When Mark Buchmann found a treasure trove of images, awards and documents associated with his great-uncle Werner Bernet, he thought to himself, “What the heck is this?”
Buchmann, 58, a U.S. Navy veteran, was recently going through items following the mother’s sale of her home in the northern suburbs of Chicago. He located old boxes set aside by his father, who died 16 years ago, including myriad photos of Bernet along with military medals plus various documents showing his service history.
And it’s quite a unique tale: Bernet served in both World War 1, for the Swiss military; and in World War II, for the United States.
“I thought it was amazing since I had no idea about the World War I aspect to it,” Buchmann told Military.com. “I knew he had been in the Coast Guard in the U.S. but I did not know the longevity of his time in the Coast Guard. He also did Coast Guard Reserves after being discharged from active duty in the Coast Guard, until about 1950.”
Buchmann told Military.com that if his 87-year-old mother wasn’t selling her home, he would have eventually found the memorabilia. He was happy to discover it all when he did, though.
“I had no idea he had served that much and had given back to his adopted country as much as he did. And then finding the stuff on World War I just blew my mind. How do you find someone who served in two different world wars for two different countries? That just was crazy. It was a very incredibly proud moment, but also just mind-blowing.”
Wernet Bernet’s Early Life, Military Service and Marriage
Documents shared with Military.com show that Bernet was born Jan. 27, 1897, in Lucerne, Switzerland, to Anton Bernet and Anna Aloisia Hurter.
Lucerne’s structured civic culture and compulsory military system reportedly shaped his early development. Bernet participated in Switzerland’s World War I mobilization system which, even though the nation was neutral, offered a full defensive posture. That experience is said to have instilled discipline and national duty that would define his later life.
Following World War I, he immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Ill., where he pursued higher education at the Chicago College of Dental Surgery (later Loyola University), earning his doctorate of dental surgery and later established his own practice in Chicago’s Lake View neighborhood—where he became a fixture for decades.
Certificates show that Bernet was naturalized in 1927.
He married Elsie Buchmann on Oct. 11, 1930, at St. Matthias Church in Chicago. The nuptials to Elsie, born Aug. 6, 1905, connected lineages from one land to another and further established the Swiss-American community in the Chicago area.
“I have a feeling that both my grandfather and his family, meaning his father, my great-grandfather, were very active in the Swiss community here in Chicago,” Mark said. “And when individuals immigrated over, they would usually [come] from Switzerland. They would reach out to them and try to see how things were and all that kind of cool stuff.”
On Dec. 8, 1942, Werner entered the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as an ensign, serving as a dentist at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Chicago, contributing directly to wartime readiness.
He was honorably discharged on Sept. 30, 1945, and awarded the World War II Victory Medal. He continued service in the Coast Guard Auxiliary after the war.
“100%, I’ve never met anyone like that,” Mark said. “My brother-in-law’s father served in World War II, but he’s now in his 90’s, and that was basically one of the few reference points to World War II for me. Someone serving in both? Never.”
Post-Service Lives and Memories
Werner and Elsie were active in Chicago’s Swiss-American community, according to documents reviewed by Military.com, including organizations such as the Swiss Benevolent Society.
They also participated in cultural events, social gatherings, and heritage preservation efforts, reinforcing their identity within a close-knit immigrant community.
The couple lived for years on Chicago’s North Side before moving to Boynton Beach, Fla. Werner died in 1978 and Elsie in 1993.
Mark told Military.com that his father’s biological mother passed away at birth, and although his grandfather remarried, he was “super close” to the Bernets because they were there for everything. Also, they never had kids.
But Mark’s father, who did ROTC in college but was honorably discharged after a shoulder injury while playing basketball, never once mentioned all of Werner’s memorabilia to him while he was still alive.
Unfortunately, Mark was never able to have an “adult” conversation with Werner about his service or anything else. Asked why Werner left Switzerland for the states, Mark replied, “As best as I can tell, opportunity.”
“He passed away when I was still fairly young, so I knew him,” Mark said. “I knew his wife, Elsie, a heck of a lot more because she didn’t pass away until I was already in my 20’s.
“But they were both just sincerely beautiful people, and he was apparently a heck of a dentist as well.”
Plans to Safeguard the Memorabilia
The images and medals mean a lot to Mark, who put in his own time defending the nation.
He served from 1986 to 1994 as an air crew man with VQ-2, headquartered in Rota, Spain, which is now disbanded. He was present during the first Gulf War, Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
He and his mates spent about 4.5 years in Spain, with Mark’s role as an Electronic Warfare Operation (EWOP). He later became a loadmaster for C-130s at what was at the time Edwards Air Force Base.
While these items would likely generate interest from historians, embassies or others in the business of memorializing the past, Mark said his plan as of now is to keep all the items within the family.
“More than likely, [we’re] going to frame them,” he said. “They’re very delicate, obviously. I mean, some of these things are very old, so you have to be very careful with them.”