Finding My Phantom Father: A World War II Daughter's Quest

Abstract

Embarking on this quest involved a multi-layered approach to mystery solving. This mystery involved my father, missing in action and then declared dead at the end of World War II in Europe. Without proof of his demise, my family accepted his fate and moved forward with all questions unanswered. A formal inquiry into the question, “What is the effect of father-loss on women whose fathers were killed in war?” (Taylor, 2001) was an effort to seek commonality or disprove it. Through this research, it was discovered that there is an entire population of war-orphans whose American fathers were killed in World War II. Based on that rich and meaningful discovery, I began a search for my father's missing crash site in Germany. This article illuminates this quest, the eventual outcome, and the impact this work has on grief and loss literature; the substantive reality of war loss, the component of disenfranchised grief, and how healing from this kind of loss is defined.

Notes

This article is adapted from a piece originally published on LOSTMAG.com (March 2006).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon Estill Taylor

Sharon Estill Taylor, LMSW, Ph.D is an Associate Professor of Community Services and the Chair of Women's Studies at St. Martin's University. Dr. Taylor has conducted research into the effects of parent loss in war; she has lived and worked on a U.S. Army base in Germany to work with military personnel dealing with issues of grief and loss; she has developed and teaches a semester-long intensive grief and loss seminar; and she is invited to tell her father-quest story nationally and internationally at professional conferences and organizations. Dr. Taylor's search for her father is the subject of a Der Spiegel Television documentary film, “The Last Flight of Lt. Estill” (2007). For more information about Dr. Taylor's quest for her father, please visit www.myphantomfather.com