Woman gets 'Ancestry.com' message and learns secret about brother she lost in Vietnam 45 years ago
Diane shared that her brother came home with parts of his right hand shot off.
For decades, four sisters in Minnesota believed they would never again feel the presence of their brother, a Vietnam War veteran who had passed away. But when one sister, Diane Finnemann, noticed a DNA match named Joe Klick flagged as a possible close relative, her curiosity was instantly piqued. What began as a simple search in 2017 soon led to a discovery that brought back a part of their brother they thought was lost forever.
Georgia man John Klick was raised on the story that his father was a Vietnam veteran. Raised by his mother, he was made to believe his roots lay in Georgia until he discovered answers that left him speechless. It began something like this: In Minnesota, four sisters' beloved brother, Wallace “Skip” Schmidt, left for the Vietnam War in 1968, and his family was "proud" when he departed with the famed Twins Platoon. But tragedy struck when he returned from the war's deadliest year for Americans. Diane, one of the sisters, shared that he came home with parts of his right hand shot off. "He had terrible nightmares and he'd scream all night long," Skip's sister, Colleen Page, told Kare 11.
Unfortunately, Skip took his own life in 1972. Following Skip's passing at just 24 years of age, his family created Minnesota Vietnam Veterans' Day. In 2017, Diane and other Schmidt family members discovered the DNA-testing website Ancestry.com. Upon receiving their DNA reports, each found the same name listed as a close relative: Joe Klick. Diane wondered: Could their brother, long gone, have left behind something they never knew of? She called her sisters, who thought they had lost their brother's legacy, now facing a new mystery: a possible new family member. What Skip and his family did not know was that Skip's (at the time) 16-year-old girlfriend had been pregnant when he'd left and subsequently given birth to a son.
Joe, who had only fragments of memories told by his mother about his father, shared that pregnancy was "different in the 60s." Determined to find his roots, Skip's son too registered with Ancestry.com, and it didn't take long for him to find new people from his father's family in Minnesota — ones who matched his DNA. Soon, Diane contacted Joe, whose conversation turned from confusion to a bittersweet revelation. Diane quickly rang her sisters to share that their beloved brother had a son — the nephew who returned to them a piece of their lost brother.
When Joe flew to Minnesota, he did not know he had four aunts until they jumped into his arms, giving him the sense of belonging he had been yearning for 45 years. "You can just see features of Skip," the veteran's other sister, Sharon, shared. "I feel his heart, I feel his soul," Diane added. Joe's trip was not only to meet the family he never knew he had, but also to attend Forest Lake’s Vietnam veterans program, an annual event organized by Diane in Skip’s memory and attended by hundreds of veterans and their families. An emotional Diane pinned a yellow ribbon on Joe, a symbol of the Gold Star Family to which he now belongs, having lost his father to war. While meeting his extended family brought joy, Joe also faced the bittersweet reality that he would never meet the father he had longed to know.
A 2022 study by Alison C. Kay and Nicola V. Taverner observed 10 adult adoptees in the UK, studying their motivations for using consumer DNA testing kits and their experiences of the results. The study noted that while discoveries can bring resolution, they also bring new uncertainties or emotional challenges. In Joe and the sisters’ case, there is the joy of connection, but also the weight of years of absence.
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