New book recalls Berks brothers killed in World War II

Stewart and Russell Leibensperger died within six weeks of each other.

If losing a son in war is devastating, the pain of losing two must be unimaginable.

George and Ruth Leibensperger of Ontelaunee Township experienced that incredible sense of loss during World War II.

Their sons, Stewart and Russell, died while serving with the Army in Europe in 1944.

Stewart Leibensperger died when his unit, the

318th Infantry Regiment, was headed for battle in Germany’s Saar Valley on Nov. 16, 1944. A wall he was using as shelter collapsed on him.

His older brother, Russell Leibensperger, a tail gunner on a B-26 Marauder, died when the bomber went down over St. Vith, Belgium, on the day after Christmas 1944. He was on his 63rd bombing mission with the 323rd Bomber Group of the Army Air Corps.

“All I can tell you is that my grandmother cried a lot,” says Diane Leibensperger Wolfe of Shoemakersville, niece of the two fallen soldiers.

Indeed, Wolfe’s father, Clair Leibensperger, was recovering from wounds in an Army hospital in England when Stewart, his identical twin brother, lost his life.

“My father knew when his twin brother was killed,” recalls Wolfe, a retired hairdresser. “He always said he felt something at that moment.”

The story of the Leibensperger brothers is retold in a new book, “Brothers In Arms,” by Kevin M. Callahan, a Connecticut historian.

In the book, Callahan documents the stories of 72 sets of brothers who died in World War II. All but five sets are buried in American cemeteries in Europe.

The others are buried in Tunisia and the Philippines.

The Leibensperger brothers are buried side-by-side in Netherlands American Cemetery near Margarten, The Netherlands.

Callahan, 51, who took a sabbatical in 2018 to write the book, was inspired by a tour of Europe he made after graduating from Yale University about 30 years ago.

“At a cemetery in Normandy,” he recalls, “I realized that the reason I could travel was due to their sac

rifice.”

Callahan not only documented the soldiers’ stories, he sought out descendants in 35 states and Canada, including the Leibensperger family. Betty Leibensperger Crow, 93, of Leesport, younger sister of the Leibensperger boys, was one of those interviewed.

Clair Leibensperger survived the war, but limped for the rest of his life due to his wounds. He lived in Leesport and worked as a painter at Standard Auto

Body.

Though he never got to visit their graves, Callahan notes in the book, Clair cherished a small blackand-white photo of his brothers’ gravesites taken by a Dutch family on Memorial Day 1959.

“If Clair could not visit the cemetery,” Callahan writes, “it was some comfort to have someone who could share that experience with him.”

“Brothers In Arms” is available on amazon.com.

COURTESY - KEVIN M. CALLAHAN Clair Leibensperger (left) and friend Raymond Hauze in uniform during World War II. Clair was wounded but survived the war. His brother, Russell, and identical twin, Stewart, did not survive the war. They’re buried in Netherlands American Cemetery in The Netherlands. The Leibenspergers are included in “Brothers In Arms,” a new book by Kevin M. Callahan.

Russell and Stewart Leibensperger, Berks County brothers who died in World War II, are buried side-by-side at Netherlands American Cemetery in The Netherlands.