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A lifetime of searching ends in Tunisia

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By KYLE MARTIN

Published: November 25, 2007

Hernando Today
SPRING HILL - John T. Kniesel died in combat some 65 years ago.

His only son will meet him for the first time this week in Tunisia.

Ken Kniesel has been waiting his whole life, almost 70 years, for the moment he steps into the North African American Cemetery in Tunis, a port city on the Mediterranean.

But even with that much time to prepare, he's not real sure what he'll say.

How do you condense an entire lifetime into a graveside conversation anyway?

Ken Kniesel was a few months past his third birthday when he waved goodbye to his father for the last time. Not that he remembers.

He has one memory of his father, though he's not positive it's not something he fabricated in his mind. It's of a tall man with dark hair playfully laughing at his son trying to rip open a bag of Wise potato chips.

He hesitates to add anything else - the sound of a voice, a familiar scent - for fear of tainting that one imprint his father left behind.

His mother remarried soon after Kniesel lost his father and his stepfather was a good man who provided for the family. But he was called Lou, not Dad.

Over the years he's acquired a broader snapshot of who his father was from John Kniesel's belongings. When his mother died, she gave him everything: letters written from overseas, a few photos, a rosary, a prayer book splattered with blood, a Purple Heart awarded for valor.

John Kniesel was honored as the first person from Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood to die in World War II.

But the mystery of his final resting place was never resolved. The telegram that offers condolences in the death of John Kniesel succinctly states he was killed "in the Western Europe area."

Years passed. Kniesel became a father to five sons and a daughter, who have made him a grandfather 12 times over. Life treated him well and he had no complaints. But always in the back of his mind was this question: where is my father's body?

He made a few halfhearted attempts to find out and his sons picked up the trail as they grew older. But any answers from the U.S. Department of Defense disappeared in a fire in 1973. Or so they thought.

Less than a year ago, Kniesel's son, Michael, visited the World War II memorial in Washington D.C with his children. A kiosk there promised information on veterans from that war. Somewhat dubious, Michael Kniesel queried his grandfather's name and was rewarded with the answer to the big question: Tunis, Tunisia on Africa's north coast.

On Friday, Kniesel and his wife left on a cruise his children arranged that includes a stop in Tunisia. There he will be met by a representative of the North African American Cemetery and taken to his father's grave.

He will be presented with a wreath to place over the grave and Taps will be played. Gerard Kniesel corresponded by e-mail with the cemetery's superintendent to arrange the private ceremony for his father. "It really speaks to what our country is about," said Gerard Kniesel, a former Marine.

But even though Uncle Sam knows the drill, Kniesel remains at a loss as to what to say. His only anchor is a photo of his children that he plans to bring with him to the graveside.

He's fully aware that this will be his only chance to meet with his father. But nothing is stopping future generations from visiting the graveside. "I really think this is for them," Kniesel said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com

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