YAKIMA, Wash.- U.S. Army Captain Donald Froemke is finally being laid to rest in Yakima where he grew up. On October 5, 1944, the soldier was caught in enemy crossfire while tending to a wounded ally.
In 1949, the Froemke family buried the remains of a misidentified soldier they were told was the captain. A bracelet identifying Capt. Froemke was discovered two years later, but the body could not be identified. The former Forest Service range manager was buried at the United States Military Cemetary Neuville in Belgium as an unidentified soldier.
In 2022, the MIA Accounting Agency was able to identify the remains of the unknown soldier as Captain Froemke.
“It was like a television show, like is this for real?,” said Ellen Holloway, Captain Froemke’s niece.
Holloway was born four years after her uncle’s death. She says her family rarely, if ever, discussed her uncle or the time period.
Through the process of Captain Froemke’s homecoming, she has only begun to learn of her family lost in the World War II.
“I can’t tell you much about my uncle, only what I read,” says Holloway. “My dad really never talked about it or the war. I don’t remember anyone talking about the war. Back then you were told ‘don’t cry.’ No, everyone needs to cry.”
On September 9, 2023, Captain Froemke will be laid to rest with full military honors in the Tahoma Cemetary. He will be buried next to his parents.
“I would have never thought it would be his body in his grave site,” says Holloway.
Froemke’s niece said the weeks been full of tears, especially when she saw her uncle finally arrive in Washington.
“He’s getting closer, and that’s what I told him when he got off the plane is ‘you’re almost home,'” says Holloway.
A public viewing for Captain Froemke is scheduled on September 8 from 12-6 p.m. at Brookside Funeral Home in Ellensburg.
The captain’s graveside service will take place at the Tahoma Cemetery on September 9 at 11 a.m. Holloway and the family appreciate the public’s support and welcome community members to attend, but they ask that their privacy be respected and give them space to mourn.
“I hope this reminds people that we need to honor those that have sacrificed their life, for freedom, for liberty,” says Holloway.
