Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin left home to feed their cows in August 1942 and were never seen again, until now. A melting glacier near a ski lift in the Swiss ski resort of Dome has finally revealed their remains.

Man and wife leave home to feed their cattle and never return

It was in August 1942 during World War Ii that the Dumoulin’s left their home in the Valais region of Switzerland to feed their cows. They never returned home, leaving their family frantic with grief and constantly searching for them. According to the youngest of the couple’s seven children, 79-year-old Marcelina Udry-Dumoulin, the family has spent their whole lives looking for their parents, hoping to give them the funeral they deserve.

She told the Le Matin newspaper that after 75 years of searching and waiting, the news finally gives her a sense of deep calm.

Glacier melting reveals remains of lost parents

The bodies were uncovered during the melting of the Tsanfleuron glacier and found by a resort worker close to a ski lift on Thursday morning last week. The director of the Glacier 3000 ski lift, Bernhard Tschannen, told Le Matin the bodies were lying close to each other and that they were the remains of a man and woman, dressed in clothing dating back to the World War II era. Valais police said there was a backpack, a watch and a book close to the bodies.

Tschannen said they may have fallen into a crevasse in the glacier and became trapped, remaining there for all these years.

Police added that DNA testing will still take several weeks but identity documents were found with the remains.

Daughter speaks of her lost, and now found, parents

Udry-Dumoulin explained that their father, 40 at the time he disappeared, was a shoemaker, while their 37-year-old mother worked as a teacher.

She said this was the first time her mother had accompanied their father to feed the cows, as she was regularly pregnant during that time of year, which made it difficult to navigate the terrain. The loss of their parents tore apart their lives, with the family of five sons and two daughters separated into the foster system to stay with different families.

Udry-Dumoulin said she clearly remembers her father's sister crying and comforting her and said she was lucky as she got to stay with her aunt, However, despite the fact all the children stayed in the same region, they soon became strangers until 1957 when one of her brothers, who was a priest, held a mass for the family on the glacier. This brought the brothers and sisters close to each other once again.

Now the family is able to plan a funeral for Marcelin and Francine, Udry-Dumoulin says she will be wearing white at the funeral rather than black. She says white will represent the hope she never lost.

Glacier melts reveal remains

As noted by the New York Daily News, with the recent glacier melts, more and more bodies are coming to light. Three climbers were found in the same area in 2012, after the remains of Cletus, Johann and Fidelis Ebener were uncovered and who had disappeared in 1926.
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