Service histories and news accounts
Goodwin J. Anderson
Back In Civilian Clothes
Goodwin Anderson, chief petty officer, is back in civilian clothes after serving three years and eight months with the Naval Reserve and 28 months of that time at sea aboard LST boats Nos. 243 and 1069 and LCI 209. Most of this time he was in the Pacific. In the amphibious branch of the Navy, Goodwin landed troops and supplies for the invasions of Tarawa in the Gilberts, Kwajalein in the Marshalls, Saipan and Guam in the Marianas, Hollandia Bay on New Guinea, and Pelileu island in the Palau group. He was off the island of Samar in the Philippines when he received his leave notice, landed in San Francisco Sept. 22, came on to Minneapolis and received his discharge there. Goodwin was engaged in ship’s control work.
Son of Mrs. G. B. Anderson of Whitehall, he has also joined his wife and daughter who have been residing with her parents, the Helmer Nyens at Blair during his absence. Goodwin is thinking of continuing his education now that he is back on a civilian status.
(La Crosse Tribune, Oct. 10, 1945)
Lester Bergum
Whitehall Pilot Drops Troops On Normandy Peninsula Beach
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —News coming from a Ninth Air Force Troop Carrier Base in the European Theater of Operations says that participating in his third invasion since coming overseas, 1st Lieut. Lester N. Bergum, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Bergum of Whitehall, took an active part in the initial landing of Allied troops during the invasion of Europe.
A pilot of a C-47 aircraft, his plane was among the first to reach the continent, spearheading the actual amphibious invasion by dropping paratroops on the Normandy peninsula several hours before the ground troops landed.
Back at his home base after the mission, he described the invasion as “the greatest show on earth.” He added, “We carried troops and supplies into France and up until the time we dropped them everything went well. There was small arms fire but nothing much more than that. But when we turned for home it seemed as if all hell broke loose up there.
“On looking back I still don't see how we got out of it with so little damage. Searchlights played on our planes in the vicinity of the drop zone, and we could see paratroopers jumping out of some. We could see fires below us and at us came more machine gun fire and flak than I have ever seen. It was a monstrous exhibition, except that I kept realizing that this was the real thing.”
Flying through flak was no new experience for this troop carrier pilot, however, since troop carrier units have been active since the early phases of the war in glider and paratroop operations. The IX Troop Carrier Command, of which he is a member, is part of the Ninth Ail- Force, U. S. component of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force.
Lieut. Bergum, formerly of Blair, is a graduate of Whitehall high school and Los Angeles City College in California. Before entering the service Jan. 18, 1942, he was employed in the Los Angeles post office. He was awarded the Air Medal and one Oak Leaf cluster for participation in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.
Roy B. Christianson
Technician fifth grade U.S. Army Third Army, inducted June 18, 1941, discharged August 1945.
Aug. 8, 1945
Whitehall Man
Tells Horrors of
German Camp
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— The taking of Nordhausen, Germany, and finding there one of the Naziconcentration camps is only one of the vivid memories of Technician Fifth Grade Roy Christianson’s experiences with the 32nd armored regiment of the Third Armored or “Spearhead” division.
Christianson, who arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Magnus Christianson, Whitehall, Friday with his discharge on 104 points, was the driver of a gasoline truck.
The Third Armored found hundreds of corpses in the concentration camp, lying in contorted heaps in the dirt or straw, naked or half stripped, mouths gaping, Christianson said. A German guard at the camp was captured and made some confessions, he said.
The guard told how the Germans would take the half-dead prisoners and lay them face down in long rows. Then guards would march along the row, shooting each prisoner through the head. The first row disposed of in this manner, they lay boards over them and lay the next consignment over the boards, killing them in the same manner.
They laid the prisoners four deep in this manner, then threw gasoline over the heap and set fire to the corpses. Christianson saw such a heap all ready to be burned when the division stormed the camp.
Living Among the Dead
These were political prisoners and slave labor from all nations. Snapshots brought back by American soldiers bear out these facts, Christianson said. Most horrible was the sight of the living among the dead, sunken-eyed skeletons moaning weakly and babbling in delirium, he said. Filth was everywhere.
The Nordhausen prisoners constructed V-l robots and V-2 weapons as well as parts for Junkers airplane motors. It was also reported that a few of the political prisoners were segregated and put to work on V-3 manufacture but were finally murdered to preserve the secret of what they had seen, the Whitehall man declared.
SS guards were, there to discourage lagging and slackers were periodically hung as object lessons. The starving prisoners received only four ounces of black bread and a liter of soup each dfly, dragging along on this fare as long as they could and then were left to die unattended, ready for the crematory. The piles of bodies found lying in the compound by the Third Armored were those the guards had not had time to dispose of.
Soldier Killed
He told of how an American soldier to whom he was talking was killed. Christianson was hauling a load of gasoline and stopped to ask the soldier his way. They were standing near a building, when suddenly he heard an explosion. He looked up to see the roof of the building topple in, hit by a German high explosive shell.
The other soldier “hit the ground.” Thinking he had done it for safety’s sake, Christianson said to him, “You can get up now, it’s over.” The buddy did not answer—a fragment had gone into his back and way through his body to come out the front of his chest. Christianson received nicks in his hands from the explosion, his only wounds in the war.
Corporal Christianson saw his first action at St. Lo and has battle stars for Normandy, northern France, the Ardennes bulge, Rhineland and Central Europe. He was inducted June 18, 1941, and was stationed at Camp Polk, La., in the California desert on maneuvers; at Camp Pickett, Va., and at Indiantown Gap, Pa., before going overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., September 5, 1943. He was stationed in England until June 20, 1944, when he went into action at St. Lo. On April 8, 1942, he married Versey Clark of Manny, La.,, and she and their daughter, Shirley Ann, have resided there during his absence.
He is now in Louisiana to bring them to Whitehall.
Elwood Dahl
Pfc Ellwood Dahl Is German War Prisoner
Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Dahl of Pleasantville received a card from their son, Pfc Ellwood Dahl, 24, on Thursday informing them that he is a prisoner in Germany. Ellwood’s wife, the former Leona Fischer, who resides in Whitehall, had received word Jan. 20 that he was missing in action since Dec. 20, but no further word of him had been received from him or the War Department until this card arrived. The card, pencilled in his own handwriting and dated Jan. 9, 1945, at “Kregsgefangenenlage, Camp des prisonniers,” said, “I am now a prisoner in Germany. I hope you have been informed by now. I am well and hope you all are too. Will you please try and send me a package. Ask the Red Cross on what you can send, also for my address. I am sorry to say that I missed out on my Christmas package. Write when you can. All my love.”
Pfc Ellwood was with the infantry and was believed to be in Luxembourg when taken prisoner during the big German drive. He has been overseas for about 14 months and was first stationed in England. He entered service in October, 1942.
Ellwood’s brother, Pfc Elmo Dahl, 31, was killed in action June 11, 1944, in Normandy.
Karl Eggum
Inducted into U.S.Army July 1942
PFC Karl W. Eggum, only son of Attorney and Mrs. O. J. Eggum of Whitehall, is stationed somewhere in Alaska with the ground service of the aviation corps. He was stationed in four states, Illinois, Wyoming, Indiana and California, before being sent abroad, and has been in the service only since last August. He is an airplane mechanic and took his training in that line at Nashville. Ind. Karl left Seattle, north-bound, Jan. 17.
Transferred to Fairbanks
Word has come to Mr. and Mrs. Ole Eggum from their son Karl that he has been transferred from Kodiak Island to Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. There he found an accumulation of mechanical work which will keep him busy.
As corporal, Karl had complete charge of all the details connected with the moving of a small group of men and their equipment, their sleeping and eating accommodations, and personal conduct. He reports that the splendid co-operation of his buddies made it an agreeable task. He describes the city of Fairbanks as having grand streets, modern stores, and a prosperous, well-kept appearance. There Karl found a new swimming pool which he will enjoy. He says that the camp equipment is superior to any he has encountered, and he was glad to find there a number of soldiers whom he had met during his Alaskan wanderings..
Shortly before his transfer from Kodiak Island, Karl had his first experience in deep sea fishing. The Army loaned the use of a sea-going craft and its crew and 15 soldiers from his camp had a full Sunday of rare sport. Karl sent home pictures of himself with the first halibut he caught, of the boat, the crew and the men. After the mountain climbing, hunting and fishing afforded by Kodiak Island, he is now having the new experience of living and working in the sophisticated metropolis of Fairbanks.
His address is slightly changed and henceforth his mail will be sent in care of the postmaster, Minneapolis.
(Oct. 9, 1944)
Arthur Elstad
Captain Visits Old Home
Another captain from Whitehall is Arthur C. Elstad, son of Mrs. Melvin Elstad, who is stationed at Camp Grant, Ill., as chief oral surgeon at the station hospital. Captain Elstad visited his mother, his sister, Mrs. Walter Draeger, whose husband is in the service, and his brother, H. J. Elstad here this week. The latter, now Whitehall city clerk, is a veteran of World War I, having served overseas. Captain Elstad also has another brother, Edward Elstad of Cleveland, Ohio, who is a veteran of the first World War.
Elstad is a graduate of Whitehall High school and Loyola University in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1929. He has practiced his profession, dentistry, at Urbana, Cullom and Rockford, Ill., and was at the latter place when enlisting and donning his uniform on March 11, 1943. As Camp Grant is near Rockford he resides at home with his family, which consists of his wife, a son and a daughter. He attended Loyola University at the same time as Captain S. B. Ivers of Whitehall, now on the staff of Percy Jones General Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich., and Dr. Elmo Brennom, a practicing dentist in down-town Chicago.
Lloyd Engen
Pvt. USA, 10th Mountain Div., Italy late 1944-45, transferred to front lines March 13, 1945, Po Valley campaign
Pvt. Lloyd C. Engen has arrived in Italy according to his mother, Mrs. Henry G. Engen. He is with an infantry company.
Receive Souvenirs from Soldier Now on Italian Front
WHITEHALL, Wto. (Special)—A box of souvenirs arrived this week intact from Pvt. Lloyd Engen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Engen, who will have been in the Army a year in April but has already been in Italy over three months. He is 19 and a graduate of Whitehall high school.
Lloyd said he had received a letter from Duane Keilholtz of Whitehall, who is also in Italy, but the two had not been able to see each other as yet. He had also met Sgt. Rudolph Davidson of Osseo, who has been over there three years, and they had had a couple of afternoons together. Davidson is a veteran of the African, Sicilian as well as Italian campaigns.
Pvt. Engen took his training at Camp Hood, Tex., and Port Benning, Ga. He is doing carpenter detail, be said, while awaiting a call to the front.
Local Lads Meet In Italy
Pfc Lloyd Engen, who was located at Predil, Italy, at the time he wrote recently to his mother, Mrs. Henry G. Engen, said that he had finally located Cpl. Jackie DeBow of Whitehall. Both were members of the 10th Mountain Division that spearheaded the drive into the Po Valley which resulted in the surrender of the enemy in Italy. The boys were pretty happy to get together and talk about home.
Lloyd has had an opportunity to visit many of the famous Italian cities, among them Venice. He sent pictures of the kind of gondola in which he had ridden in the Grand Canal. He said Venice had hardly been hit by bombs and the people there appeared to be fairly wrell off. On the other hand, he said the people in the small settlements near where he was camped at the moment liked cat and dog meat better than chicken and also ate horses and mules.
According to what he had heard, Lloyd said he expected to be with the army of occupation in Italy until November.
Transferred To Battle Line On Italian Front
Pvt. Lloyd C. Engen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Engen, who has now been in Italy about five months, was transferred up to the front lines March 13, according to a letter received on the 12th, in which he said he was slated to leave the following day. He mentioned his regret at not being able to attend Easter services at home as usual and sent his mother birthday greetings, adding that he hoped to spend her next birthday with her.
Pvt. Engen had been near the war zone for some time. He mentioned in a previous letter having visited Cassino, the scene of one of the Italian campaign’s greatest battles, and found very few buildings still standing. He spoke of seeing homeless families both at Cassino and Pisa, which he also visited, and children running in the streets with scarcely any clothing. All the homes are built of stone, he said. He was sleeping in tents that were very much air-conditioned and using candles for light at night.
One day he had watched a game of soccer being played. He spoke of the high prices over there, eggs being 30 cents each and shoes costing $100 or more.
The homes have fireplaces in them for heat, he said, and only brush to burn. Many of the homes have cows, horses, pigs and poultry in them, the animals having the ground floor, the people residing upstairs. Travel is on foot, by horse cart or bicycle.
Florence and Leghorn he also found in ruins. There are scarcely any stores left in the bombed and ruined cities.
He described a 22-mile hike his infantry company had taken into the mountains, starting at 8 a. m. and walking four hours to reach the top over winding roads, which were flanked on both sides by fields of grapevines.
Pvt. Engen has sent home many souvenirs, among them all kinds of Italian money. Until he was transferred to the front lines Lloyd was engaged at carpenter work on a recreation hall which was being added to the army camp at that point.
Milan Engen
Awarded Bronze Star in France
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special) —T/Sgt. Milan Engen, son of B. M. Engen of Whitehall, has been awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service on the fighting fronts in France. The medal was awarded by Gen. Walker.
Engen. who is a supply sergeant with a headquarters company, has been in France since early July. He left last January for overseas, first being stationed in England. His sister, Miss Myrtle Engen of Whitehall, believes that he has been in Paris and that he follows closely the invading armies. He wrote of their capturing 100,000 sheepskin coats that the Germans had stored in a warehouse and of other supplies that the enemy was forced to abandon.
Sgt. Engen, graduate of Whitehall High School and Whitewater State Teachers College, was engaged in teaching commercial subjects in the Milwaukee high schools at the time that he entered service in January 1942. He received his training at Camp Young, Calif., and Camp Campbell, Ky., before going overseas. His wife, the former Ruth Kussman of Ripon, whom he married in May 1940, is teaching this year at Scandinavia.
Besides his father and sister, Sgt. Engen has one brother residing in Whitehall, Mervin Engen, a brother, Theodore, at Mondovi, a brother, Ernest, in Madison, and a brother, Irvin, who is teaching at Milwaukee.
Dallas Erickson
Job with the shipyard in Seattle, Wash., October 1942
Marine Returns Home From Pacific War Zone
PFC Dallas Erickson, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Erickson of Whitehall, who received his discharge from the Marine Corps at Cherry Point, N. C., Nov. 16 with 51 points, entered service at Milwaukee March 9, 1943, by enlistment. He received his boot training at San Diego, Calif., and attending service school at Norman, Okla. He left for the Pacific war zone Feb. 2, 1944, stopped at New Caledonia for one week, then went to the New Hebrides, where he was stationed for six months. Later he was transferred to Peleliu in the Palau island group, where he remained eight months. He was a member of the Marine Air Group 11, engaged in aircraft repair work.
Dallas returned to the States in June, 1945, after having spent 16 months overseas. Following a 30-day furlough at home he reported to Cherry Point., where he was stationed four months before he became eligible for discharge. He has the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Service Ribbon with one Bronze Battle Star for the Peleliu campaign. He also has the World War II Victory Medal.
PFC Conrad Johnstad of Pigeon Falls was on Peleliu at the same time as Erickson and they saw each other frequently. Johnstad is still stationed there. Dallas has a brother in the service, Sherman, who is with the Army Signal Corps in India.
Dallas hopes to attend school commencing with the fall term in 1946 and will take commercial art.
Paul Erickson
WHITEHALL, Wis,, (Special)— PFC Paul Erickson, 21-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson of Lincoln, has been awarded the Bronze Star, according to a letter which his folks received this week. PFC Erickson has been stationed on Bougainville since March and took part in the capture of that island. He is with the infantry and left for overseas last September, being stationed at New Caledonia; before his active combat, he had been in the service since March 13.
Friends Meet On Bougainville
PFC Paul Erickson Is still on Bougainville where there is plenty of action, according to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson. For the first time since last September he has seen some one from home, Archie Nelson of Blair. The two boys crossed the ocean together but were separated a week after reaching New Caledonia, not to meet again until March.
Paul got two Easter greeting cards from the Red Cross which he sent to his parents and to his grandmother, Mrs. Ole Erickson. In that jungleland, he has written, nothing can be purchased but the boys have managed to get some candy and all the cigarettes they need at five cents a package. Paul has been short of stationery and has been using some issued by the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Commission of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, while awaiting the arrival of a quantity sent to him by his folks.
In his last letter home Paul enclosed a prayer-poem issued to the boys by Philip D. Spioss, chaplain of his infantry company.
Pfc. Paul Erickson, 22-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson, Whitehall, took part in the capture of Manila with an infantry company, his parents have learned. They wrote him that Maj. Charles Leasum of Trempealeau County was among the first prisoners released after the Americans returned to the Philippines and he replied that had he known that, he could have talked to him. Paul is a machine gunner and may have been with the group that liberated these prisoners. He is a veteran of Guadalcanal and Bougainville and has been in the Pacific nearly two years.
SENDS PURPLE HEART HOME
Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson received the Purple Heart from their son Paul Saturday, who is on Luzon. Paul has been wounded twice but to what extent he has never told except that the first one was slight. His last letter was date Aug. 6 from the Cagayan valley.
Sherman Erickson
India Not Romantic Country, According To Whitehall Vet
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —India is not the romantic country that it is pictured to be by novelists and historians of the country, according to T5 Sherman Erickson, who just spent 18 1/2 months there. A great deal of it is desert and everywhere there is dirt and grime, he said. Natives are ragged and dirty and the climate is bad, being hot and dry, he added.
Erickson diversified his stay there, however, with several pleasure trips. One was a thousand miles by air to Bahrein island in the Persian Gulf, where Everett Everson was stationed. As soon as he ascertained just where Everson was, he secured a three-day pass and a plane ride to the spot. He failed, however, to see Allen Getts, who was stationed in Iran in one of the hottest spots on earth.
Visited Rest Camp
He also enjoyed a vacation at a rest camp up in the Himalyas, visited the famous Khyber Pass and visited many of the various Indian temples on tours arranged for the soldiers.
Erickson was attached to the communications system of the Air Transport Command and most of his work was teletyping. He was stationed most of the time at Assam and Karachi. He had an opportunity to fly across the hump into China on a sightseeing trip but the trip was dangerous and he didn’t venture on it.
Since he entered the service three years ago, he has been two-thirds of the way around the world. After entering the service in March, 1943, he was stationed most of the time at Austin, Tex., with the signal corps before leaving for overseas.
Travelled Over Pacific
He boarded ship in Virginia and travelled through the Panama canal and over the Pacific to Bombay. He hoped to come home through the Mediterranean but returned by another Pacific route.
He received his discharge at Camp McCoy Friday but was beaten home by several weeks by his brother Dallas, who served in the Pacific war zone with the Marine Corps. He expects to return to work with the Green Bay and Western Railroad as telegraph operator.
James Everson
Seaman, stationed in Hawaii Dec 1942
Escape Of Japs From Kiska Still A Mystery
Whitehall Sailor On Patrol Duty There Home On 14-Day Furlough
James Everson, 1st class petty officer with the U. S. Navy, arrived unexpectedly Saturday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Everson, on a 14-day furlough. He has been on the high seas most of the time since a year ago in May, nine months of which he spent in the Aleutians.
Looking better than he ever did in his life before in spite of the hard life he has lead since going into the service, Jim described some of his experiences in traveling practically all over the Pacific. He was present at both the battles of Attu and Kiska but personally never received a scratch. Questioned about how well the Japs were entrenched at Kiska, he admitted that they had a system of underground fortifications, including a hospital three miles long. The entire area held by the Japs until they mysteriously disappeared after they saw they were defeated was probably about 15 by 10 miles. Jim, who was aboard a destroyer during the battle of Kiska, said that his fleet of five or six ships were not aware of how the Japs escaped but they could have gone via submarines, although that seemed impossible considering the thousands of them supposed to be entrenched there.
Pilot’s Grave Marked
There were not many casualties as a result of Kiska and the Americans found no Jap graves, but they did discover the grave of an American pilot who had been shot down. The Japs buried him and erected a marker over his grave.
The harbor at Kiska is very good, Jim said, but the Americans had to fight the foggy weather all the time as well as the Japs. The climate is very disagreeable and battling was made difficult on account of poor visibility.
Jim said that In the course of about a month at Kiska, he experienced 13 air raids. Asked what it was like to be bombed from the sky, he said they were frightened naturally, but they were so busy during the course of the raids that they had no time to mentally register much about them. They lasted perhaps five minutes, the planes flying over in succession and dropping their deadly shells. There was no sound from the shells riding down through the air but the explosion when they struck made up for that. Everything on Kiska was torn up by the time it was all over, he said, but the fleet of destroyers was intact. Only seven Japs were taken prisoner, while some killed themselves rather than be taken.
Describing the life of a sailor, Jim said a ship may ride the seas for months without combat and then suddenly go into battle. But during the course of a battle, every man aboard lives a lifetime.
Shell Enemy Craft
Jim is radar operator on a destroyer that usually travels in convoys. He told vaguely about his ship sending shells into enemy snips, aircraft, etc., but he said his own destroyer had not been given credit for bringing down any particular craft, even though he felt that credit was due the gunners that are assigned to the same boat with him.
Mr. Everson has not seen any one he knew on his travels except Glen Hamilton, also of the Navy, whom he met while Glen was stationed in the Hawaiians. It was while Jim was on those islands soon after putting to sea that he underwent a major operation at a naval hospital and made a successful recovery. At one time he spent three days on a South Pacific island where, he afterward learned, Marine Nels Hegge was located. Unfortunately neither knew about the other’s presence.
In April, before he was out on his last cruise, which extended until September, Jim saw Robert Hanson of York in San Diego, who is in the Marines. He has also seen Mrs. Richard Ferhart in San Francisco, the Edwin Mattsons at Long Beach, the Dale Schmudlachs, Leonard Knudtsons, Percy Thompsons, Freddie Hoffs and the other local families now residing in California.
Jim thinks that we have already licked the Japs but “it will take a couple of years to convince them of the fact,” he prophesied, adding that it will be a long job if the Japs are to be cleaned out island by island. He believes a better plan than that should be organized.
After the war is over Mr. Everson looks eagerly forward to returning to civilian life in preference to staying in the Navy, “it may be a little hard to settle down at first,” he thought, but for all of that, civilian life is the life for him.
Walter Everson
Enlisted in Naval Reserve December 1941, training as airplane machine gunner May 1942.
Earns 52 Points For Discharge From Navy
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —More than the required 44 points for discharge from the Navy were earned by Chief Storekeeper Walter Everson, son of Mrs. Anna Everson of Whitehall, so he chose to leave the service and arrived back in Whitehall this week from Great Lakes, Ill., with his papers. Attached to the naval forces, he had 52 points.
Everson entered service Jan. 6. 1942, as storekeeper third class, enlisting at Minneapolis. He received training at Great Lakes. Ill., and was stationed at the naval air fields at Sanford and Jacksonville, Fla., and Beufort, S. C., before spending 14 months in actual overseas duty.
He also spent about a year in semi-overseas duty. During the latter time he was stationed in the States but made trips to various stations overseas where he had charge of aviation supply detachments. While on overseas duly he flew the South Atlantic and adjacent waters on a patrol plane.
Elmo Fjeld
Enlisted U.S. Aramy February 1942.
Earns Conduct Medal
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —The good conduct medal for faithful and exact performance of duty has been awarded to Pfc. Elmo Fjeld, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld of Whitehall, according to a message from the headquarters of the air transport command, Pacific division. He is stationed in the Hawaiian Islands.
Fjeld Brothers Sergeants In the Army
T/Sgt. Ernest Fjeld arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld Monday evening from Camp McCoy with his Army discharge. Shortly before that he had arrived in Seattle from Japan, having served overseas since August, 1944. His brother Elmo, who has just been promoted to sergeant, is still stationed in Hawaii. They entered service at the same time in February, 1942, and were stationed at Monroe, La., for 1 1/2 years as switchboard operators. Then they were separated, met later at Kearns, Utah, only to be separated again when they went overseas. Ernest thought at first he would re-enlist in the army but has changed his mind.
Ernest Fjeld
Enlisted U.S. Army February 1942
PROMOTED TO CORPORAL
Ernest R. Fjeld, serving in a combat communications unit somewhere in the Netherlands East Indies, was recently promoted to corporal. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld of Whitehall.
Cpl. Fjeld is a member of the Signal organization, “The Triple Wingers,” which provided vital communications for the headquarters of Brig. Gen. Paul H. Prentiss’ Troop Carrier Command and their forward airfields. Forward detachments have been of aid to the 5th Air Force Troop Carriers in hauling freight, dropping supplies, evacuating wounded, and transporting essential personnel to and from the front.
Cpl. Fjeld has been awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon since arriving overseas in November, 1944. At present he is switchboard operator in a headquarters telephone central.
Ernest Fjeld In East Indies Made Corporal
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) —Ernest R. Fjeld, serving in a combat communications unit somewhere in the Netherlands East Indies, has recently been promoted to corporal, according to a dispatch from the 5th Air Force in the Southwest Pacific. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Fjeld of Whitehall.
Corp. Fjeld has been awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon since going overseas in November. 1944. At present he is switchboard operator in a headquarters telephone central. In civilian life he was employed on a farm in Independence. His brother, Pfc. Elmo Fjeld, is also a switchboard operator somewhere in the Pacific. The two boys were together for many months at Monroe, Tex., before they were separated to go overseas.
Hillis Ford
Son Writes First Time In 17 Weeks
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) — Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Ford received letters this week from their son, Pfc. Hillis Ford, for the first time in 17 weeks. Pvt. Ford left the States last August bound for a South Pacific base, and for four months he did not receive mail, nor was he able to dispatch any, and he did not set foot on land until arriving at his destination, where a quantity of mail awaited him. Hillis is with the 2nd Marine Air Corps.
Janice Foss
Lieut. U.S. Army Nurses Corps, served 18 months in England
ANC Assignment
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)—Lieut. Janice A. Foss. ANC, recently was assigned to general nurse duty at McCaw General Hospital, Walla Walla, Wash., following 18 months of overseas service. Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benone Foss of Fly Creek, she has a brother, Corp. Francis Foss, who is with the 2nd Marine Division in the Southwest Pacific.
Lieut. Foss is a graduate of Kahler Hospital, Rochester, Minn., and served on private duty here for a year before going to Schick General hospital, Clinton, Ia. Commissioned in the Army Nurse Corps June 22, 1943, she went to England with the 313th Station Hin December of the same year. In August, 1944, she was transferred to the 67th General Hospital at Taunton, England, where she remained until January of this year, when she went to the 112th General Hospital in Devonshire, England. She returned to the states in June, had a month's leave with her family before going to McCaw Aug. 16. She wears the European Theater Ribbon.
In England
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— Lieutenant Janice A. Foss, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benoni Foss. Fly Creek, is the first Army nurse from Whitehall to be sent to foreign service. In a letter to her parents, Lieutenant Foss stated that she was in England.
Lieutenant Foss is a graduate of Whitehall High school and of the Kahler Hospital School of Nursing, Rochester, Minn. She was employed at the Kahler Hospital and was on private duty in Rochester for more than a year before enlisting early last summer.
She was stationed at Schick Hospital, Clinton, Iowa, and for a short time at the 313th Station Hospital, Camp Rucker, Ozark. Ala., before being sent overseas a few weeks ago. She has one brother in the service, Private First Class Francis Foss, who is stationed at the Marine base at San Diego. Calif.
Clifford Fremstad
Aviation cadet U.S. Army Air Corps, Kelly Field, Tex., July 1942; graduated from bombardier school Jan 1942, commissioned 2nd lieut.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Fremstad report a slightly changed address for heir son, Lt. Clifford Fremstad, who is located somewhere in England. They have also learned that the airplane to which Fremstad was originally assigned was shot down on a mission over enemy territory and the pilot killed. Clifford did not go on the mission as he was selected to take further training. He went overseas as a bombardier but has now been studying navigation.
Ernest Fremstad
Staff Sgt. Service Co. 128th Infantry, 32nd Division, Camp Livingston, La. December 1941
S. Sgt. Ernest M. Fremstad, formerly stationed at Camp Grant, 111., now has an APO address out of New York.
Two Pigeon Veterans Home From Overseas
S/Sgt. Ernest Fremstad returned from overseas on the troop ship USS Wakefield and arrived in Boston on Thanksgiving Day. From there he went to Camp Miles Standish and then to Fort Sheridan, Ill., where he was discharged on Nov. 27, 1945. He has the American Defense ribbon. American theatre ribbon, European theatre ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal.
S/Sgt. Fremstad entered service cu Oct. 8, 1940, and received training at Camps Livingston and Beauregard, La., and in February 1942, he was transferred to Fort Devens, Mass. In December, 1942, he joined the First Service Command Headquarters at Boston, where he was stationed until April, 1944. In September 1944, he left for overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., with the 168th General Hospital Unit and landed in Glasgow, Scotland. In April, 1945, he was transferred to the Labor Supervision Company and also took care of a PW stockade over there. He has also been in France, Belgium and Germany and was in the battle at Metz for 10 days.
Thurman M. Fremstad
Whitehall, Wis. — (Special) — Thurman M. Fremstad (above), son of Mr. and Mrs. Torvald Fremstad, Whitehall, who was graduated April 29 at the AAF Training Command Bombardier school at the San Angelo Air Field, San Angelo, Texas, and received his commission as a second lieutenant in the air corps, was given special recognition for having the highest academic record in the graduating class. His record also was highest ever achieved in any graduating class at that field. He has a brother. Lieutenant Clifford L. Fremstad, with the Army air force in England, and younger brother, Bennie, who will be graduated May 18 at the Whitehall High school, and has enlisted in the Navy, and is awaiting call for training under the V-5 program. Mrs. Fremstad, the former Fredricka Hoff, Whitehall and Ettrick, recently joined her husband at San Angelo.
Norman Gabriel
Enlisted in the Tank Corps of the U.S. Army November 1942. Cpl. U.S. Army, with first Rangers to occupy Sicily and Italy, Anzio beachhead.
Sicilian Invasion, Writes
Son, Was “Good Hunting”
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special)— For the first time since the invasion of Sicily began, Mrs. August Gabriel heard this week from her son, Pvt. Norman Gabriel of the Rangers.
Gabriel, 21, went overseas this spring and was stationed in North Africa until the invasion. Originally in a medium tank company, he switched to the Rangers after arriving overseas.
Three letters that came to the family here Monday and Tuesday told how Norman was with one of the first companies to land on Sicily.
“I was the third one off our landing boat,” he wrote, and added, “Boy, was I scared! Another buddy and I got ourselves 20 prisoners and I took 26 alone, so I had good hunting that day. We were under some artillery fire a couple of times but it didn’t last long. All in all, we did pretty well. Our losses were not very heavy. I came out of it okay except for a piece of shrapnel in my arm. The wound is just about healed now, so I am ready for more. We are lying low for a rest now, and I sure need it.”
Norman speaks of his former pal, Jim Elding of Platteville, Wis.. who was transferred to a different Ranger battalion before the invasion. He had not heard from him since the invasion and wondered about his welfare.
“This country isn’t much better than Africa,” he commented, speaking of the dry and hot weather. "The people are starved and they are awful pests. They seem to think that we are made of food and cigarettes.” He mentioned the beauty of the native girls, who, however, are afraid of the American soldiers. He speaks of seeing many people there who have lived in America at one time and can speak English, and told of having a spaghetti dinner with one family.
Norman acknowledges pictures he has received from home and asks for more. “Send one of Main street. I want to see what it looks like again,” he begged. He spoke of expecting his pay in a few days which he had not received since leaving Ft. Knox, Ky., months ago, where he took his basic training. He says he is going to send it home I because he has no use for it there.
He tells his mother, “I want you to have a good vacation with it because I owe it to you, and much more.”
Young Gabriel was in the employ of the Briggs Transfer Co. when drafted into service a year ago. After taking his basic training at Ft. Knox, Ky., he was located a short while at Shenanngo, Pa., and Camp Kilmer, NJ., before being sent overseas.
Another young soldier from this area who took part in the invasion of Sicily has also been heard from. V. B. Negard of York received a letter last week from Pvt. Milton Lee, mailed from Sicily On July 28. Lee, also one of the first to land on the island, wrote interestingly of conditions there and spoke especially of the primitive methods of harvesting used by the natives.
Norman Gabriel With Anzio Invasion Forces
A letter comes to The Times from PFC Norman Gabriel, on the Anzio Beachhead, Italy. Dated Feb. 26, the letter said, “By now you probably have heard we Rangers made another landing below Rome. Our assault wave went in first and met no resistance in the town. By daybreak we had complete control and then we came in with our half-tracks. While coming into the harbor ‘Jerry’ had moved up guns and pushed us back to the sea twice. That night in town we were shelled constantly so we slept under our tracks. The following day we pushed on and met very little resistance. However, the following morning ‘Jerry’ staged seven air attacks and we saw some thrilling dog fights and also got a chance to use our 50-calibre antiaircraft guns. In the afternoon we went out on a firing mission and knocked out a big enemy gun. The following morning we were called out at four o’clock, eliminating enemy vehicles and about 50 foot-troopers. But they began to shoot back so we shagged out. All in all we were doing pretty well until we tried to take a town. The leading track hit a mine. Three of our boys made it back but three were captured. The next morning I was driving the lead track and Lt. Davey was standing beside me. The ‘Jerrys’ started opening up with machine guns and rifles. Lt. Davey raised above the shield and was shot above the heart. He died about 15 minutes later. In the afternoon we made an attack and let me tell you the ‘Jerrys’ paid for Lt. Davey’s death. We shot them right in their foxholes. Our boys also got our three buddies who were captured. They will now return to the United States. “That night we celebrated—dressed some turkeys and a pig so we feasted while we rested after the battle.
“Lt. Davey was our only officer since Cpt. Sunstrum left us, and he treated us all like brothers. I even wrecked a “peep” but he didn’t condemn me. He was a regular fellow to us all.”
In closing Norriian said that he receives The Times and states that he certainly appreciates it. He sends his best regards to friends at ' home.
Whitehall Soldier Wounded in Italy
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)—Corporal Norman Gabriel, who for some time has been fighting with the American forces in Italy, said in a letter received by his mother. Mrs. August Gabriel, recently that he had received a couple of shrapnel wounds in his arm, one of them deep, while trying to rescue “a helpless mule.” However, he was not, hospitalized, he said.
Corporal Gabriel was with the first Rangers that landed in Sicily and later in Italy. While with that group he drove mechanized equipment. At present he is chauffeur for his commanding officer.
Whitehall Soldier In French Hospital With Slight Burns
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Mr. and Mrs. August Gabriel received a letter from an Army hospital in France this week informing them that their son, Corp. Norman Gabriel, is a patient there suffering with burns on the hands received when a gas stove exploded in his vicinity. The letter was written by a hospital employe at Gabriel’s dictation, and he said his burns were not severe, although he did not disclose their extent.
Veteran of more than two years overseas and holder of the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Gabriel began fighting in North Africa and was one of the first wave of Rangers to land on Sicily in the capture of that island.
Later, he fought in Italy and while driving a half-track on the Anzio beachhead, he narrowly escaped death when his lieutenant, riding beside him, was shot and killed by a sniper. He was transferred to France and has now been assigned to an infantry regiment.
Wins Recognition On Foreign Battle Fronts
The Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the European Theatre Campaign Medal with two major operations stars, and an Organization Blue Citation Ribbon, were received by first class mail last week by Mrs. August Gabriel from their son, Cpl. Norman Gabriel, who is now driving a half-track in France after coming through Sicily and the Anzio Beachhead. Norman received shrapnel wounds twice, the first time in Sicily which he entered as a Ranger, and the second time on the Anzio beach- head.
Norman, former Briggs Transfer employee here, had been overseas several months before the Sicily campaign in the summer of 1943 and during that campaign he lost his dog tag. His mother has worried about that ever since, wondering if he applied for and received a new one.
