Swiss Couple Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin Found Preserved In Glacier 75 Years After Going Missing

Two bodies belonging to a couple who went missing in the Swiss Alps 75 years ago were recently found in a receding glacier near the home where they once lived.

Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin went out to milk their cows on a meadow near their home in the Canton of Valais in Switzerland on August 15, 1942. They never returned.

Their bodies were discovered next to each other last week by an employee of Glacier 3000, who also happened to find a backpack and other items most likely belonging to the couple.

“The bodies were lying near each other. It was a man and a woman wearing clothing dating from the period of World War Two,” Bernhard Tschannen, the director of Glacier 3000 told local media. “They were perfectly preserved in the glacier and their belongings were intact.”

 

The Dumoulins were parents to seven children, the youngest of whom is now 79-years-old.

Marceline Udry-Dumoulin, the youngest child, spoke to the Le Matin, a local paper, about the disappearance of her parents. After they went missing, her and her siblings started to fall out of touch but they all maintained hope in one day finding their guardians.

“We spent our whole lives looking for them,” Udry-Dumoulin told the paper. “I can say that after 75 years of waiting, this news gives me a deep sense of calm.”

Around the time of her parent’s disappearance, Udry-Dumoulin went out to look for them on they very glacier they were found at least three times.

“We thought that we could give them the funeral they deserved one day.”

Udry-Dumoulin has also begun to make plans for the funeral.

“I think that white would be more appropriate [to wear to the funeral]. It represents hope, which I never lost,” she said.

A DNA test has yet to be conducted on the bodies but should be completed sometime in the coming weeks.