World War II Veterans: Newspaper Articles

World War II Newspaper Articles

Here are a few newspaper articles.
If you have any articles that you would like to share,
please email me anytime!

Thank you kindly!

The above article was submitted by June Sullivan Schlager

First Lt. Glenn B. Loeffer, U. S. M. C., is shown superintending the gassing up pf a dive bomber. It was such a plane that Lieutenant Loeffel was flying when he made a direct hit on a Jap cruiser off Savo island near Guadalcanal in a night attack in October, 1942. The Marine Air Corps officer, son of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Loeffel, R. R. 3, Peoria, was awarded the Navy Cross in April for extraordinary heroism in the Solomons area. He is an alumnus of Bradley Polytechnic Institute and a former employee of Keystone Steel & Wire Co. - Official Marine Corps photo.

7 17-Year-Olds Enlist in Navy

Newest recruits sent from the local Navy office to Springfield for physical examinations before enlisting are seven 17-year-olds who left Thursday.
In the group were Loren Dean Medberry, 5910 Madison ave., Bartonville; Chester Harry Guppy, Jr. Lander avenue, Bartonville; Raymond Eugene Espinoza, 2403 Farmington road; Harry Bennett Bell, 319 Behrends avenue; Bernard Vickroy Matlick, Normal, Ill; Robert Bernard Milashoski and Francis William Manley, both of Minonk. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Pvt. Wm. Gerdes is Badly Wounded

Tobias Gerdes of Bartonville today received word from military authorities that his son, Pvt. William Gerdes was badly wounded in the Italian theater of war.
According to the report a bullet penetrated his steel helmet, shattering his face and eyesight. Private Gerdes served overseas since December and he was in the thick of battle at Anzio Beachhead. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Hartseil Brothers

Mr. and Mrs. Everett Hartseil, R. R. 1, Mapleton, have two sons in service. S/Sgt. Ellis Hartseil and Sgt. H. Robert Hertseil. Ellis is in Wasserburg, Germany, with the 14th Armored Division, Train Hq. Co. He saw action with the Seventh Army in Germany and is now awaiting a future assignment. A Manual Training high school graduate, Ellis was inducted into the Army Dec. 10, 1942, and sent to the European theater in October, 1944.
Robert is in Oahu, Hawaii, in the intelligence office of the 316th Troop Carrier squadron. He has been in service since Nov. 9, 1943. He is a graduate of Timber Township high school of Glasford. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

OVERSEAS FATHER TO RECEIVE THIS PHOTO

Sgt. Lloyd McCoy, attached to an airdrome squadron in New Guinea, will receive this picture of his 11-week-old daughter, Peggy Ann, and her mother, as a gift from the Journal-Transcript. He has never seen Peggy Ann, having left the United States September 11, 1942, after serving in the army since February 17, 1943. As a community service, the Journal-Transcript will take the picture of the wife and child of any service man overseas who has not seen his child and forward the picture to him_free of charge. (Journal-Transcript photo) (Peoria Journal Transcript, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

LANE MARRIAGE

The marriage of Miss Marjorie Louise McCoy to Charles Logan Lane is announced by her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bayne of Akron, Ohio. The ceremony was performed at 5:30 o'clock Saturday afternoon, February 20, 1943, at the Calvary Baptist church in Akron.
Miss McCoy's father, Corporal Leonard McCoy secured a furlough from his duties at Camp Crowder, Mo., to attend the wedding.
The bride, a graduate of the Akron High school, has been, employed in that city. (Peoria Journal Transcript, Feb. 25, 1943, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Three Krus Sons

Mr. and Mrs, Klaus Krus of Garfield avenue, Bartonvi1e, have three sons. E1lis Krus is in service. Sgt. vith the amphibious tank battalion at Fort Ord. Cal., and has been in service two and a half years. Corp. William Krus is an airplane engine mechanic with the Eighth Air Force in England for the past 14 months. Sgt. Albert Krus has been serving in Italy for six months in the infantry of the Fifth Army. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Penn Brothers

Pfc. Robert Carl Penn is home from Germany, after six months overseas, on a 33 day furlough with his wife and daughter, Carol Ann, at Route 3, Peoria. His brother, Corp. James Penn, is a paratrooper in the Philippines and has been overseas two years. They are the sons of Mrs. M. Krautwald, Route 3. Robert worked at Caterpillar and James was employed at LeTourneau. Inc. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Clyde Warren Bolton

Clyde Warren Bolton, 17, seaman second class, son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Evans, 206 Granville ave., Broadmore Hgts., R. R. 3, is stationed at Honolulu, T. H. .Before entering service, he was employed at the Boss Manufacturing Co. He enlisted in the Coast Guard Aug. 6, 1942. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Friends Meet

