Henry A. Zarnikau

Henry Albert Zarnikau and his younger brother, Bill, surprised some of their relatives in Ebenezer, NY when they enlisted to fight the Germans in the Great War in 1918. After all, their parents had immigrated from Posen, Germany to Buffalo, NY only 30 years earlier. Why would they want to fight their own countrymen? The answer was that they identified with and loved the land where they were born. They were Americans. 

Hank Zarnikau was born in Ebenezer, NY (a hamlet in West Seneca) and was raised on a farm with his sister, Frieda and three brothers, Bill, Herman, and Edward.  He had already lost his father when their mother, Ottlie, saw him off to war in the summer of 1918. He had finished eight years of schooling and was working as a tinsmith at the Pullman Car Factory on Broadway Avenue in Buffalo when he departed for European front.  He was inducted into the Army 87th Division Battery B 336th Field Artillery in Hamburg, NY on May, 25th, 1918. Three months later, on August 27th, he boarded the HMS Mauritania, a luxury liner leased as a troop carrier, in Hoboken, N.J.  

Not much is known about his experience in the war. He never talked about it to his grandchildren. One heard he was in the foxholes in the Argonne Forest. One heard he was a mechanic for the field artillery's fleet of vehicles. But, thankfully, he came home in March of 1919 with an honorable discharge and no disabilities. 

He married his sweetheart, Catherine Moeller, in 1921, and raised three children, Raymond, Dorothy, and Lorain. Hank continued to work at the Pullman Company, became a foreman, and retired with a railroad pension. He was an active member of the Ebenezer Evangelical and Reformed Church on Main St. in Ebenezer and was also a volunteer fireman.

Hank’s nine grandchildren adored him. He always had a twinkle in his eye, told great tales (but not of the war) and was known as a practical joker.  His grandchildren are honored to remember “Papa” and to tell his story 100 years later.

Photos and biography generously shared by the grandchildren of Henry A. Zarnikau