Weiser resident learns of unknown uncle in Austria

by Philip A. Janquart
 
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series about a man who found family after decades of searching and unanswered questions.
 
 If he knew, he never spoke of it.
 It is a mystery that continues to linger after more than seven decades that unfurled suddenly like a flag before one family’s eyes.
 The man with the insight passed away long ago, taking with him the answers to many questions. But it is of little consequence now.
 The fact that C.W. Harris bore a son with an Austrian woman while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II would have forever remained wedged somewhere between time and perception if not for a single email.
 It was one Wayne Harris, 73, of Rigby, Idaho ignored until a cousin told him he had received the same email and that a man named Gottfried Jirkal in Sankt Martin bei Lofer, Austria was trying to contact him.
 That was in February 2020.
 “He received notice from FamilySearch that this certain person was a close relative of his, but he never responded because he thought it was a hoax,” Wayne’s niece and Weiser resident, Jennifer Miller, told the Weiser Signal American. “He didn’t think he had any relatives in Austria.”
 FamilySearch is an LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) – funded genealogy site that utilizes DNA to help people connect with family they may not have known about or even knew existed. The free site is open to everyone, regardless of tradition, culture, or religious affiliation.
 Miller said it served as the catalyst for a meeting between Jirkal and her Uncle Wayne, two brothers unbeknownst of the other, living out their lives on two different continents, an entire ocean separating the two.
 “My uncle thought he knew all of his family members, so he just didn’t respond to the email,” Miller said. “But his cousin said, ‘Hey, this gentleman is looking for information about your dad because he said that he believes your dad is his father.’ He said that he had grown up only knowing his father was C.W. Harris – just his last name and initials – and that he was an American Soldier.”
 It turns out Jirkal also knew what battalion Harris belonged to but the U.S. Military couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, provide him with any further information. Jirkal spent his life wondering about his father and eventually found and joined FamilySearch on the outside chance of making a connection.
 “My uncle finally responded to his email and saw his picture, which when we saw the picture, there was absolutely no doubt in our minds that he was my grandfather’s son,” Miller said. “It was uncanny. It was, just, absolutely uncanny. My grandfather passed away when he was 42 and he never talked about having a girlfriend or that he had a love interest when he was in the war.”
 (Look for the rest of the story in next week’s edition of the Weiser Signal American.)
 

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