Home at Last - 83 years after his death in New Guinea, Pfc. Wilbert Linsenbardt returns to Lohman

Wilbert Gus Linsenbardt and Louise Marie Schubert were married in 1941, only months before the United States entered World War II. The couple's time together was brief, as Linsenbardt entered military service in January 1942 and was later killed in action in New Guinea. Courtesy of Wilberta "Willie Wright.

The black-and-white photograph captures a moment filled with promise. Standing beside his bride, Louise Schubert, Wilbert Gus Linsenbardt appears much like countless young American husbands of the early 1940s who exuded confidence and looked toward the future.

Neither could have known that within months the United States would be at war, or that their time together would be measured in months rather than decades.

On June 5, 2026, more than eighty-three years after he was killed in action on the island of New Guinea during World War II, U.S. Army Pfc. Wilbert G. Linsenbardt was finally laid to rest in his hometown of Lohman, Missouri, bringing a remarkable chapter of local and national history to a close.

Born June 17, 1915, on a farm near Lohman, Linsenbardt was the oldest of six children born to William and Mathilda Linsenbardt. He attended the local brick schoolhouse, became a confirmed member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and, like many young men of rural Cole County, expected to spend his life close to home.

While working with his uncle, Ernie Linsenbardt, in Jefferson City, he met Louise Marie Schubert. According to family members, the attraction was immediate. The couple married in 1941 and soon learned they were expecting their first child. Their happiness, however, unfolded against a backdrop of growing international tension.

Everything changed on December 7, 1941, when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor.

Like many young Americans of his generation, Linsenbardt answered the call to service. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 8, 1942, and after completing training was assigned to Company A, 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division—the famed Red Arrow Division.

By late 1942, the division found itself engaged in one of the most grueling campaigns of the Pacific War. Operating in the steaming jungles and swamps of Papua New Guinea, American and Australian forces fought to halt Japanese advances and secure the Buna area. Soldiers battled not only a determined enemy but also malaria, dysentery, tropical diseases and some of the harshest terrain encountered during the war.

On December 5, 1942, near Buna Mission, Linsenbardt's company encountered intense enemy fire. According to military records and a later letter from his commanding officer, Capt. Sheldon Darmelly, the young Missourian was leading an attack against heavily defended Japanese positions when he was instantly killed.

Back home, his wife was raising their infant daughter, Wilberta "Willie" Wright, whom he would never meet.

Like thousands of other Americans lost in the Pacific, Linsenbardt's remains became part of a complicated postwar recovery effort. Graves were moved, records were incomplete and many servicemen could not be positively identified. Eventually, he was declared nonrecoverable in 1951. For decades, his family knew only that he had died far from home.

The breakthrough came through modern science. In 2017, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency historians and anthropologists reviewed historical records associated with unidentified remains recovered near Buna. Using advances in forensic anthropology, dental analysis and multiple forms of DNA testing, scientists ultimately determined that one set of remains belonged to Wilbert G. Linsenbardt. The identification was officially completed on April 30, 2025.

For his daughter, now in her eighties, the news was both emotional and long awaited. Years earlier, she had provided DNA samples in hopes that one day a match might be made. The call confirming her father's identification finally answered questions that had lingered for generations.

The military announced that Linsenbardt would be returned to Missouri for burial. His remains arrived home in late May 2026, and on June 5 family members, friends, veterans and community residents gathered at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Lohman to honor the fallen soldier. Following funeral services, military honors were rendered and he was buried in St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery.

The burial carried special significance. For years, Linsenbardt's name had appeared on his parents' gravestone, a symbolic reminder of a son who never came home. Now, after more than eight decades, he rests beside family in the community where his story began.

His journey reflects a broader national effort to account for Americans still missing from past conflicts. Thousands remain unaccounted for from World War II, yet advances in forensic science continue to provide answers to families who have waited generations for closure.
For the residents of Lohman, however, the story is deeply personal.

The young husband in the wedding photograph never had the opportunity to watch his daughter grow up. The soldier in uniform never returned from the jungles of New Guinea. Yet through determination, scientific advances and the unwavering efforts of those committed to accounting for the nation's missing, Pfc. Wilbert G. Linsenbardt has finally come home.
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It was, as his daughter once observed, "a long time coming."

Jeremy P. Ämick is a regional author and owner of Moreau Valley Press, LLC. 

Pfc. Wilbert G. Linsenbardt served with Company A, 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division (Red Arrow Division). He was killed while leading an attack against Japanese positions near Buna, New Guinea, on Dec. 5, 1942. His remains were identified through DNA analysis in 2025 and returned to Lohman for burial in 2026. Courtesy of Wilberta "Willie" Wright.