Arizona resident Robert Kropp (left) on Thursday visited the Topeka home of Holton High School alumna Viola (Richter) Row (right) to return a bracelet that Row purchased for her boyfriend, the late George Zellers (in frame), also an HHS graduate. Kropp’s discovery of the bracelet in the Arizona desert touched off a search for facts about Zellers, as well as the woman who purchased the bracelet and had “With love, Viola,” engraved on the back. (Photo by Brian Sanders)This inscription on the back of a World War II-era bracelet, discovered in the desert near Phoenix, Ariz., touched off a search for the woman who had it inscribed on the bracelet — Viola Row, nee Richter, a 1944 graduate of Holton High School. Row had bought the bracelet for her boyfriend, 1940 HHS graduate George Zellers, who had the bracelet with him when he was killed in an air training accident in February of 1944. (Photo by Brian Sanders)

WWII-era bracelet returned to original purchaser

 

On Feb. 18, 1944, the love story of two people from Holton seemingly came to a tragic end with the midair crash of two B-24 Liberators over the skies of central Arizona. As a result, two young lovers were ripped apart.

On Thursday, in a manner of speaking, they were brought to­gether again.

The girl in this story — a 1944 Holton High School graduate named Viola Richter, now known as Viola Row and living in Topeka — was given a bracelet that she had bought for 1940 HHS graduate George Zellers. The bracelet was found a few years ago near the crash site of the Liberators — Zellers was a co-pilot on one of the planes and had the bracelet with him at the time of the crash — by Mesa, Ariz. resident Robert Kropp, who placed the bracelet into Row’s hand that morning.

“I’ve been carrying this around with me ever since I found it,” Kropp said of the bracelet.

For Row, it was a happy reunion, one that she found it hard to put into words because of a stroke she had suffered three years ago that had robbed her of her ability to speak.

Then again, putting her joy into words may have been impossible.

That joy was shared by those who had gathered at Row’s house that morning — Kropp, his wife Nancy, and Row’s son, Paul Hamm, who said his mother had been joyfully anticipating the Kropps’ arrival with the bracelet.

The bracelet’s find touched off a search earlier this year for infor­mation about Zellers, one of 17 men killed in the 1944 crash, as well as the young lady who had bought the bracelet for him. On the back of the bracelet was an inscrip­tion — still visible after being ex­posed to the elements of an Arizona desert for nearly seven decades — that said, “With love, Viola.”

“I can remember him being very excited when we found it,” Nancy said of her husband finding the bracelet. “He said, ‘Look! You can still read the writing on it!’”

Robert Kropp’s presentation of the bracelet to Row on Thursday morning marked an apparent end to the bracelet’s journey, which began in an area jeweler’s store when Row purchased it and had it in­scribed with Zellers’ name, along with the inscription on the back.

“It’s fantastic that you can still see the inscription on there,” Hamm said.

The great mystery for Kropp, he said, was finding out who the mysterious “Viola” was and whether she was still alive. When he had been informed that Row was, indeed, still around, he and his wife decided to make the trip to Topeka to reunite Row with the bracelet.

“This is what I’ve been wanting to do for the longest time,” said Kropp, whose joy nearly equaled Row’s when the bracelet passed into her hands.

The bracelet still bore the scars of time and exposure, and Kropp said he and his wife had had “some great discussion” about whether to clean it. Nancy had told Robert, “You don’t need to take her this thing all charred up as a reminder of the wreck.”

Robert saw it differently.

“It reminded me that, even after this passage of years, it’s an awful lot like people — the spots, the dis­coloration, the dirt — those are badges that are worn with time,” he told Row. “If you want to clean it, you can clean it. But that’s exactly how I found it, when it started this whole journey, and it’s entirely up to you.”

Kropp said as an enthusiast of vintage World War II-era aircraft, he had spent some time exploring the area of the crash site, northeast of Phoenix, after hearing about it in high school. He had found bits and pieces of an engine in a high school shop class, and his teacher told him it came from an airplane wreck in that area.

That led to his passion for bringing some of the old airplanes back to life, and he and Nancy have worked on — and flown — some of those restored vintage aircraft. One plane that they fly regularly to air shows across the country, he said, is the Navy’s version of the Liberator, affectionately referred to as “our beast.”

“It’s not pressurized, it has no creature comforts, it’s loud. Two hours working on one of those air­planes makes you feel like you’ve been moving gravel all day with a wheelbarrow. It really can wear you out,” he said.

Since finding Zellers’ bracelet, Kropp reminded Row, it has never left his side — until that morning.

“George has been my magic tal­isman,” he told her. “And so have you! You’re my magic.”

During their visit, the Kropps re­viewed a book of photos taken of George and members of his family before he left Holton one last time. Two of the photos in the book were of George and Viola, eliciting a giddy response from Kropp.

“Boy, you’re a looker!” he told Row of photos of her from her high school days. Row’s response was an ear-to-ear smile.

The Kropps flew into Wichita on Wednesday and drove to Topeka, stating that they planned to head to Wymore, Neb., to look at parts for one of their vintage aircraft projects before heading back to Phoenix on Friday night.

But for all involved, the mission of the Kropps’ trip to Kansas was fulfilled when the bracelet passed into Viola’s hands.

“I was so excited to hear that you were still with us,” Kropp told Row. “I was so touched by your bracelet and just the story about you and George, and how life goes on and takes us through different twists and turns.”

And Row responded with another memorable smile that not even a stroke could take away.

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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