Loren Medbery, seaman first class, and his friend, Russell Trapp, petty officer third class, met recently when the two sailors were home on leave. Loren, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Medbery, Ricketts avenue, Bartonville, and Russell, son of Mrs. Eulah Trapp, Route 3, Bartonville have returned now to their bases. Loren is at Norman, Okla., and Russell at Norfolk, Va. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Karl F. Zepp, Jr., hag been promoted to yeoman second class at his base in Panama. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Karl Zepp, 1517 Millman street, Zepp entered service March 9, 1944, and has been in Panama a year. His wife, Ella, and one daughter, Karleen, reside at 5603 South Adams street, Bartonville. A brother, Richard Zepp, is a seaman second class in the Navy at Crane, Ind. Karl was an interior decorator after he was graduated from Manual Training high school. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Pvt. John Robley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas S. Robley, R. R. 3, is a member of the Marines stationed at Jacksonville, Fla. Private Robley enlisted Aug. 20, 1942 and reported to the Jacksonville air base Oct. 22. He is a graduate of Manual Training High school and formerly was employed at the Keystone Steel and Wire Co. and the Northern Steel Stoker Co. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Brother/Sister
A brother and sister are serving in the Navy and Army with Mabel Behrends representing the Navy as a seaman, first class in the WAVES and Henry E. Behrends in Army Khaki wearing sergeant stripes. Seaman Behrends is spending a leave at the home of her mother, Mrs. John Cronin, 3107 South Jefferson avenue. She entered the service in January, 1944, and is now stationed at Washington, D. C. She formerly worked at Hiram Walkers Inc. Sergeant Behrends completed his recent furlough and reported back to Morrison field, West Palm Beach, Fla. Before entering the service he was employed at Armours Inc. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

WHIPP BROTHERS

Both Fred and Wilfred Whipp were Journal-Transcript carriers before they entered the service. Fred, 19, was inducted in July, 1943, and has been overseas since January of this year. He is believed to be in the Philippines. Wilfred joined the Navy in August, 1944, and is at Great Lakes in boot training. Wilfred worked at Caterpillar before induction. They are the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Whipp of Rural Route 3 and worked in the nursing department of .the Peoria State Hospital. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Sgt. Harvey and Pvt. Delmar Lauterbach, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Claus Lauterbach of Bartonville, are both in the Army. Sergeant Lauterbach, 23, is home on a 15 day furlough from Seattle, Wash., where he is with the ordnance. He reported that it wasn't as cold there as it is in Peoria. He was accompanied home by his wife, the former Edith Rosenbohm. Open house will be held from 2-5 p. m. today at the home of Mrs. Elmer Janssen, Garfield avenue Bartonville. The sergeant has been in the Army since Jan. 16, 1942.
Private Lauterbach, 20, is with the Army Air Forces stationed in New Guinea. He entered the Army last Feb. 17. prior to that time worked for the Nelson Manufacturing Co. The brothers are alumni of Manual Training School. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

Corp. Floyd E. Watkins of the Marine Raiders, has arrived home after 33 months in the Pacific. He came from Guam on his first furlough since he enlisted in January, 1942. He reports to Norfolk, Va., after completion of his 30-day furlough. The son of M and Mrs. W. E. Watkins of Mapleton, he has a brother in the Army. The eldest son is Pfc. Edward L. Watkins, who enlisted in January, 1942, on the same day as his brother, Floyd. Edward is now in Luxembourg with an ordnance unit. The third son is Bob, who reports for Navy training January 15, 1945. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

H. P. Wolschiag and C. A. Hubbard of Peoria, D. W. Lord of Galva and B. J. Ehnle of Princeville were among the Illinois aviation mechanics at San Angelo, Tex., Army Airfield, who were cited by the commanding officer of the 863rd Bombardier Training squadron for keeping their squadron's twin-engined bombers in such good condition that minute examination by Air Forces inspectors failed to show a single imperfection! (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

CLARENCE (BUD) S. KELLEY

Known as Bud to all his friends. Clarence S. Kelley is an aviation student stationed at Marshall college, Huntington, W. Va. He is a graduate of Manual and former employee of Century Distilling Co. (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

It was by accident that Gildo Castellani, water tender second class in the Navy, met Pfc. Robert Bradley of the Army at Pearl Harhor in December. Neighbors on Garfield ave., Bartonville, for about eight years,
the two had not seen each other for nearly two years. Private Bradley joined the Army in February, 1942, leaving the employ of Broderick & Bascom Rope Company. He has been serving in the South Pacific. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bradlry. Petty Officer Castellani, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Castellani, is a Manual Training High school graduate and has been on sea duty in the Pacific (Unknown Peoria newspaper, unknown date, data compiled by Mrs. Smallberger, submitted by June Schlager)

