Nebraska family ‘bonds for life’ with French researcher who uncovered records of WWII soldier

Flags billowed at half staff over a cemetery in Syracuse on Monday. Veterans carried more flags, a band played the National anthem, and locals gathered to remember fallen American soldiers. Among the crowd was Jan Moore. Her grandfather served in World War II and was, for many years, beyond the reaches of memory. That is until Christophe Ligere came into the picture.

“It was just something that we questioned,” Moore said of her grandfather, Private William Walters. “We wanted answers for my mom.”

Moore’s mother, Gerri Walters-Eisenhauer-Larson, never met Walters, who deployed to France during World War II and died shortly thereafter, before she was born. The family had no records of him, save for photos taken before his service. But last year, French researcher Ligere reached out to the family with a wealth of French documents about Walters’ service.

“J’ai découvert ce soldat au travers des documents, des archives,” Ligere said, while visiting Syracuse. “J’ai découvert aussi toute sa famille autour des documents.”

“I discovered this soldier through going through these documents and archives,” Ligere said, in French. “I also discovered his family through the documents.”

That was last year, and Ligere has yet to stop researching Walters. He came to Nebraska for the first time for Memorial Day weekend to share his latest research - he discovered that Walters, along with other American troops, was briefly buried in France before his body was returned to the states after the war. But Ligere also came to get to know the family. He went with Moore’s family to Walters’ grave and explored southeast Nebraska.

“Le jour où j'ai retrouvé (Private Walters’) sa fille, beaucoup d'émotions,” Ligere said. “Comme si c'était ma deuxième maman.”

“The day where I met (Private Walters’) daughter, I felt a lot of emotions,” Ligere said in French. “It was like she was my second mother.”

Moore said that connection is just as real for her family, who hosted Ligere during his stay and stood with him as he presented his research at the Memorial Day ceremony in Syracuse.

“We had nothing before,” Moore said, of her grandfather. “It just means everything to us. We can’t even put it into words what it means that he was able to share with us the answers we had been looking for for 80 years.”

Moore added that she wanted to encourage other families who are looking for information on past relatives to not give up. She said especially with access to the internet, there is hope for finding answers.