Norman went into Italy soon after that campaign was started and was switched to an artillery company. Lieut. O. W. Davey of his company was the censor who took care of all his mail. Lieut. Davey’s father had been killed in World War 1 so that his son, born when he was overseas, never saw him. During the Anzio battle Lieut. Davey was riding on the half-track with Norman one day when he was shot and slumped over onto Gabriel, dead, so that his small son back in the state of Ohio will never see his father either. Norman wrote that the enemy took a shot at him next but missed and hit a cow instead.
Gabriel has also lost two other close pals, one who was killed when his tank was hit and the other a prisoner. Another pal, Charles Balcum of Silverton, Ohio, is shown on pictures which Norman has sent home of himself and his pals. One snapshot shows the boys posing on captured German tanks.
Cpl. Gabriel has named his half-track Asmaralda. He was sent into France for the invasion there and likes that country better than Italy, according to a letter received by his folks Thursday. It was the first they had heard from him since early August.
Alan Getts
PFC U.S. Army stationed in Iran July 1945
OCT 9 - 1944
Summer Brings Daily Dust Storms in Iran
Allan Getts Describes Long Voyage to Old Persia In Letter to His Wife
During the long months that Allan Getts has been in military service, his wife has known that he is in the Asiatic war theatre, but until July 15 Allan was not permitted to designate his exact location. In a letter written that date he gave an interesting description of his travels.
“Yesterday we received a bit of good news as we are now permitted to tell where we are and how we got here. Khorramshahr, which you have no doubt read about, is where I am situated. It is at the southern end of the supply line to Russia. All materials of war going to that nation are unloaded on the dock here and shipped to Russia by rail or truck convoy. If you read Life magazine regularly, you have seen a picture of the river at this point.
On our way to Iran we stopped at three places, although at two of them we did not leave the ship. The first stop was at Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It is the most beautiful harbor in the world. Not being an old sea traveler, I know little about such things, but with the city surrounding the harbor and the mountains towering behind, it presents a sight worth seeing. In fact, sometime when this is over I hope that you and I can go there. I would love to see that sight again.
“After leaving Rio we went to Cape Town, South Africa. That city is also rather pleasant to see. The buildings have white walls with red tile roofs standing out against the hills.
Our last stop and the one that we enjoyed most was Bombay. As you may have guessed, that is the city in India near which we stayed while waiting to be brought on to Iran.
“This briefly covers my travels and will give you an idea of how far I had to come to get here, where a dust storm rages nearly every day during the summer months. I would have preferred to stay at Rio or even Bombay, which would have been paradise alongside of this. Bombay is quite a modern city, having nearly everything to accommodate one that is available in cities in the States. It even has good places to eat, when one gets tired of army chow.”
David Gilbertson
David Gilbertson has completed his V-12 course at the university at Ames, la., and is spending a week with, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John O. Gilbertson, before going to New York City to enter midshipman’s school.
Whitehall Man Commissioned
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —David P. Gilbertson, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Gilbertson of Whitehall, was among 1,135 men commissioned ensigns in the United States Naval Reserve in ceremonies held recently in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City.
The group was the 22nd class to be graduated from the oldest and largest Naval Reserve Officer Training school, and brings the total number of graduates from the Training Center to approximately 20,000.
Principal speaker at the ceremony was Rear Admiral D. C. Ramsey, USN, chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. The officer’s oath was administered by Commodore John K. Richards, USN, Commander, U. S. Naval Reserve Officer Training Center, New York, N. Y.
Ensign Gilbertson arrived Tuesday to spend a short leave with his parents, coming via Ames, la., where he visited friends. He has already received his assignment and will return to the East Coast.
Ensign Gilbertson left Friday for Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., where he has been assigned to a four-week course in communications.
Herbert Gilbertson
Travels 65,000 Miles By Sea
Herbert Gilbertson of the Merchant Marine and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Gilbertson of Milwaukee, came back to their old hometown of Whitehall Sunday for a few days’ visit with relatives and friends. Herbert is just back from sea duty in the Atlantic.
Herbert’s rating in the Merchant Marine is quartermaster. His duty is to steer the ship. The actual work of keeping the ship on its course is accomplished by robot but two quartermasters are always on duty, one following the course and the other on watch. The schedule is four hours on duty and eight hours off.
During the past year Herbert has made seven trips to England, France and Belgium and back to the U. S., traveling a distance of 50,000 miles and a grand total of 65,000 miles on the rolling sea. Being of Viking stock, Herbert has never been seasick, but admits that at times he has been sick of the sea.
Martin Gilbertson
Whitehall Youth To Be Heard Over Air Tonight
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —A/C Martin Gilbertson, son of Adolph Gilbertson of Whitehall, will be heard over the air as a member of a glee club from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, tonight. The program will eminate from WCKY, 1530 on the dial, from 11 to 11:30, and will be the feature of the program that has this call: “Clear Clear Contact, Contact Into the Army Air Corps.” It will be transcribed Wednesday morning and sent by short wave overseas.
Gilbertson took a course in civilian flying while a member of the Reserve and is now in cadet training as a member of the regular Army. He has been studying at Xavier University for six weeks.
Lester Gunderson
Master Sergeant, U.S. Army.
Aug. 30, 1945
Gunderson On Furlough
With Regiment Of 106th Division
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —T. Sgt. Lester Gunderson, who is spending a 30-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gunderson at Pleasantville, was a member of the 424th infantry regiment, the only one of three regiments, belonging to the 106th division, 1st army, in the European theater, that survived.
The other two were destroyed or taken prisoner by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Furthermore more than half of his battalion was lost, although Gunderson himself, a transportation sergeant, came through without a scratch.
Leaving for overseas late last September in the same week that his brother Arthur, Boatswain 3c, left for the Pacific war zone aboard an aircraft carrier, he has four battle stars—for the Ardennes Bulge, Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe.
His outfit retreated in the Bulge battle but pushed on after the breakthrough had been checked so that Lester was near Frankfort on the Rhine when V-E Day came. His company won the meritorious service plaque during the Bulge battle and he also has the certificate of merit for maneuvering a group of vehicles out of an area one night under enemy fire. That was in January, 1945, when German pockets were being cleaned out of Belgium. He also has the combat infantryman’s badge. He was transferred to the 28th division in June.
Lester entered service in February, 1943, and his brother, Arthur, has been in the navy 1 1/2 years. The latter has been home, however, on leave since going to the Pacific war zone as his carrier was damaged by a Jap suicide bomber. He is with the 3rd fleet, which is now reported to be in the Japanese mainland area.
Sgt. Gunderson will report to Camp McCoy Sept. 10, and expects to go from there to Camp Shelby, Miss.
Chewed Madly to Save Lives
Whitehall Sergeant Pulls 'Gum Trick’ to Plug Shrapnel Holes in Jeep Radiator
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)— That Old World chant, “Any gum, chum?” means more to Sergeant Lester N. Gunderson, Whitehall, and two other members of the Lion Division's 424th Infantry Regiment, than it used to, says a recent dispatch from the 106th Infantry Division in Germany received here.
Lieutenant Lester C. Schweinsberg, New Brighton, Pa., transportation officer of the Third Battalion, 424th Regiment; Sergeant Gunderson, a motor sergeant, and Sergeant Fred W. Mast, Pontiac, Mich., were charged with getting a number of vehicles out of a threatened area during the Battles of the Ardennes, the dispatch stated.
As they hopped in a jeep to start rounding up the vehicles, an artillery barrage came thundering down on them. They jumped out, hit the ground fast and “sweated out” the barrage. When they returned to the jeep, they found that shrapnel had left a number of little holes in the radiator, through which the water was gushing out.
“Sergeant Gunderson remembered, a little trick of caulking he had used; when he was a kid, or perhaps he learned it from his father, Alfred Gunderson, who operates a garage at Pleasantville, just north of Whitehall.
“‘Quick,’ he called, ‘Chew up all the gum you have and give it to me.’ So each, pulled out several sticks and chewed madly, with the Germans coming closer and closer. As each stick was mashed up, Gunderson stuffed it into a hole. When all the holes were plugged, they set off again.
“Throughout the trip, the lieutenant sat on the fender giving the radiator ‘transfusions’ from their precious supply of canteen water. They completed their mission, thanks to the field expedient.”
Served Many Months
In European Theatre
Service in the European Theater, from Oct. 21, 1944, until August this year is the record of M|Sgt. Lester N. Gunderson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gunderson of Pleasant- ville, who received his discharge at Fort Custer, Mich., Nov. 21 with 62 points. He was a member of the 106th or Lion Division of the First Army during the Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns, for which he has four Battle Stars on his European Theater Ribbon, and had reached Frankfort, Germany, when the war ended. He also has the American Theater Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Good Conduct Medal.
Lester entered service March 9, 1943, receiving training at Fort Jackson, S.C., on maneuvers in Tennessee and at Camp Atterbury, Ind. After leaving for overseas he first spent three weeks in England before going on to France. He first served as a mechanic and later as a motor sergeant supervising maintenance and dispatch of vehicles with the 3rd Battalion Headquarters, 424th Infantry Regiment.
After the closing of the war he remained in Germany until July and then proceeded to La Havre, France, where he started for the States on July 26 aboard the General Brooks. Following a 30-day furlough spent at home he reported at Camp Shelby, Miss., was stationed there a month and then following another furlough he reported for discharge.
His brother Arthur, Bn 3/c, who has been at home on leave, returns to the west coast again Friday. He has been with the Navy 2 1/2 years. Lester has joined his father in the
David Guse
Aviation student, pre-flight training
Endures Week of ‘Hazing’
A/S David E. Guse writes that his present address is 94th College Training Detachment (Air Crew), Harris Hall, Squadron 7, Southwest Texas State Teachers College, San Marcos, Tex. Writing on March 19, he had then been stationed at San Marcos a week and said that it is a beautiful place. The college is located on a hill overlooking the town.
Describing how he had been going through "the mill,” David wrote: “It is a custom for the upper classmen to haze the new squadron. We really have had a week of hazing too, no doubt about that. Everywhere we go during our free hours there is some student officer waiting. I have stood so many “braces” this week that now I find myself standing at attention every minute of the day.
“Personal inspections are held daily. They are really rugged—if we shave at five, they want to know why we didn’t shave at five-thirty. If we shave twice a day, they want to know why we didn’t shave three times. Oh well, I guess I can take it for five months. We are to be here for that length of time providing the elements of fate don’t make our stay shorter.”
Everett Guse
Enlisted in U.S. Navy June 1942, mechanic with the naval air force stationed at Corpus Christi, TX, Dec 1942
Out of the Service
Aviation Mechanic first class Everett C. Guse received his discharge from the navy at Camp Wallace, Tex., Sept. 15 with 45 points and has returned to his home at Whitehall.
He entered service June 6, 1942, having enlisted, and after receiving his boot training at Great Lakes, Ill., he attended aviation mechanic’s school at Dearborn, Mich. He was then sent to the naval base at Corpus Christi, Tex., where he was stationed from July, 1943, until the time of his discharge. He first worked as aviation mechanic and later helped to set up an aviation mechanic’s school, in which he was an instructor. About 1300 men were stationed at the base.
Guse married Alice Wall of Ettrick in July 1944, who resided at Corpus Christi with him. She is now teaching at Independence. His brother, Aviation Cadet David Guse, is stationed at San Angelo, Tex.
Warren Hagen
Completed two-months course in defense work in a NYA school at Winona, employed in defense industry Portland, Ore., April 1942. Sworn in as a cadet in the Navy Air Corps, October 1942
Ensign Warren G. Hagen has been transferred from Miami, Fla., to Glenview, Ill., and is expected in Whitehall soon to spend a leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Hagen, before assignment. Warren, a Navy flyer, completed a special course at Miami after receiving his wings at Pensacola, Fla.
Torpedo Bomber Pilot Receives Commission
Warren G. Hagen, 21, son of A. M. Hagen of Whitehall, won his Navy “Wings of Gold” and was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve following completion of the prescribed flight training course in mid-September at the Naval Air Training Base, Pensacola, Fla., the "Annapolis of the Air.” Warren arrived at Whitehall to spend a 12-day leave with his mother and other relatives and was fortunate to meet his father at La Crosse last Thursday, who was en route home from a trip to the west coast. Father and son spent an hour together in that city.
Ensign Hagen is a graduate of Whitehall High school. He enlisted in the navy air corps and began his training at Minneapolis, later going to Albert Lea, Minn., Iowa and other bases. He reported at Miami, Fla., to take further training as a pilot of a carrier based torpedo
bomber.
This area has two other Navy fliers, Lt. Raymond Larson and Selmer Williamson, the latter formerly with an amphibious division operating in the Aleutians area and elsewhere in the Pacific.
Army Air Corps personnel from this area include Flight Officer Ardell Paulson, who is based somewhere in the Pacific; Lt. John Lautenschlager, who was pilot on a Flying Fortress that was shot down and is now a prisoner of the Germans; Lt. Clinton Knutson and Captain Lester Bergum, both pilots in the European area, the latter on a transport plane; Lt. George Hegge, navigator, and Lt. Clifford Fremstad, bombardier, both based in England.
Ensign Warren G. Hagen, briefly stationed at Grosse Ile, Mich., now has a Fleet Post Office address out of New York. Hagen is a Navy pilot.
Mayme Hallingstad
Pvt. WAC training April 1945 25th WAC Detachment, Percy Jones Hospital Co., Battle Creek, Mich. July 1945
March 1945
Miss Mayme Hallingstad, clerk in the county pension department, was sworn into the “Purple Heart” unit of the Women’s Army Corps at Milwaukee Monday, and will report to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., March 11 for basic training.
Mayme E. Hallingstad of Whitehall, Wis., has enlisted in the Women’s Army corps. Miss Hallingstad, who has been working in the Trempealeau County pension department, reports to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., April 11 for basic training and later goes to Percy Jones General hospital at Battle Creek, Mich.
April 1945
A note from Pvt. Mayme Hallingstad of the Third WAC Training Center, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., provides us with her address so we may send her The Times. Mayme said she arrived there Friday evening, making the last lap of her journey by Army truck from Chattanooga, Tenn.
July 1945
Pvt. Mayme Hallingstad, who has completed her clerical training with the Women’s Army Corps, is now with the 25th WAC Detachment, Percy Jones Hospital Co., Battle Creek, Mich.
Edward Halverson
Whitehall Corporal's Artillery Unit in Heavy Italian Fighting
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)—“Now beyond its 440th day of combat, the 631st Field Artillery battalion has fired 132,000 rounds of howitzer shells in support of infantrymen, representing seven Allied nations in Italy,” said a recent article in the Stars and Stripes, Army newspaper, a clipping of which was sent to his father, John Halverson, Whitehall, by Corporal Edward H. Halverson. Corporal Halvorson has been with the 631st since it went into action early in the Italian war,
“The 631st cannoneers have hurled into German armies 12,000,000 pounds of steel,” the article continued. “Each shell weighs 95 pounds and clerks and cooks and KP’s recall the times they were called away from desks and kitchens to help truck the enormous shells to front-line positions.
“The impressive number of decorations it has received indicates the type of fighting in which the 631st invariably finds itself. It has 13 Silver Stars, 65 Bronze Stars, 19 Air Medals and clusters, one Legion of Merit and more than 100 Purple Hearts. Combat commissions have been awarded eight men."
Corporal Halverson’s wife resides in Eau Claire. He also has a brother, Clarence, and a sister, Mrs. Ernest Steen, residing in Whitehall. A brother-in-law, Corporal Ernest Steen, is cook for a signal corps company on Leyte in the Philippines.
Flown Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)—T5 Edward H. Halvorson. 30, son of John Halvorson of Whitehall, is expected home soon on furlough from the European Theater. He arrived at Miami, Fla., in a plane of the Air Transport Command’s Caribbean division. Halverson served 31 months with the 631st Field Artillery Battalion in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters of operations. He has five Battle Stars. His wife resides in Eau Claire.
Ernest Hamilton
U.S. Army, stationed at Campy Murphy, Fla., to Fort Hamilton, N.Y. Jan 1943
Four Hamilton Sons In Military Service
Three Brothers Widely Separated In Foreign Lands; One In Air Corps
Of the four sons that Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton of Whitehall have in the service, three are abroad and the fourth is now trying for the Air Corps. Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, who had been stationed for many months at Camp McCoy, is now at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., a member of Squadron D, 32nd Training Group, taking his basic training for the Air Corps.
Robert, the youngest in the family, and his older brother, Glen, both in the navy, are somewhere in the Pacific. Robert, a seaman second class, is in the combat area, his parents believe, as he has charge of supplies on landing barges. Glen, a first class seaman, is aboard a submarine salvage ship and was in Hawaii when last his folks heard from him on Jan. 8. However, he expected to be there only a few days.
Stationed in England
T|Sgt. Ernest A. Hamilton, a member of the signal corps and in the radar division, has been stationed in England for many months and for several weeks has been located at an English R. A. F. camp, where he is doing special work. He spent Christmas there and found it to be pleasant, with certain advantages over ! being in a U. S. camp. For instance, according to a letter he wrote on Dec. 20: “The British sergeant enjoys a great deal more privileges than we do. And I am, to all intents and purposes, enjoying those privileges. We have a special 'mess’ where we can eat and can lounge around. This mess also contains other things designed to make a sergeant more comfortable. Even the mail comes here.”
Ernest was evidently enjoying his new privileges to the greatest extent as he said he had not left the camp at all, preferring to remain inside where there was plenty of entertainment, including dances and movies. However, leaving the camp would have been easy for in the English camp a sergeant does not need a pass.
“This will make my second Christmas that isn’t white,” Ernest wrote, adding, “I should expect that you have plenty of snow in your part of the world.” Hearing later, as he no doubt did, that we did not have snow until the first week in February, must have been somewhat of a surprise.
Writing on Dec. 26, Ernest described his second Christmas away from home, the first one having been spent in a camp in this country. “Christmas has come and gone,” he said, “but the festivities continue. This has started out to be a gala holiday season and promises to continue through the New Year. I am glad I am at this English camp, for if I had not moved, Christmas and New Year’s would have been just another day of the week. “We started out with a dinner in the Sergeants’ Mess and then went to the lounge for a party on Christmas eve. There was dancing, and plenty of WAAFs to dance with, as they live and work on the same station as the men in the R. A. F. in this country. I don’t know when the party broke up. It was still in progress when I left at 2 a. m.
Eggs a Treat
“Most of us made a special effort and got up to get our fried egg for breakfast on Christmas morning. They are such a rarity that a fried egg is worth a special effort.
“For dinner on Christmas day we Americans were invited to an American camp. That day we had more turkey. They had adopted the English custom for Christmas dinner, I and had the officers doing K. P. If I had stayed in the English camp at noon, I would have had to do that for the privates. On this station the officers and senior non-coms have to wait on the airmen (privates and corporals).
“In the afternoon there was dancing and we returned to our camp by 2:30. At 4:30 wTe had tea (in this country we have breakfast, lunch, tea and supper) and at 5:30 we went to a free show in the station cinema, 'Coney Island.’ After that the school gave a party for us which lasted until midnight. This morning I didn’t get up until after 11, just in time for lunch.”
Ernest admitted that it didn’t seem like Christmas, in spite of all the entertainment — it was simply the “Holiday Season.”
A New Year’s Eve party wound up a week of festivities, and on New Year’s Day Ernest had borrowed a bicycle and took a ride of about 30 miles. The only similarity between the holidays at home and the holidays abroad, he said, was his work.
Whitehall Man Married In England
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special)—T. Sgt. Ernest A. Hamilton, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest A. Hamilton Sr., of Whitehall, and Marian Gardner, daughter of Mrs. E. Jones, 15 Cross Street, Rhosddu, Wrexham, Denbighshire, England, were joined in marriage in a ceremony performed at the Episcopal church there at 2 p. m. on Oct. 11. The bride wrote her parents-in-law previous to the ceremony that she planned to wear a pale blue afternoon frock for the ceremony with navy accessories and a spray of pink roses. The 24 guests invited to the wedding included the chaplain at Sgt. Hamilton’s headquarters near Manchester, the bride’s brother and sister and their families from Manchester, and a few intimate friends of the bride.
Mrs. Hamilton is employed as a draftsman in a war plant in her home city. Sgt. Hamilton is maintenance man for the signal corps and has been stationed in England since going overseas in February 1943.
In letters to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton here, the bride says she is looking forward to coming to Whitehall after the war has been won.
Sgt. Hamilton is the second soldier in this area to take an English bride, the first being Sgt. Odell T. Borreson, who married there more than a year ago.
Vet Predicts English
Bride Will Like It Here
“Marian will certainly like it over here, with the stores filled with merchandise,” declared T/Sgt. Ernest Hamilton when he arrived back in Whitehall last week from England. Marian is his English wife, who expects to join him here when traveling facilities become a little easier in a couple months. It is about impossible to buy a pair of shoes in England, and the people there are actually suffering more from lack of clothing than food. Ernest, who was inducted into service in June 1942 and received his discharge Dec. 5, has two brothers in the Navy, Glen and Robert; another brother, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, was killed in action in France a year ago.
Brothers Home on Leave
After Serving in Pacific
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) — “My ship has been torpedoed more than any other in the Navy,” Declared Glen Hamilton, quartermaster third class, who has now served in the Pacific 38 months and just came home on a 30-day leave. “By practice torperdoes,” he added as a qualifying statement. Glenn has been aboard a submarine rescue ship, and besides answering S.O.S. calls when located in the Hawaiians, at Kiska and on the island of Majuro in the Marshalls, his ship and crew have been used in training crews of American submarines.
Also at home is Glen's younger brother, Robert, seaman first class, who has been out 16 months on a Liberty ship, carrying supplies from the west coast, the Ellis Islands, Samoa, the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas and the Carolines. He returns to the coast after his 15-day leave.
This is the boys’ first trip home after hearing of the death of their brother, Cpi. Stanley Hamilton, who was killed in action while fighting with the Ninth Army in France, on November 30.
Their parints, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest G. Hamilton of Whitehall, have a fourth son in service, Ernest A. Hamilton, a technical sergeant who has been stationed in England two years. He married an English girl several months ago.
Glen Hamilton Second class seaman U.S. Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, ground service at Pumloa Point.
Glen Reports He Is
Safe In Pearl Harbor
Last week Thursday, the Ernest Hamilton family were made happy by the arrival by air mail of a letter from their son and brother, Glen Hamilton, regarding whose welfare they had not heard since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Glen, a second class seaman delegated to ground service, has been stationed for some months at Pumloa Point, which forms one arm of the land bounding Pearl Harbor.
Glen said that he was all right, but that he and his pal Kenny, a recruit from Nebraska, had had some close shaves, the details of which he was not permitted to write. Pumloa Point is converted into a rifle range, and Glen exclaimed in his letter, "We hope the dirty Japs come back and we'll blast them out of the sea and sky."
Glen enlisted in the Navy early last spring, so that he has now been in service nearly a year.
Whitehall Sailor Home on Visit
Stationed at Pearl Harbor During Attack
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)—Glen Hamilton, seaman first class who was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the Jap attack, is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton, here for the first time in two years.
He had been stationed in the Hawaiian Islands from February 5, 1941, until he departed for home late last month. In ‘‘remembering Pearl Harbor,” Glen said:
“The attack started at three minutes to 8 o’clock. Fires started in the woods back of the harbor and I was one of a contingent of sailors dispatched to extinguish them. While running through the coral and underbrush with a heavy pack on my back, I stepped into a coral hole, stumbled and fractured a bone in my leg. I was disabled for several weeks.”
He liked Hawaii and found the people “very hospitable,” he said. He was invited to be a guest at the home of Jose F. Roldan, Filipino bakery owner, whenever he was on leave,
A luau, or party, given for the naval men December 13 by the Hawaiians was described by Glen.
“The food the Hawaiians serve is very rich,” he said, “and I couldn’t eat much of it.”
Glen spent Christmas day standing guard.
He was not able to locate LeRoy Hill, Whitehall soldier stationed on the islands, or Marine Tracy Briggs, Whitehall, who is stationed at Ewa, Oahu, but he did see James Everson, seaman, whenever his ship put into port.
Glen will leave Thursday to report to a West coast naval station where he will be assigned to a submarine salvage ship. He would prefer getting on a faster ship, he said, “a torpedo boat, to be specific, or into the naval air forces.” He wants “something fast.”
His two older brothers also are in the service. Ernest is a radio operator with the Signal Corps and was sent overseas recently. Stanley is stationed at Camp McCoy.
Sailor Lad Arrives Home from Hawaii
Glen Hamilton, Seaman 1st Class, arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton Sunday evening on a three-day leave, his brother Stanley of Camp McCoy meeting him at Onalaska. This was his first visit home in two years and during all that time he has been stationed in the Hawaiian Islands on the island of Oahu. His memory of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is vivid. Following the battle he was sent with a company of sailors to put out fires that had been started in the woods, and while running with a heavy pack on his back, he stumbled in a coral hole and fractured a bone in his leg. He was laid up for several weeks.
He liked Hawaii and found the people very hospital. While on duty near Waipahu he was a guest at the home of Jose F. Roldan and family any time he was on leave. They are Filipinos. He spoke of a luau or party given by the Hawaiians on Dec. 13 for the seamen and of the rich food they served. Glen spent Christmas day standing guard.
Glen had not been able to locate LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill, who is stationed in the islands, but he had seen Seaman James Everson following the latter's operation in a hospital there.
When he leaves again Thursday Glen will report on the west coast for assignment to a submarine salvage ship. Since he is no longer going to be stationed in Hawaii, he would prefer getting onto a faster ship, a torpedo boat to be specific, or into the naval air forces where he could fly. He wants something; fast, he said.
Quartermaster Third Class Glen Hamilton, who has served 38 months in the Pacific and is now home on a 30-day leave, says his ship has been torpedoed more than any other in the Navy — by practice torpedoes, that is. He is aboard a submarine rescue ship which, besides answering S.O.S calls, is used in training crews of submarines.
Brothers Serving in the
Pacific Meet at Home
Glen Hamilton, quartermaster third class, who has spent four years with the Navy in the Pacific war zone, arrived in Whitehall unexpectedly Saturday afternoon to spend a 20-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. On Monday, the Hamiltons received a wire from another son, Seaman First Class Robert, who was also stationed in the Pacific and said he would be home Wednesday. Because of their presence here, a memorial service will be held next week Thursday for their brother, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, who was killed in action in France Nov. 30.
Robert Hamilton
U.S. Navy
Robert Hamilton, who completed his training at Great Lakes, Ill., last week, is spending a nine-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. Robert is the fourth Hamilton brother to enter military service. So far he likes Navy life very well, and is looking forward to being assigned to a ship.
Departs for West Coast
Robert Hamilton, Seaman first class, left Monday for Seattle, Wash., after spending a week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. He had just returned from the Philippines aboard the Giansar, an auxiliary cargo ship to which he has been assigned the past 23 months when he has been on sea duty in the Pacific. Robert has hauled cargo to the Carolines, Marshalls, Marianas, Gilberts, Ellis islands and Samoa besides the Philippines and was lying at anchor in San Pedro bay between Leyte and Samar when the Jap surrender came through. His brother Glen, Quartermaster third class, was also in that harbor at the time and the two brothers had a chance to see each other three times. Glen is aboard the Patrol Craft 1131.
Robert expects to put to sea again at the end of his leave and hopes to get to Japan as long as he is not eligible for discharge, not having enough points. Glen enlisted in the navy and cannot be discharged as he has a year and five months left of that enlistment period even though he has over 50 points.
The boys’ brother, T|Sgt. Ernest Hamilton, is expected hack in the States soon from months of service in England. His English bride will not be able to accompany him bur will come over later.
Mrs. Howard McKendry of Winter, Robert’s sister, came down last Wednesday evening in order to see him. Her husband is in the Philippines.
OCTOBER 13, 1944
Back At Base After A Short Leave At Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Robert Hamilton, seaman first class, left Wednesday on his return to the west coast after spending a week’s leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton.
His last visit home was in July, 1943, shortly after which he was sent to the South Pacific aboard a supply ship. Since that time he has been on duty in that area except for a five-day leave on the west coast last May, when the ship was in harbor there for a short time.
A number of his trips have been back to the supply base in the Hawaiians, and on one trip he missed meeting his brother, Glen, who is in the Navy and assigned to a submarine salvage ship.
Robert was with the supporting fleet in the engagements on the Gilbert, Marshall and Mariana islands. He has also visited the Ellis islands and Samoa and seen a great deal of territory in the South Pacific. He saw all the major engagements in the above zones and during one of the invasions he served as coxswain on mechanized landing craft, carrying medium tanks to the shore.
Besides his brother Glen in the navy, Robert has two brothers in the Army, T. Sgt. Ernest, who is with the signal corps in England, and Corp Stanley of the infantry, who is en route overseas. A brother-in-law, Pvt. Howard McKenary, is with the infantry stationed at Camp Bowie, Tex.
During the two years that he has been in service, Robert has met only two boys from home. La Verne Schultz and Verlyn Gilkey, both of the Navy, whom he saw at different times on the west coast.
Stanley Hamilton
Inducted into U.S. Army July 1942, killed in action
Cpl. Stanley Hamilton of Camp Livingston, La., writes to tell how he landed in the infantry after attempting to get into the Air Corps. He was one of 30,000 air force cadets transferred back to their former services because casualties in the Army Air Force were less than expected.
Cpl. Stanley Hamilton
Gave Life in France
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton of Whitehall received a War Department telegram Wednesday forenoon informing them that their son, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, had been killed in action in France on Nov. 30. Stanley served in the quartermaster corps at Camp McCoy after his induction, and transferred to the Air Corps last spring. When large numbers of soldiers were transferred to the infantry because of the need for men in that branch, Stanley was among them, and was eventually shipped overseas as part of the Ninth Army.
His father, who painted Whitehall’s honor roll and has with love and care kept it up to date, adding new names and already placing five gold stars on it, will have the duty of placing the gold star beside the name of his own son.
John S. Hanson
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) —Aviation Cadet John S. Hanson. 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hanson. Whitehall, has reported to the AAF Training Command’s Advanced flying school at Altus, Okla., to begin the last lap of his pilot training. In the Altus AAF two-engined training ships he will learn the technique of flying the multi-motored bomber or fighter plane he will be piloting overseas.
Gets Commission As 2nd Lieutenant
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— John S. Hanson, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hanson of Whitehall was commissioned a second lieutenant and received the silver pilot’s wings of the Army Air Corps Dec. 23 at the Altus. Okla., Army air field.
From this advanced two-engine pilot training school of the AAF Central Flying Training Command with headquarters at Randolph Field, Tex., he will go on to further advanced training at a multi-engined bomber or fighter school, or to the Central Instructors’ school at Randolph Field.
Orin Hanson
Inducted into U.S. Army July 1942
Whitehall Officer Receives Promotion
Whitehall, Wis, —(Special)—First Lieutenant Orin S. Hanson, 28, was recently promoted to that rank, according to information received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Hanson, Whitehall.
Entering service July 31, 1942, Lieutenant Hanson received training at Camp Roberts, Calif., and, went to officer candidate school there. He received his commission at Camp Davis, N. C., and was an instructor there until the fall of 1944, when he moved to Fort Jackson, S. C. He has since been stationed In New York city; a camp on the East coast and Fort Sill, Okla., and is now to be stationed at Fort Monroe, Va.
A graduate of Whitehall High school, he attended La Crosse State Teachers college for two years and then was employed in a department, store there. Later he attended a school of engineering in Milwaukee, Wis., and afterward was employed by Allen Bradley & Company, Milwaukee. His wife, Leona, is with him.
Robert Hanson
U.S. Army medical corps 135th Medical Regiment, landed in Australia April 7, 1942, member of regimental band
Robert O. Hanson
Mrs. Robert Hanson, of Pigeon Falls, received a letter dated April 114 from her husband. Technical Sergeant Robert Hanson, first engineer-gunner on a B-24, who is stationed somewhere in England.
He was recently awarded an Air Medal. Major James Stewart, former movie star, squadron commander, presented the medal.
Robert left for overseas the first part of January, and has a son, Marco, 18 months old, whom he has never seen.
Completes Mission
WHITEHALL. Wis.—(Special)— T. Sgt. Robert Hanson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Hanson of York and a member of the 8th Army Air Force now in England, writes that he has completed his missions over enemy territory and is now doing ground duty. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and been decorated with more Oak Leaf Clusters, having previously been awarded one Oak Leaf Cluster. Hanson is a gunner on a Flying Fortress.
Veteran of 32 missions over Germany, France, Belgium and Holland as an engineer-gunner on a B-24 with the 453rd Bomb Group stationed in England, T. Sgt. Robert O. Hanson, Pigeon Falls, has received his discharge with 105 points. He received his separation papers at Camp McCoy and registered them at the courthouse Sept. 5.
He has the European Theater of Operations Service Ribbon with three Bronze Battle Stars, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He returned to the States Sept. 21, 1944, and since that time has been stationed at Truax Field, Madison.
Harold Heath
U.S. Army, cook with the Military Police of the 32nd Division, London, England, March 1942.
Newly-Promoted Son Recently Transferred
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— Assemblyman C. E. Heath of Trempealeau county, who was in Whitehall Monday, reported that his son Harold, recently promoted to technical sergeant, has been transferred out of the 32nd Military Police stationed in Paris to the 535th Military Police Battalion, a group just organized.
Heath left for service with the original 32nd Military Police Company from Arcadia in October, 1940, and has remained with that group since, although some of the members were transferred to the infantry. He was stationed in London and later in Paris after the Allied invasion of France.
Floren B. Hegge
Private First Class, U.S. Army, European Theatre.
Two Whitehall Soldiers Injured on West Front
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special) — Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge received a War Department telegram Monday morning saying that their son. Pvt. Floren Hegge, 21, had been wounded slightly in Germany on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Floren is with the Seventh Army and has been at the front the past two months. A letter received by his folks recently was written on Dec. 17 from a foxhole. Letters received last week were written on Dec. 25 and 26 but did not mention his wound. However, he said he had no't had Christmas dinner at the front as he had expected, so evidently he was back at a hospital. Floren has been overseas since last July.
His brother, First Lt. George Hegge, is with the 9th Air Corps in France and has over 50 missions as a navigator to his credit. He is a squadron navigator.
Hurt by Falling Tree
Pvt. Leonard Johnson, with the infantry in the European theater, received his second injury at the front on Nov. 23, when he was hit by a falling tree. He was wounded in the early fall when he received shrapnel in his elbow and side, and he had just been returned to the front when he received his second injury. His back was injured this time and he is now being cared for in an English hospital. His wife resides at Black River Falls. Leonard is a former Briggs Transfer employe and Whitehall is his hometown, his father, Pete Johnson, residing there.
Pfc Floren B. Hegge Helped Hold Hatten
Pfc Floren B. Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge of Whitehall, was one of the “doggies” who held the city of Hatten on the 7th Army front in Alsace-Lorraine until a platoon of tanks rolled in to relieve them, according to a copy of “Stars and Stripes” which Floren mailed to his brother Hiram here.
The news story, dated Jan. 19, said: “‘Hatten is hell,’ related the tired tank commander in a quiet, strained voice. ‘You ought to see those people running around like crazy, yelling and screeching, and tiny whimpering kids streched out on small carts being pushed by their folks. The town was burning like a torch with the Krauts shooting flamethrowers and white phosphorous and all kinds of artillery. Did you ever listen to people and cattle being roasted alive in a burning building? It’s something you never forget. And all the time, in the middle of all this, the doughfeet were running from building to building, fighting a war.’
“That was Hatten when Sgt. Earl Simpson of Junction City, Kan., rolled in with a platoon of tanks. Our troops held one-third of the town, which was separated from the Kraut-held section by this thick wall of fire-smoke. The Krauts simply stay ed on their side of the screen, pouring in heavy artillery and mortar fire, and then quite often they held their fire and sent a platoon of Tiger tanks through the smoke to shoot up everything they saw. They saw plenty. That’s why the doggies were so overjoyed to see the tankers.”
