As he left the bar, Richard A. Wagner placed some coins on the bar and told his friends that if he didn’t return from the war, they were to have a drink on Thanksgiving Day in memory of him. Richard died in Belgium in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge on Jan.9, 1945.

Back home his young wife had two young sons to care for, she eventually remarried and had two more children, a son and a daughter.

His son, whose name is also Richard, and male relatives gather each year on Thanksgiving Day at a local bar to drink a toast in honor of that young soldier who died almost 80 years ago for his country. The numbers go up and down, but never the praise for their relative who lives on in the stories passed down from generation to generation.

Wagner, who was four years old when his dad was killed, has no memories of his father, only stories passed down from relatives who did know his father.

Richard Wagner (center) shares a laugh with friends and family as they remember Wagner’s father, Pvt. Richard Wagner who died during the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. Wagner’s family and friends have gathered on Thanksgiving day for 80 years to have a drink in honor of Wagner’s father. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

One cousin who is in her late 80’s, who has been a nun since she was in high school, he said, remembers his dad and “remembers him well.”

“She has written me a letter probably 20 years ago about him. What kind of guy he was like,” he said.

“He was not necessarily the life of the party, but he was a gentleman. He enjoyed life. He was a jokester. He meandered. He got around. He met people. He was a hard worker. Nothing was a big deal to him. People liked him and they got along well,” Wagner said.

He knows that his father was born in the eastern part of the city on Henrietta Street. He lived there growing up and graduated from Williamsport High School in 1938.

“In 1938, he was dating my mother who lived on Germania Street. The reason he met her on Germania Street is he had an uncle who lived next door to her. So, he would go down to visit the uncle’s, but in fact he wanted to see my mom — his future wife,” Richard said.

Richard Wagner holds the obituary from the death of his father Pvt. Richard Wagner who died during the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. Wagner’s family and friends have gathered on Thanksgiving day for 80 years to have a drink in honor of Wagner’s father. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“My Aunt Doris, my mother’s sister, said to me one day, ‘I never saw two people so madly in love with each other. They can’t keep their hands off of each other.’ That’s just the way they were,” he shared.

His dad and mom, the former Donna Nierle, were married in 1941. Richard was born in 1942 and his younger brother, who passed away, was born in 1943.

In 1942, Richard Sr., who was working in Baltimore at the Glenn Martin Company, registered for the draft.

“We lived in Baltimore for a few years, but in the meantime they had signed a contract with Penn Vale housing development. They lived there at 39 Randall Circle,” Wagner said.

During the war, Penn Vale was primarily used to provide housing for soldiers with the War Department managing the development, according to historical accounts.

For the families who were living in Penn Vale while their loved ones were far away fighting in the war, there was what Wagner called the “angel of death.”

“You could tell when Western Union was coming to the door,” he said.

As he shared the account of how his mother received the news of his father’s death, Wagner’s emotions surfaced as he told how the “angel of death” had brought the dreaded telegram to their door on that January evening.

His mother and members of his family were gathered at the Penn Vale house playing cards — “just enjoying the evening.”

” A knock came to the back and my grandfather went to see. My mother peered down the hall and saw who it was and immediately she knew exactly why he was there. She went screaming up to the second floor,” he said.

The telegram stated that his father was missing and presumed dead.

“That changed everything,” he said.

His mother was a young, single mom with two small children. She had the comfort and support from her immediate family. She also had two brothers who had returned from fighting in the war. One had been in the Pacific and the other volunteered after Dec. 7, the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed.

“On Dec. 8 he was down there at the Post Office, signing up — the second one in Lycoming County, he said.

The tradition of meeting together on Thanksgiving Day in memory of his father began in 1947-1948 when a few friends and relatives gathered at Carl’s. Wagner, who was just a boy at that time, didn’t join until he was a little older.

“When I was 16-years-old in 1958 — I’m always an early riser — after we helped to get the turkey around…my mom said to me, now go up and get your bath and dress for Thanksgiving. We always wore a tie and shirt for Thanksgiving,” Wagner said.

“I came down and she said, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go to Carl’s and go to the bar,” he said.

His response was, “What, go to the bar?”

“So I did. I walked over, opened the door and to my surprise there they were,” Wagner said.

About a dozen guys had shown up on Thanksgiving Day in honor of his dad. Most were family and others neighbors because his dad had lived nearby.

“So, I walked in. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were all smoking and laughing and carrying on,” he said.

His uncles took him aside and explained why they were there and what was going on.

There were no women and there was only one time that a young woman, his dad’s granddaughter, attended. But, she hasn’t been back.

So for over 65 years, Wagner has met with his relatives at a bar to remember his father. First at Carl’s, which has closed and more recently at The Shamrock before it was closed.

But on this Thanksgiving a smaller group of only men met at an establishment in Montoursville. Almost all wore suits and ties and sported a metal cornucopia pin denoting the special day and their solidarity as members of the Wagner family.

“The odd thing about it is, and this is universal, as I’m growing up in my family there were a lot of veterans and a lot of people who suffered World War II,” he said.

They understood about the hardships of living during wartimes, he said, but one thing that was never discussed was the service.

“My Uncle Mike had his leg blown off in Holland. He never talks about it. He’ll laugh about it. They didn’t get serious about talking about what went on until late, I mean late in time — long after these guys have been deceased,” he said.

Wagner’s two brothers are gone, so the males are nephews and great-nephews plus his sister’s husband. The youngest member is James Williams, of Montoursville, who was there with his father Kevin. It’s James’ first time at the gathering and he is related to Wagner’s mother through her second marriage.

It gets complicated trying to figure out where the relationships connect, but it isn’t hard to see that for this group the real connection is the love for a life well-lived and cut short on the battlefield eight decades ago.