LIEUTENANT
KILLED DURING
VIET PATROL

   Army 1st Lt. Earl H. Zaehler, 22, of 1724 Grace st, was killed in Viet Nam when he stepped on a booby trap while on patrol, the defense department. announced yesterday.
   Lt. Zaehler, who went to Vet Nam in December, was assigned to the 82d Airborne Division when he was killed Sunday.
   He was a graduate of St. George High school, Evanston, and attended the University of Dayton for a year before he enlisted in the army. In Chicago he lived with his mother, Mrs. Josephine Zaehler

[Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 31 Oct 1968, Thu, Main Edition Page 8]

Lt. Earl H. Zaehler

   Mass for Army 1st Lt. Earl H. Zaehler, 22, of 1724 Grace st., will be said at 10 a. m. Saturday in St. Andrew Catholic church, Addison and Paulina streets. Lt. Zaehler was killed in Viet Nam on Oct. 27, where he served with the 82d Airborne division. He was graduated from St. George High school and Quigley seminary, and attended Dayton university for a year before enlisting in the army in 1965. Surviving are his mother, Mrs. Josephine Zaehler; a brother, and two sisters.

[Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 6 Nov 1968, Wed, Page 82]

[courtesy of bill Schultz]

Application for a grave marker and resulting bronze tablet  for Earl H. Zaehler in Maryhill Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum, Niles (Cook county), Illinois.

Hq 3rd Brigade, General Order 71, issued on  2 November 1968,  posthumously awarded Lt. Zaehler  the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in ground operations against a hostile force,

He is honored on Panel 40W, :ine 047 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

Zaehler

   First Lt. Earl H. Zaehler, 101st airborne div., [sic] U.S.A., killed in action in Viet Nam, Oct. 27, 1968, dear son of Josephine [JoAnn] Schimek and the late Earl [Lefty] Zaehler; fond brother of Joan, Mary Donna, and Joseph; grandson of Mr. and Mrs. M. Schimek and the late Mr. and Mrs. Zaehler; nephew of Mary Schmidt and Leroy Zaehler. Resting at Thomas J. Cooney Sons Funeral Home, 3552 Southport avenue. Funeral Saturday, 9:30 a. m., to St. Andrew church. Interment Maryhill.

[Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, 6 Nov 1968, Wed, Page 83]

For Earl, It Came Too Late

 CHICAGO Mrs. Josephine (Jo Ann) Zaehler learned of President Johnson's order to halt bombing in North Vietnam from a radio bulletin.
    In her second-floor apartment in Chicago she turned and stared fixedly at several photographs of her son, Earl. "Did you hear that, honey?" she asked softly. "Now they have declared peace."
   Her two daughters and other son watched silently.
   Fifty-eight hours earlier, Mrs. Zaehler, a widow, had learned that her oldest son, 1st Lt Earl H. Zaehler, 22, had been killed In Vietnam, blown apart by a Viet Cong booby trap.
   "I think the idea of a bombing halt is great," said his 20-yead-old sister, Jean. "But what is on Mother's mind is what happened to her son. He was killed' 

[The Boston Globe, Boston, MA, 01 Nov 1968, Fri. Other Editions, Page 12]