Floren has been living in foxholes for weeks, but occasionally they find an abandoned building which they can occupy for short periods before moving on again. In a letter written Jan. 31, Floren described the high school he had been living in then. He said:
“The most interesting was the chemistry laboratory. Formulas and equations are the same in any language, and from my meager knowledge I calculated this much. If our high school had half of the chemicals and one-fourth of the equipment that these people have they would consider the physics and chemistry lab more than complete. The equipment I worked with in all of the science classes at home is absolutely nothing compared to this. For biology, zoology and botany they also have unusual material to work with. There are countless preserved specimens of reptiles and rodents and huge collections of bugs and butterflies. Hygiene classes also had much to work with. The place is full of stuffed animals and birds but overall the wonderful and extremely expensive equipment in the lab and storerooms for practical work in chemistry and physics is really something for a small high school.”
Floren also enclosed a clipping about two brothers, one in the Air Corps and the other in the infantry, who chanced to occupy the same foxhole. Said he, “This could happen to George and me.” Floren’s brother, Captain George Hegge, navigator on a B-26 who has completed 75 missions over enemy territory, is now with a headquarters of the 9th Air Force somewhere in France. The article enclosed by Floren said:
“In a snow-covered foxhole two soldiers shivered as the cold penetrated their clothing. At first glance you might say they were an ill-mated pair; one, a 2nd lieutenant out of the Air Corps, the other a private of the 7th Infantry, but their tie was one not to be judged by uniforms or rank—the soldiers were brothers.
“Just then a low moaning grew to a loud scream. A hun shell dropped nearby. It was followed by another, and still another. ‘Scared?’ asked Pvt. Maurice Meyers of his brother, Lt. Horace A. ‘Sweating out flak is like a Sunday afternoon at home compared to this,’ answered the navigator of a troop carrier squadron.’” Pvt. Floren had learned previously to sending the clipping that his brother George had also been obliged to seek the shelter of a foxhole.
The boys’ younger brother, Thomas, has just entered service, was chosen for the Marines and is receiving training at Paris Island, S. C.
George Hegge
Brothers Serve in England
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special)— George Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in England July 4, according to word received by his parents.
Lt. Hegge, who received his second lieutenancy at San Marcos, Tex., in October, 1943, has been overseas since the first of the year. He was stationed in Africa before, being sent to join a bomb group in England. Lt. Hegge is the navigator on a B-26 Marauder and has 25 missions over enemy territory to his credit.
In a letter his parents received recently he said that the Fourth of July was celebrated quietly in England except for the routine of the war. He wrote of a forced landing that he and his crew made with one engine.
His brother, Pvt. Floren Hegge, is also stationed in England. He is with an infantry company. The brothers have not contacted each other as yet.
Whitehall Airman Wins Tenth Cluster
A Ninth Air Force Bomber Base, France—(Special)—For skillful and courageous performance of duties as a pilot on bombing missions over Germany, First Lieutenant George N. Hegge, Whitehall, Wis., has been awarded the tenth Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal.
Since his arrival in France, Lieutenant Hegge has been flying with the “Tiger Stripe” B-26 Marauder group to targets of tactical significance and in close cooperation with the ground forces. Railroad bridges, fuel storage tanks and troop concentrations at Rheinbach, Linzig and other German cities have all felt the impact of the bombs from the medium bombers of the Ninth Air force.
Lieutenant Hegge, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sigwald Hegge, Whitehall, recently took part in the bombing mission in which the Marauders bombed the one remaining escape route for encircled Nazis at Dasburg, Germany, resulting In the tie-up of 1,500 vehicles, leaving them easy prey for the American bombers.
Hegge Earns 11th Oak Leaf
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) — Capt. George H. Hegge of Whitehall has been awarded the 11th Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal at an American air field in France for outstanding and meritorious achievement on bombing missions to Germany.
Capt. Hegge, a squadron navigator in the ‘‘Tiger Stripe” B-26 Marauder group of the U. S. 9th Air Force, has been flying with his group on tactical bombing missions to Germany, disrupting and disorganizing communications networks, railway yards, road junctions, bridges and ammunition dumps.
On Feb. 16. Capt. Hegge bombed the communication center at the Rhine city of Rees, Germany, destroying a vital German rail junction used for transporting Nazi troops and supplies to the western front.
Capt. Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, Whitehall, has been overseas since March, 1944. He has completed his missions, being credited with 75, and is now flight officer at a 9th air force base.
Capt. Hegge has two brothers in the service. Pfc. Floren Hegge is with the 9th Army and traveled from France through Luxembourg, into Belgium, Holland and Germany. His last letter came from Holland, where he was apparently stationed for a time in a rest camp. Pvt. Thomas Hegge, recently inducted, is at Paris Island. S. C., receiving training for the Marines.
Capt. George Hegge Earns Flying Cross
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)— Capt. George Hegge, son of M and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross at a camp somewhere in the European theater, according to letter which his parents received Monday.
The letter was written on April 20 and he had received the award a few days previously. A squadron navigator with the 9th Air Force, Hegge completed his missions in February and at that time he was awarded the Air Medal and 11 Oak Leaf Clusters. After completing his missions he was assigned to a 9th Air Force headquarters station somewhere in France.
Stanley Hestekin
Reported Missing in Belgium Area
WHITEHALL. Wis. (Special) — Mrs. Norman Garson of Whitehall received a telegram Monday morning informing he that her brother, Pvt. Stanley Hestekin, 35, is missing in action in Belgium since Dec. 22. She believes that he was with the Third Army. He is the son of John Hestekin, Eau Claire.
Stanley left for service from Whitehall Sept. 26, 1942, and took his first training at Camp Livingston, La. Later he received further training at Camp Gordon, Fla., Washington. D. C., Camp Stewart, Ga., and Camp Pickett, Va. Before leaving for overseas in August, 1944, he was sent to Fort George G. Meade, Md. With an infantry company, he landed first in England, then went to France and Germany.
The last word that Mrs. Garson had from him was a Christmas card which came last week and which had been mailed on Nov. 29.
He has three brothers, Joseph Hestekin of Whitehall, Ernest of Osseo and Leslie of Neillsville, and three sisters, Mrs. Norman Garson of Whitehall, Mrs. Richard Lee and Mrs. Elmer Dahl of Blair.
LeRoy Hill
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Corps
Leroy Hill, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Plum Creek Valley, who entered service last spring, is reported to have left the United States for an unknown destination.
Wisconsin Soldiers
Feted in Hawaii
Private LeRoy Hill, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Plum Creek, sent a clipping recently to his sister telling about an entertainment the Hawaiians had held for the Wisconsin soldiers stationed there.
The big informal party, called a luau, was attended by about 500 boys from our state. It was given in appreciation for the treatment that the Hawaiian soldiers now stationed at Camp McCoy have been given by Wisconsin civilians.
PFC LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs.. Albert Hill of Plum Creek, is still located in Hawaii, where he has been stationed since a year ago, serving with the ground forces of an air corps.
Cpl. LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of this city, is back in the Hawaiian Islands after spending a year on the Gilbert Islands, reports his mother. He wrote that it is pleasant to have barracks again to sleep in, and to have an opportunity to clean up.
Whitehall Soldier Belongs To 'Taterdemalions Of Subterrane'
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— The “Taterdemalions of the Subterrane” certificate has been awarded to Corp. LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Whitehall, who has been overseas for two years and is back in the Hawaiians after a year in the Gilbert islands. Hill wrote that he was happy to get back to a place where he could clean up again and where he had barracks to sleep in. He is with a supply squadron connected with the air force.
The certificate, done on parchment with brown and green ink, is signed by the colonel of the air corps, commander of the alert, and the captain of the air corps, sounder of the all clear. It reads:
“Ring the Alert! Sound the Alarm! Wherever ye crawl, Ground Hogs proclaim LeRoy A. Hill Ground Hog extraordinary and unforgetting. He has proved himself worthy, qualified and adept. He has dug deeply and well. He has run, leapt, dived and crawled into the dark spaces of the subterrane. He has subsisted in the dark reaches more than 65 hours. He has foiled the enemy and fed the mosquitoes. His haunches have become sore and his mind weary. There is no hole too deep or too narrow for his ready entrance. Mark his passage. Forever treat him with deep respect and gentle care lest his shadow fall upon you.”
The certificate, which is issued from Ground Hog Hole Number 1, Station Number 1, Army Post Office Number 459, also bears a sketch of a well-camouflaged makeshift soldier barrack, the only kind of home the soldiers had on the Gilberts.
LeRoy Hill arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill, last week with his discharge, after serving nearly three and a half years in the Pacific theatre.
Norman Hinckley
Corporal. U.S. Army, Co. B, 26th Bn., Camp Crowder, Neosho, Mo., February 1942. Graduated from the Signal Corps Officers Training School at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Hinkley at Harvard
A clipping sent to us from Mrs. Floyd Hinkley of Port Edwards states that her son, former Whitehall High band director Norman Hinkley, has been graduated from the Signal Corps Officers Training School at Fort Monmouth, N.J. He has been sent to Harvard University for further training, one of eight chosen from his class to receive this special instruction.
August Hundt
First Lieut. August Hundt, formerly of Camp Polk, La., now has an APO address out of New York, his mother, Mrs. Henry Hundt, has learned. He is with an infantry company.
Lieut. Hundt Reported Wounded in Belgium
Lieut. August G. Hundt was wounded in action Jan. 12 in Belgium, the War Department has notified his wife, a Public Service Commission employee living at 723 W. Johnson St. (Madison). The officer narrowly escaped injury Christmas day when he was ambushed by Germans and his jeep destroyed by an anti-tank shell.
Whitehall Man Escapes Nazis Dressed In American Helmets
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Mrs. Henry Hundt of Whitehall has learned through a dispatch from the 84th Infantry Division in Belgium of an experience which her son, Lieut. August Hundt has had.
Ambushed while leading a convoy near the town of Wallin, he pushed his jeep full speed ahead, ran over a German, was fired on at point blank range, jumped from the jeep when an anti-tank shell hit it, and finally made his way back to his own lines on foot.
Lieut. Hundt had rounded a corner to find a captured American half-track bearing a Red Cross insignia blocking the road. Several soldiers were standing on both sides of the vehicle. As he drew closer, the lieutenant recognized American helmets on their heads.
He was only a few yards from them when he discovered they were Germans. He yelled to his driver to break through. The jeep careened to the side, nearly spilling the lieutenant, as the Germans opened fire with rifles at a distance of 20 feet. A German crawling from his foxhole at the edge of the road seemed paralyzed as the vehicle ran him down.
A mile farther on they ran into another road block defended by an anti-tank gun. Thinking onec more that the crew might be Americans, Lieut. Hundt told his driver to stop about 150 yard away. He saw a figure pick up field glasses and then flame spurted from a gun. The shell struck the ground in front of the jeep, bouncing into the frame.
“We jumped for a ditch and began running across an open field,” said August. “The Germans opened up with rifles, but we were too far away. I heard four more rounds from the anti-tank gun but they must have been firing at the jeep. We met some women at the edge of the field, and they pointed to the woods. We stayed there until dark, finally making our way through the woods until we found a familiar road that led us to our command post.”
A letter received by August’s wife, who resides in Madison, was written by Lieut. Hundt on Jan. 18 from a hospital, where she thinks he was placed for a rest following his close call. He said he expected to be released the following day.
Hundt has been overseas only a few months. A graduate of Whitehall high school, he resided here until he attended the University of Wisconsin. He was employed by the Internal Revenue Department in Madison for some time and later by the Pure Oil Co.
Purple Heart Earned By Lieut. August Hundt
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)— The Purple Heart has been awarded to Lieut. August Hundt, son of Mrs. Henry Hundt of Whitehall, with the 84th infantry division in Belgium.
His wife, who resides in Madison, received a War Department message saying that he had been wounded on Jan. 12, and later letters from him said that he had recovered from shrapnel wounds in his leg and a slight concussion which he received while rescuing a jeep. A mine explosion caused his wounds.
Clifford Iverson
Corporal, U.S. Army.
Cpl. Clifford Iverson, the son of Harry Iverson of Pigeon Falls, received an honorable discharge from the Army June 30 at Fort Sheridan, Ill., after having been in service 49 months, 39 of which were spent overseas. He fought with the Fifth Infantry Division of the Third Army under General Patton in Normandy, northern France and the Rhineland, and earned a Purple Heart.
Ralph A. Jacobson
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army, enlisted Jan. 24, 1943; discharged Jan. 3, 1946
December 1943
Cpl. Ralph Jacobson, who has been stationed at Camp Polk, La., arrived home Sunday evening and will remain with his wife and child until Friday. Ralph is of the opinion that he will soon be transferred to the west coast.
May 1944
Sgt. Ralph Jacobson has been transferred from Obispo, Calif., to the 710th Tank Battalion at Camp Cooke, Calif.
March 1945
Mrs. Ralph Jacobson recently received a letter from her husband, S/Sgt. Jacobson, who is serving in the Pacific war zone, stating that he was at a rest camp.
December 1945
Mrs. Ralph Jacobson received a telegram from her husband Monday, right after he arrived on the west coast from the Pacific war theatre. A staff sergeant, Ralph has spent many months overseas.
Armond Johnson
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Corps, enlisted Sept. 26, 1942, discharged Nov. 10, 1945
Cpl. Armond Johnson, who was called home from Santa Ana, Calif., to attend the funeral of his father, the late Albert E. Johnson of Pleasantville, is hopeful that he will be able to get a discharge from the army to assist his mother in operating their farm.
Cpl. Johnson, who had spent 23 months in Europe, based in England with the 56th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, returned home May 2 on a 27-day furlough, after which he reported at Santa Ana. He was there only five days when called home by the death of his father.
Armond said that the 56th Fighter Group has the highest scoring record of any group in the European theatre and that he is proud to have been attached to it, as a military police. He likes the English people but did not enjoy the climate, as it is extremely damp during the winte months and much of the summer as well.
Cpl. Johnson left Wednesday for Santa Ana. His brother, Sgt. Milford, is with a tank destroyer battalion in Germany. He was with the 3rd Army but recently has been transferred to the 7th. Milford has been overseas a year.
Bennett I. Johnson
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army, enlisted Nov. 22, 1937, discharged Nov. 17, 1945
Discharged After 64 Months In Pacific Area
Five years and four months overseas is the record of S/Sgt. Bennett Johnson, son of Bernt Johnson of Racine and Mrs. Bernt Johnson of Whitehall, who received his discharge recently at Camp McCoy with 91 points. The reason for his long period of service outside of the United States is that Bennett enlisted in the regular Army Nov. 21,1 1937, and after taking his basic training at Vancouver Barracks, Wash., he was sent to Hawaii for further training, remaining there 32 months. He was with the field artillery at that time, although later he was transferred to ordnance as a mechanic. As a member of the 3145th Ordnance Company he spent another 32 months on New Caledonia, just returning from there before receiving his discharge.
The climate in Hawaii and New Caledonia is very similar, Bennett said, but he prefers the former islands because he didn’t like the French on New Caledonia. They were definitely in sympathy with the Vichy government and with the Japanese, he said, and he had that proved to him forcefully when he and other American soldiers went on a deer hunt into the hills and were fired upon by Frenchmen — who, fortunately, did not hit them.
Johnson experienced a hurricane that hit the island in January, 1944, and carried away all the soldiers’ tents from this island 5500 miles from San Francisco. Going out nearly three years ago he travelled in convoy that split five hours before his ship, the transport Republic, reached New Caledonia. Not long after the ships separated one of the other boats, headed for Australia, was torpedoed by a Jap submarine but the ship was close enough to a reef so that it grounded there and saved its passengers. Coming home Johnson was aboard the freighter President Polk with 2400 other returning servicemen, and it was a slow, tedious journey for these men anxious to get back to the States.
Bennett saw only two soldiers he knew when he was out. They were Angus Hanson of Black River Falls, formerly of Pigeon, with whom he had gone to school as a small boy in the Daggett district, and Harris Danielson of Black River Falls.
Besides the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon he won the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded by the general of the Pacific Service Command. The first 1 1/2 years he was on New Caledonia he and the other mechanics there, who repaired trucks and tanks, were very busy on account of help shortage, which won them the citation.
Mr. Johnson is vacationing with his mother here. His father is expected here soon from Racine.
Five years and four months overseas is the record of S/Sgt. Bennett Johnson, son of Bernt Johnson of Racine and Mrs. Bernt Johnson of Whitehall, who received his discharge recently at Camp McCoy with 91 points. The reason for his long period of service outside of the United States is that Bennett enlisted in the regular Army Nov. 21,1 1937, and after taking his basic training at Vancouver Barracks, Wash., he was sent to Hawaii for further training, remaining there 32 months. He was with the field artillery at that time, although later he was transferred to ordnance as a mechanic. As a member of the 3145th Ordnance Company he spent another 32 months on New Caledonia, just returning from there before receiving his discharge.
The climate in Hawaii and New Caledonia is very similar, Bennett said, but he prefers the former islands because he didn’t like the French on New Caledonia. They were definitely in sympathy with the Vichy government and with the Japanese, he said, and he had that proved to him forcefully when he and other American soldiers went on a deer hunt into the hills and were fired upon by Frenchmen — who, fortunately, did not hit them.
Johnson experienced a hurricane that hit the island in January, 1944, and carried away all the soldiers’ tents from this island 5500 miles from San Francisco. Going out nearly three years ago he travelled in convoy that split five hours before his ship, the transport Republic, reached New Caledonia. Not long after the ships separated one of the other boats, headed for Australia, was torpedoed by a Jap submarine but the ship was close enough to a reef so that it grounded there and saved its passengers. Coming home Johnson was aboard the freighter President Polk with 2400 other returning servicemen, and it was a slow, tedious journey for these men anxious to get back to the States.
Bennett saw only two soldiers he knew when he was out. They were Angus Hanson of Black River Falls, formerly of Pigeon, with whom he had gone to school as a small boy in the Daggett district, and Harris Danielson of Black River Falls.
Besides the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon he won the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded by the general of the Pacific Service Command. The first 1 1/2 years he was on New Caledonia he and the other mechanics there, who repaired trucks and tanks, were very busy on account of help shortage, which won them the citation.
Mr. Johnson is vacationing with his mother here. His father is expected here soon from Racine.
Willie A. Johnson
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, enlisted March 11, 1942, discharged Oct. 19, 1945
Corp. Willie Johnson. U. S. Marine Corps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson, Whitehall, has been in the South Pacific since October, 1942. He took part in the battle of Tarawa, coming through uninjured, and is now in Hawaii at a rest camp. Corp. Johnson and PFC Nehring went overseas together and were serving in the same light tank company.
WHITEHALL, Wis. — Corp. Willie A. Johnson figured in the recent capture of Tarawa Island in the Gilbert group. A letter written on Nov. 28 assured his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson that he was well and safe. He also referred to Pvt. Marshall Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring, who was in the same battle.
Two Whitehall Boys In Battle Of Tarawa
Letter from Willie Johnson to Parents Says He and Marshall Nehring Came Thru Fight Without Injury
The families of Theodore Johnson and A. E. Nehring were much relieved Tuesday when a letter was received by Mrs. Johnson from their son, Cpl. Willie A. Johnson, in which he also mentioned Pvt. Marshall Nehring, son of the Nehrings. j After a silence of many weeks, the j letter, written on Nov. 28 in the I Southwest, said:
“Dear Folks: I guess this has been my most thankful Thanksgiving, and this, one of my most important letters. Here’s the dope.
“We’ve just captured Tarawa Island in the Gilbert group after heavy fighting. The Marines sure came through and our outfit did some real work too. The little men from Nippon sure took a mauling.
“I’ve seen Marshall since things have quieted down, so he came through O.K. too. Kind of swell to be together through the whole thing.
“Everything is fine with me and I didn’t get as much as a scratch, so don’t worry. Give word to all.”
Marshall and Willie took their Marine training together at San Diego, Calif., and left at the same time for overseas almost two years ago. So far as their folks here know they had been located in New Zealand for some time, and when the Gilbert Islands battle was reported they feared that the boys took part in it, which makes the news of their safety all the more welcome. Both are with a light tank company, Willie as a radio operator.
Jap Postcard from Tarawa
A Jap postcard captured at Tarawa was sent to The Times by Cpl. Willie Johnson of the Marine Corps. Cpl. Willie, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson, wrote under date of Dec. 17: “Here’s one postcard that never found its way back to Nippon because the Second Marine Division intercepted it at Tarawa. We had quite a scrap but we are one step nearer Tokyo and eventually home, and that is what really counts. Marshall Nehring was there too, and both of us came through without a scratch, so our luck is good anyway. Greetings to you and the staff.”
Whitehall Marine Sends Some Souvenirs of Tarawa Battle
WHITEHALL, Wis. (Special)— A collection of trophies of the battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, taken recently by the gallant Ma rines, are highly prized by the family of Cpl. Willie A. Johnson of Whitehall, veteran of that operation who, so far as is known, is now in a rest camp in the Hawaiian islands. The trophies came in three shipments and are now on display in the Trempealeau County Selective Service office in the courthouse, where his his brother, Clarence H. Johnson, is clerk.
Among the souvenirs in this display are a Jap rifle with bayonet and scabbard; a Jap officer’s bulletproof vest; and a field jacket with some imprinting on it in the native language. The owner's name, Ximora, was translated for Mr. Johnson by a visitor at the selective service office who could read that much of the printing.
Another treasure is an insignia from a Mitsubishi bomber and others are also pieces of a Jap Zero. In perfect mechanical condition is a Jap machine gun with space for 24 bullets. The gun shows signs of strafing but was not mechanically damaged.
Prized more than any of the other trophies by the owner is a bronze Imperial Jap Marine emblem, shown in the foreground, which was captured with some difficulty by Cpl. Johnson from an armored staff car. Willie wrote: “I stuck my neck out to get that emblem and am lucky to be able to live to tell about it. No more of that for me.” He plans to mount the emblem on a plaque when he gets home I and then tell the story of his dan gerous capture.
Also shown in the foreground of the picture is a knife which Cpl. Johnson sent to his brother Clarence for his recent birthday. While stationed in New Zealand before being sent to the Tarawa job, Willie made the knife from a file and fashioned the handle from shatterproof glass of the kind used in cockpits in planes. Cpl. Johnson’s name and serial number are inserted on a slip of paper inside the handle.
Cpl. Johnson, who has been in the service over two years and abroad about 1 1/2 years, took his training at San Diego. Calif., after enlisting in the Marines and became a radio operator on a medium tank, which holds five men. A snapshot which the Johnsons have shows the 24 men that were left in Cpl. Johnson's company after the battle. Johnson was a member of the company that beat back the Japs on the famous third day of the battle when, having hidden in their foxholes, they staged their "Banzai” attack, and, throwing all caution to the wind, they rushed upon the Marines at dusk scream ing “Marine, you die” and "Japanese drink Marines’ blood.” The line wavered momentarily but the company held and at least 300 Japs died in their fanatical charge, according to press reports of the battle.
Johnson is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson of Whitehall. There was one other local boy in the battle of Tarawa; Marine Marshall Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring. Nehring was also a radio operator in the encounter but was with a different company.
Dear Clarence
Everything is O.K. with me. Had quite a few thrilling experiences over here*
Yours, Will.
Corp. Willie A. Johnson, U.S.M.C.
July 10, 1944
To L. J. Wood, Whitehall from Saipan
Dear Woodier
Just a word to you and the rest letting you know all’s well with me. How's things back there?
Corp. Willie A. Johnson
Whitehall Marine in Saipan Battle
WHITEHALL. Wis., (Special) — Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson received a letter Thursday from their son, Cpl. Willie Johnson, who is with the Second Marine Division on Saipan. This was the first word they have had from him in nearly seven weeks, and the letters at that time were coming from the Hawaiians, where he was in a rest camp after taking part in the Marshall Islands campaign, when he was in the Tarawa battle. Believing that he had returned to some front when they didn’t hear from him, Willie’s parents learned where he was when newspapers published the fact that the Second Division was on Saipan.
This week’s letter was written on June 27 and said that things were going all right with him. He said he believed Marshall Nehring was also on the island although he had not seen him since leaving the Hawaiians. Nehring, also of Whitehall, is a Marine. Both boys are radio operators on medium tanks. Both have now been overseas more than two years and were first stationed m New Zealand.
Conrad Johnstad
U.S. Marine Corps, 1943-46, Pacific Theatre
August 1943
Conrad Johnstad of Pigeon Falls went to Minneapolis this week, and he hoped to be accepted in the Army Air Corps while in that city. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad, and was graduated from Whitehall High last May.
March 1944
Pvt. Conrad Johnstad, stationed with the U.S. Marines at San Diego, Calif., is spending a leave at the home of his parents in Pigeon Falls. He says that before coming home he saw Pvt. Dallas Erickson of this city, and PFC Francis Foss of Fly Creek, who send greetings to their home folks. Conrad said that Dallas was about to go overseas, and later information is to the effect that he has arrived in the Pacific battle zone.
March 28, 1944
Assigned to Marine Band
When Conrad Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad, was a student at Whitehall High, he took an active part in musical circles both in and outside of school. Under date of March 28 he writes to The Times that he has been assigned to quartermaster administration school at Camp Elliott. His first night there, he says, he was playing his trumpet, which he had brought along “for my amusement and the misery of others ... It seems that the misery was too much for the lieutenant, so he took my name and Monday morning I found myself a member of the Marine Band at Elliott.”
November 1944
Learned What Prayer
Is for in Foxhole
Like scores of other lads, just a few months ago Connie Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, was at home and in school, but now he is on a far-away Pacific island, undergoing unpleasant climatic conditions and doing his part in prosecuting the war. Under date of Sept. 23, Conrad writes of the battle for Peleliu, and says that for the first time in his life, in his foxhole, he came to the realization of what prayer is for and what it can do for one.
December 1944
A V-mail Christmas and New Year’s greeting came to The Times from PFC Connie Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, who wrote, “I’m as busy as could be out here. This is certainly a strange way to spend Christmas, in such tremendous heat. From the looks of things, I’ll be here quite some time.” Connie is in the central Pacific area with the Marines.
Looks Forward to Trip Back to Wisconsin
A letter from somewhere in the South Pacific arrived at The Times office from PFC Conrad Johnstad, U.S.M.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls and a Whitehall High school graduate. Connie says in part:
“I have time to drop a line at last, so here goes, although there isn’t much that I can talk about, as you know. Everything happened fast. A short while ago I thought I would be in the United States for the duration, but you can see the results of wishful thinking. So far as the ocean and our trip over here were concerned, the see was rough but my stomach was rougher. I can see the value of water, its importance and all that, but take it from me, that trip was too darn much at one time.
“Well, they finally broke down md dished me out a rating at least, ‘'rom now on you will address me as PFC Johnstad. All kidding aside, all that means to me is four bucks more a month. I can assure you I am no 30-year man although I only have 29 years and five months left of such a period. Time certainly flies though, and speaking of time; the Whitehall Times is mighty nice to get once a week.
“I can’t tell you what I am doing, but I never could get music out of my blood. My other jobs are not to be mentioned. We have a few musicians over here and we do get in our kcks.
“The Merchant Marine is doing a wonderful job and the men are to be congratulated for their fine work.
“Don Jarstad and I have separated and have lost track of each other completely, but I am with a Severson boy from Arcadia.
“Tell all folks hello and that I am making this trip just once more, and you know which way I’ll be headed for then—old Wisconsin.”
Boys In Pacific Elated Over European Victory
A letter comes to The Times from Pfc Conrad Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, who is with the Marines in the Pacific area. Conrad wrote under date of May 24 from the western Carolines, saying in part:
“The war news telling of Germany’s unconditional surrender was by all means a great comfort to our minds. Quite frequently the service scuttlebutt department had given us the same news, later to be found untruthful, so we went through the same old routine—work and wait until the report was confirmed. Such exhilaration as you can never imagine took place here. We had our inebriates for a time but there was record attendance at every church the following Sunday. To me it means the vaunted Allied powers are progressing and before long victory will be ours. Then and only then will we be back home with our friends and dear ones.
“At this writing my overseas duty sums up to a total of 10 months and 16 days, and Pm plenty tired of it already but will carry on.
“By the time this reaches you my morale boosting friend Dallas Erickson should be making his homecoming. He left here to my chagrin some time ago with others for stateside duty. We both agreed upon upholding the tradition of the marine corps whether in Fortun’s drug store for a coke or on the high school basketball court.
“The Times reaches me fairly regularly and it is great, believe me.
“It is getting late and duty calls, time for sack drill. Remember me to all.”
Gavin Johnstad
Private, U.S. Army, 9 Jan 1942-25 May 1943
January 1943
Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Johnstad of Pigeon Falls have received a letter from Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Behenna of Talbot, Great Britain, informing them that the Johnstads' son Gavin was a guest at their home sometime in November. Gavin has since been confined to a hospital somewhere in Great Britain, the exact whereabouts he has not been permitted to tell.
Archie Langworthy
Enlisted in U.S. Navy December 1942
RECEIVES PROMOTION
Archie Langworthy, only son of Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy of this city, has been promoted to petty officer first class and is a chief specialist with the Navy, according to a letter received by his parents this week. Archie is stationed on a South Pacific island, where heavy rains and lots of sunshine are had the year around. Archie has a pet parrot, but he will not be able to bring it home with him, he said. He mentioned receiving letters and packages from friends and stated that fish are just as elusive of a hook there as back in Wisconsin.
Whitehall Man Dies In Pacific
Langworthy Is First War Zone Casualty
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Archie Louis Langworthy, 34, chief specialist athletic instructor with the Naval Reserve, died Wednesday as a result of a hemorrhage subdural while in the performance of his duty in the service of his country, according to a telegram received Thursday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy. Langworthy, an only son, was on a South Pacific island.
Born March 5, 1910, in St. Paul, he moved to Whitehall with his parents at the age of six. After graduating from Whitehall High School, he studied at the art institute in Chicago for two years. Following this he was employed as a photographer in Chicago. Later he moved to Des Moines where I he established a studio.
At one time Langworthy won first prize among 2,700 photos displayed in the Stevens hotel in Chicago. Langworthy photos were used by De Mille at one time in a search for talent.
Langworthy enlisted in November. 1942, with a petty officer first class rating. After a brief training period he went overseas in May 1943. He landed on New Caledonia but has been stationed on other islands in the Pacific since. Besides being athletic instructor, he was an aerial photographer. In his spare time he organized a band.
Survivors are his parents and one sister, Mrs. Pearl Winchester ! of Chicago.
Langworthy is the first Whitehall man killed in a war zone. A previous casualty, Sgt. Harold Stendahl, was killed as a result of a gun accident in a Pennsylvania camp in September, 1942.
Archie Langworthy, 34, Loses Life In Pacific
Met Death Aug. 30, According to Message Received By His Parents
Whitehall received its second sad message stating that another of our boys had been lost in service. The telegram was to Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy informing them their son, Archie L. Langworthy, 34, had lost his life in the South Pacific on Aug. 30. The telegram stated that he died from a subdural hemorrhage while in the performance of his duty. Archie was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Langworthy and his death is a great shock to them.
Whitehall’s first casualty in World War 2 was Sgt. Harold Stendahl, who died in a gun accident at Philadelphia, Pa., two years ago today, Sept. 7.
Hold Memorial Services
Memorial services were held at Our Saviour’s Lutheran church on Wednesday afternoon for the deceased. The Rev. O. G. Birkeland, pastor of the church and also department chaplain of the American Legion, officiated at the last rites and members of Hutchins-Stendahl Post attended In a body.
Music was furnished by Mr. and Mrs. Philip Thomte, who sang in duet “Come Unto Me” by Porter, and by a vocal quartet composed of Mr. and Mrs. Thomte, Mrs. Robert Forsythe and Orin Evenson, who sang “The Old Rugged Cross” and “God Be With You Til We Meet Again.”
Reverend Birkeland of the local Legion post presented the U. S. flag to the nearest of kin, Mrs. Langworthy, and two Boy Scouts, Alyn Larson and Edward Larson, brought forward the congregation’s roll of honor on which the pastor placed a gold star beside the name of the deceased.
Born in St. Paul
Archie L. Langworthy, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray R. Langworthy, was born in St. Paul, Minn., March 5, 1910. When six years of age his family moved to Whitehall, where Archie was confirmed in Our Saviour’s Lutheran church and where he graduated from high school in 1928. Following his graduation he studied at the Chicago Art Institute for two years, after which he was employed as a photographer in Chicago and for two years following toured the middle west taking portraits. He then went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked in the Cochrane Studios and where he later in his chosen profession established himself In a very promising business of his own.
He enlisted in the navy in November, 1942, receiving the rating of petty officer first class. After a brief period of training in this country he was sent to the South Pacific war zone, where he was advanced to Chief Specialist athletic instructor and where he also served as aerial photographer. It was here while in the line of duty that he made the supreme sacrifice.
He leaves to mourn his untimely passing his father and mother, sister Pearl and her daughter Bonita, and a number of other relatives and a host of friends.
Ernest G. Larson
Private First Class, U.S. Army
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Pfc. Ernest G. Larson, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Larson, Whitehall, is a member of the 595th motor ambulance company, now in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, which has received the award of the meritorious service unit plaque for outstanding performance during the Bulge operation last December and January.
The news was received in a copy of “We've Had It," publication of the 134th medical group at Pilsen by Clarence H. Johnson, clerk of the selective service board.
Evacuating nearly 10,000 casualties during the 401day Ardennes battle, the company went into support of hard-hit troops of the 28th infantry and the 9tli and 10th armored divisions in Luxembourg on the first day of the campaign. Later elements of the unit supported the 101st and 17th battalions and the 90th infantry division in their all-out drive to push the Germans out of their newly-won territory.
Lenna C. Larson
Lieutenant, U.S. Army Nurse Corps
February 1944
The Community Hospital Nurses Alumni gave a farewell party Monday evening for Miss Lenna Larson, who has enlisted in the Reserve Nurses Corps of the U.S. Army.
February 10, 1944
Second Lieut. Lenna Larson was sworn into the Army Nurses Corps Thursday at Camp McCoy, where she will undergo basic training.
August 11, 1945
First Lieut. Lenna Larson, Camp McCoy came and spent the weekend at the Herman Ringlien and Louie Larson homes, Pigeon Falls.
February 23, 1946
Lieut. Lenna Larson received her discharge from the Army Nurse Corps last weekend. She was stationed at Camp McCoy for about two years.
May 12, 1946
Miss Lenna Larson, R.N., is preparing to leave for Fort Bayard, N. M., Sunday. Miss Larson, former lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, has accepted a position with the Veterans Administration, and will be employed as head nurse in the department of medicine and surgery at the veterans hospital at Fort Bayard. She returned from South America by plane, in November, 1943. She had been employed as a nurse in Dr. E. A, McCornack’s hospital in Lima, Peru, for several years. Immediately upon her arrival she enlisted in the Army, took her basic training at Camp McCoy and was stationed there for the duration. She received her discharge April 8, and has spent most of her time since then at the home of her sister, Mrs. Herman Ringlien, Moe Coulee, town of Pigeon. Last weekend was spent with her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Larson, Pigeon Falls.
Robert G. Lewis
Lieutenant, U.S. Army, enlisted Feb. 16, 1943
Wounded In France
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) —Lieut. Robert G. Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis of Webster Grove, Mo., formerly of the town of Hale, received jaw and arm wounds in France recently and was sent back to England for hospitalization, according to Mrs. Agnes Thorson of Hale, aunt of Lieut. Lewis.
Mrs. Thorson learned of his wounds from Mrs. Lewis, wife of the lieutenant, who resides at Combined Locks, Wis. Lieut. Lewis, a graduate of Whitehall High School and the University of Wisconsin, entered service on July 31, 1942, received officer’s training at Fort Benning, Ga., spent several months instructing at Camp Blanding, Fla., and arrived overseas the latter part of August.
