near Hurtgen, Germany. He was 33 years old.
Wassil’s remains were not initially found but he was memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in the small Dutch town of Margraten.
Decades later, his remains were identified using dental and anthropological analysis and he was reburied at Arlington National Cemetery in the United States in 2022.
Now, almost 80 years after his death, a group of volunteers in the Netherlands has created a memorial book to show appreciation for the sacrifices of soldiers like Wassil, whose story is among the 250 that have been included in the book. Read More…
