Secret service
JoAnn Braunegg didn’t tell her daughter, Kathy Braunegg, nor her two sons that she was a veteran and served with the Coast Guard at the end of World War II. The children found out from their father, who let it slip one day three years ago.
JoAnn Braunegg, 91, kept a secret from her family for decades. Braunegg served in the Coast Guard at the end of World War II.
To this day, JoAnn Braunegg refers to him as “my buddy.”
His name was Patsy, he was a young soldier who lived down the street, and they were in love. They planned to wed upon his return to Monessen.
Only Patsy never returned. He died in France in June 1944, following the D-Day invasion that changed the course of World War II and the life of 19-year-old Joan Gwyer.
She lapsed into a severe depression that lingered until her mother, in a drastic attempt to rouse her, took Joan to a recruitment center. The daughter enlisted in the Coast Guard and served for a year, starting in August 1945, when the war was virtually over.
Back home on Schoonmaker Avenue, Joan returned to civilian life and adopted the name JoAnn. Eventually, she found love again, with George Braunegg of Charleroi. They settled in his hometown, where they raised two sons and a daughter, and were married for nearly 59 years.
George was aware of Patsy and about JoAnn’s military stint. But until George’s death in 2013, his daughter was the only one of his children with even the slightest knowledge of a fiancé. Neither she nor her brothers knew about the Coast Guard.
Mom? A veteran?
Now 91 and a resident of a senior living community, JoAnn Braunegg heads into this Memorial Day a proud military veteran. She was a clerk who came out of the war with a broken heart instead of a Purple Heart, which is why JoAnn – and her spouse – did not betray those details to the kids for more than a half-century. She was overwhelmed by the tragic memories and during an interview last week, indicated they are still profound.
JoAnn was accompanied by her daughter, Kathy, inside the lobby at Mount Vernon of South Park. The mother is able-bodied with a warm smile, and when anyone inquires about her well-being, she invariably responds, “I’m still kickin’.”
Her memory is diminishing, though. She speaks in short sentences or phrases and Kathy helped guide her through the questions.
“Why didn’t you tell us about the Coast Guard, mom?”
“I’ll never tell.”
“Was it Patsy?”
Tears welled in JoAnn’s eyes. “We were going to be married,” she said. “I miss him. He was my buddy.”
She could not recall his last name, but she still has the engagement ring.
Kathy visits her daily, and it is convenient to do so. She lives and works in South Park Township. Her other siblings live out of state – George in Los Angeles, Thomas in Ohio.
George was the first to receive a clue about the military. He was home in December 2012 when his father asked to go to Sam’s Club, which had given away canes to veterans on Veterans Day. Dad’s coupon had expired Nov. 11, but the store manager had one cane left and gladly offered it.
The elder Braunegg thanked the manager, then had a stunning request: “Do you have another cane for my wife? She’s a veteran, too.”
There were no other canes, but the younger Braunegg raised Cain with a man he had always regarded as impeccably honest.
“‘Dad! What the heck are you doing?'” the son said, recounting the incident via email. “‘Why are you lying about mom being a veteran just so you can get another free cane?’
“As I was saying this, I could see my dad … was getting (mad). He said, ‘I’m not lying! Your mother is a World War II veteran. Her name is on the honor roll in Monessen. If you don’t believe me, go look.’
“I was so angry and embarrassed that I just shook my head and said, ‘OK dad, whatever you say’ and let it go.”
Months later, Kathy received an article in the mail from her aunt, Florence Gant, “about the unit your mother was in.” It was part of the program SPARS, created by the Navy to replace men with enlisted women in administrative jobs based in the United States for the Navy and Coast Guard.
“Our aunt assumed that we knew about mom being in the military,” Kathy said.
George was back in the Mon Valley at that time, tending to his ailing father. Article in tow, he and Kathy approached their mother. She dismissed them with, “Don’t be silly. I was never in the Navy or Coast Guard.”
After returning to the West Coast, George filled out a Department of Defense form requesting information on his mother’s military service – if it did occur. That summer, shortly after his dad died, George received a copy of the discharge papers of Joan Louise Gwyer of Monessen, Seaman First Class.
Confirmation.
Confronted with this evidence, JoAnn finally opened up to George and Kathy. She said discussing her military experience would have roused memories, so she avoided the subject.
A day or so later, George went to Monessen City Park to check out the honor roll. There was the name Joan Gwyer, between those of her brothers Charles and John.
“I could hardly believe it,” her son said. “I started to cry. I felt terrible about how I treated my dad (at Sam’s Club). But at the same time, I felt tremendous pride in my mom.”
George’s research on his mom’s background extends beyond that Defense Department form, and extends beyond her.
He said he is “99.9999 percent certain” Patsy S. Columbus was her betrothed. He found Patsy was born in 1921, making him four years older than JoAnn; was a Monessen High School graduate; and is buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
But despite the cemetery location, Columbus may not have died as a result of the June 6 Normandy invasion. His date of death is listed as June 22, 1944.
JoAnn, the oldest of seven siblings, went on to a happy life with her own family after meeting a man from across the Monongahela River.
“A friend was dating dad’s twin brother, whom mom had met. The friend set up a blind date with mom and the twin,” Kathy said. “I said it couldn’t be a blind date because mom would know what dad looked like.
“Dad said he always had to pay a dime to cross the Charleroi-Monessen Bridge to see her. I told him he must have loved her a lot to pay that dime so often.”
The Brauneggs are missing pieces of this jigsaw puzzle that may never be found. Was Columbus, indeed, Patsy’s last name? What was the Coast Guard like for a 20-year-old woman in 1945?
“I would like to know more about her time there,” Kathy Braunegg said. She does know JoAnn’s train ride to Brooklyn for military training was her first trip out of state, and that she was later stationed in St. Louis.
Sitting next to her daughter in the lobby, JoAnn said of the Coast Guard, “I did like it. It was nice. I was really happy with it.”
Memorial Day celebrates military veterans, their sacrifices and courage. With the holiday upcoming, Kathy asked her mother whether she considered herself a hero.
Joanne paused. “I did enjoy it. But a hero? … No.”
For the first time that afternoon, she was wrong.