EDITOR HOME--
Lieut. Robert G. Lewis, former editor of the Daily Cardinal, University of Wisconsin campus newspaper, has returned to Madison from European battle zones wearing the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. Wounded three times, Lewis will head for the Pacific at the end of his leave.
Former Hale Man, Wounded Three
Times in Reich, Visiting Whitehall
Whitehall. Wis.—(Special)— First Lieutenant Robert Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis, Webster Groves, Mo., a native of the town of Hale, is here on 30-day leave alter a year of combat duty in the European theater.
He is visiting at the farm home owned by his parents in Hale, which is occupied by his aunts, Mrs. Agnes Thorson and Mrs. Clara Huse. He was accompaned by his wife and six-month-old baby, whom he had not seen before his return. His parents are also visiting at their farm home.
Lieut. Lewis was wounded three times, decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for extra-ordinary heroism, and promoted to first lieutenant on the battlefield in France. He wears the French Croix de Guerre, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and the European Theater Ribbon with three campaign stars.
A member of the Eighth “Gold Arrow" division, Lieut. Lewis won the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for heroism at the battle of Brest. He was a platoon leader. He dragged wounded men to safety under heavy machine-gun and small arms fire, despite bullet wounds through the muscles of both arms. Then he returned to the head of his platoon, refusing to evacuate. This time a bullet plowed clear through the bones of both his jaws just below the ears, but he continued to lead his men forward until they seized their objective.
Lived on Soup, Milk
Forty-eight hours after he landed at Brest he was back in an English hospital and for the next two and a half months he lived on soup and milk because his jaws were wired shut to reset them.
Rejoining his division in Germany, he fought in the Ardennes break-through and helped hold the north shoulder of the Belgian Bulge. Crossing the Ruhr as the spearhead of the Seventh Corps of the Third Armored division, the Eighth took Daren and were the first troops in Cologne.
Lieut. Lewis led a company that included four white platoons and one Negro platoon of 50 into battle in an Army experiment to determine whether Negroes and whites could fight successfully together. There was no friction and the Negroes fought brilliantly, probably because there was the added incentive of making a good showing for their race, Lieutenant Lewis commented.
Military Governor
After VE Day Lieut. Lewis became military governor of the industrial city of Wuppertal, where his task was to keep order in a state of chronic emergency in which liberated Russian, French, Polish and Italian slave labor looted food supplies and tried to avenge themselves on the Germans.
Lieutenant Lewis was editor of the Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin before he entered service.
“It will be impossible to organize a democratic German government in the next few years," Lieut. Lewis declared, in an interview with a Madison newspaper, “Not because of any false race theories but because of their Nazi training and background, Germans right now are incapable of achieving democracy."
“Dominated by Russia”
“The outcome will be either rigid control by an Allied commission, or Communism in Germany, along with the rest of eastern and central Europe, dominated and guided by Russia . . . This may be a good thing for Europe because Russian influence can give Europe a stability we can’t for the present.
“America’s task from now on should be to be extremely aggressive in promoting our way of life. It is up to us to influence the Russians, to acquaint them with our beliefs, to develop a confidence to America’s ways among them, so that we can temper Russian theories with our own ideas of tolerance and freedom.”
Gordon Lundsted
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, enlisted Nov. 29, 1940, discharged Nov. 5, 1945. B-29 radio operator, promoted to that rank spring 1945 while serving in Philippines.
Jan. 20, 1944
Sergeant Gordon Lundsted, formerly of Sheppard Field, Tex., has been transferred to Sioux Falls, S.D., reports his sister, Mrs. Norman Olson of Fly Creek.
Sgt. Gordon Lundstead has been transferred from Yuma. Ariz., to Lemoore Field in California.
Sept. 29, 1944
Sergeant Gordon Lundsted has been transferred again, this time from Lemoore Field, Calif., to Tonapah, Nev. He is studying radio in the Air Corps.
Robert L. MacCornack Jr.
Ensign, U.S. Navy, enlisted July 1, 1943, discharged March 6, 1946.
September 1944
U.S. Naval Reserve, graduate of University of Dubuque, Iowa, V-12 naval school, midshipman’s school at Notre Dame, Ind.
July 20, 1945
Ensign Robert MacCornack Jr., on a troop transport in the Pacific, called his parents, Dr. and Mrs. R. L. MacCornack, from a West Coast port Friday.
Feb. 21, 1946
Robert L. MacCornack Jr., dischared last week as an ensign from the Navy, came Thursday evening from St. Paul to visit his parents, Dr. and Mrs. R. L. MacCornack.
Charles W. Mason
Soundman third class, U.S. Navy, enlisted Sept. 12, 1939.
Charles Mason, SM3/c, completed his 6-year enlistment in the U. S. navy, received his discharge at Great Lakes, Ill., and returned to Whitehall Sunday. Charles enlisted Sept. 12, 1939, trained at Great Lakes and was then assigned to the cruiser Brooklyn, on which he spent two years, serving principally in the Hawaiian area. Later he was transferred to the Atlantic, passing through the Panama Canal. He was with the first U. S. convoy to Africa when American forces invaded that country. For the following several months he was on convoy duty when the submarine menace was at its height in the Atlantic. In 1942 he was transferred to a destroyer and in the spring of 1943 he returned to the Pacific, spending several months in anti-submarine patrol in the Alaskan and Aleutian areas. His last assignment was in the Hawaiian sea frontier. Charles has the Pre-Pearl Harbor, American Theatre, European Theatre and Pacific Theatre ribbons.
Lloyd Meagher
Enlisted in U. S. Navy February 1941, petty officer on USS Arkansas February 1942, convoy duty
Whitehall Sailor Writes Grandmother Of Action In Pacific
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) —Lloyd Meagher, who is aboard a ship in the South Pacific, wrote his grandmother, Mrs. L. C. Olson of Whitehall, under date of Feb. 18, telling her where he has been traveling recently.
“When we left the States,” he wrote, “the first place we hit was Monus Island in the Admiralty group. Then Fincheshafen, Milne Bay and Ora Bay in New Guinea. Then we came onto Leyte and then Lingayen Gulf in Luzon, both in the Philippines.
“At Lingayen we were credited with shooting down one Jap bomber. “That is all I am allowed to say now—we can not tell anything until 30 days after it has happened. The days are hot here but the nights are cold. I am getting sick of staying out here but I am I afraid it will be about another year before we see the States again.”
Meagher has been in the Navy several years. A graduate of Whitehall High School, he is the son of Mrs. Herman Sesvold, Pigeon Falls.
Irvin Mallum
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, inducted July 31, 1942, discharged Nov. 19, 1945.
June 20, 1943
Technical Sergeant Irvin Mallum left Friday, for Camp Barkley, Texas, after a furlough with his wife here and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum, at Coral
City.
Dec. 17, 1943
Mrs. Irvin Mallum, Whitehall, has received word that her husband, Sergeant Mallum, has arrived safely in England.
July 20, 1944
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —When Mrs. Irvin J. Mallum of Whitehall received a letter from Mrs. J. Wood of 30 Canon street, Taunton, Somerset, England, this I week, she was alarmed, because on seeing its source, she thought that it might bear bad news of her husband, T. Sgt. Irvin Mallum, who was connected to an ordnance company located somewhere in the British isles. But her fears were dispelled upon reading the letter, which said in part:
“I feel I must write a few lines to you seeing I have had Mr. Mallum with me for five months. Duty calls him somewhere else today, so as a good soldier he must go. I think they must have sent me one of the best for we like him very much and I hope it won’t be long before you will be together again.
Word has been received that T/Sgt. Irvin W. Mallum has arrived in France by his wife, Mrs. Irvin Mallum, of Whitehall. He is a mechanic in an ordnance depot company. He entered the service July 31, 1942, and received his training at Camp Barkeley, Texas, after which he was sent overseas in November, 1943. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum, of Coral City.
Atrocity Stories Not Exaggerated, Says Vet
The stories one hears and reads of atrocities in the European theatre are true, declared Sgt. Irvin C. Mallum, and much more that he could add. Sgt. Mallum, son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum of Coral City, received his discharge at Fort Sheridan, Ill., Nov. 19 with 84 points and joined his wife, the former Ruby Holden, who has been residing with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Holden here during his absence.
Irvin entered service July 18, 1942, and received training at Camp Butner, Tex. He was also on maneuvers in Louisiana in 1943 just prior to leaving for overseas in November that year. Landing in England, he was stationed near Yeovil in the southern part at Lufton Barracks with the 178th Ordnance Company, First Army Unit. He was a mechanic working on all types of army vehicles. From Yeovil he went to Taunton, also in southern England, half way between the southern coast and Bristol, where he remained until the Normandy invasion.
Sgt. Mallum entered Normandy June 11, 1944, a few days after D-Day, landing on the Omaha Beach. He moved into France, Belgium and Holland, back into Belgium again and into Germany with the First Army all the time. At the end of the war he had reached Kassel, Germany. Before coming back to the States he returned to France to the Assembly Air Command at Rheims, where he was transferred to the 75th Division. He embarked from Marseilles for home on the boat Tusculen Victor on Nov. 3, which carried about 2,000 men, and landed at Hampton Roads, Va., Nov. 15, from where he proceeded to Fort Sheridan for discharge.
Irvin has five battle stars on his European Theatre Ribbon, the Good Conduct and Victory medals, American Theatre Ribbon and four overseas service bars. Before entering service Sgt. Mallum was employed at the Hagen Sales & Service garage at Pigeon Falls.
Albert J. Maule
Technical sergeant, U.S. Army, European Theater, enlisted Oct. 27, 1942, discharged Nov. 10, 1945.
Dec. 20, 1944
Sergeant Maule
Wins Bronze Star
Staff Sergeant Albert Maule, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Maule Sr., Independence, has been awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement against the enemy in Italy.
Sergeant Maule entered service in October, 1942; received his training at Camp White and Camp Adai, Ore.; and was sent overseas in March, 1944. After being stationed for a brief time in Africa, he was sent to Italy, where he has since been on duty.
Served with Patton;
Home on Furlough
T/Sgt. Albert Maule, reached the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Maule of Independence, from the European theatre last week Tuesday, and by Wednesday forenoon, he was in Whitehall visiting old friends, as before entering service in October 1942, he was employed at the Farmers Store here. A member of the 361st Infantry, 91st Division, Al has battle stars from the Rome-Arno, Po Valley and North Apennines campaigns. He has a 36-day furlough, but not enough points for discharge. His brother, T/5 Edward, is also back in the State on furlough.
Charles B. Melby Jr.
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy.
Torpedo Engineer
Ensign Charles B. Melby, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Melby, Sr., Whitehall, has been assigned as a torpedo engineer to the U. S. S. Abbott, a destroyer. He enlisted in the navy after receiving his BA. degree at the University of Wisconsin last spring. During his four years of college, he also completed one year of law. He was called for training last fall, and went October 6 to Notre Dame university where he was graduated In January, being In one of the first classes of ensigns graduated from Notre Dame. Later he received specialized training at Newport, R. I. His brother-in-law, John N. Fischer, Battle Creek, Mich., enlisted as a petroleum engineer In the navy two months ago and left Friday for Newport, R. I, for training.
Melby Home
WHITEHALL. Wis. —Special) —Lieut. Charles Melby, torpedo officer on the destroyer USS Abbott in the Pacific the past 29 months, landed at Bremerton, Wash., early this week, according to a message received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Melby.
On Thursday his mother, accompanied by her two grandchildren, John and Gray Fischer, left by plane from Minneapolis for Seattle to join him. From there they all expect to fly to San Francisco, Calif., to join Lieut. (jg) and Mrs. John N. Fischer, parents of John and Gray, who reside there, while Lieut. Fischer is stationed in that area. Lieut. Melby expects to receive a 21-day leave Sept. 30, when he and his mother will return to Whitehall.
Ernest M. Moen
Private first class, U.S. Army, inducted Oct. 27, 1941, killed in action Dec. 25, 1944
Home From Aleutian Islands
PFC Ernest Moen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen of Whitehall, arrived at his home here Thursday from Camp White, Ore., on a 20- day furlough, his first chance to get home in 30 months. He spent 23 of those months on the Aleutian Islands of Adack, Cold Bay, and Kiska and just returned to Seattle, Wash., last week. A member of Company A, 37th Infantry, Moen had a chance to see plenty of Japs but he says there are no signs of them in the Aleutians now. He is a machine gunner and hopes that his aim was good at the snipers he tried to pick off.'
At least six other soldiers from this area were with the 37th Infantry in the Aleutians at the same time, all in company A or B, and all are now back in the States for a rest after fighting not only the Japs but the cold and damp weather of the Aleutians. Moen said they were forced to wear winter clothing all the year around. He found Whitehall much different than when he left, he said, the Land O’Lakes milk plant and the Illinois Cooperage Co. plant being the two outstanding additions to the city.
Others from the area in the 37th in the Aleutians were Pvt. Wallace Voldsness, Pvt. Albert A. Steffenson, Pvt. Glen Instenes and Pvt. Richard E. Mattson of Chimney Rock, the last of whom is also at home on furlough; Lester Mathison of Osseo and Philip Peterson of Blair. They are now stationed at Camp White, Ore., and those who are not yet at home on furlough are expected.
Outside of his infantry pals Ernest saw only one other person from home during his 23 months’ absence. That was La Verne Olson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Olson, who is with the U. S. Navy. La Verne, 17 years old at the time, was a gunner on the transport that carried Ernest and his company to Kiska, he said.
Killed When Transport Sank
Receive Details Of Ernest Moen's Death
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen were informed in a letter from the secretary of war which they received Tuesday that their son. Pfc. Ernest M. Moen. 25, reported killed in action in France in January, was among those lost when a troop transport was sunk in European waters Dec. 25.
Mr. and Mrs. Moen had received a letter from their son which was written Dec. 17 from England. They believe he was enroute to France or Belgium when his death occurred.
Moen, who had had 23 months of service in the Aleutians, volunteered again for foreign service when he had been at Camp Robinson a short while. He took part in the battles of Kiska, where he was one of six target men preceding the infantry in the capture of the island, at Cold Bay in Attu and in the Adak battle.
Moen was inducted Oct. 27, 1941, and trained at Camp Wolters,: Tex., before going to the Aleutians. He returned Feb. 15, 1944, after 23 months and went over seas again in November.
Besides his parents, he is survived by four sisters and two brothers, Pvt. Jeanette Loviette of Hot Springs National Park, Ark.; Mrs. Leonard Kaas, Pigeon; Beverly, Dorothy, Merlin and Rodney at home: his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Mina Moen of Whitehall, and his maternal grandparents, Mrs. Josie Gunderson of Ettrick, and Sever Gunderson of Galesville.
Memorial Rites at Whitehall
Sunday for 3 Killed in Action
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)— Memorial services will be held at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church here at 2:30 p. m. Sunday for three Whitehall men killed in action in the past six months. The three are Private Ernest Mo'en, 24, who lost his life in the English channel December 25; Technical Sergeant Omer B. Olson, 24, killed in Europe April 28; and Lieutenant (junior grade) Raymond V. Larson, 23, Navy pilot killed in action in the Pacific and buried at sea in May.
The Rev. O. G. Birkeland, pastor of Our Saviour's and department chaplain of the American Legion, will conduct the service, assisted by Hutchins-Stendahl post of Whitehall, which will advance the colors and present an American flag to the nearest of kin of each of the deceased.
Music will include a vocal solo by Mrs. G. B. Melby, a vocal duet by Mr. and Mrs. Philip Thomte and a selection by a quartet composed of Philip Thomte, Orin Evenson, Henry Aleckson and Harland Schaefer. Mrs. H. M. Johnson will be at the organ.
Close relatives of the deceased are expected here for the service, including Corporal Jeanette Loviette, Hot Springs National Park. Ark., brother of Private Moen; Mr. and Mrs. Bendick Olson, La Crosse, parents of Sergeant Olson, and Mrs. Winnie Larson, Minneapolis, mother of Lieut. Larson, and the latter’s widow, Stillwater, Minn.
Jeanette (Moen) Tuff
Technician fifth grade, Women’s Army Corps, enlisted Feb. 10, 1944, discharged Jan. 8, 1946.
Jan. 17, 1945
Private Jeanette Loviette arrived at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen, Wednesday from Hot Springs National Park, Ark., where she is stationed with the medical corps. Private Loviette received an emergency furlough after receiving word that he brother, Private First Class Ernest Moen, was killed in action in France on Christmas Day. The message came to his parents Moonday of this week.
Promoted from private first class to technician fifth grade at Hot Springs General Hospital in Arkansas April 1945.
Norman V. Moen
Private U.S. Army, Merrill’s Marauders, assistant Browning automatic rifle, Burma, awarded Purple Heart April 1945, Bronze Star.
Wounded In Battle With Japs At Burma
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special)—Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen of this city received a letter from their son, Pvt. Norman V. Moen, this week stating that he had arrived back in the States after fighting with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma.
“We fought behind the Jap lines,” he wrote. “The Japs had us surrounded once for 10 days. We hardly ever washed or shaved and boy were we a rugged looking bunch. The Japs must have got scared just looking at us. I didn’t get a chance to wash for 15 days at one time. All in all, I think it was a good experience.”
Pvt. Moen received a wound in the jaw and face and will probably undergo plastic surgery. He now is stationed at Coral Gables, Fla., but expects to be transferred to a hospital where plastic surgery specialists are prominent.
Whitehall Soldier, Hurt in Burma, Back in States
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen, Whitehall, received a letter from their son, Private Norman V. Moen, this week, stating that he had arrived back in the United States after fighting with Merrill's Marauders in Burma.
“We fought behind the Jap lines,” he wrote. “The Japs had us surrounded once for ten days. We hardly ever washed or shaved and, boy, were we a rugged looking bunch. The Japs must have got scared just looking at us. I didn’t get a chance to wash for 15 days at one time. It must have made a man of me, though—now I know how good I used to have it at home. All in all, I think it was a good experience.”
Private Moen received a wound in his jaw and face and will probably undergo plastic surgery. He is now stationed at Coral Gables, Fla., but expects to be transferred to a hospital where plastic surgery specialists are employed.
Moen Given Purple Heart
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— Pvt. Norman V. Moen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen of Whitehall, was one of 22 soldiers to be awarded the Purple Heart, at ceremonies conducted at O’Reilly General Hospital, Springfield, Mo., on April 26 by Lieut. Col. Edward P. Burch.
Pvt Moen, an infantryman, entered service Mar. 8, 1943. He landed at Bombay, India, in October, 1943. After training in India he went to Burma which was just behind the front lines. This was in February 1944. His outfit, known as “Merrill's Marauders.” was in combat in North Burma. Pvt. Moen’s job was as assistant BAR man.
His small outfit was responsible for helping the Chinese and for harassing the Japs. They were on the move all the time. In April 1944 the enemy had the Marauders trapped about 10 days and all their supplies and ammunition were dropped from planes.
On May 31, 1944, while eating lunch, a sniper’s bullet hit Pvt. Moen on the left side of his face. He was treated at a hospital near Moishmial, then at hospitals in India, and arrived at O’Reilly General Hospital Sept. 13, 1944.
Pfc. Norman Moen, who received plastic surgery to a face wound suffered while with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma, is spending a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen. He is stationed at O’Reilly General hospital, Springfield, Mo.
Pvt. Norman Moen, Veteran Of Burma Campaign, Arrives Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Pvt. Norman Moen, 21, arrived home recently to spend a 30-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen.
Pvt. Moen is wearing one service star. He saw action with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma May 31. The Marauders did all their fighting behind the Japanese lines in an attempt to keep the enemy occupied and permit the U. S. engineers to continue the construction of the Ledo road to open a supply route to China. On one occasion Moen’s company was surrounded by Japs for 10 days. “We hardly ever washed or shaved and boy, were we a rugged looking bunch,” Moen explained. “The Japs must have become scared just looking at us.”
Drink Muddy Water
Moen said that on this occasion the Japs captured their water hole and the American soldiers were forced to drink muddy water. Provisions and water were dropped later by parachute for them by American planes.
The Marauders were in northern Burma where the Irrawaddy River has its source when Moen was wounded by a sniper. His company was hiding about waiting for orders for the capture of Myitkyina, a comparatively large city.
Moen was crouching behind a bush when a bullet entered his jaw on the right side, went through his cheek and out the back of his neck. He got to his feet and walked about 500 yards before he had to have assistance, he said, and the battalion first aid gave him plasma before he was transferred to the 20th General hospital in England, where he remained until Aug. 25.
The bullet had fractured his jaw, severed the nerve in his cheek and cut a wide gash that made a scar an inch wide when it was first sewed up and at least six inches long from mid-cheek to the back of the neck. The cheekbone was also broken. His hearing in his right ear was affected and he was unable to close one eye. Wiring was laced in his jaw to keep his mouth closed and for months he lived on a liquid diet only.
From the hospital in India he flew to Bombay and then by easy stages to Miami, Fla. The plane stopped in Iran, at Cairo, Tripoli, Casablanca, the Azores, and Bermuda, arriving at Miami Sept. 5. On Sept. 14 he was transferred to O’Reilly General hospital, Springfield, Mo., where he is receiving treatment.
Around The World
Moen has travelled around the world. He was inducted into service in March, 1943, at Whitehall and took his basic training at Camp Roberts, Calif. By September he and several other men from this area, including Harold Christianson of Whitehall, Ralph Klimek of Independence and La Verne Larson of Hixton, had volunteered to join Merrill’s Marauders and went out together.
The other boys are still there, he believes, but have suffered from malaria. His return to the east coast made his round-the-world circuit complete. Going out they left from San Francisco by boat and travelled by water to India, where he received more training. His unit has the Presidential citation.
Moen has a brother, Sanford, 23, who is a gunner on a merchant ship in the navy. Sanford has travelled extensively, once going as far north as Murmansk in Siberia. At the present time it is believed he is in the Italian area. He has been in service nearly three years. He left Feb. 2, 1942.
Marshall J. Nehring
Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, enlisted May 21, 1942; discharged May 20, 1946.
Nov. 12, 1942
Depart for Foreign Service
Marines Willie Johnson and Marshall Nehring, who have been stationed at San Diego, Calif., for several months, sailed for an undisclosed destination early last week. Mrs. Leonard Knudtson, who returned from San Diego last week, said the boys left on the same ship, and expect and hope to travel in the same tank company.
PFC Marshall J. Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring, Whitehall, went to the South Pacific with the Marines in October, 1942, after completing a special course in radio at San Diego, Calif. He enlisted in May, 1941. He took part in the capture of Tarawa and is now in a rest camp in Hawaii, but lost 15 pounds in weight.
Feb. 27, 1944
Whitehall Marine Helps Radio Unit in Tarawa Battle
(The following story was written by a Marine Corps combat correspondent and distributed by The Associated Press.)
Tarawa — (Delayed) — Dodging Japanese sniper bullets and mortar shrapnel, three Marines from Wisconsin kept their radio unit going night and day through the thickest part of the battle for this former Japanese stronghold.
Part of a 12-man radio unit attached to an engineering outfit they are Private First Class Hilary J. Waukaw, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Waukaw, Menominee Indian reservation, Neopit; Marshall J. Nehring, 33, son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos E. Nehring. Whitehall; and Edward J. Zeleski, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Zeleski, Milwaukee.
Leaving their ship in the early morning of November 22, the three Wisconsin Marines and their buddies landed on the main beach where there was only a 50-yard beachhead established. Between the shore and the front lines the Japanese snipers were firing at everything that moved.
The marines set up their radio in a wrecked Japanese gun emplacement, and immediately established contact with the command post and various machine gun emplacements on the front lines.
During the next three days and nights they stayed there, keeping their radio going 24 hours a day and transmitting messages from the front lines to the officer in charge of the beach party. These messages were usually requests for supplies.
After the Marines secured the island the afternoon of November 24, the radio unit moved to another spot where the leathernecks were bringing in supplies.
There were still a few Japanese left at the far end of the atoll. Every once in a while a Japanese short wave station, manned by the remaining enemy forces, would interrupt the marine station, and, in pidgin English, try to confuse the leathernecks.
“They didn't get very far with that,” one of the Wisconsin marines said. “We just ignored them and two days later they stopped. The Marine patrol sent out for them must have stopped their hot air forever.”
Setting up their radio unit in a shack made of palm leaves and branches, the marines soon fashioned a sign which read: “Tarawa Atoll Telephone & Telegraph station—now under new management.”
Aug. 20, 1944
Hear From Marines
In Second Division
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) — Letters have come this week from both Corp. Willie Johnson and PFCMarshall Nehring of the 2nd Marine Division to their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring. Both boys are radio operators with medium tank companies but as they do not happen to be in the same company, they have not seen each other since last May when they were in Hawaii.
Both are veterans of four major engagements, Tarawa in the Marshalls, Saipan and Tinian. Neither have been wounded. Marshall, writing on Aug. 5 from Tinian, said that he had seen Johnson's tank go by in the battle there but as things were pretty hot at the moment, he did not have a chance to speak to him.
Donald N. Nelson
Sgt. U.S. Army, North Africa, promoted to Sgt. 6 Jun 1943.
Sgt. Donald N. Nelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels P. Nelson, Vancouver, Wash., formerly of Whitehall, has arrived in North Africa, according to word received by his fiancé, Miss Dorothy M. Sletner, 806 Dodge street. Sgt. Nelson enlisted in the army October 27, 1942, and received his training in the infantry at Camp White and Camp Adair, Ore. He received his promotion June 6.
Squad Leader With Regiment In Current Italy Offensive
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— S. Sgt. Donald N. Nelson of Whitehall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Nelson of Vancouver, Wash., formerly of this city, is a squad leader with the 363rd infantry regiment in the current Florence-Bologna offensive in Italy.
The 363rd entered combat in Italy last July 4 north of the Cecina River on the right flank of the 34th “Red Bull” division, to which it was then attached. The regiment rejoined the 91st division south of Chianni, where it experienced one of its roughest battles. A battalion of the 363rd captured Hill 634, four miles southwest of Chianni and repelled a number of savage enemy counterattacks in hand-to-hand fighting.
Rockiness of the hill made it impossible for the doughboys to dig in sufficiently to withstand a highly concentrated artillery and mortar assault that followed, but, after withdrawing slightly, the outfit returned and retook the hill.
During the night of July 17, the 363rd, as the infantry element of a task force attached to the 34th Division, moved into position southeast of Leghorn. The next morning it shifted its strength to the northeast corner of the seaport, maneuvering with support of tanks and tank destroyers. That night one of the infantry regiment’s battalions fought its way through the northern districts of the city itself to be the first American troops to enter the city.
The regiment next broke across the canal north of Leghorn and occupied the coast sector from the port city to Pisa, one of its battalions entering the city before dawn July 24 and another one reaching the city of the Leaning Tower that night. The 363rd returned to the control of the 91st division after holding that part of Pisa south of the Arno for four days. The regiment was on the 5th Army’s right flank.
Sgt. Nelson was inducted at Whitehall and trained at Camp White and Camp Adair, Ore.
August 11, 1944
Donald Nelson, with the infantry in Italy, writes that he has been advanced to staff sergeant.
September 22, 1945
Staff Sgt. Donald N. Nelson, who served with Co. F, 363rd Infantry, 91st Division in Italy, arrived at Camp McCoy this week and was granted a 30-day furlough. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Nelson of Vancouver, Wash., formerly of Whitehall, he has the ETO ribbon with three battle stars and the combat infantryman badge.
Earl G. Stendahl
Pvt. U.S. Army Air Corps, Camp Shelby, Miss., December 1941; attending school for aerial mechanics February 1942
Stendahl of
Whitehall
Discharged
WHITEHALL, Wis.— (Special) — Service in the European theater from August, 1943, until Dec. 6 this year is the record of S. Sgt. Earl G. Stendahl, son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Stendahl of Whitehall, who received his Air Corps discharge at Fort Sheridan, III., Dec. 11 with 78 points. He entered service April 18, 1941, and trained at Camp Grant, 111.,Camp Shelby, Miss., and Fort Dix, N. J.
He left for overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., on Aug. 9, 1943, going to Royston, England, where he was stationed with the 55th Fighter Group taking care of Army special purpose vehicles for the air force. Later he was moved to Colchester not far from London and altogether he was stationed in England for two years.
He entered Germany right after VE-day with the occupation forces and was stationed in the Bavarian area with the same air group, doing the same type of work. He remained there until Oct. 3, when he started for home, leaving from La Havre by boat Dec. 28.
He stopped briefly at Camp Kilmer again before coming on to Fort Sheridan for discharge. He has the American Defense Service ribbon, American theater and European theater ribbons, four overseas service bars, one service stripe, the distinguished unit badge and the good conduct and victory medals.
One brother, Sgt. Harold Stendahl, was killed in a gun accident near Philadelphia on Labor day, 1942. Another brother, Omer, has received his discharge after serving in the European theater and a third brother, Ivan, also in the Army, is stationed in the Aleutians. He worked as an automobile mechanic before entering service.
Gaylord Stuve
Cpl., U.S. Army Air Corps, B-25 gunner
Jan. 7, 1945
Corp. Gaylord Stuve went Sunday to the West Coast after spending a 19 day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve, Whitehall. Gaylord has been assigned to the Fifth Air Force and expects to be sent to the South Pacific.
April 26, 1945
Corp. Gaylord O. Stuve of the Air Corps was given a 14-day extension of his furlough after spending an emergency furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve and his sister. Mrs. Ronald School, Waukegan, Ill. He went Thursday to Greenville, S.C., for basic training.
Sergeant Gaylord O. Stuve, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve, Whitehall, was discharged at Camp McCoy September 20. He entered service December 29, 1943, and trained at Keesler Field, Biloxi, Miss.; Lowry Field, Denver, Colo.; Buckingham Air Base, Fort Meyers Fla., and Columbia and Greenville air bases in South Carolina. He was discharged to return to employment on his father’s farm near Whitehall. Gaylord returned home on the same day that his sister. Mrs. Ronald School, Waukegan, Ill., arrived for a visit with her parents. Mrs. School, whose husband is in the service and is stationed in Alaska, is managing a drugstore in Waukegan during his absence and at the present time is on a two-week vacation.
Lillian Sveen
Women’s Army Corps, left for basic training April 1945
March 19, 1945
Lillian Sveen, 315 South Sixth (La Crosse), enlisted in a hospital company March 19 and after completion of training at Fort Oglethorpe. Ga., will be assigned to duty at Schick General hospital, Clinton, Ia. She has been working as a blueprinter for the Trane company for the past year and a half. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen, Whitehall, Wis., and was graduated from Whitehall high school in 1941.
April 18, 1945
Miss Lillian Sveen, Whitehall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen of Coral City, went to Milwaukee today and thence will proceed to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., for her training. Miss Sveen was employed as a blueprinter for the Trane Co. at La Crosse when she enlisted in a Purple Heart unit of the Women’s Army Corps March 19.
Nov. 3, 1946
Miss Lillian Sveen, who has been stationed at Fitzsimmons General Hospital, Denver, Colo., as a technician with the Women’s Army Corps, has received her discharge and is back with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen of Whitehall.
William Kenneth Swenson
Inducted into U.S. Army July 18, 1942, discharged Oct. 30, 1945, as corporal. With medical detachment at Camp Breckenridge, Morganfield, Ky., December 1942
No Baseball Diamonds in Jungles Of Burma
From a letter received by a Galesville friend, Ken Swenson, Whitehall lad, star baseballist on the Whitehall team, is still working for Uncle Sam in the jungles of Burma. Writing from that far-off land under date of June 7, he tells of the torrents of rain, accompanied by extreme heat. The sweat rolls off from doing just nothing, he says, suggesting that in comparison the temperature in his barbershop on what Scott Nichols would boast in his Times as a scorching day would be like a breeze off an iceberg. But Corporal Ken adds, “By now we are acclimated and can take the heat, which is really different heat than you have in Wisconsin.”
Then he goes on to tell that the radio is carrying news of the invasion from England to France and that all hands in the jungle have their ears perked for the latest news. Time overseas flies fast for the fellows, he says, but not fast enough for when the time comes for us to be making that trip back to the states.
Corporal Swenson is with a medical corps and his letter was written while on night duty in a hospital where Chinese, British and American sick and injured are treated. When Ken gets back to Whitehall he is likely to be using pidgin English. Anyhow, he says he can jabber in Chinese lingo fairly well, and also understand it, no matter it is a tough language to grasp.
The jungle, he says, is full of wild life and he has seen animals that he never even dreamed existed. The same goes for insects. At night, doctors, attendants and soldiers keep their bodies well covered and use repellant to guard against malaria. “There are,” he tells, “leeches (as I knew them back home), and believe me, they like our blood and make no bones about it. A lighted cigaret puts them out of order forthwith.”
Ken, an ardent Cub fan, wants to know what’s the trouble with that Chicago team. Last, he had heard, the Cubs had won but three games, with 19 losses. He says he can still throw a baseball fast, but in the jungle there isn’t much clear space; but a small patch cleared permits volleyball.
“Kenny” Swenson Writes From China
A few years back, when Ken Swenson between shaves and haircuts in his Whitehall barbershop, read the sport pages and noted star players being picked in the major leagues for a team to tour some foreign country, he may have had a yearning to be in the “big time” and board ship with the bunch. Well, Ken’s baseball friends (even in Galesville it is admitted) are sure that had he gone in for professionalism would have made the grade. He’s in a foreign country now, shooting them over the pan for a bigger league than the Nationals or Americans. In a letter to a Galesville friend, dated China Burma Theatre, Jan. 26, he writes, among other things: “Pitched a game of ball Dec. 26 and won 11 to 4. We’re shy the nifty uniforms and well-kept diamond, but the baseball spirit runs high. I’ve just finished reading the dope on the World Series. Guess there’s just too much Yanks on all fronts—eh, I what? I get the Winona Republican-Herald and keep posted on all the sports back there. I’m in good shape, still cut hair and throw the baseball around a bit, and I still think we’ll be able to trim Galesville after the war. Just set the date.
“I have traveled much since my last letter to you. Some of the sights are interesting, and again tiresome. One just has to see it to believe it. The various classes of people and their ways and means of existence are very interesting. To a fellow who has lived in the States, over here they are a century behind. Everything is done by man and woman power, and with most primitive tools. They accomplish what they set out to do, but it’s a slow procedure.
“Our present setup is in the jungle, where we are working with Chinese troops. It’s a helluva job to try and garner a few words of their singsong language. We live in tents, which we have made as comfortable as possible. We get by okay.
"Our Christmas gifts arrived recently. That was quite a day for all of us. Guess we are just a bunch of kids at heart. Who said there was no Santa Claus?
"Christmas and New Year’s passed very quietly. We received a few cans of good American beer, and it tasted right good, too. Hard stuff is called bamboo juice—powerful stuff. The main beverage is good old coffee, and as you know, that’s where I hail from. It heads the list.
“Noted in the paper that Scott Hotchkiss says that Texas may be the biggest State in the Union but he wouldn’t trade a foot of Trempealeau county for the whole works. You have my verification for this, too, and I’ll include this part of the world with it.
“Tell all my Galesville friends (include the baseball fellows) hello for me.
“Always,
Kenny.”
“P.S.—The rumor gets here that the deer Roy Haakon Matson got came out of some shop in Galesville. Check on that.”
Back In Civilian Clothes
Goodwin Anderson, chief petty officer, is back in civilian clothes after serving three years and eight months with the Naval Reserve and 28 months of that time at sea aboard LST boats Nos. 243 and 1069 and LCI 209. Most of this time he was in the Pacific. In the amphibious branch of the Navy, Goodwin landed troops and supplies for the invasions of Tarawa in the Gilberts, Kwajalein in the Marshalls, Saipan and Guam in the Marianas, Hollandia Bay on New Guinea, and Pelileu island in the Palau group. He was off the island of Samar in the Philippines when he received his leave notice, landed in San Francisco Sept. 22, came on to Minneapolis and received his discharge there. Goodwin was engaged in ship’s control work.
