Twin brothers reunited 74 years after WWII death at Normandy
By Associated Press
Jun 19, 2018 4:54 AM CDT
In this undated photo, provided by family member Susan Lawrence on Wednesday, June 13, 2018, the Pieper children, from left, MaryAnn, Leona, Ivona, twins Ludwig and Julius and Fred stand outside the family home in Nebraska. For decades, he had a number for a name, Unknown X-9352, at a World War II American...   (Associated Press)

COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — For decades, he was known only as Unknown X-9352 at a World War II American cemetery in Belgium where he was interred.

On Tuesday, the American soldier would have his identity recovered — and be reunited with his twin brother in Normandy, where the two Navy men died together when their ship shattered on an underwater mine while trying to reach the blood-soaked D-Day beaches.

Julius Heinrich Otto "Henry" Pieper and Ludwig Julius Wilhelm "Louie" Pieper, two 19-year-olds from Esmond, South Dakota, will rest in peace side-by-side by day's end in France, 74 years after their deaths on June 19, 1944.

While Louie's body was soon found, identified and laid to rest, the remains of Julius were only recovered in 1961 by French salvage divers and not identified until 2017.

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