WWII Twins Ludwig and Julius Pieper, Who Died by Each Other’s Side, are Finally Buried Side by Side

In 2016, when Vanessa Taylor, then a high school sophomore in Ainsworth, Nebraska, took on a history project, she and her teacher Nichole Flynn had no idea they were about to shape history as well.

Credit: U.S. Navy Archive by Jeff Naiser for his father Nick Naiser

As part of National History Day’s Normandy Institute program, the pair set out to research a “silent hero” from their home state. Soon, they found themselves digging deep into the enlistment records of twin brothers Ludwig and Julius Pieper, Nebraskan twins who both died when their Landing Ship Tank 523, nicknamed “Stardust,” hit an underwater magnetic mine on June 19, 1944, killing many of the crew.

Only Ludwig’s remains were found. He was later buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in France. Julius’ name was inscribed on the cemetery’s Wall of the Missing.

Special Dispensation

The Navy had a policy of separating siblings, as a direct result of five Sullivan brothers perishing on the same ship — the USS Juneau — two years before the Pieper twins enlisted.

But Ludwig and Julius’ father wrote their commanding officer, asking for a special exception, according to Susan Lawrence, the twins’ niece who lives in California. “It seemed like whatever happened to one, would happen to the other,” said Susan. “They were inseparable. They felt like they came into this life together, and if they were going to die, they wanted to die together.”

That grim yet moving thinking became a reality the day after the Stardust left England and headed toward Utah Beach for its third and final trip, according to Taylor and Flynn’s research. Their report noted the vessel showed up in the middle of a violent storm, trailing another allied ship, carrying reinforcements for the men who had stormed the beach on D-Day two weeks earlier. As the Stardust lined up behind the other boat, it hit an underwater mine.

“Many of the men were in the mess line and were killed instantly,” Taylor and Flynn wrote in their report. “Survivors were rescued by 20 small craft that appeared on the scene.”

Twins Ludwig and Julius Pieper
Courtesy of Washington Post

Unidentified remains found in 1961

The Pieper family long wondered whether Julius’ remains would ever be found. In September 1961, French divers dismantled the Stardust, and discovered the remains of one person left behind in the ship’s radio room. It would still take over 50 years before  this would be officially identified as the missing twin’s remains because American authorities didn’t have the technology to ascertain that, said Tim Nosal, the chief of external affairs for the American Battle Monuments Commission, which oversees U.S. military cemeteries abroad. So, in 1961 the unidentified remains were shipped to Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium, interred in a plot for unknown soldiers.

The Mystery of the Missing Twin Solved

Julius Pieper
Credit: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

More than a half century later, student Vanessa and her teacher Nichole got involved in the “silent hero”from Nebraska project. According to The Washington Post, they noticed two names on the list of veterans who perished in World War II had the same last name — Pieper — and wondered if they were related. “Then we found out they were brothers — and that they were twins,” said Taylor, who is now a sophomore at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Student and teacher reached out to the family and the National Archives. Not until they contacted the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency did their hunch get corroborated. According to Nosal, the agency is always looking for America’s missing soldiers, but this time the incredible coincidence of the high school researchers’ request for Julius’ records helped them make the connection.

Eventually, officials exhumed Julius’ remains in Belgium and, using dental and chest radiograph comparison analysis, announced the match in November 2017.

Finding Resolution

Lawrence told The Washington Post that her mother, MaryAnne, one of the twins’ oldest surviving relatives, was relieved.”It was like this big burden off her shoulders,” Lawrence said. “It was very surreal. After all these years — how many, 70 years or so? — that they could identify somebody. It was like, ‘Oh, thank God. What a blessing. He’s no longer unknown.'”

Relieved family members did have one request to the military. Could the twins who did everything together in life be buried side by side? The government was happy to oblige. They kept Ludwig in Plot E, in Normandy, but moved him ten rows away, to Row 25, Grave 42. Julius was interred in Grave 43 on June 19 — exactly 74 years after the day they both died.