Son of Mrs. G. B. Anderson of Whitehall, he has also joined his wife and daughter who have been residing with her parents, the Helmer Nyens at Blair during his absence. Goodwin is thinking of continuing his education now that he is back on a civilian status.
(La Crosse Tribune, Oct. 10, 1945)
Lester Bergum
Whitehall Pilot Drops Troops On Normandy Peninsula Beach
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —News coming from a Ninth Air Force Troop Carrier Base in the European Theater of Operations says that participating in his third invasion since coming overseas, 1st Lieut. Lester N. Bergum, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Bergum of Whitehall, took an active part in the initial landing of Allied troops during the invasion of Europe.
A pilot of a C-47 aircraft, his plane was among the first to reach the continent, spearheading the actual amphibious invasion by dropping paratroops on the Normandy peninsula several hours before the ground troops landed.
Back at his home base after the mission, he described the invasion as “the greatest show on earth.” He added, “We carried troops and supplies into France and up until the time we dropped them everything went well. There was small arms fire but nothing much more than that. But when we turned for home it seemed as if all hell broke loose up there.
“On looking back I still don't see how we got out of it with so little damage. Searchlights played on our planes in the vicinity of the drop zone, and we could see paratroopers jumping out of some. We could see fires below us and at us came more machine gun fire and flak than I have ever seen. It was a monstrous exhibition, except that I kept realizing that this was the real thing.”
Flying through flak was no new experience for this troop carrier pilot, however, since troop carrier units have been active since the early phases of the war in glider and paratroop operations. The IX Troop Carrier Command, of which he is a member, is part of the Ninth Ail- Force, U. S. component of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force.
Lieut. Bergum, formerly of Blair, is a graduate of Whitehall high school and Los Angeles City College in California. Before entering the service Jan. 18, 1942, he was employed in the Los Angeles post office. He was awarded the Air Medal and one Oak Leaf cluster for participation in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.
Roy B. Christianson
Technician fifth grade U.S. Army Third Army, inducted June 18, 1941, discharged August 1945.
Aug. 8, 1945
Whitehall Man
Tells Horrors of
German Camp
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— The taking of Nordhausen, Germany, and finding there one of the Naziconcentration camps is only one of the vivid memories of Technician Fifth Grade Roy Christianson’s experiences with the 32nd armored regiment of the Third Armored or “Spearhead” division.
Christianson, who arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Magnus Christianson, Whitehall, Friday with his discharge on 104 points, was the driver of a gasoline truck.
The Third Armored found hundreds of corpses in the concentration camp, lying in contorted heaps in the dirt or straw, naked or half stripped, mouths gaping, Christianson said. A German guard at the camp was captured and made some confessions, he said.
The guard told how the Germans would take the half-dead prisoners and lay them face down in long rows. Then guards would march along the row, shooting each prisoner through the head. The first row disposed of in this manner, they lay boards over them and lay the next consignment over the boards, killing them in the same manner.
They laid the prisoners four deep in this manner, then threw gasoline over the heap and set fire to the corpses. Christianson saw such a heap all ready to be burned when the division stormed the camp.
Living Among the Dead
These were political prisoners and slave labor from all nations. Snapshots brought back by American soldiers bear out these facts, Christianson said. Most horrible was the sight of the living among the dead, sunken-eyed skeletons moaning weakly and babbling in delirium, he said. Filth was everywhere.
The Nordhausen prisoners constructed V-l robots and V-2 weapons as well as parts for Junkers airplane motors. It was also reported that a few of the political prisoners were segregated and put to work on V-3 manufacture but were finally murdered to preserve the secret of what they had seen, the Whitehall man declared.
SS guards were, there to discourage lagging and slackers were periodically hung as object lessons. The starving prisoners received only four ounces of black bread and a liter of soup each dfly, dragging along on this fare as long as they could and then were left to die unattended, ready for the crematory. The piles of bodies found lying in the compound by the Third Armored were those the guards had not had time to dispose of.
Soldier Killed
He told of how an American soldier to whom he was talking was killed. Christianson was hauling a load of gasoline and stopped to ask the soldier his way. They were standing near a building, when suddenly he heard an explosion. He looked up to see the roof of the building topple in, hit by a German high explosive shell.
The other soldier “hit the ground.” Thinking he had done it for safety’s sake, Christianson said to him, “You can get up now, it’s over.” The buddy did not answer—a fragment had gone into his back and way through his body to come out the front of his chest. Christianson received nicks in his hands from the explosion, his only wounds in the war.
Corporal Christianson saw his first action at St. Lo and has battle stars for Normandy, northern France, the Ardennes bulge, Rhineland and Central Europe. He was inducted June 18, 1941, and was stationed at Camp Polk, La., in the California desert on maneuvers; at Camp Pickett, Va., and at Indiantown Gap, Pa., before going overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., September 5, 1943. He was stationed in England until June 20, 1944, when he went into action at St. Lo. On April 8, 1942, he married Versey Clark of Manny, La.,, and she and their daughter, Shirley Ann, have resided there during his absence.
He is now in Louisiana to bring them to Whitehall.
Elwood Dahl
Pfc Ellwood Dahl Is German War Prisoner
Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Dahl of Pleasantville received a card from their son, Pfc Ellwood Dahl, 24, on Thursday informing them that he is a prisoner in Germany. Ellwood’s wife, the former Leona Fischer, who resides in Whitehall, had received word Jan. 20 that he was missing in action since Dec. 20, but no further word of him had been received from him or the War Department until this card arrived. The card, pencilled in his own handwriting and dated Jan. 9, 1945, at “Kregsgefangenenlage, Camp des prisonniers,” said, “I am now a prisoner in Germany. I hope you have been informed by now. I am well and hope you all are too. Will you please try and send me a package. Ask the Red Cross on what you can send, also for my address. I am sorry to say that I missed out on my Christmas package. Write when you can. All my love.”
Pfc Ellwood was with the infantry and was believed to be in Luxembourg when taken prisoner during the big German drive. He has been overseas for about 14 months and was first stationed in England. He entered service in October, 1942.
Ellwood’s brother, Pfc Elmo Dahl, 31, was killed in action June 11, 1944, in Normandy.
Karl Eggum
Inducted into U.S.Army July 1942
PFC Karl W. Eggum, only son of Attorney and Mrs. O. J. Eggum of Whitehall, is stationed somewhere in Alaska with the ground service of the aviation corps. He was stationed in four states, Illinois, Wyoming, Indiana and California, before being sent abroad, and has been in the service only since last August. He is an airplane mechanic and took his training in that line at Nashville. Ind. Karl left Seattle, north-bound, Jan. 17.
Transferred to Fairbanks
Word has come to Mr. and Mrs. Ole Eggum from their son Karl that he has been transferred from Kodiak Island to Ladd Field, Fairbanks, Alaska. There he found an accumulation of mechanical work which will keep him busy.
As corporal, Karl had complete charge of all the details connected with the moving of a small group of men and their equipment, their sleeping and eating accommodations, and personal conduct. He reports that the splendid co-operation of his buddies made it an agreeable task. He describes the city of Fairbanks as having grand streets, modern stores, and a prosperous, well-kept appearance. There Karl found a new swimming pool which he will enjoy. He says that the camp equipment is superior to any he has encountered, and he was glad to find there a number of soldiers whom he had met during his Alaskan wanderings..
Shortly before his transfer from Kodiak Island, Karl had his first experience in deep sea fishing. The Army loaned the use of a sea-going craft and its crew and 15 soldiers from his camp had a full Sunday of rare sport. Karl sent home pictures of himself with the first halibut he caught, of the boat, the crew and the men. After the mountain climbing, hunting and fishing afforded by Kodiak Island, he is now having the new experience of living and working in the sophisticated metropolis of Fairbanks.
His address is slightly changed and henceforth his mail will be sent in care of the postmaster, Minneapolis.
(Oct. 9, 1944)
Arthur Elstad
Captain Visits Old Home
Another captain from Whitehall is Arthur C. Elstad, son of Mrs. Melvin Elstad, who is stationed at Camp Grant, Ill., as chief oral surgeon at the station hospital. Captain Elstad visited his mother, his sister, Mrs. Walter Draeger, whose husband is in the service, and his brother, H. J. Elstad here this week. The latter, now Whitehall city clerk, is a veteran of World War I, having served overseas. Captain Elstad also has another brother, Edward Elstad of Cleveland, Ohio, who is a veteran of the first World War.
Elstad is a graduate of Whitehall High school and Loyola University in Chicago, from which he graduated in 1929. He has practiced his profession, dentistry, at Urbana, Cullom and Rockford, Ill., and was at the latter place when enlisting and donning his uniform on March 11, 1943. As Camp Grant is near Rockford he resides at home with his family, which consists of his wife, a son and a daughter. He attended Loyola University at the same time as Captain S. B. Ivers of Whitehall, now on the staff of Percy Jones General Hospital, Battle Creek, Mich., and Dr. Elmo Brennom, a practicing dentist in down-town Chicago.
Lloyd Engen
Pvt. USA, 10th Mountain Div., Italy late 1944-45, transferred to front lines March 13, 1945, Po Valley campaign
Pvt. Lloyd C. Engen has arrived in Italy according to his mother, Mrs. Henry G. Engen. He is with an infantry company.
Receive Souvenirs from Soldier Now on Italian Front
WHITEHALL, Wto. (Special)—A box of souvenirs arrived this week intact from Pvt. Lloyd Engen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Engen, who will have been in the Army a year in April but has already been in Italy over three months. He is 19 and a graduate of Whitehall high school.
Lloyd said he had received a letter from Duane Keilholtz of Whitehall, who is also in Italy, but the two had not been able to see each other as yet. He had also met Sgt. Rudolph Davidson of Osseo, who has been over there three years, and they had had a couple of afternoons together. Davidson is a veteran of the African, Sicilian as well as Italian campaigns.
Pvt. Engen took his training at Camp Hood, Tex., and Port Benning, Ga. He is doing carpenter detail, be said, while awaiting a call to the front.
Local Lads Meet In Italy
Pfc Lloyd Engen, who was located at Predil, Italy, at the time he wrote recently to his mother, Mrs. Henry G. Engen, said that he had finally located Cpl. Jackie DeBow of Whitehall. Both were members of the 10th Mountain Division that spearheaded the drive into the Po Valley which resulted in the surrender of the enemy in Italy. The boys were pretty happy to get together and talk about home.
Lloyd has had an opportunity to visit many of the famous Italian cities, among them Venice. He sent pictures of the kind of gondola in which he had ridden in the Grand Canal. He said Venice had hardly been hit by bombs and the people there appeared to be fairly wrell off. On the other hand, he said the people in the small settlements near where he was camped at the moment liked cat and dog meat better than chicken and also ate horses and mules.
According to what he had heard, Lloyd said he expected to be with the army of occupation in Italy until November.
Transferred To Battle Line On Italian Front
Pvt. Lloyd C. Engen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Engen, who has now been in Italy about five months, was transferred up to the front lines March 13, according to a letter received on the 12th, in which he said he was slated to leave the following day. He mentioned his regret at not being able to attend Easter services at home as usual and sent his mother birthday greetings, adding that he hoped to spend her next birthday with her.
Pvt. Engen had been near the war zone for some time. He mentioned in a previous letter having visited Cassino, the scene of one of the Italian campaign’s greatest battles, and found very few buildings still standing. He spoke of seeing homeless families both at Cassino and Pisa, which he also visited, and children running in the streets with scarcely any clothing. All the homes are built of stone, he said. He was sleeping in tents that were very much air-conditioned and using candles for light at night.
One day he had watched a game of soccer being played. He spoke of the high prices over there, eggs being 30 cents each and shoes costing $100 or more.
The homes have fireplaces in them for heat, he said, and only brush to burn. Many of the homes have cows, horses, pigs and poultry in them, the animals having the ground floor, the people residing upstairs. Travel is on foot, by horse cart or bicycle.
Florence and Leghorn he also found in ruins. There are scarcely any stores left in the bombed and ruined cities.
He described a 22-mile hike his infantry company had taken into the mountains, starting at 8 a. m. and walking four hours to reach the top over winding roads, which were flanked on both sides by fields of grapevines.
Pvt. Engen has sent home many souvenirs, among them all kinds of Italian money. Until he was transferred to the front lines Lloyd was engaged at carpenter work on a recreation hall which was being added to the army camp at that point.
Milan Engen
Awarded Bronze Star in France
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special) —T/Sgt. Milan Engen, son of B. M. Engen of Whitehall, has been awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service on the fighting fronts in France. The medal was awarded by Gen. Walker.
Engen. who is a supply sergeant with a headquarters company, has been in France since early July. He left last January for overseas, first being stationed in England. His sister, Miss Myrtle Engen of Whitehall, believes that he has been in Paris and that he follows closely the invading armies. He wrote of their capturing 100,000 sheepskin coats that the Germans had stored in a warehouse and of other supplies that the enemy was forced to abandon.
Sgt. Engen, graduate of Whitehall High School and Whitewater State Teachers College, was engaged in teaching commercial subjects in the Milwaukee high schools at the time that he entered service in January 1942. He received his training at Camp Young, Calif., and Camp Campbell, Ky., before going overseas. His wife, the former Ruth Kussman of Ripon, whom he married in May 1940, is teaching this year at Scandinavia.
Besides his father and sister, Sgt. Engen has one brother residing in Whitehall, Mervin Engen, a brother, Theodore, at Mondovi, a brother, Ernest, in Madison, and a brother, Irvin, who is teaching at Milwaukee.
Dallas Erickson
Job with the shipyard in Seattle, Wash., October 1942
Marine Returns Home From Pacific War Zone
PFC Dallas Erickson, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Erickson of Whitehall, who received his discharge from the Marine Corps at Cherry Point, N. C., Nov. 16 with 51 points, entered service at Milwaukee March 9, 1943, by enlistment. He received his boot training at San Diego, Calif., and attending service school at Norman, Okla. He left for the Pacific war zone Feb. 2, 1944, stopped at New Caledonia for one week, then went to the New Hebrides, where he was stationed for six months. Later he was transferred to Peleliu in the Palau island group, where he remained eight months. He was a member of the Marine Air Group 11, engaged in aircraft repair work.
Dallas returned to the States in June, 1945, after having spent 16 months overseas. Following a 30-day furlough at home he reported to Cherry Point., where he was stationed four months before he became eligible for discharge. He has the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Service Ribbon with one Bronze Battle Star for the Peleliu campaign. He also has the World War II Victory Medal.
PFC Conrad Johnstad of Pigeon Falls was on Peleliu at the same time as Erickson and they saw each other frequently. Johnstad is still stationed there. Dallas has a brother in the service, Sherman, who is with the Army Signal Corps in India.
Dallas hopes to attend school commencing with the fall term in 1946 and will take commercial art.
Paul Erickson
WHITEHALL, Wis,, (Special)— PFC Paul Erickson, 21-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson of Lincoln, has been awarded the Bronze Star, according to a letter which his folks received this week. PFC Erickson has been stationed on Bougainville since March and took part in the capture of that island. He is with the infantry and left for overseas last September, being stationed at New Caledonia; before his active combat, he had been in the service since March 13.
Friends Meet On Bougainville
PFC Paul Erickson Is still on Bougainville where there is plenty of action, according to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson. For the first time since last September he has seen some one from home, Archie Nelson of Blair. The two boys crossed the ocean together but were separated a week after reaching New Caledonia, not to meet again until March.
Paul got two Easter greeting cards from the Red Cross which he sent to his parents and to his grandmother, Mrs. Ole Erickson. In that jungleland, he has written, nothing can be purchased but the boys have managed to get some candy and all the cigarettes they need at five cents a package. Paul has been short of stationery and has been using some issued by the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Commission of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, while awaiting the arrival of a quantity sent to him by his folks.
In his last letter home Paul enclosed a prayer-poem issued to the boys by Philip D. Spioss, chaplain of his infantry company.
Pfc. Paul Erickson, 22-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson, Whitehall, took part in the capture of Manila with an infantry company, his parents have learned. They wrote him that Maj. Charles Leasum of Trempealeau County was among the first prisoners released after the Americans returned to the Philippines and he replied that had he known that, he could have talked to him. Paul is a machine gunner and may have been with the group that liberated these prisoners. He is a veteran of Guadalcanal and Bougainville and has been in the Pacific nearly two years.
SENDS PURPLE HEART HOME
Mr. and Mrs. Hilman Erickson received the Purple Heart from their son Paul Saturday, who is on Luzon. Paul has been wounded twice but to what extent he has never told except that the first one was slight. His last letter was date Aug. 6 from the Cagayan valley.
Sherman Erickson
India Not Romantic Country, According To Whitehall Vet
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —India is not the romantic country that it is pictured to be by novelists and historians of the country, according to T5 Sherman Erickson, who just spent 18 1/2 months there. A great deal of it is desert and everywhere there is dirt and grime, he said. Natives are ragged and dirty and the climate is bad, being hot and dry, he added.
Erickson diversified his stay there, however, with several pleasure trips. One was a thousand miles by air to Bahrein island in the Persian Gulf, where Everett Everson was stationed. As soon as he ascertained just where Everson was, he secured a three-day pass and a plane ride to the spot. He failed, however, to see Allen Getts, who was stationed in Iran in one of the hottest spots on earth.
Visited Rest Camp
He also enjoyed a vacation at a rest camp up in the Himalyas, visited the famous Khyber Pass and visited many of the various Indian temples on tours arranged for the soldiers.
Erickson was attached to the communications system of the Air Transport Command and most of his work was teletyping. He was stationed most of the time at Assam and Karachi. He had an opportunity to fly across the hump into China on a sightseeing trip but the trip was dangerous and he didn’t venture on it.
Since he entered the service three years ago, he has been two-thirds of the way around the world. After entering the service in March, 1943, he was stationed most of the time at Austin, Tex., with the signal corps before leaving for overseas.
Travelled Over Pacific
He boarded ship in Virginia and travelled through the Panama canal and over the Pacific to Bombay. He hoped to come home through the Mediterranean but returned by another Pacific route.
He received his discharge at Camp McCoy Friday but was beaten home by several weeks by his brother Dallas, who served in the Pacific war zone with the Marine Corps. He expects to return to work with the Green Bay and Western Railroad as telegraph operator.
James Everson
Seaman, stationed in Hawaii Dec 1942
Escape Of Japs From Kiska Still A Mystery
Whitehall Sailor On Patrol Duty There Home On 14-Day Furlough
James Everson, 1st class petty officer with the U. S. Navy, arrived unexpectedly Saturday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Everson, on a 14-day furlough. He has been on the high seas most of the time since a year ago in May, nine months of which he spent in the Aleutians.
Looking better than he ever did in his life before in spite of the hard life he has lead since going into the service, Jim described some of his experiences in traveling practically all over the Pacific. He was present at both the battles of Attu and Kiska but personally never received a scratch. Questioned about how well the Japs were entrenched at Kiska, he admitted that they had a system of underground fortifications, including a hospital three miles long. The entire area held by the Japs until they mysteriously disappeared after they saw they were defeated was probably about 15 by 10 miles. Jim, who was aboard a destroyer during the battle of Kiska, said that his fleet of five or six ships were not aware of how the Japs escaped but they could have gone via submarines, although that seemed impossible considering the thousands of them supposed to be entrenched there.
Pilot’s Grave Marked
There were not many casualties as a result of Kiska and the Americans found no Jap graves, but they did discover the grave of an American pilot who had been shot down. The Japs buried him and erected a marker over his grave.
The harbor at Kiska is very good, Jim said, but the Americans had to fight the foggy weather all the time as well as the Japs. The climate is very disagreeable and battling was made difficult on account of poor visibility.
Jim said that In the course of about a month at Kiska, he experienced 13 air raids. Asked what it was like to be bombed from the sky, he said they were frightened naturally, but they were so busy during the course of the raids that they had no time to mentally register much about them. They lasted perhaps five minutes, the planes flying over in succession and dropping their deadly shells. There was no sound from the shells riding down through the air but the explosion when they struck made up for that. Everything on Kiska was torn up by the time it was all over, he said, but the fleet of destroyers was intact. Only seven Japs were taken prisoner, while some killed themselves rather than be taken.
Describing the life of a sailor, Jim said a ship may ride the seas for months without combat and then suddenly go into battle. But during the course of a battle, every man aboard lives a lifetime.
Shell Enemy Craft
Jim is radar operator on a destroyer that usually travels in convoys. He told vaguely about his ship sending shells into enemy snips, aircraft, etc., but he said his own destroyer had not been given credit for bringing down any particular craft, even though he felt that credit was due the gunners that are assigned to the same boat with him.
Mr. Everson has not seen any one he knew on his travels except Glen Hamilton, also of the Navy, whom he met while Glen was stationed in the Hawaiians. It was while Jim was on those islands soon after putting to sea that he underwent a major operation at a naval hospital and made a successful recovery. At one time he spent three days on a South Pacific island where, he afterward learned, Marine Nels Hegge was located. Unfortunately neither knew about the other’s presence.
In April, before he was out on his last cruise, which extended until September, Jim saw Robert Hanson of York in San Diego, who is in the Marines. He has also seen Mrs. Richard Ferhart in San Francisco, the Edwin Mattsons at Long Beach, the Dale Schmudlachs, Leonard Knudtsons, Percy Thompsons, Freddie Hoffs and the other local families now residing in California.
Jim thinks that we have already licked the Japs but “it will take a couple of years to convince them of the fact,” he prophesied, adding that it will be a long job if the Japs are to be cleaned out island by island. He believes a better plan than that should be organized.
After the war is over Mr. Everson looks eagerly forward to returning to civilian life in preference to staying in the Navy, “it may be a little hard to settle down at first,” he thought, but for all of that, civilian life is the life for him.
Walter Everson
Enlisted in Naval Reserve December 1941, training as airplane machine gunner May 1942.
Earns 52 Points For Discharge From Navy
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —More than the required 44 points for discharge from the Navy were earned by Chief Storekeeper Walter Everson, son of Mrs. Anna Everson of Whitehall, so he chose to leave the service and arrived back in Whitehall this week from Great Lakes, Ill., with his papers. Attached to the naval forces, he had 52 points.
Everson entered service Jan. 6. 1942, as storekeeper third class, enlisting at Minneapolis. He received training at Great Lakes. Ill., and was stationed at the naval air fields at Sanford and Jacksonville, Fla., and Beufort, S. C., before spending 14 months in actual overseas duty.
He also spent about a year in semi-overseas duty. During the latter time he was stationed in the States but made trips to various stations overseas where he had charge of aviation supply detachments. While on overseas duly he flew the South Atlantic and adjacent waters on a patrol plane.
Elmo Fjeld
Enlisted U.S. Aramy February 1942.
Earns Conduct Medal
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —The good conduct medal for faithful and exact performance of duty has been awarded to Pfc. Elmo Fjeld, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld of Whitehall, according to a message from the headquarters of the air transport command, Pacific division. He is stationed in the Hawaiian Islands.
Fjeld Brothers Sergeants In the Army
T/Sgt. Ernest Fjeld arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld Monday evening from Camp McCoy with his Army discharge. Shortly before that he had arrived in Seattle from Japan, having served overseas since August, 1944. His brother Elmo, who has just been promoted to sergeant, is still stationed in Hawaii. They entered service at the same time in February, 1942, and were stationed at Monroe, La., for 1 1/2 years as switchboard operators. Then they were separated, met later at Kearns, Utah, only to be separated again when they went overseas. Ernest thought at first he would re-enlist in the army but has changed his mind.
Ernest Fjeld
Enlisted U.S. Army February 1942
PROMOTED TO CORPORAL
Ernest R. Fjeld, serving in a combat communications unit somewhere in the Netherlands East Indies, was recently promoted to corporal. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Fjeld of Whitehall.
Cpl. Fjeld is a member of the Signal organization, “The Triple Wingers,” which provided vital communications for the headquarters of Brig. Gen. Paul H. Prentiss’ Troop Carrier Command and their forward airfields. Forward detachments have been of aid to the 5th Air Force Troop Carriers in hauling freight, dropping supplies, evacuating wounded, and transporting essential personnel to and from the front.
Cpl. Fjeld has been awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon since arriving overseas in November, 1944. At present he is switchboard operator in a headquarters telephone central.
Ernest Fjeld In East Indies Made Corporal
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) —Ernest R. Fjeld, serving in a combat communications unit somewhere in the Netherlands East Indies, has recently been promoted to corporal, according to a dispatch from the 5th Air Force in the Southwest Pacific. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John H. Fjeld of Whitehall.
Corp. Fjeld has been awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon since going overseas in November. 1944. At present he is switchboard operator in a headquarters telephone central. In civilian life he was employed on a farm in Independence. His brother, Pfc. Elmo Fjeld, is also a switchboard operator somewhere in the Pacific. The two boys were together for many months at Monroe, Tex., before they were separated to go overseas.
Hillis Ford
Son Writes First Time In 17 Weeks
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) — Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Ford received letters this week from their son, Pfc. Hillis Ford, for the first time in 17 weeks. Pvt. Ford left the States last August bound for a South Pacific base, and for four months he did not receive mail, nor was he able to dispatch any, and he did not set foot on land until arriving at his destination, where a quantity of mail awaited him. Hillis is with the 2nd Marine Air Corps.
Janice Foss
Lieut. U.S. Army Nurses Corps, served 18 months in England
ANC Assignment
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)—Lieut. Janice A. Foss. ANC, recently was assigned to general nurse duty at McCaw General Hospital, Walla Walla, Wash., following 18 months of overseas service. Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benone Foss of Fly Creek, she has a brother, Corp. Francis Foss, who is with the 2nd Marine Division in the Southwest Pacific.
Lieut. Foss is a graduate of Kahler Hospital, Rochester, Minn., and served on private duty here for a year before going to Schick General hospital, Clinton, Ia. Commissioned in the Army Nurse Corps June 22, 1943, she went to England with the 313th Station Hin December of the same year. In August, 1944, she was transferred to the 67th General Hospital at Taunton, England, where she remained until January of this year, when she went to the 112th General Hospital in Devonshire, England. She returned to the states in June, had a month's leave with her family before going to McCaw Aug. 16. She wears the European Theater Ribbon.
In England
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— Lieutenant Janice A. Foss, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benoni Foss. Fly Creek, is the first Army nurse from Whitehall to be sent to foreign service. In a letter to her parents, Lieutenant Foss stated that she was in England.
Lieutenant Foss is a graduate of Whitehall High school and of the Kahler Hospital School of Nursing, Rochester, Minn. She was employed at the Kahler Hospital and was on private duty in Rochester for more than a year before enlisting early last summer.
She was stationed at Schick Hospital, Clinton, Iowa, and for a short time at the 313th Station Hospital, Camp Rucker, Ozark. Ala., before being sent overseas a few weeks ago. She has one brother in the service, Private First Class Francis Foss, who is stationed at the Marine base at San Diego. Calif.
Clifford Fremstad
Aviation cadet U.S. Army Air Corps, Kelly Field, Tex., July 1942; graduated from bombardier school Jan 1942, commissioned 2nd lieut.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Fremstad report a slightly changed address for heir son, Lt. Clifford Fremstad, who is located somewhere in England. They have also learned that the airplane to which Fremstad was originally assigned was shot down on a mission over enemy territory and the pilot killed. Clifford did not go on the mission as he was selected to take further training. He went overseas as a bombardier but has now been studying navigation.
Ernest Fremstad
Staff Sgt. Service Co. 128th Infantry, 32nd Division, Camp Livingston, La. December 1941
S. Sgt. Ernest M. Fremstad, formerly stationed at Camp Grant, 111., now has an APO address out of New York.
Two Pigeon Veterans Home From Overseas
S/Sgt. Ernest Fremstad returned from overseas on the troop ship USS Wakefield and arrived in Boston on Thanksgiving Day. From there he went to Camp Miles Standish and then to Fort Sheridan, Ill., where he was discharged on Nov. 27, 1945. He has the American Defense ribbon. American theatre ribbon, European theatre ribbon, Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal.
S/Sgt. Fremstad entered service cu Oct. 8, 1940, and received training at Camps Livingston and Beauregard, La., and in February 1942, he was transferred to Fort Devens, Mass. In December, 1942, he joined the First Service Command Headquarters at Boston, where he was stationed until April, 1944. In September 1944, he left for overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., with the 168th General Hospital Unit and landed in Glasgow, Scotland. In April, 1945, he was transferred to the Labor Supervision Company and also took care of a PW stockade over there. He has also been in France, Belgium and Germany and was in the battle at Metz for 10 days.
Thurman M. Fremstad
Whitehall, Wis. — (Special) — Thurman M. Fremstad (above), son of Mr. and Mrs. Torvald Fremstad, Whitehall, who was graduated April 29 at the AAF Training Command Bombardier school at the San Angelo Air Field, San Angelo, Texas, and received his commission as a second lieutenant in the air corps, was given special recognition for having the highest academic record in the graduating class. His record also was highest ever achieved in any graduating class at that field. He has a brother. Lieutenant Clifford L. Fremstad, with the Army air force in England, and younger brother, Bennie, who will be graduated May 18 at the Whitehall High school, and has enlisted in the Navy, and is awaiting call for training under the V-5 program. Mrs. Fremstad, the former Fredricka Hoff, Whitehall and Ettrick, recently joined her husband at San Angelo.
Norman Gabriel
Enlisted in the Tank Corps of the U.S. Army November 1942. Cpl. U.S. Army, with first Rangers to occupy Sicily and Italy, Anzio beachhead.
Sicilian Invasion, Writes
Son, Was “Good Hunting”
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special)— For the first time since the invasion of Sicily began, Mrs. August Gabriel heard this week from her son, Pvt. Norman Gabriel of the Rangers.
Gabriel, 21, went overseas this spring and was stationed in North Africa until the invasion. Originally in a medium tank company, he switched to the Rangers after arriving overseas.
Three letters that came to the family here Monday and Tuesday told how Norman was with one of the first companies to land on Sicily.
“I was the third one off our landing boat,” he wrote, and added, “Boy, was I scared! Another buddy and I got ourselves 20 prisoners and I took 26 alone, so I had good hunting that day. We were under some artillery fire a couple of times but it didn’t last long. All in all, we did pretty well. Our losses were not very heavy. I came out of it okay except for a piece of shrapnel in my arm. The wound is just about healed now, so I am ready for more. We are lying low for a rest now, and I sure need it.”
Norman speaks of his former pal, Jim Elding of Platteville, Wis.. who was transferred to a different Ranger battalion before the invasion. He had not heard from him since the invasion and wondered about his welfare.
“This country isn’t much better than Africa,” he commented, speaking of the dry and hot weather. "The people are starved and they are awful pests. They seem to think that we are made of food and cigarettes.” He mentioned the beauty of the native girls, who, however, are afraid of the American soldiers. He speaks of seeing many people there who have lived in America at one time and can speak English, and told of having a spaghetti dinner with one family.
Norman acknowledges pictures he has received from home and asks for more. “Send one of Main street. I want to see what it looks like again,” he begged. He spoke of expecting his pay in a few days which he had not received since leaving Ft. Knox, Ky., months ago, where he took his basic training. He says he is going to send it home I because he has no use for it there.
He tells his mother, “I want you to have a good vacation with it because I owe it to you, and much more.”
Young Gabriel was in the employ of the Briggs Transfer Co. when drafted into service a year ago. After taking his basic training at Ft. Knox, Ky., he was located a short while at Shenanngo, Pa., and Camp Kilmer, NJ., before being sent overseas.
Another young soldier from this area who took part in the invasion of Sicily has also been heard from. V. B. Negard of York received a letter last week from Pvt. Milton Lee, mailed from Sicily On July 28. Lee, also one of the first to land on the island, wrote interestingly of conditions there and spoke especially of the primitive methods of harvesting used by the natives.
Norman Gabriel With Anzio Invasion Forces
A letter comes to The Times from PFC Norman Gabriel, on the Anzio Beachhead, Italy. Dated Feb. 26, the letter said, “By now you probably have heard we Rangers made another landing below Rome. Our assault wave went in first and met no resistance in the town. By daybreak we had complete control and then we came in with our half-tracks. While coming into the harbor ‘Jerry’ had moved up guns and pushed us back to the sea twice. That night in town we were shelled constantly so we slept under our tracks. The following day we pushed on and met very little resistance. However, the following morning ‘Jerry’ staged seven air attacks and we saw some thrilling dog fights and also got a chance to use our 50-calibre antiaircraft guns. In the afternoon we went out on a firing mission and knocked out a big enemy gun. The following morning we were called out at four o’clock, eliminating enemy vehicles and about 50 foot-troopers. But they began to shoot back so we shagged out. All in all we were doing pretty well until we tried to take a town. The leading track hit a mine. Three of our boys made it back but three were captured. The next morning I was driving the lead track and Lt. Davey was standing beside me. The ‘Jerrys’ started opening up with machine guns and rifles. Lt. Davey raised above the shield and was shot above the heart. He died about 15 minutes later. In the afternoon we made an attack and let me tell you the ‘Jerrys’ paid for Lt. Davey’s death. We shot them right in their foxholes. Our boys also got our three buddies who were captured. They will now return to the United States. “That night we celebrated—dressed some turkeys and a pig so we feasted while we rested after the battle.
“Lt. Davey was our only officer since Cpt. Sunstrum left us, and he treated us all like brothers. I even wrecked a “peep” but he didn’t condemn me. He was a regular fellow to us all.”
In closing Norriian said that he receives The Times and states that he certainly appreciates it. He sends his best regards to friends at ' home.
Whitehall Soldier Wounded in Italy
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)—Corporal Norman Gabriel, who for some time has been fighting with the American forces in Italy, said in a letter received by his mother. Mrs. August Gabriel, recently that he had received a couple of shrapnel wounds in his arm, one of them deep, while trying to rescue “a helpless mule.” However, he was not, hospitalized, he said.
Corporal Gabriel was with the first Rangers that landed in Sicily and later in Italy. While with that group he drove mechanized equipment. At present he is chauffeur for his commanding officer.
Whitehall Soldier In French Hospital With Slight Burns
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Mr. and Mrs. August Gabriel received a letter from an Army hospital in France this week informing them that their son, Corp. Norman Gabriel, is a patient there suffering with burns on the hands received when a gas stove exploded in his vicinity. The letter was written by a hospital employe at Gabriel’s dictation, and he said his burns were not severe, although he did not disclose their extent.
Veteran of more than two years overseas and holder of the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Gabriel began fighting in North Africa and was one of the first wave of Rangers to land on Sicily in the capture of that island.
Later, he fought in Italy and while driving a half-track on the Anzio beachhead, he narrowly escaped death when his lieutenant, riding beside him, was shot and killed by a sniper. He was transferred to France and has now been assigned to an infantry regiment.
Wins Recognition On Foreign Battle Fronts
The Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the European Theatre Campaign Medal with two major operations stars, and an Organization Blue Citation Ribbon, were received by first class mail last week by Mrs. August Gabriel from their son, Cpl. Norman Gabriel, who is now driving a half-track in France after coming through Sicily and the Anzio Beachhead. Norman received shrapnel wounds twice, the first time in Sicily which he entered as a Ranger, and the second time on the Anzio beach- head.
Norman, former Briggs Transfer employee here, had been overseas several months before the Sicily campaign in the summer of 1943 and during that campaign he lost his dog tag. His mother has worried about that ever since, wondering if he applied for and received a new one.
Norman went into Italy soon after that campaign was started and was switched to an artillery company. Lieut. O. W. Davey of his company was the censor who took care of all his mail. Lieut. Davey’s father had been killed in World War 1 so that his son, born when he was overseas, never saw him. During the Anzio battle Lieut. Davey was riding on the half-track with Norman one day when he was shot and slumped over onto Gabriel, dead, so that his small son back in the state of Ohio will never see his father either. Norman wrote that the enemy took a shot at him next but missed and hit a cow instead.
