HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Francis Riddell was at his office at the American Legion Department of Hawaii when he got an email. The message came from the U.S. State Consulate General in Frankfurt, Germany.
"A family of a German soldier who had passed away, they were going through his possessions and they came across this Bible," Riddell said.
The note included photographs of the Bible that belonged to U.S. Army Private 1st Class Charles M. Spencer of Honolulu. He was 26 when he was killed in 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.
Riddell reached out to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for information.
"His 423rd Infantry Battalion was actually combined with a bunch of other Army elements to fight in that battle," said Gene Maestas, the cemetery's public affairs specialist.
The family in Germany wants to return Spencer's Bible to his relatives. They contacted the consulate who contacted the American Legion.
"We're the largest veterans service organization in the nation," Riddell said.
Old newspaper clippings show Spencer enlisted in 1941 on the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He attended Kaimuki High School, worked for Castle & Cooke, and played football in the barefoot league.
His mother's name was Margeret Spencer. He had a brother named Daniel and two sisters.
"Hopefully, somebody will know a close relative so we can get this Bible, this artifact back to its rightful owner," Maestas said.
In 1949, Spencer’s remains were interred at Punchbowl as part of a wave of remains that were returned from World War II.
“We had just under 14,000 sets of remains initially,” Maestas said. " We needed a place to bring them back to, some American soil. So that’s why this cemetery was established."
Spencer’s grave is in section D.
Riddell hopes Spencer’s relatives see this story and call the American Legion office at (808) 946-6383 or email them at aldepthi@hawaii.rr.com.
"Hopefully with any luck someone can get a hold of us and we can connect them up with that German family, and they can get that Bible," he said.
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