ERVIN DANIEL SCHMIDT

Born April 1, 1912 in Peoria, Illinois
Married July 6, 1935, Peoria, Illinois
Enlisted December 14, 1943
Went overseas August 24, 1944
Arrived August 31, 1944
Killed in Battle of the Bulge January 8, 1945 in Belgium
Buried overseas in U.S. Military Cemetery, Grand Failly near Verdun, France
Body returned to U.S. from overseas July 1, 1949
Arrived in Peoria, Monday, July 25, 1949
Funeral Tuesday, July 26, 1949 St. Patrick's Church 9:00 a.m. Mass
Burial Veteran's Memorial Cemetery, Pekin, Illinois

This is a portion of a letter written to my aunt (Erv's sister) on January 30, 1947 from Dave Siegal who was with my Uncle Ervin when he died. I am sharing this so that what happened there that day will not be forgotten. Dave refers to my uncle as "Smitty". Where you see (sp?) it means I could not read Dave's writing. Where you see (...) it means I have left out personal information from Dave to my aunt...submitted by Debbie Schmidt-Martin.

"It was the week before Christmas and 1944 and we were alerted and taken to the airport. We were flown across the channel and landed 18 miles south of Reims. Trucks were waiting to take us to a camp that had been used by the 101st. Smitty remained at the airport to guard our equipment and got into camp about midnite. He and I bedded down for the night. Next day, we were driven to a town in France called Stenay (sp?) We spent a week there guarding bridges and roads and were then taken to a small place where we were to get rest and clean up.

It was New Year's Day and Smitty took me to church for services, conducted by the French. Next day we were packed into trucks and driven into Belgium. Our first encounter with the Germans proved to be a sort of victory for us, but at great expense. We pushed them back a little, but lost about sixty men from our company. Our company was the lead company in the attack and our platoon led the company. It was Smitty, five other fellows and myself that outflanked a German position of 3 machine guns. There were about 10 Germans there. We killed them all, Smitty getting credit for a couple of them. He was in fine spirits, but I imagine we were all pretty scared, only we didn't realize it then. For a couple of days we were catching German shell fire and couldn't do much except dig in. Smitty and I dug and shared our fox hole with another fellow. We were then pulled back and given a day's rest.

Then on January 7th we were on the way again. We were catching plenty that day but kept moving up until we came to a very small village with the houses all burning. Here we were pinned down along a road, just 18 kilometers from Bastogne. We lay there in the snow until dark and were told to go into the fields and dig in for the night. It was bitter cold and snowing. Smitty and I found a crater made by a bomb and as we had only one shovel between us, we took turns at digging. We kept arguing with each other as to who should dig. We each wanted to because it was so cold. We could at least keep warm digging. Between diggings, we split our ration of a chocolate bar, which was our only food that day.

About midnight, I went on a patrol and left Smitty trying to get the hole big enough for the two of us. I returned about 5:30 and Smitty (him)(sp?) and he made room for me. About half an hour later there was a terrific burst of gunfire from the Germans who were approaching our hole with tanks. Smitty and I left all our equipment except our guns and ammo and crawled to the side of the road. We could see at least ten tanks and one armored car coming in our direction. It was still snowing hard and we stood there, the two of us, firing at the tanks with our rifles. We knew we couldn't do anything and then moved to the opposite side of the road where the rest of the company were. It was just a few minutes later when the first tank appeared at the spot where Smitty and I had fired from. At that (?) he was only about 25 feet from us. We were about 50 men and were armed with rifles, our two bazooka teams had been killed a few moments before, trying to fire at the tanks. Our company commander, seeing the hepelessness of the situation told the men it was every man for himself. Men started running in all directions and were perfect targets for the gunners in the tanks. Smitty and I started to move cautiously alongside the lead tank when one of his shells landed in our back pocket. I was thrown to the ground and when I looked around, not a person was standing. I then knew that Smitty had got it but was certain it was not painless; he never knew what happened"..."As it turned out I was the only man who got away...After that incident I was hospitalized for 7 weeks and I had days and nights to think of nothing else but what had happened"..."Smitty was a prince. There wasn't a man in the outfit who didn't have a good word for him. He was exceptionally well liked by everyone."....."If this letter helps to clear up some of your troubled thoughts I am glad. But honestly, I wouldn't want to write another letter like this. I feel shaky all over and my hands are so damp that I can hardly hold onto the pen. So please excuse any further writing but I will be more than glad to receive mail from you and promise to answer faithfully." signed Dave

David Siegal

Any contributions, corrections, or suggestions would be deeply appreciated!