Gabriel has also lost two other close pals, one who was killed when his tank was hit and the other a prisoner. Another pal, Charles Balcum of Silverton, Ohio, is shown on pictures which Norman has sent home of himself and his pals. One snapshot shows the boys posing on captured German tanks.
Cpl. Gabriel has named his half-track Asmaralda. He was sent into France for the invasion there and likes that country better than Italy, according to a letter received by his folks Thursday. It was the first they had heard from him since early August.
Alan Getts
PFC U.S. Army stationed in Iran July 1945
OCT 9 - 1944
Summer Brings Daily Dust Storms in Iran
Allan Getts Describes Long Voyage to Old Persia In Letter to His Wife
During the long months that Allan Getts has been in military service, his wife has known that he is in the Asiatic war theatre, but until July 15 Allan was not permitted to designate his exact location. In a letter written that date he gave an interesting description of his travels.
“Yesterday we received a bit of good news as we are now permitted to tell where we are and how we got here. Khorramshahr, which you have no doubt read about, is where I am situated. It is at the southern end of the supply line to Russia. All materials of war going to that nation are unloaded on the dock here and shipped to Russia by rail or truck convoy. If you read Life magazine regularly, you have seen a picture of the river at this point.
On our way to Iran we stopped at three places, although at two of them we did not leave the ship. The first stop was at Rio de Janiero, Brazil. It is the most beautiful harbor in the world. Not being an old sea traveler, I know little about such things, but with the city surrounding the harbor and the mountains towering behind, it presents a sight worth seeing. In fact, sometime when this is over I hope that you and I can go there. I would love to see that sight again.
“After leaving Rio we went to Cape Town, South Africa. That city is also rather pleasant to see. The buildings have white walls with red tile roofs standing out against the hills.
Our last stop and the one that we enjoyed most was Bombay. As you may have guessed, that is the city in India near which we stayed while waiting to be brought on to Iran.
“This briefly covers my travels and will give you an idea of how far I had to come to get here, where a dust storm rages nearly every day during the summer months. I would have preferred to stay at Rio or even Bombay, which would have been paradise alongside of this. Bombay is quite a modern city, having nearly everything to accommodate one that is available in cities in the States. It even has good places to eat, when one gets tired of army chow.”
David Gilbertson
David Gilbertson has completed his V-12 course at the university at Ames, la., and is spending a week with, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John O. Gilbertson, before going to New York City to enter midshipman’s school.
Whitehall Man Commissioned
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —David P. Gilbertson, son of Mr. and Mrs. John O. Gilbertson of Whitehall, was among 1,135 men commissioned ensigns in the United States Naval Reserve in ceremonies held recently in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City.
The group was the 22nd class to be graduated from the oldest and largest Naval Reserve Officer Training school, and brings the total number of graduates from the Training Center to approximately 20,000.
Principal speaker at the ceremony was Rear Admiral D. C. Ramsey, USN, chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. The officer’s oath was administered by Commodore John K. Richards, USN, Commander, U. S. Naval Reserve Officer Training Center, New York, N. Y.
Ensign Gilbertson arrived Tuesday to spend a short leave with his parents, coming via Ames, la., where he visited friends. He has already received his assignment and will return to the East Coast.
Ensign Gilbertson left Friday for Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., where he has been assigned to a four-week course in communications.
Herbert Gilbertson
Travels 65,000 Miles By Sea
Herbert Gilbertson of the Merchant Marine and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Gilbertson of Milwaukee, came back to their old hometown of Whitehall Sunday for a few days’ visit with relatives and friends. Herbert is just back from sea duty in the Atlantic.
Herbert’s rating in the Merchant Marine is quartermaster. His duty is to steer the ship. The actual work of keeping the ship on its course is accomplished by robot but two quartermasters are always on duty, one following the course and the other on watch. The schedule is four hours on duty and eight hours off.
During the past year Herbert has made seven trips to England, France and Belgium and back to the U. S., traveling a distance of 50,000 miles and a grand total of 65,000 miles on the rolling sea. Being of Viking stock, Herbert has never been seasick, but admits that at times he has been sick of the sea.
Martin Gilbertson
Whitehall Youth To Be Heard Over Air Tonight
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —A/C Martin Gilbertson, son of Adolph Gilbertson of Whitehall, will be heard over the air as a member of a glee club from Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio, tonight. The program will eminate from WCKY, 1530 on the dial, from 11 to 11:30, and will be the feature of the program that has this call: “Clear Clear Contact, Contact Into the Army Air Corps.” It will be transcribed Wednesday morning and sent by short wave overseas.
Gilbertson took a course in civilian flying while a member of the Reserve and is now in cadet training as a member of the regular Army. He has been studying at Xavier University for six weeks.
Lester Gunderson
Master Sergeant, U.S. Army.
Aug. 30, 1945
Gunderson On Furlough
With Regiment Of 106th Division
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —T. Sgt. Lester Gunderson, who is spending a 30-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gunderson at Pleasantville, was a member of the 424th infantry regiment, the only one of three regiments, belonging to the 106th division, 1st army, in the European theater, that survived.
The other two were destroyed or taken prisoner by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. Furthermore more than half of his battalion was lost, although Gunderson himself, a transportation sergeant, came through without a scratch.
Leaving for overseas late last September in the same week that his brother Arthur, Boatswain 3c, left for the Pacific war zone aboard an aircraft carrier, he has four battle stars—for the Ardennes Bulge, Northern France, the Rhineland and Central Europe.
His outfit retreated in the Bulge battle but pushed on after the breakthrough had been checked so that Lester was near Frankfort on the Rhine when V-E Day came. His company won the meritorious service plaque during the Bulge battle and he also has the certificate of merit for maneuvering a group of vehicles out of an area one night under enemy fire. That was in January, 1945, when German pockets were being cleaned out of Belgium. He also has the combat infantryman’s badge. He was transferred to the 28th division in June.
Lester entered service in February, 1943, and his brother, Arthur, has been in the navy 1 1/2 years. The latter has been home, however, on leave since going to the Pacific war zone as his carrier was damaged by a Jap suicide bomber. He is with the 3rd fleet, which is now reported to be in the Japanese mainland area.
Sgt. Gunderson will report to Camp McCoy Sept. 10, and expects to go from there to Camp Shelby, Miss.
Chewed Madly to Save Lives
Whitehall Sergeant Pulls 'Gum Trick’ to Plug Shrapnel Holes in Jeep Radiator
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)— That Old World chant, “Any gum, chum?” means more to Sergeant Lester N. Gunderson, Whitehall, and two other members of the Lion Division's 424th Infantry Regiment, than it used to, says a recent dispatch from the 106th Infantry Division in Germany received here.
Lieutenant Lester C. Schweinsberg, New Brighton, Pa., transportation officer of the Third Battalion, 424th Regiment; Sergeant Gunderson, a motor sergeant, and Sergeant Fred W. Mast, Pontiac, Mich., were charged with getting a number of vehicles out of a threatened area during the Battles of the Ardennes, the dispatch stated.
As they hopped in a jeep to start rounding up the vehicles, an artillery barrage came thundering down on them. They jumped out, hit the ground fast and “sweated out” the barrage. When they returned to the jeep, they found that shrapnel had left a number of little holes in the radiator, through which the water was gushing out.
“Sergeant Gunderson remembered, a little trick of caulking he had used; when he was a kid, or perhaps he learned it from his father, Alfred Gunderson, who operates a garage at Pleasantville, just north of Whitehall.
“‘Quick,’ he called, ‘Chew up all the gum you have and give it to me.’ So each, pulled out several sticks and chewed madly, with the Germans coming closer and closer. As each stick was mashed up, Gunderson stuffed it into a hole. When all the holes were plugged, they set off again.
“Throughout the trip, the lieutenant sat on the fender giving the radiator ‘transfusions’ from their precious supply of canteen water. They completed their mission, thanks to the field expedient.”
Served Many Months
In European Theatre
Service in the European Theater, from Oct. 21, 1944, until August this year is the record of M|Sgt. Lester N. Gunderson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gunderson of Pleasant- ville, who received his discharge at Fort Custer, Mich., Nov. 21 with 62 points. He was a member of the 106th or Lion Division of the First Army during the Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns, for which he has four Battle Stars on his European Theater Ribbon, and had reached Frankfort, Germany, when the war ended. He also has the American Theater Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Good Conduct Medal.
Lester entered service March 9, 1943, receiving training at Fort Jackson, S.C., on maneuvers in Tennessee and at Camp Atterbury, Ind. After leaving for overseas he first spent three weeks in England before going on to France. He first served as a mechanic and later as a motor sergeant supervising maintenance and dispatch of vehicles with the 3rd Battalion Headquarters, 424th Infantry Regiment.
After the closing of the war he remained in Germany until July and then proceeded to La Havre, France, where he started for the States on July 26 aboard the General Brooks. Following a 30-day furlough spent at home he reported at Camp Shelby, Miss., was stationed there a month and then following another furlough he reported for discharge.
His brother Arthur, Bn 3/c, who has been at home on leave, returns to the west coast again Friday. He has been with the Navy 2 1/2 years. Lester has joined his father in the
David Guse
Aviation student, pre-flight training
Endures Week of ‘Hazing’
A/S David E. Guse writes that his present address is 94th College Training Detachment (Air Crew), Harris Hall, Squadron 7, Southwest Texas State Teachers College, San Marcos, Tex. Writing on March 19, he had then been stationed at San Marcos a week and said that it is a beautiful place. The college is located on a hill overlooking the town.
Describing how he had been going through "the mill,” David wrote: “It is a custom for the upper classmen to haze the new squadron. We really have had a week of hazing too, no doubt about that. Everywhere we go during our free hours there is some student officer waiting. I have stood so many “braces” this week that now I find myself standing at attention every minute of the day.
“Personal inspections are held daily. They are really rugged—if we shave at five, they want to know why we didn’t shave at five-thirty. If we shave twice a day, they want to know why we didn’t shave three times. Oh well, I guess I can take it for five months. We are to be here for that length of time providing the elements of fate don’t make our stay shorter.”
Everett Guse
Enlisted in U.S. Navy June 1942, mechanic with the naval air force stationed at Corpus Christi, TX, Dec 1942
Out of the Service
Aviation Mechanic first class Everett C. Guse received his discharge from the navy at Camp Wallace, Tex., Sept. 15 with 45 points and has returned to his home at Whitehall.
He entered service June 6, 1942, having enlisted, and after receiving his boot training at Great Lakes, Ill., he attended aviation mechanic’s school at Dearborn, Mich. He was then sent to the naval base at Corpus Christi, Tex., where he was stationed from July, 1943, until the time of his discharge. He first worked as aviation mechanic and later helped to set up an aviation mechanic’s school, in which he was an instructor. About 1300 men were stationed at the base.
Guse married Alice Wall of Ettrick in July 1944, who resided at Corpus Christi with him. She is now teaching at Independence. His brother, Aviation Cadet David Guse, is stationed at San Angelo, Tex.
Warren Hagen
Completed two-months course in defense work in a NYA school at Winona, employed in defense industry Portland, Ore., April 1942. Sworn in as a cadet in the Navy Air Corps, October 1942
Ensign Warren G. Hagen has been transferred from Miami, Fla., to Glenview, Ill., and is expected in Whitehall soon to spend a leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Hagen, before assignment. Warren, a Navy flyer, completed a special course at Miami after receiving his wings at Pensacola, Fla.
Torpedo Bomber Pilot Receives Commission
Warren G. Hagen, 21, son of A. M. Hagen of Whitehall, won his Navy “Wings of Gold” and was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve following completion of the prescribed flight training course in mid-September at the Naval Air Training Base, Pensacola, Fla., the "Annapolis of the Air.” Warren arrived at Whitehall to spend a 12-day leave with his mother and other relatives and was fortunate to meet his father at La Crosse last Thursday, who was en route home from a trip to the west coast. Father and son spent an hour together in that city.
Ensign Hagen is a graduate of Whitehall High school. He enlisted in the navy air corps and began his training at Minneapolis, later going to Albert Lea, Minn., Iowa and other bases. He reported at Miami, Fla., to take further training as a pilot of a carrier based torpedo
bomber.
This area has two other Navy fliers, Lt. Raymond Larson and Selmer Williamson, the latter formerly with an amphibious division operating in the Aleutians area and elsewhere in the Pacific.
Army Air Corps personnel from this area include Flight Officer Ardell Paulson, who is based somewhere in the Pacific; Lt. John Lautenschlager, who was pilot on a Flying Fortress that was shot down and is now a prisoner of the Germans; Lt. Clinton Knutson and Captain Lester Bergum, both pilots in the European area, the latter on a transport plane; Lt. George Hegge, navigator, and Lt. Clifford Fremstad, bombardier, both based in England.
Ensign Warren G. Hagen, briefly stationed at Grosse Ile, Mich., now has a Fleet Post Office address out of New York. Hagen is a Navy pilot.
Mayme Hallingstad
Pvt. WAC training April 1945 25th WAC Detachment, Percy Jones Hospital Co., Battle Creek, Mich. July 1945
March 1945
Miss Mayme Hallingstad, clerk in the county pension department, was sworn into the “Purple Heart” unit of the Women’s Army Corps at Milwaukee Monday, and will report to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., March 11 for basic training.
Mayme E. Hallingstad of Whitehall, Wis., has enlisted in the Women’s Army corps. Miss Hallingstad, who has been working in the Trempealeau County pension department, reports to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., April 11 for basic training and later goes to Percy Jones General hospital at Battle Creek, Mich.
April 1945
A note from Pvt. Mayme Hallingstad of the Third WAC Training Center, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., provides us with her address so we may send her The Times. Mayme said she arrived there Friday evening, making the last lap of her journey by Army truck from Chattanooga, Tenn.
July 1945
Pvt. Mayme Hallingstad, who has completed her clerical training with the Women’s Army Corps, is now with the 25th WAC Detachment, Percy Jones Hospital Co., Battle Creek, Mich.
Edward Halverson
Whitehall Corporal's Artillery Unit in Heavy Italian Fighting
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)—“Now beyond its 440th day of combat, the 631st Field Artillery battalion has fired 132,000 rounds of howitzer shells in support of infantrymen, representing seven Allied nations in Italy,” said a recent article in the Stars and Stripes, Army newspaper, a clipping of which was sent to his father, John Halverson, Whitehall, by Corporal Edward H. Halverson. Corporal Halvorson has been with the 631st since it went into action early in the Italian war,
“The 631st cannoneers have hurled into German armies 12,000,000 pounds of steel,” the article continued. “Each shell weighs 95 pounds and clerks and cooks and KP’s recall the times they were called away from desks and kitchens to help truck the enormous shells to front-line positions.
“The impressive number of decorations it has received indicates the type of fighting in which the 631st invariably finds itself. It has 13 Silver Stars, 65 Bronze Stars, 19 Air Medals and clusters, one Legion of Merit and more than 100 Purple Hearts. Combat commissions have been awarded eight men."
Corporal Halverson’s wife resides in Eau Claire. He also has a brother, Clarence, and a sister, Mrs. Ernest Steen, residing in Whitehall. A brother-in-law, Corporal Ernest Steen, is cook for a signal corps company on Leyte in the Philippines.
Flown Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)—T5 Edward H. Halvorson. 30, son of John Halvorson of Whitehall, is expected home soon on furlough from the European Theater. He arrived at Miami, Fla., in a plane of the Air Transport Command’s Caribbean division. Halverson served 31 months with the 631st Field Artillery Battalion in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters of operations. He has five Battle Stars. His wife resides in Eau Claire.
Ernest Hamilton
U.S. Army, stationed at Campy Murphy, Fla., to Fort Hamilton, N.Y. Jan 1943
Four Hamilton Sons In Military Service
Three Brothers Widely Separated In Foreign Lands; One In Air Corps
Of the four sons that Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton of Whitehall have in the service, three are abroad and the fourth is now trying for the Air Corps. Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, who had been stationed for many months at Camp McCoy, is now at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., a member of Squadron D, 32nd Training Group, taking his basic training for the Air Corps.
Robert, the youngest in the family, and his older brother, Glen, both in the navy, are somewhere in the Pacific. Robert, a seaman second class, is in the combat area, his parents believe, as he has charge of supplies on landing barges. Glen, a first class seaman, is aboard a submarine salvage ship and was in Hawaii when last his folks heard from him on Jan. 8. However, he expected to be there only a few days.
Stationed in England
T|Sgt. Ernest A. Hamilton, a member of the signal corps and in the radar division, has been stationed in England for many months and for several weeks has been located at an English R. A. F. camp, where he is doing special work. He spent Christmas there and found it to be pleasant, with certain advantages over ! being in a U. S. camp. For instance, according to a letter he wrote on Dec. 20: “The British sergeant enjoys a great deal more privileges than we do. And I am, to all intents and purposes, enjoying those privileges. We have a special 'mess’ where we can eat and can lounge around. This mess also contains other things designed to make a sergeant more comfortable. Even the mail comes here.”
Ernest was evidently enjoying his new privileges to the greatest extent as he said he had not left the camp at all, preferring to remain inside where there was plenty of entertainment, including dances and movies. However, leaving the camp would have been easy for in the English camp a sergeant does not need a pass.
“This will make my second Christmas that isn’t white,” Ernest wrote, adding, “I should expect that you have plenty of snow in your part of the world.” Hearing later, as he no doubt did, that we did not have snow until the first week in February, must have been somewhat of a surprise.
Writing on Dec. 26, Ernest described his second Christmas away from home, the first one having been spent in a camp in this country. “Christmas has come and gone,” he said, “but the festivities continue. This has started out to be a gala holiday season and promises to continue through the New Year. I am glad I am at this English camp, for if I had not moved, Christmas and New Year’s would have been just another day of the week. “We started out with a dinner in the Sergeants’ Mess and then went to the lounge for a party on Christmas eve. There was dancing, and plenty of WAAFs to dance with, as they live and work on the same station as the men in the R. A. F. in this country. I don’t know when the party broke up. It was still in progress when I left at 2 a. m.
Eggs a Treat
“Most of us made a special effort and got up to get our fried egg for breakfast on Christmas morning. They are such a rarity that a fried egg is worth a special effort.
“For dinner on Christmas day we Americans were invited to an American camp. That day we had more turkey. They had adopted the English custom for Christmas dinner, I and had the officers doing K. P. If I had stayed in the English camp at noon, I would have had to do that for the privates. On this station the officers and senior non-coms have to wait on the airmen (privates and corporals).
“In the afternoon there was dancing and we returned to our camp by 2:30. At 4:30 wTe had tea (in this country we have breakfast, lunch, tea and supper) and at 5:30 we went to a free show in the station cinema, 'Coney Island.’ After that the school gave a party for us which lasted until midnight. This morning I didn’t get up until after 11, just in time for lunch.”
Ernest admitted that it didn’t seem like Christmas, in spite of all the entertainment — it was simply the “Holiday Season.”
A New Year’s Eve party wound up a week of festivities, and on New Year’s Day Ernest had borrowed a bicycle and took a ride of about 30 miles. The only similarity between the holidays at home and the holidays abroad, he said, was his work.
Whitehall Man Married In England
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special)—T. Sgt. Ernest A. Hamilton, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest A. Hamilton Sr., of Whitehall, and Marian Gardner, daughter of Mrs. E. Jones, 15 Cross Street, Rhosddu, Wrexham, Denbighshire, England, were joined in marriage in a ceremony performed at the Episcopal church there at 2 p. m. on Oct. 11. The bride wrote her parents-in-law previous to the ceremony that she planned to wear a pale blue afternoon frock for the ceremony with navy accessories and a spray of pink roses. The 24 guests invited to the wedding included the chaplain at Sgt. Hamilton’s headquarters near Manchester, the bride’s brother and sister and their families from Manchester, and a few intimate friends of the bride.
Mrs. Hamilton is employed as a draftsman in a war plant in her home city. Sgt. Hamilton is maintenance man for the signal corps and has been stationed in England since going overseas in February 1943.
In letters to Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton here, the bride says she is looking forward to coming to Whitehall after the war has been won.
Sgt. Hamilton is the second soldier in this area to take an English bride, the first being Sgt. Odell T. Borreson, who married there more than a year ago.
Vet Predicts English
Bride Will Like It Here
“Marian will certainly like it over here, with the stores filled with merchandise,” declared T/Sgt. Ernest Hamilton when he arrived back in Whitehall last week from England. Marian is his English wife, who expects to join him here when traveling facilities become a little easier in a couple months. It is about impossible to buy a pair of shoes in England, and the people there are actually suffering more from lack of clothing than food. Ernest, who was inducted into service in June 1942 and received his discharge Dec. 5, has two brothers in the Navy, Glen and Robert; another brother, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, was killed in action in France a year ago.
Brothers Home on Leave
After Serving in Pacific
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) — “My ship has been torpedoed more than any other in the Navy,” Declared Glen Hamilton, quartermaster third class, who has now served in the Pacific 38 months and just came home on a 30-day leave. “By practice torperdoes,” he added as a qualifying statement. Glenn has been aboard a submarine rescue ship, and besides answering S.O.S. calls when located in the Hawaiians, at Kiska and on the island of Majuro in the Marshalls, his ship and crew have been used in training crews of American submarines.
Also at home is Glen's younger brother, Robert, seaman first class, who has been out 16 months on a Liberty ship, carrying supplies from the west coast, the Ellis Islands, Samoa, the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas and the Carolines. He returns to the coast after his 15-day leave.
This is the boys’ first trip home after hearing of the death of their brother, Cpi. Stanley Hamilton, who was killed in action while fighting with the Ninth Army in France, on November 30.
Their parints, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest G. Hamilton of Whitehall, have a fourth son in service, Ernest A. Hamilton, a technical sergeant who has been stationed in England two years. He married an English girl several months ago.
Glen Hamilton Second class seaman U.S. Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, ground service at Pumloa Point.
Glen Reports He Is
Safe In Pearl Harbor
Last week Thursday, the Ernest Hamilton family were made happy by the arrival by air mail of a letter from their son and brother, Glen Hamilton, regarding whose welfare they had not heard since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Glen, a second class seaman delegated to ground service, has been stationed for some months at Pumloa Point, which forms one arm of the land bounding Pearl Harbor.
Glen said that he was all right, but that he and his pal Kenny, a recruit from Nebraska, had had some close shaves, the details of which he was not permitted to write. Pumloa Point is converted into a rifle range, and Glen exclaimed in his letter, "We hope the dirty Japs come back and we'll blast them out of the sea and sky."
Glen enlisted in the Navy early last spring, so that he has now been in service nearly a year.
Whitehall Sailor Home on Visit
Stationed at Pearl Harbor During Attack
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)—Glen Hamilton, seaman first class who was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the Jap attack, is visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton, here for the first time in two years.
He had been stationed in the Hawaiian Islands from February 5, 1941, until he departed for home late last month. In ‘‘remembering Pearl Harbor,” Glen said:
“The attack started at three minutes to 8 o’clock. Fires started in the woods back of the harbor and I was one of a contingent of sailors dispatched to extinguish them. While running through the coral and underbrush with a heavy pack on my back, I stepped into a coral hole, stumbled and fractured a bone in my leg. I was disabled for several weeks.”
He liked Hawaii and found the people “very hospitable,” he said. He was invited to be a guest at the home of Jose F. Roldan, Filipino bakery owner, whenever he was on leave,
A luau, or party, given for the naval men December 13 by the Hawaiians was described by Glen.
“The food the Hawaiians serve is very rich,” he said, “and I couldn’t eat much of it.”
Glen spent Christmas day standing guard.
He was not able to locate LeRoy Hill, Whitehall soldier stationed on the islands, or Marine Tracy Briggs, Whitehall, who is stationed at Ewa, Oahu, but he did see James Everson, seaman, whenever his ship put into port.
Glen will leave Thursday to report to a West coast naval station where he will be assigned to a submarine salvage ship. He would prefer getting on a faster ship, he said, “a torpedo boat, to be specific, or into the naval air forces.” He wants “something fast.”
His two older brothers also are in the service. Ernest is a radio operator with the Signal Corps and was sent overseas recently. Stanley is stationed at Camp McCoy.
Sailor Lad Arrives Home from Hawaii
Glen Hamilton, Seaman 1st Class, arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton Sunday evening on a three-day leave, his brother Stanley of Camp McCoy meeting him at Onalaska. This was his first visit home in two years and during all that time he has been stationed in the Hawaiian Islands on the island of Oahu. His memory of the bombing of Pearl Harbor is vivid. Following the battle he was sent with a company of sailors to put out fires that had been started in the woods, and while running with a heavy pack on his back, he stumbled in a coral hole and fractured a bone in his leg. He was laid up for several weeks.
He liked Hawaii and found the people very hospital. While on duty near Waipahu he was a guest at the home of Jose F. Roldan and family any time he was on leave. They are Filipinos. He spoke of a luau or party given by the Hawaiians on Dec. 13 for the seamen and of the rich food they served. Glen spent Christmas day standing guard.
Glen had not been able to locate LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill, who is stationed in the islands, but he had seen Seaman James Everson following the latter's operation in a hospital there.
When he leaves again Thursday Glen will report on the west coast for assignment to a submarine salvage ship. Since he is no longer going to be stationed in Hawaii, he would prefer getting onto a faster ship, a torpedo boat to be specific, or into the naval air forces where he could fly. He wants something; fast, he said.
Quartermaster Third Class Glen Hamilton, who has served 38 months in the Pacific and is now home on a 30-day leave, says his ship has been torpedoed more than any other in the Navy — by practice torpedoes, that is. He is aboard a submarine rescue ship which, besides answering S.O.S calls, is used in training crews of submarines.
Brothers Serving in the
Pacific Meet at Home
Glen Hamilton, quartermaster third class, who has spent four years with the Navy in the Pacific war zone, arrived in Whitehall unexpectedly Saturday afternoon to spend a 20-day leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. On Monday, the Hamiltons received a wire from another son, Seaman First Class Robert, who was also stationed in the Pacific and said he would be home Wednesday. Because of their presence here, a memorial service will be held next week Thursday for their brother, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, who was killed in action in France Nov. 30.
Robert Hamilton
U.S. Navy
Robert Hamilton, who completed his training at Great Lakes, Ill., last week, is spending a nine-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. Robert is the fourth Hamilton brother to enter military service. So far he likes Navy life very well, and is looking forward to being assigned to a ship.
Departs for West Coast
Robert Hamilton, Seaman first class, left Monday for Seattle, Wash., after spending a week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton. He had just returned from the Philippines aboard the Giansar, an auxiliary cargo ship to which he has been assigned the past 23 months when he has been on sea duty in the Pacific. Robert has hauled cargo to the Carolines, Marshalls, Marianas, Gilberts, Ellis islands and Samoa besides the Philippines and was lying at anchor in San Pedro bay between Leyte and Samar when the Jap surrender came through. His brother Glen, Quartermaster third class, was also in that harbor at the time and the two brothers had a chance to see each other three times. Glen is aboard the Patrol Craft 1131.
Robert expects to put to sea again at the end of his leave and hopes to get to Japan as long as he is not eligible for discharge, not having enough points. Glen enlisted in the navy and cannot be discharged as he has a year and five months left of that enlistment period even though he has over 50 points.
The boys’ brother, T|Sgt. Ernest Hamilton, is expected hack in the States soon from months of service in England. His English bride will not be able to accompany him bur will come over later.
Mrs. Howard McKendry of Winter, Robert’s sister, came down last Wednesday evening in order to see him. Her husband is in the Philippines.
OCTOBER 13, 1944
Back At Base After A Short Leave At Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Robert Hamilton, seaman first class, left Wednesday on his return to the west coast after spending a week’s leave with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton.
His last visit home was in July, 1943, shortly after which he was sent to the South Pacific aboard a supply ship. Since that time he has been on duty in that area except for a five-day leave on the west coast last May, when the ship was in harbor there for a short time.
A number of his trips have been back to the supply base in the Hawaiians, and on one trip he missed meeting his brother, Glen, who is in the Navy and assigned to a submarine salvage ship.
Robert was with the supporting fleet in the engagements on the Gilbert, Marshall and Mariana islands. He has also visited the Ellis islands and Samoa and seen a great deal of territory in the South Pacific. He saw all the major engagements in the above zones and during one of the invasions he served as coxswain on mechanized landing craft, carrying medium tanks to the shore.
Besides his brother Glen in the navy, Robert has two brothers in the Army, T. Sgt. Ernest, who is with the signal corps in England, and Corp Stanley of the infantry, who is en route overseas. A brother-in-law, Pvt. Howard McKenary, is with the infantry stationed at Camp Bowie, Tex.
During the two years that he has been in service, Robert has met only two boys from home. La Verne Schultz and Verlyn Gilkey, both of the Navy, whom he saw at different times on the west coast.
Stanley Hamilton
Inducted into U.S. Army July 1942, killed in action
Cpl. Stanley Hamilton of Camp Livingston, La., writes to tell how he landed in the infantry after attempting to get into the Air Corps. He was one of 30,000 air force cadets transferred back to their former services because casualties in the Army Air Force were less than expected.
Cpl. Stanley Hamilton
Gave Life in France
Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Hamilton of Whitehall received a War Department telegram Wednesday forenoon informing them that their son, Cpl. Stanley Hamilton, had been killed in action in France on Nov. 30. Stanley served in the quartermaster corps at Camp McCoy after his induction, and transferred to the Air Corps last spring. When large numbers of soldiers were transferred to the infantry because of the need for men in that branch, Stanley was among them, and was eventually shipped overseas as part of the Ninth Army.
His father, who painted Whitehall’s honor roll and has with love and care kept it up to date, adding new names and already placing five gold stars on it, will have the duty of placing the gold star beside the name of his own son.
John S. Hanson
WHITEHALL. Wis. — (Special) —Aviation Cadet John S. Hanson. 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hanson. Whitehall, has reported to the AAF Training Command’s Advanced flying school at Altus, Okla., to begin the last lap of his pilot training. In the Altus AAF two-engined training ships he will learn the technique of flying the multi-motored bomber or fighter plane he will be piloting overseas.
Gets Commission As 2nd Lieutenant
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— John S. Hanson, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Hanson of Whitehall was commissioned a second lieutenant and received the silver pilot’s wings of the Army Air Corps Dec. 23 at the Altus. Okla., Army air field.
From this advanced two-engine pilot training school of the AAF Central Flying Training Command with headquarters at Randolph Field, Tex., he will go on to further advanced training at a multi-engined bomber or fighter school, or to the Central Instructors’ school at Randolph Field.
Orin Hanson
Inducted into U.S. Army July 1942
Whitehall Officer Receives Promotion
Whitehall, Wis, —(Special)—First Lieutenant Orin S. Hanson, 28, was recently promoted to that rank, according to information received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Hanson, Whitehall.
Entering service July 31, 1942, Lieutenant Hanson received training at Camp Roberts, Calif., and, went to officer candidate school there. He received his commission at Camp Davis, N. C., and was an instructor there until the fall of 1944, when he moved to Fort Jackson, S. C. He has since been stationed In New York city; a camp on the East coast and Fort Sill, Okla., and is now to be stationed at Fort Monroe, Va.
A graduate of Whitehall High school, he attended La Crosse State Teachers college for two years and then was employed in a department, store there. Later he attended a school of engineering in Milwaukee, Wis., and afterward was employed by Allen Bradley & Company, Milwaukee. His wife, Leona, is with him.
Robert Hanson
U.S. Army medical corps 135th Medical Regiment, landed in Australia April 7, 1942, member of regimental band
Robert O. Hanson
Mrs. Robert Hanson, of Pigeon Falls, received a letter dated April 114 from her husband. Technical Sergeant Robert Hanson, first engineer-gunner on a B-24, who is stationed somewhere in England.
He was recently awarded an Air Medal. Major James Stewart, former movie star, squadron commander, presented the medal.
Robert left for overseas the first part of January, and has a son, Marco, 18 months old, whom he has never seen.
Completes Mission
WHITEHALL. Wis.—(Special)— T. Sgt. Robert Hanson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ole Hanson of York and a member of the 8th Army Air Force now in England, writes that he has completed his missions over enemy territory and is now doing ground duty. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and been decorated with more Oak Leaf Clusters, having previously been awarded one Oak Leaf Cluster. Hanson is a gunner on a Flying Fortress.
Veteran of 32 missions over Germany, France, Belgium and Holland as an engineer-gunner on a B-24 with the 453rd Bomb Group stationed in England, T. Sgt. Robert O. Hanson, Pigeon Falls, has received his discharge with 105 points. He received his separation papers at Camp McCoy and registered them at the courthouse Sept. 5.
He has the European Theater of Operations Service Ribbon with three Bronze Battle Stars, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He returned to the States Sept. 21, 1944, and since that time has been stationed at Truax Field, Madison.
Harold Heath
U.S. Army, cook with the Military Police of the 32nd Division, London, England, March 1942.
Newly-Promoted Son Recently Transferred
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— Assemblyman C. E. Heath of Trempealeau county, who was in Whitehall Monday, reported that his son Harold, recently promoted to technical sergeant, has been transferred out of the 32nd Military Police stationed in Paris to the 535th Military Police Battalion, a group just organized.
Heath left for service with the original 32nd Military Police Company from Arcadia in October, 1940, and has remained with that group since, although some of the members were transferred to the infantry. He was stationed in London and later in Paris after the Allied invasion of France.
Floren B. Hegge
Private First Class, U.S. Army, European Theatre.
Two Whitehall Soldiers Injured on West Front
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special) — Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge received a War Department telegram Monday morning saying that their son. Pvt. Floren Hegge, 21, had been wounded slightly in Germany on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Floren is with the Seventh Army and has been at the front the past two months. A letter received by his folks recently was written on Dec. 17 from a foxhole. Letters received last week were written on Dec. 25 and 26 but did not mention his wound. However, he said he had no't had Christmas dinner at the front as he had expected, so evidently he was back at a hospital. Floren has been overseas since last July.
His brother, First Lt. George Hegge, is with the 9th Air Corps in France and has over 50 missions as a navigator to his credit. He is a squadron navigator.
Hurt by Falling Tree
Pvt. Leonard Johnson, with the infantry in the European theater, received his second injury at the front on Nov. 23, when he was hit by a falling tree. He was wounded in the early fall when he received shrapnel in his elbow and side, and he had just been returned to the front when he received his second injury. His back was injured this time and he is now being cared for in an English hospital. His wife resides at Black River Falls. Leonard is a former Briggs Transfer employe and Whitehall is his hometown, his father, Pete Johnson, residing there.
Pfc Floren B. Hegge Helped Hold Hatten
Pfc Floren B. Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge of Whitehall, was one of the “doggies” who held the city of Hatten on the 7th Army front in Alsace-Lorraine until a platoon of tanks rolled in to relieve them, according to a copy of “Stars and Stripes” which Floren mailed to his brother Hiram here.
The news story, dated Jan. 19, said: “‘Hatten is hell,’ related the tired tank commander in a quiet, strained voice. ‘You ought to see those people running around like crazy, yelling and screeching, and tiny whimpering kids streched out on small carts being pushed by their folks. The town was burning like a torch with the Krauts shooting flamethrowers and white phosphorous and all kinds of artillery. Did you ever listen to people and cattle being roasted alive in a burning building? It’s something you never forget. And all the time, in the middle of all this, the doughfeet were running from building to building, fighting a war.’
“That was Hatten when Sgt. Earl Simpson of Junction City, Kan., rolled in with a platoon of tanks. Our troops held one-third of the town, which was separated from the Kraut-held section by this thick wall of fire-smoke. The Krauts simply stay ed on their side of the screen, pouring in heavy artillery and mortar fire, and then quite often they held their fire and sent a platoon of Tiger tanks through the smoke to shoot up everything they saw. They saw plenty. That’s why the doggies were so overjoyed to see the tankers.”
