We The People: Nebraska brothers killed in World War II remembered in historian’s book

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The stories of four young Nebraska men killed in World War II live on through the pages of a book.

People gathered at First Unitarian Church in Omaha to meet the author and learn the history of the men who sacrificed their lives around 80 years ago.

Kevin Callahan, a historian and the author of Brothers in Arms, said the inspiration for his book came about 15 years ago.

He was on a trip in Italy and visited the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery. Two burial markers caught his eye.

“I just happened to see there were two of the same last names, both from Iowa, and I thought ‘those must be brothers,’” said Callahan.

He spoke with the cemetery superintendent and learned the U.S. Government would try to bury brothers killed in the war next to each other.

“Here I am, the father of three boys myself, and you start to think about those parents and what they went through,” expressed Callahan.

He eventually found 250 sets of brothers buried side-by-side and tried to contact all the families. He used any means possible to track them down, including Ancestry.com, obituaries and white pages.

“I went to 35 different states and met with just about 70 different families,” Callahan told the crowd at First Unitarian.

Among the 72 stories featured in Brothers in Arms are the tales of four young men from Nebraska.

The Pieper Twins

Callahan said Louie and Henry Pieper from Creston, Nebraska were identical and inseparable. They joined the U.S. Navy when they were 17 years old.

He describes an “amazing story of how these twins who were never apart insisted on serving together, even though the U.S. Navy did not want brothers serving on the same ship, they insisted.”

Callahan’s book details how their ship hit a mine off the coast of Normandy in 1944.

“They were killed in the war. One was buried at the Normandy Cemetery and the other, his remains were never found, so he was listed on the Walls of the Missing,” told Callahan.

They remained separated for 74 years.

“Then just through the efforts of a high school student in Nebraska, they ended up finding those other remains and they were brought together again,” explained Callahan.

In 2018, the twins were buried side-by-side in Normandy.

The Koziol Brothers

Callahan also shared the story of the Koziol brothers from Tarnov, Nebraska. Emil and Jerome were among a family of eight children.

“They went through the Dust Bowl era. It’s a sad story where both the mother died due to complications from childbirth having her eighth child and then five years later their father died. So, the brothers and kind of spread out throughout the country to live with different relatives,” said Callahan.

Callahan said four of them served in the war, with Emil and Jerome sacrificing their lives.

“Even though they were separated in youth, they came together to fight in the war. Two of them were killed and again they would be placed side-by-side for eternity,” told Callahan.

Tarnov is one of the only American cities bombed during the war. In 1943, seven bombs were accidentally dropped from a B-17 on the small village during a botched U.S. training mission. Fortunately, no one was killed.

While the tales of all the brothers featured in the book are tragic, they also reflect true American heroism.

“I think a reminder to all of us that all of these freedoms that we enjoy, and that we enjoy around the world, are due to the sacrifice that so many of these brothers that come from all corners of the country,” expressed Callahan.