Daughter of a WWII soldier who was killed in battle is stunned when his U.S. Army bracelet is returned to her 74 YEARS after his death – after someone in Wales found it with a metal detector
- Nancy Shilling, 76, from Biglerville, Pennsylvania, was just 18 months old when her father was killed during WWII
- Her father, Albert E. Coleman, was in the U.S. Army and died during the Battle of the Bulge just 10 days before his 26th birthday
- Coleman was one of 19,000 Americans killed during the battle
- His bracelet was found in Wales this year and returned to Shilling on Sunday
- She said finding the bracelet inspired her to learn more about her father
A woman who never knew her father received a sweet surprise after the man’s World War II bracelet was discovered with the help of a metal detector.
Nancy Shilling, 76, from Biglerville, Pennsylvania, was just 18 months old when her father was killed during WWII.
She then received a shock a few weeks ago after she was contacted by Esther Klinger of the Snyder County Historical Society that her father’s silver bracelet from the war was discovered in Wales with a metal detector.
Heartbreaking: Nancy Shilling, 76, from Biglerville, Pennsylvania, was just 18 months old when her father was killed during WWII
Sweet surprise: She never knew her father but received a nice shock after his WWII bracelet was discovered in Wales this year
‘Before he was a name,’ Shilling told WBRE on Sunday after receiving the bracelet.
Shilling got the call about the found bracelet over Memorial Day weekend, which was discovered by an off-duty officer earlier this year.
Hero: Her father, Albert E. Coleman, was in the U.S. Army and died during the Battle of the Bulge just 10 days before his 26th birthday
The discovery has now sparked her interest to learn more about the father she never had the chance to know.
‘Now I start wondering, where did he come from? I don’t know what he did when he was a little boy,’ Shilling said.
Her father, Albert E. Coleman, graduated from Sunbury High School in North Carolina before enlisting in the U.S. Army.
He then became one of an estimated 19,000 Americans killed during the Battle of the Bulge on January 17, 1945 — just 10 days before his 26th birthday.
This battle saw more than 100,000 American casualties in total, according to History.com.
The Battle of the Bulge would later become known as the largest and bloodiest battle for the U.S. during WWII. It is also known for being the third deadliest battle in U.S. history.
Shilling revealed the facts about her father’s life when receiving the bracelet during a special ceremony on Sunday, The Daily Item reported.
During the ceremony, Shilling also detailed how her father kept her baby shoe in his helmet while fighting in WWII. He told one of his friends in the army to make sure the shoe made it back home if anything happened to him.
‘Make sure you send this to my wife and he did. He sent that shoe back to my mother,’ Shilling told WBRE.
Not only is Shilling using this found bracelet to inspire her to learn more about her father, but she is also inspired to study her family tree.
‘I realized in spite of what he was going through, he loved me,’ Shilling said about Coleman.
Her father’s body returned to U.S. soil in 1949 after dying in 1945.
He’s buried in Beavertown Cemetery in Pennsylvania, which was visited by Shilling and others after the ceremony on Sunday.
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