Floren has been living in foxholes for weeks, but occasionally they find an abandoned building which they can occupy for short periods before moving on again. In a letter written Jan. 31, Floren described the high school he had been living in then. He said:
“The most interesting was the chemistry laboratory. Formulas and equations are the same in any language, and from my meager knowledge I calculated this much. If our high school had half of the chemicals and one-fourth of the equipment that these people have they would consider the physics and chemistry lab more than complete. The equipment I worked with in all of the science classes at home is absolutely nothing compared to this. For biology, zoology and botany they also have unusual material to work with. There are countless preserved specimens of reptiles and rodents and huge collections of bugs and butterflies. Hygiene classes also had much to work with. The place is full of stuffed animals and birds but overall the wonderful and extremely expensive equipment in the lab and storerooms for practical work in chemistry and physics is really something for a small high school.”
Floren also enclosed a clipping about two brothers, one in the Air Corps and the other in the infantry, who chanced to occupy the same foxhole. Said he, “This could happen to George and me.” Floren’s brother, Captain George Hegge, navigator on a B-26 who has completed 75 missions over enemy territory, is now with a headquarters of the 9th Air Force somewhere in France. The article enclosed by Floren said:
“In a snow-covered foxhole two soldiers shivered as the cold penetrated their clothing. At first glance you might say they were an ill-mated pair; one, a 2nd lieutenant out of the Air Corps, the other a private of the 7th Infantry, but their tie was one not to be judged by uniforms or rank—the soldiers were brothers.
“Just then a low moaning grew to a loud scream. A hun shell dropped nearby. It was followed by another, and still another. ‘Scared?’ asked Pvt. Maurice Meyers of his brother, Lt. Horace A. ‘Sweating out flak is like a Sunday afternoon at home compared to this,’ answered the navigator of a troop carrier squadron.’” Pvt. Floren had learned previously to sending the clipping that his brother George had also been obliged to seek the shelter of a foxhole.
The boys’ younger brother, Thomas, has just entered service, was chosen for the Marines and is receiving training at Paris Island, S. C.
George Hegge
Brothers Serve in England
WHITEHALL, Wis., (Special)— George Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in England July 4, according to word received by his parents.
Lt. Hegge, who received his second lieutenancy at San Marcos, Tex., in October, 1943, has been overseas since the first of the year. He was stationed in Africa before, being sent to join a bomb group in England. Lt. Hegge is the navigator on a B-26 Marauder and has 25 missions over enemy territory to his credit.
In a letter his parents received recently he said that the Fourth of July was celebrated quietly in England except for the routine of the war. He wrote of a forced landing that he and his crew made with one engine.
His brother, Pvt. Floren Hegge, is also stationed in England. He is with an infantry company. The brothers have not contacted each other as yet.
Whitehall Airman Wins Tenth Cluster
A Ninth Air Force Bomber Base, France—(Special)—For skillful and courageous performance of duties as a pilot on bombing missions over Germany, First Lieutenant George N. Hegge, Whitehall, Wis., has been awarded the tenth Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal.
Since his arrival in France, Lieutenant Hegge has been flying with the “Tiger Stripe” B-26 Marauder group to targets of tactical significance and in close cooperation with the ground forces. Railroad bridges, fuel storage tanks and troop concentrations at Rheinbach, Linzig and other German cities have all felt the impact of the bombs from the medium bombers of the Ninth Air force.
Lieutenant Hegge, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sigwald Hegge, Whitehall, recently took part in the bombing mission in which the Marauders bombed the one remaining escape route for encircled Nazis at Dasburg, Germany, resulting In the tie-up of 1,500 vehicles, leaving them easy prey for the American bombers.
Hegge Earns 11th Oak Leaf
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) — Capt. George H. Hegge of Whitehall has been awarded the 11th Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal at an American air field in France for outstanding and meritorious achievement on bombing missions to Germany.
Capt. Hegge, a squadron navigator in the ‘‘Tiger Stripe” B-26 Marauder group of the U. S. 9th Air Force, has been flying with his group on tactical bombing missions to Germany, disrupting and disorganizing communications networks, railway yards, road junctions, bridges and ammunition dumps.
On Feb. 16. Capt. Hegge bombed the communication center at the Rhine city of Rees, Germany, destroying a vital German rail junction used for transporting Nazi troops and supplies to the western front.
Capt. Hegge, son of Mr. and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, Whitehall, has been overseas since March, 1944. He has completed his missions, being credited with 75, and is now flight officer at a 9th air force base.
Capt. Hegge has two brothers in the service. Pfc. Floren Hegge is with the 9th Army and traveled from France through Luxembourg, into Belgium, Holland and Germany. His last letter came from Holland, where he was apparently stationed for a time in a rest camp. Pvt. Thomas Hegge, recently inducted, is at Paris Island. S. C., receiving training for the Marines.
Capt. George Hegge Earns Flying Cross
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)— Capt. George Hegge, son of M and Mrs. S. N. Hegge, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross at a camp somewhere in the European theater, according to letter which his parents received Monday.
The letter was written on April 20 and he had received the award a few days previously. A squadron navigator with the 9th Air Force, Hegge completed his missions in February and at that time he was awarded the Air Medal and 11 Oak Leaf Clusters. After completing his missions he was assigned to a 9th Air Force headquarters station somewhere in France.
Stanley Hestekin
Reported Missing in Belgium Area
WHITEHALL. Wis. (Special) — Mrs. Norman Garson of Whitehall received a telegram Monday morning informing he that her brother, Pvt. Stanley Hestekin, 35, is missing in action in Belgium since Dec. 22. She believes that he was with the Third Army. He is the son of John Hestekin, Eau Claire.
Stanley left for service from Whitehall Sept. 26, 1942, and took his first training at Camp Livingston, La. Later he received further training at Camp Gordon, Fla., Washington. D. C., Camp Stewart, Ga., and Camp Pickett, Va. Before leaving for overseas in August, 1944, he was sent to Fort George G. Meade, Md. With an infantry company, he landed first in England, then went to France and Germany.
The last word that Mrs. Garson had from him was a Christmas card which came last week and which had been mailed on Nov. 29.
He has three brothers, Joseph Hestekin of Whitehall, Ernest of Osseo and Leslie of Neillsville, and three sisters, Mrs. Norman Garson of Whitehall, Mrs. Richard Lee and Mrs. Elmer Dahl of Blair.
LeRoy Hill
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Corps
Leroy Hill, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Plum Creek Valley, who entered service last spring, is reported to have left the United States for an unknown destination.
Wisconsin Soldiers
Feted in Hawaii
Private LeRoy Hill, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Plum Creek, sent a clipping recently to his sister telling about an entertainment the Hawaiians had held for the Wisconsin soldiers stationed there.
The big informal party, called a luau, was attended by about 500 boys from our state. It was given in appreciation for the treatment that the Hawaiian soldiers now stationed at Camp McCoy have been given by Wisconsin civilians.
PFC LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs.. Albert Hill of Plum Creek, is still located in Hawaii, where he has been stationed since a year ago, serving with the ground forces of an air corps.
Cpl. LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of this city, is back in the Hawaiian Islands after spending a year on the Gilbert Islands, reports his mother. He wrote that it is pleasant to have barracks again to sleep in, and to have an opportunity to clean up.
Whitehall Soldier Belongs To 'Taterdemalions Of Subterrane'
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— The “Taterdemalions of the Subterrane” certificate has been awarded to Corp. LeRoy Hill, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill of Whitehall, who has been overseas for two years and is back in the Hawaiians after a year in the Gilbert islands. Hill wrote that he was happy to get back to a place where he could clean up again and where he had barracks to sleep in. He is with a supply squadron connected with the air force.
The certificate, done on parchment with brown and green ink, is signed by the colonel of the air corps, commander of the alert, and the captain of the air corps, sounder of the all clear. It reads:
“Ring the Alert! Sound the Alarm! Wherever ye crawl, Ground Hogs proclaim LeRoy A. Hill Ground Hog extraordinary and unforgetting. He has proved himself worthy, qualified and adept. He has dug deeply and well. He has run, leapt, dived and crawled into the dark spaces of the subterrane. He has subsisted in the dark reaches more than 65 hours. He has foiled the enemy and fed the mosquitoes. His haunches have become sore and his mind weary. There is no hole too deep or too narrow for his ready entrance. Mark his passage. Forever treat him with deep respect and gentle care lest his shadow fall upon you.”
The certificate, which is issued from Ground Hog Hole Number 1, Station Number 1, Army Post Office Number 459, also bears a sketch of a well-camouflaged makeshift soldier barrack, the only kind of home the soldiers had on the Gilberts.
LeRoy Hill arrived at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hill, last week with his discharge, after serving nearly three and a half years in the Pacific theatre.
Norman Hinckley
Corporal. U.S. Army, Co. B, 26th Bn., Camp Crowder, Neosho, Mo., February 1942. Graduated from the Signal Corps Officers Training School at Fort Monmouth, N.J.
Hinkley at Harvard
A clipping sent to us from Mrs. Floyd Hinkley of Port Edwards states that her son, former Whitehall High band director Norman Hinkley, has been graduated from the Signal Corps Officers Training School at Fort Monmouth, N.J. He has been sent to Harvard University for further training, one of eight chosen from his class to receive this special instruction.
August Hundt
First Lieut. August Hundt, formerly of Camp Polk, La., now has an APO address out of New York, his mother, Mrs. Henry Hundt, has learned. He is with an infantry company.
Lieut. Hundt Reported Wounded in Belgium
Lieut. August G. Hundt was wounded in action Jan. 12 in Belgium, the War Department has notified his wife, a Public Service Commission employee living at 723 W. Johnson St. (Madison). The officer narrowly escaped injury Christmas day when he was ambushed by Germans and his jeep destroyed by an anti-tank shell.
Whitehall Man Escapes Nazis Dressed In American Helmets
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Mrs. Henry Hundt of Whitehall has learned through a dispatch from the 84th Infantry Division in Belgium of an experience which her son, Lieut. August Hundt has had.
Ambushed while leading a convoy near the town of Wallin, he pushed his jeep full speed ahead, ran over a German, was fired on at point blank range, jumped from the jeep when an anti-tank shell hit it, and finally made his way back to his own lines on foot.
Lieut. Hundt had rounded a corner to find a captured American half-track bearing a Red Cross insignia blocking the road. Several soldiers were standing on both sides of the vehicle. As he drew closer, the lieutenant recognized American helmets on their heads.
He was only a few yards from them when he discovered they were Germans. He yelled to his driver to break through. The jeep careened to the side, nearly spilling the lieutenant, as the Germans opened fire with rifles at a distance of 20 feet. A German crawling from his foxhole at the edge of the road seemed paralyzed as the vehicle ran him down.
A mile farther on they ran into another road block defended by an anti-tank gun. Thinking onec more that the crew might be Americans, Lieut. Hundt told his driver to stop about 150 yard away. He saw a figure pick up field glasses and then flame spurted from a gun. The shell struck the ground in front of the jeep, bouncing into the frame.
“We jumped for a ditch and began running across an open field,” said August. “The Germans opened up with rifles, but we were too far away. I heard four more rounds from the anti-tank gun but they must have been firing at the jeep. We met some women at the edge of the field, and they pointed to the woods. We stayed there until dark, finally making our way through the woods until we found a familiar road that led us to our command post.”
A letter received by August’s wife, who resides in Madison, was written by Lieut. Hundt on Jan. 18 from a hospital, where she thinks he was placed for a rest following his close call. He said he expected to be released the following day.
Hundt has been overseas only a few months. A graduate of Whitehall high school, he resided here until he attended the University of Wisconsin. He was employed by the Internal Revenue Department in Madison for some time and later by the Pure Oil Co.
Purple Heart Earned By Lieut. August Hundt
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special)— The Purple Heart has been awarded to Lieut. August Hundt, son of Mrs. Henry Hundt of Whitehall, with the 84th infantry division in Belgium.
His wife, who resides in Madison, received a War Department message saying that he had been wounded on Jan. 12, and later letters from him said that he had recovered from shrapnel wounds in his leg and a slight concussion which he received while rescuing a jeep. A mine explosion caused his wounds.
Clifford Iverson
Corporal, U.S. Army.
Cpl. Clifford Iverson, the son of Harry Iverson of Pigeon Falls, received an honorable discharge from the Army June 30 at Fort Sheridan, Ill., after having been in service 49 months, 39 of which were spent overseas. He fought with the Fifth Infantry Division of the Third Army under General Patton in Normandy, northern France and the Rhineland, and earned a Purple Heart.
Ralph A. Jacobson
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army, enlisted Jan. 24, 1943; discharged Jan. 3, 1946
December 1943
Cpl. Ralph Jacobson, who has been stationed at Camp Polk, La., arrived home Sunday evening and will remain with his wife and child until Friday. Ralph is of the opinion that he will soon be transferred to the west coast.
May 1944
Sgt. Ralph Jacobson has been transferred from Obispo, Calif., to the 710th Tank Battalion at Camp Cooke, Calif.
March 1945
Mrs. Ralph Jacobson recently received a letter from her husband, S/Sgt. Jacobson, who is serving in the Pacific war zone, stating that he was at a rest camp.
December 1945
Mrs. Ralph Jacobson received a telegram from her husband Monday, right after he arrived on the west coast from the Pacific war theatre. A staff sergeant, Ralph has spent many months overseas.
Armond Johnson
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Corps, enlisted Sept. 26, 1942, discharged Nov. 10, 1945
Cpl. Armond Johnson, who was called home from Santa Ana, Calif., to attend the funeral of his father, the late Albert E. Johnson of Pleasantville, is hopeful that he will be able to get a discharge from the army to assist his mother in operating their farm.
Cpl. Johnson, who had spent 23 months in Europe, based in England with the 56th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, returned home May 2 on a 27-day furlough, after which he reported at Santa Ana. He was there only five days when called home by the death of his father.
Armond said that the 56th Fighter Group has the highest scoring record of any group in the European theatre and that he is proud to have been attached to it, as a military police. He likes the English people but did not enjoy the climate, as it is extremely damp during the winte months and much of the summer as well.
Cpl. Johnson left Wednesday for Santa Ana. His brother, Sgt. Milford, is with a tank destroyer battalion in Germany. He was with the 3rd Army but recently has been transferred to the 7th. Milford has been overseas a year.
Bennett I. Johnson
Staff sergeant, U.S. Army, enlisted Nov. 22, 1937, discharged Nov. 17, 1945
Discharged After 64 Months In Pacific Area
Five years and four months overseas is the record of S/Sgt. Bennett Johnson, son of Bernt Johnson of Racine and Mrs. Bernt Johnson of Whitehall, who received his discharge recently at Camp McCoy with 91 points. The reason for his long period of service outside of the United States is that Bennett enlisted in the regular Army Nov. 21,1 1937, and after taking his basic training at Vancouver Barracks, Wash., he was sent to Hawaii for further training, remaining there 32 months. He was with the field artillery at that time, although later he was transferred to ordnance as a mechanic. As a member of the 3145th Ordnance Company he spent another 32 months on New Caledonia, just returning from there before receiving his discharge.
The climate in Hawaii and New Caledonia is very similar, Bennett said, but he prefers the former islands because he didn’t like the French on New Caledonia. They were definitely in sympathy with the Vichy government and with the Japanese, he said, and he had that proved to him forcefully when he and other American soldiers went on a deer hunt into the hills and were fired upon by Frenchmen — who, fortunately, did not hit them.
Johnson experienced a hurricane that hit the island in January, 1944, and carried away all the soldiers’ tents from this island 5500 miles from San Francisco. Going out nearly three years ago he travelled in convoy that split five hours before his ship, the transport Republic, reached New Caledonia. Not long after the ships separated one of the other boats, headed for Australia, was torpedoed by a Jap submarine but the ship was close enough to a reef so that it grounded there and saved its passengers. Coming home Johnson was aboard the freighter President Polk with 2400 other returning servicemen, and it was a slow, tedious journey for these men anxious to get back to the States.
Bennett saw only two soldiers he knew when he was out. They were Angus Hanson of Black River Falls, formerly of Pigeon, with whom he had gone to school as a small boy in the Daggett district, and Harris Danielson of Black River Falls.
Besides the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon he won the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded by the general of the Pacific Service Command. The first 1 1/2 years he was on New Caledonia he and the other mechanics there, who repaired trucks and tanks, were very busy on account of help shortage, which won them the citation.
Mr. Johnson is vacationing with his mother here. His father is expected here soon from Racine.
Five years and four months overseas is the record of S/Sgt. Bennett Johnson, son of Bernt Johnson of Racine and Mrs. Bernt Johnson of Whitehall, who received his discharge recently at Camp McCoy with 91 points. The reason for his long period of service outside of the United States is that Bennett enlisted in the regular Army Nov. 21,1 1937, and after taking his basic training at Vancouver Barracks, Wash., he was sent to Hawaii for further training, remaining there 32 months. He was with the field artillery at that time, although later he was transferred to ordnance as a mechanic. As a member of the 3145th Ordnance Company he spent another 32 months on New Caledonia, just returning from there before receiving his discharge.
The climate in Hawaii and New Caledonia is very similar, Bennett said, but he prefers the former islands because he didn’t like the French on New Caledonia. They were definitely in sympathy with the Vichy government and with the Japanese, he said, and he had that proved to him forcefully when he and other American soldiers went on a deer hunt into the hills and were fired upon by Frenchmen — who, fortunately, did not hit them.
Johnson experienced a hurricane that hit the island in January, 1944, and carried away all the soldiers’ tents from this island 5500 miles from San Francisco. Going out nearly three years ago he travelled in convoy that split five hours before his ship, the transport Republic, reached New Caledonia. Not long after the ships separated one of the other boats, headed for Australia, was torpedoed by a Jap submarine but the ship was close enough to a reef so that it grounded there and saved its passengers. Coming home Johnson was aboard the freighter President Polk with 2400 other returning servicemen, and it was a slow, tedious journey for these men anxious to get back to the States.
Bennett saw only two soldiers he knew when he was out. They were Angus Hanson of Black River Falls, formerly of Pigeon, with whom he had gone to school as a small boy in the Daggett district, and Harris Danielson of Black River Falls.
Besides the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon he won the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded by the general of the Pacific Service Command. The first 1 1/2 years he was on New Caledonia he and the other mechanics there, who repaired trucks and tanks, were very busy on account of help shortage, which won them the citation.
Mr. Johnson is vacationing with his mother here. His father is expected here soon from Racine.
Willie A. Johnson
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, enlisted March 11, 1942, discharged Oct. 19, 1945
Corp. Willie Johnson. U. S. Marine Corps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson, Whitehall, has been in the South Pacific since October, 1942. He took part in the battle of Tarawa, coming through uninjured, and is now in Hawaii at a rest camp. Corp. Johnson and PFC Nehring went overseas together and were serving in the same light tank company.
WHITEHALL, Wis. — Corp. Willie A. Johnson figured in the recent capture of Tarawa Island in the Gilbert group. A letter written on Nov. 28 assured his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson that he was well and safe. He also referred to Pvt. Marshall Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring, who was in the same battle.
Two Whitehall Boys In Battle Of Tarawa
Letter from Willie Johnson to Parents Says He and Marshall Nehring Came Thru Fight Without Injury
The families of Theodore Johnson and A. E. Nehring were much relieved Tuesday when a letter was received by Mrs. Johnson from their son, Cpl. Willie A. Johnson, in which he also mentioned Pvt. Marshall Nehring, son of the Nehrings. j After a silence of many weeks, the j letter, written on Nov. 28 in the I Southwest, said:
“Dear Folks: I guess this has been my most thankful Thanksgiving, and this, one of my most important letters. Here’s the dope.
“We’ve just captured Tarawa Island in the Gilbert group after heavy fighting. The Marines sure came through and our outfit did some real work too. The little men from Nippon sure took a mauling.
“I’ve seen Marshall since things have quieted down, so he came through O.K. too. Kind of swell to be together through the whole thing.
“Everything is fine with me and I didn’t get as much as a scratch, so don’t worry. Give word to all.”
Marshall and Willie took their Marine training together at San Diego, Calif., and left at the same time for overseas almost two years ago. So far as their folks here know they had been located in New Zealand for some time, and when the Gilbert Islands battle was reported they feared that the boys took part in it, which makes the news of their safety all the more welcome. Both are with a light tank company, Willie as a radio operator.
Jap Postcard from Tarawa
A Jap postcard captured at Tarawa was sent to The Times by Cpl. Willie Johnson of the Marine Corps. Cpl. Willie, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson, wrote under date of Dec. 17: “Here’s one postcard that never found its way back to Nippon because the Second Marine Division intercepted it at Tarawa. We had quite a scrap but we are one step nearer Tokyo and eventually home, and that is what really counts. Marshall Nehring was there too, and both of us came through without a scratch, so our luck is good anyway. Greetings to you and the staff.”
Whitehall Marine Sends Some Souvenirs of Tarawa Battle
WHITEHALL, Wis. (Special)— A collection of trophies of the battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, taken recently by the gallant Ma rines, are highly prized by the family of Cpl. Willie A. Johnson of Whitehall, veteran of that operation who, so far as is known, is now in a rest camp in the Hawaiian islands. The trophies came in three shipments and are now on display in the Trempealeau County Selective Service office in the courthouse, where his his brother, Clarence H. Johnson, is clerk.
Among the souvenirs in this display are a Jap rifle with bayonet and scabbard; a Jap officer’s bulletproof vest; and a field jacket with some imprinting on it in the native language. The owner's name, Ximora, was translated for Mr. Johnson by a visitor at the selective service office who could read that much of the printing.
Another treasure is an insignia from a Mitsubishi bomber and others are also pieces of a Jap Zero. In perfect mechanical condition is a Jap machine gun with space for 24 bullets. The gun shows signs of strafing but was not mechanically damaged.
Prized more than any of the other trophies by the owner is a bronze Imperial Jap Marine emblem, shown in the foreground, which was captured with some difficulty by Cpl. Johnson from an armored staff car. Willie wrote: “I stuck my neck out to get that emblem and am lucky to be able to live to tell about it. No more of that for me.” He plans to mount the emblem on a plaque when he gets home I and then tell the story of his dan gerous capture.
Also shown in the foreground of the picture is a knife which Cpl. Johnson sent to his brother Clarence for his recent birthday. While stationed in New Zealand before being sent to the Tarawa job, Willie made the knife from a file and fashioned the handle from shatterproof glass of the kind used in cockpits in planes. Cpl. Johnson’s name and serial number are inserted on a slip of paper inside the handle.
Cpl. Johnson, who has been in the service over two years and abroad about 1 1/2 years, took his training at San Diego. Calif., after enlisting in the Marines and became a radio operator on a medium tank, which holds five men. A snapshot which the Johnsons have shows the 24 men that were left in Cpl. Johnson's company after the battle. Johnson was a member of the company that beat back the Japs on the famous third day of the battle when, having hidden in their foxholes, they staged their "Banzai” attack, and, throwing all caution to the wind, they rushed upon the Marines at dusk scream ing “Marine, you die” and "Japanese drink Marines’ blood.” The line wavered momentarily but the company held and at least 300 Japs died in their fanatical charge, according to press reports of the battle.
Johnson is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson of Whitehall. There was one other local boy in the battle of Tarawa; Marine Marshall Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring. Nehring was also a radio operator in the encounter but was with a different company.
Dear Clarence
Everything is O.K. with me. Had quite a few thrilling experiences over here*
Yours, Will.
Corp. Willie A. Johnson, U.S.M.C.
July 10, 1944
To L. J. Wood, Whitehall from Saipan
Dear Woodier
Just a word to you and the rest letting you know all’s well with me. How's things back there?
Corp. Willie A. Johnson
Whitehall Marine in Saipan Battle
WHITEHALL. Wis., (Special) — Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson received a letter Thursday from their son, Cpl. Willie Johnson, who is with the Second Marine Division on Saipan. This was the first word they have had from him in nearly seven weeks, and the letters at that time were coming from the Hawaiians, where he was in a rest camp after taking part in the Marshall Islands campaign, when he was in the Tarawa battle. Believing that he had returned to some front when they didn’t hear from him, Willie’s parents learned where he was when newspapers published the fact that the Second Division was on Saipan.
This week’s letter was written on June 27 and said that things were going all right with him. He said he believed Marshall Nehring was also on the island although he had not seen him since leaving the Hawaiians. Nehring, also of Whitehall, is a Marine. Both boys are radio operators on medium tanks. Both have now been overseas more than two years and were first stationed m New Zealand.
Conrad Johnstad
U.S. Marine Corps, 1943-46, Pacific Theatre
August 1943
Conrad Johnstad of Pigeon Falls went to Minneapolis this week, and he hoped to be accepted in the Army Air Corps while in that city. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad, and was graduated from Whitehall High last May.
March 1944
Pvt. Conrad Johnstad, stationed with the U.S. Marines at San Diego, Calif., is spending a leave at the home of his parents in Pigeon Falls. He says that before coming home he saw Pvt. Dallas Erickson of this city, and PFC Francis Foss of Fly Creek, who send greetings to their home folks. Conrad said that Dallas was about to go overseas, and later information is to the effect that he has arrived in the Pacific battle zone.
March 28, 1944
Assigned to Marine Band
When Conrad Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad, was a student at Whitehall High, he took an active part in musical circles both in and outside of school. Under date of March 28 he writes to The Times that he has been assigned to quartermaster administration school at Camp Elliott. His first night there, he says, he was playing his trumpet, which he had brought along “for my amusement and the misery of others ... It seems that the misery was too much for the lieutenant, so he took my name and Monday morning I found myself a member of the Marine Band at Elliott.”
November 1944
Learned What Prayer
Is for in Foxhole
Like scores of other lads, just a few months ago Connie Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, was at home and in school, but now he is on a far-away Pacific island, undergoing unpleasant climatic conditions and doing his part in prosecuting the war. Under date of Sept. 23, Conrad writes of the battle for Peleliu, and says that for the first time in his life, in his foxhole, he came to the realization of what prayer is for and what it can do for one.
December 1944
A V-mail Christmas and New Year’s greeting came to The Times from PFC Connie Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, who wrote, “I’m as busy as could be out here. This is certainly a strange way to spend Christmas, in such tremendous heat. From the looks of things, I’ll be here quite some time.” Connie is in the central Pacific area with the Marines.
Looks Forward to Trip Back to Wisconsin
A letter from somewhere in the South Pacific arrived at The Times office from PFC Conrad Johnstad, U.S.M.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls and a Whitehall High school graduate. Connie says in part:
“I have time to drop a line at last, so here goes, although there isn’t much that I can talk about, as you know. Everything happened fast. A short while ago I thought I would be in the United States for the duration, but you can see the results of wishful thinking. So far as the ocean and our trip over here were concerned, the see was rough but my stomach was rougher. I can see the value of water, its importance and all that, but take it from me, that trip was too darn much at one time.
“Well, they finally broke down md dished me out a rating at least, ‘'rom now on you will address me as PFC Johnstad. All kidding aside, all that means to me is four bucks more a month. I can assure you I am no 30-year man although I only have 29 years and five months left of such a period. Time certainly flies though, and speaking of time; the Whitehall Times is mighty nice to get once a week.
“I can’t tell you what I am doing, but I never could get music out of my blood. My other jobs are not to be mentioned. We have a few musicians over here and we do get in our kcks.
“The Merchant Marine is doing a wonderful job and the men are to be congratulated for their fine work.
“Don Jarstad and I have separated and have lost track of each other completely, but I am with a Severson boy from Arcadia.
“Tell all folks hello and that I am making this trip just once more, and you know which way I’ll be headed for then—old Wisconsin.”
Boys In Pacific Elated Over European Victory
A letter comes to The Times from Pfc Conrad Johnstad, son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Johnstad of Pigeon Falls, who is with the Marines in the Pacific area. Conrad wrote under date of May 24 from the western Carolines, saying in part:
“The war news telling of Germany’s unconditional surrender was by all means a great comfort to our minds. Quite frequently the service scuttlebutt department had given us the same news, later to be found untruthful, so we went through the same old routine—work and wait until the report was confirmed. Such exhilaration as you can never imagine took place here. We had our inebriates for a time but there was record attendance at every church the following Sunday. To me it means the vaunted Allied powers are progressing and before long victory will be ours. Then and only then will we be back home with our friends and dear ones.
“At this writing my overseas duty sums up to a total of 10 months and 16 days, and Pm plenty tired of it already but will carry on.
“By the time this reaches you my morale boosting friend Dallas Erickson should be making his homecoming. He left here to my chagrin some time ago with others for stateside duty. We both agreed upon upholding the tradition of the marine corps whether in Fortun’s drug store for a coke or on the high school basketball court.
“The Times reaches me fairly regularly and it is great, believe me.
“It is getting late and duty calls, time for sack drill. Remember me to all.”
Gavin Johnstad
Private, U.S. Army, 9 Jan 1942-25 May 1943
January 1943
Mr. and Mrs. E.B. Johnstad of Pigeon Falls have received a letter from Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Behenna of Talbot, Great Britain, informing them that the Johnstads' son Gavin was a guest at their home sometime in November. Gavin has since been confined to a hospital somewhere in Great Britain, the exact whereabouts he has not been permitted to tell.
Archie Langworthy
Enlisted in U.S. Navy December 1942
RECEIVES PROMOTION
Archie Langworthy, only son of Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy of this city, has been promoted to petty officer first class and is a chief specialist with the Navy, according to a letter received by his parents this week. Archie is stationed on a South Pacific island, where heavy rains and lots of sunshine are had the year around. Archie has a pet parrot, but he will not be able to bring it home with him, he said. He mentioned receiving letters and packages from friends and stated that fish are just as elusive of a hook there as back in Wisconsin.
Whitehall Man Dies In Pacific
Langworthy Is First War Zone Casualty
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) —Archie Louis Langworthy, 34, chief specialist athletic instructor with the Naval Reserve, died Wednesday as a result of a hemorrhage subdural while in the performance of his duty in the service of his country, according to a telegram received Thursday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy. Langworthy, an only son, was on a South Pacific island.
Born March 5, 1910, in St. Paul, he moved to Whitehall with his parents at the age of six. After graduating from Whitehall High School, he studied at the art institute in Chicago for two years. Following this he was employed as a photographer in Chicago. Later he moved to Des Moines where I he established a studio.
At one time Langworthy won first prize among 2,700 photos displayed in the Stevens hotel in Chicago. Langworthy photos were used by De Mille at one time in a search for talent.
Langworthy enlisted in November. 1942, with a petty officer first class rating. After a brief training period he went overseas in May 1943. He landed on New Caledonia but has been stationed on other islands in the Pacific since. Besides being athletic instructor, he was an aerial photographer. In his spare time he organized a band.
Survivors are his parents and one sister, Mrs. Pearl Winchester ! of Chicago.
Langworthy is the first Whitehall man killed in a war zone. A previous casualty, Sgt. Harold Stendahl, was killed as a result of a gun accident in a Pennsylvania camp in September, 1942.
Archie Langworthy, 34, Loses Life In Pacific
Met Death Aug. 30, According to Message Received By His Parents
Whitehall received its second sad message stating that another of our boys had been lost in service. The telegram was to Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Langworthy informing them their son, Archie L. Langworthy, 34, had lost his life in the South Pacific on Aug. 30. The telegram stated that he died from a subdural hemorrhage while in the performance of his duty. Archie was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Langworthy and his death is a great shock to them.
Whitehall’s first casualty in World War 2 was Sgt. Harold Stendahl, who died in a gun accident at Philadelphia, Pa., two years ago today, Sept. 7.
Hold Memorial Services
Memorial services were held at Our Saviour’s Lutheran church on Wednesday afternoon for the deceased. The Rev. O. G. Birkeland, pastor of the church and also department chaplain of the American Legion, officiated at the last rites and members of Hutchins-Stendahl Post attended In a body.
Music was furnished by Mr. and Mrs. Philip Thomte, who sang in duet “Come Unto Me” by Porter, and by a vocal quartet composed of Mr. and Mrs. Thomte, Mrs. Robert Forsythe and Orin Evenson, who sang “The Old Rugged Cross” and “God Be With You Til We Meet Again.”
Reverend Birkeland of the local Legion post presented the U. S. flag to the nearest of kin, Mrs. Langworthy, and two Boy Scouts, Alyn Larson and Edward Larson, brought forward the congregation’s roll of honor on which the pastor placed a gold star beside the name of the deceased.
Born in St. Paul
Archie L. Langworthy, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray R. Langworthy, was born in St. Paul, Minn., March 5, 1910. When six years of age his family moved to Whitehall, where Archie was confirmed in Our Saviour’s Lutheran church and where he graduated from high school in 1928. Following his graduation he studied at the Chicago Art Institute for two years, after which he was employed as a photographer in Chicago and for two years following toured the middle west taking portraits. He then went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked in the Cochrane Studios and where he later in his chosen profession established himself In a very promising business of his own.
He enlisted in the navy in November, 1942, receiving the rating of petty officer first class. After a brief period of training in this country he was sent to the South Pacific war zone, where he was advanced to Chief Specialist athletic instructor and where he also served as aerial photographer. It was here while in the line of duty that he made the supreme sacrifice.
He leaves to mourn his untimely passing his father and mother, sister Pearl and her daughter Bonita, and a number of other relatives and a host of friends.
Ernest G. Larson
Private First Class, U.S. Army
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Pfc. Ernest G. Larson, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Larson, Whitehall, is a member of the 595th motor ambulance company, now in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, which has received the award of the meritorious service unit plaque for outstanding performance during the Bulge operation last December and January.
The news was received in a copy of “We've Had It," publication of the 134th medical group at Pilsen by Clarence H. Johnson, clerk of the selective service board.
Evacuating nearly 10,000 casualties during the 401day Ardennes battle, the company went into support of hard-hit troops of the 28th infantry and the 9tli and 10th armored divisions in Luxembourg on the first day of the campaign. Later elements of the unit supported the 101st and 17th battalions and the 90th infantry division in their all-out drive to push the Germans out of their newly-won territory.
Lenna C. Larson
Lieutenant, U.S. Army Nurse Corps
February 1944
The Community Hospital Nurses Alumni gave a farewell party Monday evening for Miss Lenna Larson, who has enlisted in the Reserve Nurses Corps of the U.S. Army.
February 10, 1944
Second Lieut. Lenna Larson was sworn into the Army Nurses Corps Thursday at Camp McCoy, where she will undergo basic training.
August 11, 1945
First Lieut. Lenna Larson, Camp McCoy came and spent the weekend at the Herman Ringlien and Louie Larson homes, Pigeon Falls.
February 23, 1946
Lieut. Lenna Larson received her discharge from the Army Nurse Corps last weekend. She was stationed at Camp McCoy for about two years.
May 12, 1946
Miss Lenna Larson, R.N., is preparing to leave for Fort Bayard, N. M., Sunday. Miss Larson, former lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, has accepted a position with the Veterans Administration, and will be employed as head nurse in the department of medicine and surgery at the veterans hospital at Fort Bayard. She returned from South America by plane, in November, 1943. She had been employed as a nurse in Dr. E. A, McCornack’s hospital in Lima, Peru, for several years. Immediately upon her arrival she enlisted in the Army, took her basic training at Camp McCoy and was stationed there for the duration. She received her discharge April 8, and has spent most of her time since then at the home of her sister, Mrs. Herman Ringlien, Moe Coulee, town of Pigeon. Last weekend was spent with her brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Larson, Pigeon Falls.
Robert G. Lewis
Lieutenant, U.S. Army, enlisted Feb. 16, 1943
Wounded In France
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) —Lieut. Robert G. Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis of Webster Grove, Mo., formerly of the town of Hale, received jaw and arm wounds in France recently and was sent back to England for hospitalization, according to Mrs. Agnes Thorson of Hale, aunt of Lieut. Lewis.
Mrs. Thorson learned of his wounds from Mrs. Lewis, wife of the lieutenant, who resides at Combined Locks, Wis. Lieut. Lewis, a graduate of Whitehall High School and the University of Wisconsin, entered service on July 31, 1942, received officer’s training at Fort Benning, Ga., spent several months instructing at Camp Blanding, Fla., and arrived overseas the latter part of August.
