Laurels & lances: Laid to rest & laid off

Laurel: To a final resting place. On Sunday, a funeral took place in Ross. A World War II soldier was laid to rest.

This is increasingly rare as the veterans of the 1940s have thinner ranks every year. But this funeral wasn’t for an old man who remembered the war.

This was for Tech. Sgt. Paul F. Eshelman Jr., a radio operator and gunner on a B-24 Liberator named “Tagalong” shot down in Europe in August 1943.

There were 177 planes sent out in Operation Tidal Wave to destroy oil fields and refineries in Romania fueling the Nazi war machine. Of those, 51 did not come back. One of them was Tagalong. Eshelman was one of its five crew members who died.

His family did not know that he was killed. They only knew that he was missing in action. For 80 years, that would remain true, with his family never knowing he was one of 189 unknown American soldiers buried in Romania — or that after the war, that number was whittled down by 100 and Eshelman was reburied in Belgium.

In 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s work with exhuming remains finally identified Eshelman by matching his DNA with samples from his sister’s children. Now, 82 years after his death, Eshelman has been buried for a third time.

The slow journey to his final rest in Allegheny County Memorial Park is a testament to a continued commitment to find and bring home the servicemen who gave their lives in a war that took place in theaters across the globe, as well as the ongoing hope of his family.

Rest in peace, soldier.

Lance: To another blow. Charleroi has been coping with the closing of the Anchor Hocking glassware plant since April when the area’s largest employer closed, moving operations to Ohio and ending about 270 jobs.

That came after another company, Quality Pasta, closed last year, eliminating another 80 jobs.

Now another plant is shuttering. Fourth Street Barbecue Inc. started layoffs Oct. 9 with plans to continue until Oct. 31. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification indicates 252 jobs will be lost.

The Washington County community has a population of 4,159. This third plant closing brings the total of displaced workers to 602 — equal to almost 15% of the borough’s residents.

That’s a lot for any area to shoulder. It begs questions of not just how Charleroi will cope, but of how any community could bear these repeated strikes in such a short period of time.