Twin Brothers Go to Vietnam but Only One Returns Home

Pfc. Gerold Schaeffer died in combat at the young age of 21 in 1966. The story of Gerold’s life is shaped by siblings’ memories, which often revolve around stories about Gerold and his identical twin brother, George, who also served in Vietnam.

In many aspects, the twins from West Bend were quite inseparable. The two did everything together, be it chasing girls or playing “Cowboys and Indians.” Gerold and George even had the same life goals: They both wanted to own their own farm together.

After turning 18, Gerold promptly left the farm he was working on and decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. Their older sister, then named Arlene Schaeffer, now 72, believes the twins’ telepathy must have been in full swing, because George left a different farm he was on and decided to enlist as well no more than three days later. What’s odd is that the two had no contact with each other while working on separate farms. A worker at the enrollment office even asked George, “What are you doing back?”

Arlene and younger brother Robert Schaeffer, 64, are the two remaining family members of the fallen soldier.

The Schaeffers’ backstory isn’t glamorous, and the dangerous ingredient of war didn’t help. Gerold going off to Vietnam was no obligation by the government or even a gesture to honor a family normality; Gerold’s enlisting was his choice.

His brother, George Schaeffer, was the other half of this identical duo. Arlene played alpha sibling here, being the oldest, with Gerold and George following a year and a half after.

The youngest of the bunch was Robert, coming seven years after the twins. There was another sibling named Richard, but sadly he died at the age of three. Albert Schaefer was the father of the West Bend household and Mildred Schaeffer, the mother.

Family life wasn’t lavish, with Albert only working summers and Mildred not working often as well. This is all when it was just Arlene and the twins. Arlene shared that her father drank quite a bit. Albert was a World War II veteran, so experience with war and its effects on people is nothing fresh here.

Arlene described the nights where her father returned home as a familial event of sorts. “My mom would say ‘go to you rooms, your father’s been drinking,’” Arlene said.

With bleakness at the forefront, there were definitely positives. When it came to Gerold and George, Arlene was always good at getting them to do what she wanted, as they weren’t too keen on chores and other duties. The family had a lake for a backyard and even had a field to play baseball in.

Both Gerold and George, along with Arlene, attended Kewaskum High School. The boys were somewhat notorious for their behavior in school. For example, the two would take full advantage of being identical twins and pretend to be one another in their respective classes.  These types of shenanigans eventually got the two kicked out of Kewaskum at the age of 17. Robert suspects that the two were kicked out not for one specific incident, but, given the two were identical, staff simply saw the trouble of two different people as one mischievous student.

“I would do what my dad told me,” Robert said. “They would get in trouble because they didn’t listen.”

Getting kicked out of high school changed the boys’ futures. Following expulsion, Albert wasn’t so eager to enroll the boys into another high school. After dreaming of owning their own farm, ironically, the boys were sent to work on one. To add more of a kick, the two were separated. Gerold was sent to one farm while George was sent to another.

Although enlisting after Gerold, George was deployed first while Gerold was held back due to a hernia and needing surgery. Even in training, the twin mix ups didn’t stop. While not so lighthearted, one twin would be sent to the other’s base, and when people saw the other half, they’d be dumbfounded by how fast the other arrived.

Returning to Vietnam

Both soldiers did return home after their first tours. However, Gerold wanted to return to Vietnam. When the two returned home, Arlene asked, “You’re not going back, are you?” Gerold had already signed up for a second tour to Arlene’s dismay. George did not return following his first tour, something the family has only heard him talk about twice in their lives.

Gerold’s life was taken in that second tour. He was positioned as one of the leading soldiers on the ground and was killed by enemy fire, dying instantly.  He is buried at St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Cemetery in West Bend. George became more of a drifting character after Gerold’s death. He caught malaria in Vietnam, which is believed to have weakened his heart. George died of a heart attack back in 2004 at the age of 60.

Robert now has three kids, two of whom are now married. Arlene has three kids as well, and one of her grandkids has been stationed in Afghanistan and Japan. When asked what keeps her happy after a life with an alcoholic father, a loving mother passed and two twin brothers gone due to war in the long and short term, Arlene says she finds happiness within scripture.

“It’s important to find religion in your old age,” Arlene said. “This world is coming to an end; I believe that.”