EDITOR HOME--
Lieut. Robert G. Lewis, former editor of the Daily Cardinal, University of Wisconsin campus newspaper, has returned to Madison from European battle zones wearing the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. Wounded three times, Lewis will head for the Pacific at the end of his leave.
Former Hale Man, Wounded Three
Times in Reich, Visiting Whitehall
Whitehall. Wis.—(Special)— First Lieutenant Robert Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis, Webster Groves, Mo., a native of the town of Hale, is here on 30-day leave alter a year of combat duty in the European theater.
He is visiting at the farm home owned by his parents in Hale, which is occupied by his aunts, Mrs. Agnes Thorson and Mrs. Clara Huse. He was accompaned by his wife and six-month-old baby, whom he had not seen before his return. His parents are also visiting at their farm home.
Lieut. Lewis was wounded three times, decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for extra-ordinary heroism, and promoted to first lieutenant on the battlefield in France. He wears the French Croix de Guerre, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and the European Theater Ribbon with three campaign stars.
A member of the Eighth “Gold Arrow" division, Lieut. Lewis won the Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre for heroism at the battle of Brest. He was a platoon leader. He dragged wounded men to safety under heavy machine-gun and small arms fire, despite bullet wounds through the muscles of both arms. Then he returned to the head of his platoon, refusing to evacuate. This time a bullet plowed clear through the bones of both his jaws just below the ears, but he continued to lead his men forward until they seized their objective.
Lived on Soup, Milk
Forty-eight hours after he landed at Brest he was back in an English hospital and for the next two and a half months he lived on soup and milk because his jaws were wired shut to reset them.
Rejoining his division in Germany, he fought in the Ardennes break-through and helped hold the north shoulder of the Belgian Bulge. Crossing the Ruhr as the spearhead of the Seventh Corps of the Third Armored division, the Eighth took Daren and were the first troops in Cologne.
Lieut. Lewis led a company that included four white platoons and one Negro platoon of 50 into battle in an Army experiment to determine whether Negroes and whites could fight successfully together. There was no friction and the Negroes fought brilliantly, probably because there was the added incentive of making a good showing for their race, Lieutenant Lewis commented.
Military Governor
After VE Day Lieut. Lewis became military governor of the industrial city of Wuppertal, where his task was to keep order in a state of chronic emergency in which liberated Russian, French, Polish and Italian slave labor looted food supplies and tried to avenge themselves on the Germans.
Lieutenant Lewis was editor of the Daily Cardinal at the University of Wisconsin before he entered service.
“It will be impossible to organize a democratic German government in the next few years," Lieut. Lewis declared, in an interview with a Madison newspaper, “Not because of any false race theories but because of their Nazi training and background, Germans right now are incapable of achieving democracy."
“Dominated by Russia”
“The outcome will be either rigid control by an Allied commission, or Communism in Germany, along with the rest of eastern and central Europe, dominated and guided by Russia . . . This may be a good thing for Europe because Russian influence can give Europe a stability we can’t for the present.
“America’s task from now on should be to be extremely aggressive in promoting our way of life. It is up to us to influence the Russians, to acquaint them with our beliefs, to develop a confidence to America’s ways among them, so that we can temper Russian theories with our own ideas of tolerance and freedom.”
Gordon Lundsted
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, enlisted Nov. 29, 1940, discharged Nov. 5, 1945. B-29 radio operator, promoted to that rank spring 1945 while serving in Philippines.
Jan. 20, 1944
Sergeant Gordon Lundsted, formerly of Sheppard Field, Tex., has been transferred to Sioux Falls, S.D., reports his sister, Mrs. Norman Olson of Fly Creek.
Sgt. Gordon Lundstead has been transferred from Yuma. Ariz., to Lemoore Field in California.
Sept. 29, 1944
Sergeant Gordon Lundsted has been transferred again, this time from Lemoore Field, Calif., to Tonapah, Nev. He is studying radio in the Air Corps.
Robert L. MacCornack Jr.
Ensign, U.S. Navy, enlisted July 1, 1943, discharged March 6, 1946.
September 1944
U.S. Naval Reserve, graduate of University of Dubuque, Iowa, V-12 naval school, midshipman’s school at Notre Dame, Ind.
July 20, 1945
Ensign Robert MacCornack Jr., on a troop transport in the Pacific, called his parents, Dr. and Mrs. R. L. MacCornack, from a West Coast port Friday.
Feb. 21, 1946
Robert L. MacCornack Jr., dischared last week as an ensign from the Navy, came Thursday evening from St. Paul to visit his parents, Dr. and Mrs. R. L. MacCornack.
Charles W. Mason
Soundman third class, U.S. Navy, enlisted Sept. 12, 1939.
Charles Mason, SM3/c, completed his 6-year enlistment in the U. S. navy, received his discharge at Great Lakes, Ill., and returned to Whitehall Sunday. Charles enlisted Sept. 12, 1939, trained at Great Lakes and was then assigned to the cruiser Brooklyn, on which he spent two years, serving principally in the Hawaiian area. Later he was transferred to the Atlantic, passing through the Panama Canal. He was with the first U. S. convoy to Africa when American forces invaded that country. For the following several months he was on convoy duty when the submarine menace was at its height in the Atlantic. In 1942 he was transferred to a destroyer and in the spring of 1943 he returned to the Pacific, spending several months in anti-submarine patrol in the Alaskan and Aleutian areas. His last assignment was in the Hawaiian sea frontier. Charles has the Pre-Pearl Harbor, American Theatre, European Theatre and Pacific Theatre ribbons.
Lloyd Meagher
Enlisted in U. S. Navy February 1941, petty officer on USS Arkansas February 1942, convoy duty
Whitehall Sailor Writes Grandmother Of Action In Pacific
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special) —Lloyd Meagher, who is aboard a ship in the South Pacific, wrote his grandmother, Mrs. L. C. Olson of Whitehall, under date of Feb. 18, telling her where he has been traveling recently.
“When we left the States,” he wrote, “the first place we hit was Monus Island in the Admiralty group. Then Fincheshafen, Milne Bay and Ora Bay in New Guinea. Then we came onto Leyte and then Lingayen Gulf in Luzon, both in the Philippines.
“At Lingayen we were credited with shooting down one Jap bomber. “That is all I am allowed to say now—we can not tell anything until 30 days after it has happened. The days are hot here but the nights are cold. I am getting sick of staying out here but I am I afraid it will be about another year before we see the States again.”
Meagher has been in the Navy several years. A graduate of Whitehall High School, he is the son of Mrs. Herman Sesvold, Pigeon Falls.
Irvin Mallum
Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, inducted July 31, 1942, discharged Nov. 19, 1945.
June 20, 1943
Technical Sergeant Irvin Mallum left Friday, for Camp Barkley, Texas, after a furlough with his wife here and parents, Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum, at Coral
City.
Dec. 17, 1943
Mrs. Irvin Mallum, Whitehall, has received word that her husband, Sergeant Mallum, has arrived safely in England.
July 20, 1944
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —When Mrs. Irvin J. Mallum of Whitehall received a letter from Mrs. J. Wood of 30 Canon street, Taunton, Somerset, England, this I week, she was alarmed, because on seeing its source, she thought that it might bear bad news of her husband, T. Sgt. Irvin Mallum, who was connected to an ordnance company located somewhere in the British isles. But her fears were dispelled upon reading the letter, which said in part:
“I feel I must write a few lines to you seeing I have had Mr. Mallum with me for five months. Duty calls him somewhere else today, so as a good soldier he must go. I think they must have sent me one of the best for we like him very much and I hope it won’t be long before you will be together again.
Word has been received that T/Sgt. Irvin W. Mallum has arrived in France by his wife, Mrs. Irvin Mallum, of Whitehall. He is a mechanic in an ordnance depot company. He entered the service July 31, 1942, and received his training at Camp Barkeley, Texas, after which he was sent overseas in November, 1943. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum, of Coral City.
Atrocity Stories Not Exaggerated, Says Vet
The stories one hears and reads of atrocities in the European theatre are true, declared Sgt. Irvin C. Mallum, and much more that he could add. Sgt. Mallum, son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Mallum of Coral City, received his discharge at Fort Sheridan, Ill., Nov. 19 with 84 points and joined his wife, the former Ruby Holden, who has been residing with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Holden here during his absence.
Irvin entered service July 18, 1942, and received training at Camp Butner, Tex. He was also on maneuvers in Louisiana in 1943 just prior to leaving for overseas in November that year. Landing in England, he was stationed near Yeovil in the southern part at Lufton Barracks with the 178th Ordnance Company, First Army Unit. He was a mechanic working on all types of army vehicles. From Yeovil he went to Taunton, also in southern England, half way between the southern coast and Bristol, where he remained until the Normandy invasion.
Sgt. Mallum entered Normandy June 11, 1944, a few days after D-Day, landing on the Omaha Beach. He moved into France, Belgium and Holland, back into Belgium again and into Germany with the First Army all the time. At the end of the war he had reached Kassel, Germany. Before coming back to the States he returned to France to the Assembly Air Command at Rheims, where he was transferred to the 75th Division. He embarked from Marseilles for home on the boat Tusculen Victor on Nov. 3, which carried about 2,000 men, and landed at Hampton Roads, Va., Nov. 15, from where he proceeded to Fort Sheridan for discharge.
Irvin has five battle stars on his European Theatre Ribbon, the Good Conduct and Victory medals, American Theatre Ribbon and four overseas service bars. Before entering service Sgt. Mallum was employed at the Hagen Sales & Service garage at Pigeon Falls.
Albert J. Maule
Technical sergeant, U.S. Army, European Theater, enlisted Oct. 27, 1942, discharged Nov. 10, 1945.
Dec. 20, 1944
Sergeant Maule
Wins Bronze Star
Staff Sergeant Albert Maule, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Maule Sr., Independence, has been awarded the Bronze Star for heroic achievement against the enemy in Italy.
Sergeant Maule entered service in October, 1942; received his training at Camp White and Camp Adai, Ore.; and was sent overseas in March, 1944. After being stationed for a brief time in Africa, he was sent to Italy, where he has since been on duty.
Served with Patton;
Home on Furlough
T/Sgt. Albert Maule, reached the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Maule of Independence, from the European theatre last week Tuesday, and by Wednesday forenoon, he was in Whitehall visiting old friends, as before entering service in October 1942, he was employed at the Farmers Store here. A member of the 361st Infantry, 91st Division, Al has battle stars from the Rome-Arno, Po Valley and North Apennines campaigns. He has a 36-day furlough, but not enough points for discharge. His brother, T/5 Edward, is also back in the State on furlough.
Charles B. Melby Jr.
Lieutenant, U.S. Navy.
Torpedo Engineer
Ensign Charles B. Melby, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Melby, Sr., Whitehall, has been assigned as a torpedo engineer to the U. S. S. Abbott, a destroyer. He enlisted in the navy after receiving his BA. degree at the University of Wisconsin last spring. During his four years of college, he also completed one year of law. He was called for training last fall, and went October 6 to Notre Dame university where he was graduated In January, being In one of the first classes of ensigns graduated from Notre Dame. Later he received specialized training at Newport, R. I. His brother-in-law, John N. Fischer, Battle Creek, Mich., enlisted as a petroleum engineer In the navy two months ago and left Friday for Newport, R. I, for training.
Melby Home
WHITEHALL. Wis. —Special) —Lieut. Charles Melby, torpedo officer on the destroyer USS Abbott in the Pacific the past 29 months, landed at Bremerton, Wash., early this week, according to a message received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Melby.
On Thursday his mother, accompanied by her two grandchildren, John and Gray Fischer, left by plane from Minneapolis for Seattle to join him. From there they all expect to fly to San Francisco, Calif., to join Lieut. (jg) and Mrs. John N. Fischer, parents of John and Gray, who reside there, while Lieut. Fischer is stationed in that area. Lieut. Melby expects to receive a 21-day leave Sept. 30, when he and his mother will return to Whitehall.
Ernest M. Moen
Private first class, U.S. Army, inducted Oct. 27, 1941, killed in action Dec. 25, 1944
Home From Aleutian Islands
PFC Ernest Moen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen of Whitehall, arrived at his home here Thursday from Camp White, Ore., on a 20- day furlough, his first chance to get home in 30 months. He spent 23 of those months on the Aleutian Islands of Adack, Cold Bay, and Kiska and just returned to Seattle, Wash., last week. A member of Company A, 37th Infantry, Moen had a chance to see plenty of Japs but he says there are no signs of them in the Aleutians now. He is a machine gunner and hopes that his aim was good at the snipers he tried to pick off.'
At least six other soldiers from this area were with the 37th Infantry in the Aleutians at the same time, all in company A or B, and all are now back in the States for a rest after fighting not only the Japs but the cold and damp weather of the Aleutians. Moen said they were forced to wear winter clothing all the year around. He found Whitehall much different than when he left, he said, the Land O’Lakes milk plant and the Illinois Cooperage Co. plant being the two outstanding additions to the city.
Others from the area in the 37th in the Aleutians were Pvt. Wallace Voldsness, Pvt. Albert A. Steffenson, Pvt. Glen Instenes and Pvt. Richard E. Mattson of Chimney Rock, the last of whom is also at home on furlough; Lester Mathison of Osseo and Philip Peterson of Blair. They are now stationed at Camp White, Ore., and those who are not yet at home on furlough are expected.
Outside of his infantry pals Ernest saw only one other person from home during his 23 months’ absence. That was La Verne Olson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Olson, who is with the U. S. Navy. La Verne, 17 years old at the time, was a gunner on the transport that carried Ernest and his company to Kiska, he said.
Killed When Transport Sank
Receive Details Of Ernest Moen's Death
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen were informed in a letter from the secretary of war which they received Tuesday that their son. Pfc. Ernest M. Moen. 25, reported killed in action in France in January, was among those lost when a troop transport was sunk in European waters Dec. 25.
Mr. and Mrs. Moen had received a letter from their son which was written Dec. 17 from England. They believe he was enroute to France or Belgium when his death occurred.
Moen, who had had 23 months of service in the Aleutians, volunteered again for foreign service when he had been at Camp Robinson a short while. He took part in the battles of Kiska, where he was one of six target men preceding the infantry in the capture of the island, at Cold Bay in Attu and in the Adak battle.
Moen was inducted Oct. 27, 1941, and trained at Camp Wolters,: Tex., before going to the Aleutians. He returned Feb. 15, 1944, after 23 months and went over seas again in November.
Besides his parents, he is survived by four sisters and two brothers, Pvt. Jeanette Loviette of Hot Springs National Park, Ark.; Mrs. Leonard Kaas, Pigeon; Beverly, Dorothy, Merlin and Rodney at home: his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Mina Moen of Whitehall, and his maternal grandparents, Mrs. Josie Gunderson of Ettrick, and Sever Gunderson of Galesville.
Memorial Rites at Whitehall
Sunday for 3 Killed in Action
Whitehall, Wis. —(Special)— Memorial services will be held at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church here at 2:30 p. m. Sunday for three Whitehall men killed in action in the past six months. The three are Private Ernest Mo'en, 24, who lost his life in the English channel December 25; Technical Sergeant Omer B. Olson, 24, killed in Europe April 28; and Lieutenant (junior grade) Raymond V. Larson, 23, Navy pilot killed in action in the Pacific and buried at sea in May.
The Rev. O. G. Birkeland, pastor of Our Saviour's and department chaplain of the American Legion, will conduct the service, assisted by Hutchins-Stendahl post of Whitehall, which will advance the colors and present an American flag to the nearest of kin of each of the deceased.
Music will include a vocal solo by Mrs. G. B. Melby, a vocal duet by Mr. and Mrs. Philip Thomte and a selection by a quartet composed of Philip Thomte, Orin Evenson, Henry Aleckson and Harland Schaefer. Mrs. H. M. Johnson will be at the organ.
Close relatives of the deceased are expected here for the service, including Corporal Jeanette Loviette, Hot Springs National Park. Ark., brother of Private Moen; Mr. and Mrs. Bendick Olson, La Crosse, parents of Sergeant Olson, and Mrs. Winnie Larson, Minneapolis, mother of Lieut. Larson, and the latter’s widow, Stillwater, Minn.
Jeanette (Moen) Tuff
Technician fifth grade, Women’s Army Corps, enlisted Feb. 10, 1944, discharged Jan. 8, 1946.
Jan. 17, 1945
Private Jeanette Loviette arrived at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Moen, Wednesday from Hot Springs National Park, Ark., where she is stationed with the medical corps. Private Loviette received an emergency furlough after receiving word that he brother, Private First Class Ernest Moen, was killed in action in France on Christmas Day. The message came to his parents Moonday of this week.
Promoted from private first class to technician fifth grade at Hot Springs General Hospital in Arkansas April 1945.
Norman V. Moen
Private U.S. Army, Merrill’s Marauders, assistant Browning automatic rifle, Burma, awarded Purple Heart April 1945, Bronze Star.
Wounded In Battle With Japs At Burma
WHITEHALL, Wis. — (Special)—Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen of this city received a letter from their son, Pvt. Norman V. Moen, this week stating that he had arrived back in the States after fighting with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma.
“We fought behind the Jap lines,” he wrote. “The Japs had us surrounded once for 10 days. We hardly ever washed or shaved and boy were we a rugged looking bunch. The Japs must have got scared just looking at us. I didn’t get a chance to wash for 15 days at one time. All in all, I think it was a good experience.”
Pvt. Moen received a wound in the jaw and face and will probably undergo plastic surgery. He now is stationed at Coral Gables, Fla., but expects to be transferred to a hospital where plastic surgery specialists are prominent.
Whitehall Soldier, Hurt in Burma, Back in States
Whitehall, Wis.—(Special)— Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen, Whitehall, received a letter from their son, Private Norman V. Moen, this week, stating that he had arrived back in the United States after fighting with Merrill's Marauders in Burma.
“We fought behind the Jap lines,” he wrote. “The Japs had us surrounded once for ten days. We hardly ever washed or shaved and, boy, were we a rugged looking bunch. The Japs must have got scared just looking at us. I didn’t get a chance to wash for 15 days at one time. It must have made a man of me, though—now I know how good I used to have it at home. All in all, I think it was a good experience.”
Private Moen received a wound in his jaw and face and will probably undergo plastic surgery. He is now stationed at Coral Gables, Fla., but expects to be transferred to a hospital where plastic surgery specialists are employed.
Moen Given Purple Heart
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— Pvt. Norman V. Moen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen of Whitehall, was one of 22 soldiers to be awarded the Purple Heart, at ceremonies conducted at O’Reilly General Hospital, Springfield, Mo., on April 26 by Lieut. Col. Edward P. Burch.
Pvt Moen, an infantryman, entered service Mar. 8, 1943. He landed at Bombay, India, in October, 1943. After training in India he went to Burma which was just behind the front lines. This was in February 1944. His outfit, known as “Merrill's Marauders.” was in combat in North Burma. Pvt. Moen’s job was as assistant BAR man.
His small outfit was responsible for helping the Chinese and for harassing the Japs. They were on the move all the time. In April 1944 the enemy had the Marauders trapped about 10 days and all their supplies and ammunition were dropped from planes.
On May 31, 1944, while eating lunch, a sniper’s bullet hit Pvt. Moen on the left side of his face. He was treated at a hospital near Moishmial, then at hospitals in India, and arrived at O’Reilly General Hospital Sept. 13, 1944.
Pfc. Norman Moen, who received plastic surgery to a face wound suffered while with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma, is spending a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen. He is stationed at O’Reilly General hospital, Springfield, Mo.
Pvt. Norman Moen, Veteran Of Burma Campaign, Arrives Home
WHITEHALL, Wis. —(Special) —Pvt. Norman Moen, 21, arrived home recently to spend a 30-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sever Moen.
Pvt. Moen is wearing one service star. He saw action with Merrill’s Marauders in Burma May 31. The Marauders did all their fighting behind the Japanese lines in an attempt to keep the enemy occupied and permit the U. S. engineers to continue the construction of the Ledo road to open a supply route to China. On one occasion Moen’s company was surrounded by Japs for 10 days. “We hardly ever washed or shaved and boy, were we a rugged looking bunch,” Moen explained. “The Japs must have become scared just looking at us.”
Drink Muddy Water
Moen said that on this occasion the Japs captured their water hole and the American soldiers were forced to drink muddy water. Provisions and water were dropped later by parachute for them by American planes.
The Marauders were in northern Burma where the Irrawaddy River has its source when Moen was wounded by a sniper. His company was hiding about waiting for orders for the capture of Myitkyina, a comparatively large city.
Moen was crouching behind a bush when a bullet entered his jaw on the right side, went through his cheek and out the back of his neck. He got to his feet and walked about 500 yards before he had to have assistance, he said, and the battalion first aid gave him plasma before he was transferred to the 20th General hospital in England, where he remained until Aug. 25.
The bullet had fractured his jaw, severed the nerve in his cheek and cut a wide gash that made a scar an inch wide when it was first sewed up and at least six inches long from mid-cheek to the back of the neck. The cheekbone was also broken. His hearing in his right ear was affected and he was unable to close one eye. Wiring was laced in his jaw to keep his mouth closed and for months he lived on a liquid diet only.
From the hospital in India he flew to Bombay and then by easy stages to Miami, Fla. The plane stopped in Iran, at Cairo, Tripoli, Casablanca, the Azores, and Bermuda, arriving at Miami Sept. 5. On Sept. 14 he was transferred to O’Reilly General hospital, Springfield, Mo., where he is receiving treatment.
Around The World
Moen has travelled around the world. He was inducted into service in March, 1943, at Whitehall and took his basic training at Camp Roberts, Calif. By September he and several other men from this area, including Harold Christianson of Whitehall, Ralph Klimek of Independence and La Verne Larson of Hixton, had volunteered to join Merrill’s Marauders and went out together.
The other boys are still there, he believes, but have suffered from malaria. His return to the east coast made his round-the-world circuit complete. Going out they left from San Francisco by boat and travelled by water to India, where he received more training. His unit has the Presidential citation.
Moen has a brother, Sanford, 23, who is a gunner on a merchant ship in the navy. Sanford has travelled extensively, once going as far north as Murmansk in Siberia. At the present time it is believed he is in the Italian area. He has been in service nearly three years. He left Feb. 2, 1942.
Marshall J. Nehring
Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, enlisted May 21, 1942; discharged May 20, 1946.
Nov. 12, 1942
Depart for Foreign Service
Marines Willie Johnson and Marshall Nehring, who have been stationed at San Diego, Calif., for several months, sailed for an undisclosed destination early last week. Mrs. Leonard Knudtson, who returned from San Diego last week, said the boys left on the same ship, and expect and hope to travel in the same tank company.
PFC Marshall J. Nehring, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring, Whitehall, went to the South Pacific with the Marines in October, 1942, after completing a special course in radio at San Diego, Calif. He enlisted in May, 1941. He took part in the capture of Tarawa and is now in a rest camp in Hawaii, but lost 15 pounds in weight.
Feb. 27, 1944
Whitehall Marine Helps Radio Unit in Tarawa Battle
(The following story was written by a Marine Corps combat correspondent and distributed by The Associated Press.)
Tarawa — (Delayed) — Dodging Japanese sniper bullets and mortar shrapnel, three Marines from Wisconsin kept their radio unit going night and day through the thickest part of the battle for this former Japanese stronghold.
Part of a 12-man radio unit attached to an engineering outfit they are Private First Class Hilary J. Waukaw, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Waukaw, Menominee Indian reservation, Neopit; Marshall J. Nehring, 33, son of Mr. and Mrs. Amos E. Nehring. Whitehall; and Edward J. Zeleski, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. Zeleski, Milwaukee.
Leaving their ship in the early morning of November 22, the three Wisconsin Marines and their buddies landed on the main beach where there was only a 50-yard beachhead established. Between the shore and the front lines the Japanese snipers were firing at everything that moved.
The marines set up their radio in a wrecked Japanese gun emplacement, and immediately established contact with the command post and various machine gun emplacements on the front lines.
During the next three days and nights they stayed there, keeping their radio going 24 hours a day and transmitting messages from the front lines to the officer in charge of the beach party. These messages were usually requests for supplies.
After the Marines secured the island the afternoon of November 24, the radio unit moved to another spot where the leathernecks were bringing in supplies.
There were still a few Japanese left at the far end of the atoll. Every once in a while a Japanese short wave station, manned by the remaining enemy forces, would interrupt the marine station, and, in pidgin English, try to confuse the leathernecks.
“They didn't get very far with that,” one of the Wisconsin marines said. “We just ignored them and two days later they stopped. The Marine patrol sent out for them must have stopped their hot air forever.”
Setting up their radio unit in a shack made of palm leaves and branches, the marines soon fashioned a sign which read: “Tarawa Atoll Telephone & Telegraph station—now under new management.”
Aug. 20, 1944
Hear From Marines
In Second Division
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special) — Letters have come this week from both Corp. Willie Johnson and PFCMarshall Nehring of the 2nd Marine Division to their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Johnson and Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nehring. Both boys are radio operators with medium tank companies but as they do not happen to be in the same company, they have not seen each other since last May when they were in Hawaii.
Both are veterans of four major engagements, Tarawa in the Marshalls, Saipan and Tinian. Neither have been wounded. Marshall, writing on Aug. 5 from Tinian, said that he had seen Johnson's tank go by in the battle there but as things were pretty hot at the moment, he did not have a chance to speak to him.
Donald N. Nelson
Sgt. U.S. Army, North Africa, promoted to Sgt. 6 Jun 1943.
Sgt. Donald N. Nelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels P. Nelson, Vancouver, Wash., formerly of Whitehall, has arrived in North Africa, according to word received by his fiancé, Miss Dorothy M. Sletner, 806 Dodge street. Sgt. Nelson enlisted in the army October 27, 1942, and received his training in the infantry at Camp White and Camp Adair, Ore. He received his promotion June 6.
Squad Leader With Regiment In Current Italy Offensive
WHITEHALL, Wis.—(Special)— S. Sgt. Donald N. Nelson of Whitehall, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Nelson of Vancouver, Wash., formerly of this city, is a squad leader with the 363rd infantry regiment in the current Florence-Bologna offensive in Italy.
The 363rd entered combat in Italy last July 4 north of the Cecina River on the right flank of the 34th “Red Bull” division, to which it was then attached. The regiment rejoined the 91st division south of Chianni, where it experienced one of its roughest battles. A battalion of the 363rd captured Hill 634, four miles southwest of Chianni and repelled a number of savage enemy counterattacks in hand-to-hand fighting.
Rockiness of the hill made it impossible for the doughboys to dig in sufficiently to withstand a highly concentrated artillery and mortar assault that followed, but, after withdrawing slightly, the outfit returned and retook the hill.
During the night of July 17, the 363rd, as the infantry element of a task force attached to the 34th Division, moved into position southeast of Leghorn. The next morning it shifted its strength to the northeast corner of the seaport, maneuvering with support of tanks and tank destroyers. That night one of the infantry regiment’s battalions fought its way through the northern districts of the city itself to be the first American troops to enter the city.
The regiment next broke across the canal north of Leghorn and occupied the coast sector from the port city to Pisa, one of its battalions entering the city before dawn July 24 and another one reaching the city of the Leaning Tower that night. The 363rd returned to the control of the 91st division after holding that part of Pisa south of the Arno for four days. The regiment was on the 5th Army’s right flank.
Sgt. Nelson was inducted at Whitehall and trained at Camp White and Camp Adair, Ore.
August 11, 1944
Donald Nelson, with the infantry in Italy, writes that he has been advanced to staff sergeant.
September 22, 1945
Staff Sgt. Donald N. Nelson, who served with Co. F, 363rd Infantry, 91st Division in Italy, arrived at Camp McCoy this week and was granted a 30-day furlough. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Nelson of Vancouver, Wash., formerly of Whitehall, he has the ETO ribbon with three battle stars and the combat infantryman badge.
Earl G. Stendahl
Pvt. U.S. Army Air Corps, Camp Shelby, Miss., December 1941; attending school for aerial mechanics February 1942
Stendahl of
Whitehall
Discharged
WHITEHALL, Wis.— (Special) — Service in the European theater from August, 1943, until Dec. 6 this year is the record of S. Sgt. Earl G. Stendahl, son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Stendahl of Whitehall, who received his Air Corps discharge at Fort Sheridan, III., Dec. 11 with 78 points. He entered service April 18, 1941, and trained at Camp Grant, 111.,Camp Shelby, Miss., and Fort Dix, N. J.
He left for overseas from Camp Kilmer, N. J., on Aug. 9, 1943, going to Royston, England, where he was stationed with the 55th Fighter Group taking care of Army special purpose vehicles for the air force. Later he was moved to Colchester not far from London and altogether he was stationed in England for two years.
He entered Germany right after VE-day with the occupation forces and was stationed in the Bavarian area with the same air group, doing the same type of work. He remained there until Oct. 3, when he started for home, leaving from La Havre by boat Dec. 28.
He stopped briefly at Camp Kilmer again before coming on to Fort Sheridan for discharge. He has the American Defense Service ribbon, American theater and European theater ribbons, four overseas service bars, one service stripe, the distinguished unit badge and the good conduct and victory medals.
One brother, Sgt. Harold Stendahl, was killed in a gun accident near Philadelphia on Labor day, 1942. Another brother, Omer, has received his discharge after serving in the European theater and a third brother, Ivan, also in the Army, is stationed in the Aleutians. He worked as an automobile mechanic before entering service.
Gaylord Stuve
Cpl., U.S. Army Air Corps, B-25 gunner
Jan. 7, 1945
Corp. Gaylord Stuve went Sunday to the West Coast after spending a 19 day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve, Whitehall. Gaylord has been assigned to the Fifth Air Force and expects to be sent to the South Pacific.
April 26, 1945
Corp. Gaylord O. Stuve of the Air Corps was given a 14-day extension of his furlough after spending an emergency furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve and his sister. Mrs. Ronald School, Waukegan, Ill. He went Thursday to Greenville, S.C., for basic training.
Sergeant Gaylord O. Stuve, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Stuve, Whitehall, was discharged at Camp McCoy September 20. He entered service December 29, 1943, and trained at Keesler Field, Biloxi, Miss.; Lowry Field, Denver, Colo.; Buckingham Air Base, Fort Meyers Fla., and Columbia and Greenville air bases in South Carolina. He was discharged to return to employment on his father’s farm near Whitehall. Gaylord returned home on the same day that his sister. Mrs. Ronald School, Waukegan, Ill., arrived for a visit with her parents. Mrs. School, whose husband is in the service and is stationed in Alaska, is managing a drugstore in Waukegan during his absence and at the present time is on a two-week vacation.
Lillian Sveen
Women’s Army Corps, left for basic training April 1945
March 19, 1945
Lillian Sveen, 315 South Sixth (La Crosse), enlisted in a hospital company March 19 and after completion of training at Fort Oglethorpe. Ga., will be assigned to duty at Schick General hospital, Clinton, Ia. She has been working as a blueprinter for the Trane company for the past year and a half. She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen, Whitehall, Wis., and was graduated from Whitehall high school in 1941.
April 18, 1945
Miss Lillian Sveen, Whitehall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen of Coral City, went to Milwaukee today and thence will proceed to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., for her training. Miss Sveen was employed as a blueprinter for the Trane Co. at La Crosse when she enlisted in a Purple Heart unit of the Women’s Army Corps March 19.
Nov. 3, 1946
Miss Lillian Sveen, who has been stationed at Fitzsimmons General Hospital, Denver, Colo., as a technician with the Women’s Army Corps, has received her discharge and is back with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Christ Sveen of Whitehall.
William Kenneth Swenson
Inducted into U.S. Army July 18, 1942, discharged Oct. 30, 1945, as corporal. With medical detachment at Camp Breckenridge, Morganfield, Ky., December 1942
No Baseball Diamonds in Jungles Of Burma
From a letter received by a Galesville friend, Ken Swenson, Whitehall lad, star baseballist on the Whitehall team, is still working for Uncle Sam in the jungles of Burma. Writing from that far-off land under date of June 7, he tells of the torrents of rain, accompanied by extreme heat. The sweat rolls off from doing just nothing, he says, suggesting that in comparison the temperature in his barbershop on what Scott Nichols would boast in his Times as a scorching day would be like a breeze off an iceberg. But Corporal Ken adds, “By now we are acclimated and can take the heat, which is really different heat than you have in Wisconsin.”
Then he goes on to tell that the radio is carrying news of the invasion from England to France and that all hands in the jungle have their ears perked for the latest news. Time overseas flies fast for the fellows, he says, but not fast enough for when the time comes for us to be making that trip back to the states.
Corporal Swenson is with a medical corps and his letter was written while on night duty in a hospital where Chinese, British and American sick and injured are treated. When Ken gets back to Whitehall he is likely to be using pidgin English. Anyhow, he says he can jabber in Chinese lingo fairly well, and also understand it, no matter it is a tough language to grasp.
The jungle, he says, is full of wild life and he has seen animals that he never even dreamed existed. The same goes for insects. At night, doctors, attendants and soldiers keep their bodies well covered and use repellant to guard against malaria. “There are,” he tells, “leeches (as I knew them back home), and believe me, they like our blood and make no bones about it. A lighted cigaret puts them out of order forthwith.”
Ken, an ardent Cub fan, wants to know what’s the trouble with that Chicago team. Last, he had heard, the Cubs had won but three games, with 19 losses. He says he can still throw a baseball fast, but in the jungle there isn’t much clear space; but a small patch cleared permits volleyball.
“Kenny” Swenson Writes From China
A few years back, when Ken Swenson between shaves and haircuts in his Whitehall barbershop, read the sport pages and noted star players being picked in the major leagues for a team to tour some foreign country, he may have had a yearning to be in the “big time” and board ship with the bunch. Well, Ken’s baseball friends (even in Galesville it is admitted) are sure that had he gone in for professionalism would have made the grade. He’s in a foreign country now, shooting them over the pan for a bigger league than the Nationals or Americans. In a letter to a Galesville friend, dated China Burma Theatre, Jan. 26, he writes, among other things: “Pitched a game of ball Dec. 26 and won 11 to 4. We’re shy the nifty uniforms and well-kept diamond, but the baseball spirit runs high. I’ve just finished reading the dope on the World Series. Guess there’s just too much Yanks on all fronts—eh, I what? I get the Winona Republican-Herald and keep posted on all the sports back there. I’m in good shape, still cut hair and throw the baseball around a bit, and I still think we’ll be able to trim Galesville after the war. Just set the date.
“I have traveled much since my last letter to you. Some of the sights are interesting, and again tiresome. One just has to see it to believe it. The various classes of people and their ways and means of existence are very interesting. To a fellow who has lived in the States, over here they are a century behind. Everything is done by man and woman power, and with most primitive tools. They accomplish what they set out to do, but it’s a slow procedure.
“Our present setup is in the jungle, where we are working with Chinese troops. It’s a helluva job to try and garner a few words of their singsong language. We live in tents, which we have made as comfortable as possible. We get by okay.
"Our Christmas gifts arrived recently. That was quite a day for all of us. Guess we are just a bunch of kids at heart. Who said there was no Santa Claus?
"Christmas and New Year’s passed very quietly. We received a few cans of good American beer, and it tasted right good, too. Hard stuff is called bamboo juice—powerful stuff. The main beverage is good old coffee, and as you know, that’s where I hail from. It heads the list.
“Noted in the paper that Scott Hotchkiss says that Texas may be the biggest State in the Union but he wouldn’t trade a foot of Trempealeau county for the whole works. You have my verification for this, too, and I’ll include this part of the world with it.
“Tell all my Galesville friends (include the baseball fellows) hello for me.
“Always,
Kenny.”
“P.S.—The rumor gets here that the deer Roy Haakon Matson got came out of some shop in Galesville. Check on that.”