My mother, Audrey Cullen Ball, worked as a clerk at the Rye Post Office during World War II. My grandmother, Teresa V. Ball, was the Postmaster, and my father, Cornelius S. Ball, served in the U.S. Army in the European Theater from 1943 to 1945.
My mother often waited on Mr. and Mrs. Mergenthaler at the post office. They would frequently ask if she had heard from my father, and in return, my mother would ask if they had received any news from their son, George.
One day, the Mergenthalers came into the post office and asked my mother if she had heard from my father.
“Yes,” Mom replied. “Have you heard from George?”
“No,” Mr. Mergenthaler answered, “but I’m sure we will hear something soon.”
A few weeks later, a letter from the War Department arrived for Mr. and Mrs. Mergenthaler. Mom immediately called to let them know it had come.
The Mergenthalers arrived at the post office on a particularly rainy day and opened the letter. My mother stood nearby as they read its heartbreaking words:
“We regret to inform you…”
George, their only child, had been killed while serving in the United States Army.
Mom said she walked into the lobby and quietly put her arms around the elderly couple.
The Mergenthalers left the post office with their umbrella raised and their arms around one another as they slowly descended the steps. No words were exchanged between my mother and the Mergenthalers. No words could possibly explain their grief.
The tears of heaven and the rain were enough.
— Comment by Susan B. Miles, May 5, 2013
The Historical Record
Susan Miles’ remembrance describes the day George Mergenthaler’s parents received official word of their son’s death. The following article, published in The Rye Chronicle on April 27, 1945, announced the loss to the community and provides the historical record behind her family’s memory.
Geo. Mergenthaler Killed in Action
Private George Ottmar Mergenthaler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Herman C. Mergenthaler of Purchase Street, has been killed in action at Eschweiler, Luxembourg, his parents learned from the War Department. He was twenty-four years old and their only child.
Private Mergenthaler, the grandson of Ottmar Mergenthaler, inventor of the Linotype machine, had been reported missing by the War Department on December 20. His last letter to his family was dated December 3.
His father said he had been informed that his son met his death under dramatic circumstances sometime after December 20 and received a Catholic burial in the parish cemetery at Eschweiler.
A graduate of Princeton University, Private Mergenthaler entered the armed forces immediately after receiving his degree in January 1943. He earned a varsity letter as a member of Princeton’s championship squash team. Before attending college, he was educated at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, and Rye Country Day School.
Private Mergenthaler was attached to a cavalry troop with the First Army when he entered the service and went overseas in October 1943. He was stationed in Wales until July 1944, when he entered combat in France.
His maternal grandparents were the late Mr. and Mrs. George Sweeney of Rochester and New York.
— The Rye Chronicle, Friday, April 27, 1945
Continue George’s Story
George Mergenthaler’s story did not end in 1945.
His memory continues to be honored in Eschweiler, Luxembourg, where the people he befriended during the war have preserved his legacy for generations. Nearly forty years after his death, President Ronald Reagan recounted George’s story during a White House State Dinner honoring the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, using his sacrifice as a symbol of the enduring friendship between two nations.
Visit George’s complete RyeVets biography to explore his military service, discover the memorials dedicated to him in Luxembourg, and watch President Ronald Reagan’s moving tribute.
