After 79 years – WWII soldier’s Bible is returned

KLEMME – Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021 is one Glenn Rasmus of Klemme will not forget. Glenn had just returned home from a trip to South Dakota to visit his oldest son, Dylan, and family. 

He was home for about 20 minutes when the phone rang.

“The call was from the [Klemme] Townmart telling me that a couple of ladies wanted to talk to me,” he said.

Glenn gave them his address and said to come right over.

A few minutes later Patricia Lacina and her sister, Carol Snyder, pulled up to the house. A native Iowan, Lacina was the U.S. General Consul in Frankfurt, Germany from July 2018 to July 2021. She has a 32-year career with the State Department.

She asked Glenn if Irwin Dean Rasmus was his father.

Rasmus replied that he was. He was handed a small box. Inside was the New Testament portion of the Bible that belonged to his father during World War II. 

The Bible was “lost” for 79 years.

“I was speechless, to say the least,” Glenn said.

The late Dean Rasmus served in the Army U.S. from 1941-1945. He initially was assigned to 34^thInfantry Division and then to the 34^thArtillery Division of Company “B” 168^thInfantry Division, 34^thDivision. He trained with the British 6^thCommando and was in the invasion of North Africa.

After his discharge, Dean Rasmus returned to Hancock County and resumed life as a civilian. He married Arlene Schmidt in 1945 and raised a family. Dean farmed for a year, then worked for Hallett Construction, Hancock County Road Maintenance Department and finally for IMT until his retirement in 1982.

Dean was a member of the American Legion and VFW. He passed away on Sept. 14, 2001

 “I can only surmise that Dad had lost it somehow and somewhere either in North Africa or Italy and a German soldier had picked it up,” Glenn said. “My Dad must have lost it between January 1942 and April 1945.”

Glenn was amazed at how good of condition the book was in. The Bible was standard issue to GIs. On the second page was a message from President Franklin Roosevelt.

An email from Patricia Lacina to Rasmus explains how she came into possession of the Bible.

“I was given the Bible by Foreign Service Officer Mark Marrano, a senior consular officer and amateur historian in Frankfurt,” she said.

Marrano and Consulate staff members were engaged in an effort to return another Bible to a family. 

“Once this event hit the social media, additional Bibles were sent to Mark for repatriation,” Lacina continued. “Most were just mailed through the German post without any explanation. Your dad’s Bible was one of those.” 

“Mark gave it to me because he knew I am a proud Iowan and he thought it would be interesting for me to trace the owner’s family.

“In doing a bit of research, I was surprised your father survived the war and moved back to Iowa.”

Lucina finished her tour in Frankfurt at the end of July and was on home in Iowa on leave.

“I asked my sister, Carol Snyder, to help me locate family members. Since we were planning a trip to Minneapolis, it made sense to try and find you on our way home. I was able to get a phone number for your brother, Kenneth, but realized he had been deceased for some time. I could not find a phone or address for you, but just hoped you were still in Klemme.

“We struck pay dirt when the young man at Townmart offered to help track down your phone.”

Glenn admitted to being stunned by revelation. His father never mentioned the loss.

His initial reaction was, “Wow, what just happened here?”

“It is unreal that my Father’s Bible comes back to me after approximately 79 years.”