After 75 years, couple found frozen in glacier
The frozen bodies of a Swiss couple who went missing 75 years ago in the Alps were found on a shrinking glacier, Swiss media reported yesterday.
Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin, the parents of seven children, had gone to milk their cows in a high meadow above Chandolin in the Valais canton on August 15, 1942.
“We spent our whole lives looking for them, without stopping,” said their youngest daughter Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, 79.
“We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day. I can say that after 75 years of waiting this news gives me a deep sense of calm.”
Yesterday, Valais cantonal police said that two bodies bearing identity papers had been found last week by a worker on Tsanfleuron glacier.
They were found near a ski lift above Les Diablerets resort at an altitude of 2,615 metres. DNA testing would be used to confirm the identities of the couple.
“The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman in clothing dating from the period of the Second World War,” said Bernhard Tschannen, director of cable car company Glacier 3000.
“They were perfectly preserved in the glacier, and their belongings were intact.
“We think they may have fallen into a crevasse, where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies,” he said.
Marcelin Dumoulin, 40, was a shoemaker, while Francine, 37, was a teacher. They left five sons and two daughters.
“It was the first time my mother went with him on such an excursion.
“She was always pregnant and couldn’t climb in the difficult conditions of a glacier,” Ms Udry-Dumoulin said.
“After a while, we children were separated and placed in families. I was lucky to stay with my aunt,” she said.
“We all lived in the region, but became strangers.
“For the funeral, I won’t wear black. I think that white would be more appropriate.
“It represents hope, which I never lost.”
We think they fell into a crevasse, where they stayed for decades. As the glacier receded, it gave up their bodies