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Remarkable Stories, Volume 1
by Robert Bike

Remarkable events have happened in Freeport and Stephenson County, Illinois, and remarkable people have lived there. These are stories gathered about people and events from 1835 through World War II.

By no means complete, these are overviews of lives and events which shaped our country and our world. From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

The author lives in Eugene, Oregon, and works as a Licensed Massage Therapist and Life Coach. An amateur historian, parts of these stories and many more appear on his website, www.robertbike.com.

Buy now! Only 99 cents to download in .pdf format!

Want a paperback? List price $14.99, now only $11.99!

1st Lt. Louis C. Butler, Co. K, enlisted as Sgt. November 7, 1861; veteran promoted 1st Lt. December 23, 1864; died at Salubrity Springs, La., October 5, 1865.

Also spelled Louis C. Buttler.

Enlisted from Ridott.

Orderly Sergeant.

Participated in the marches and battles of the regiment.

Died of disease while encamped; was about 25 at time of death.

Colonel John A. Davis, died of wounds at Bolivar, Tenn., October 10, 1862, of wounds received at battle of Hatchie.

Commissioned September 12, 1861.

Davis was born in New York State in 1824, & moved to Rock Run Township with his parents at age 14. In 1849 he married Amy Springer of Rock Run.

He was severely wounded at Shiloh, through the right shoulder, losing the use of his right arm.

He returned to duty, and was the first to fall at the battle of Hatchie. He was carried to Bolivar, Tennessee. Chaplain Teed and 1st Lt. Joseph M. McKibben accompanied his body back to Freeport.

He left his widow and two children; two children preceded him in death.

His funeral was at First Presbyterian Church in Freeport.

Sgt. Maj. John E. Hershey, discharged September 1, 1864, disabled.

Moved with his parents to Stephenson County in 1851.

His occupation was tinner.

While carrying the regimental flag at the battle of Hatchie on October 5, 1862, he was severely wounded.

He recovered, then was captured at Holly Springs by General Van Dorn's forces.

He died in February 1865 from his wounds.

Andrew Hess, Co. B, died of wounds at New Orleans, April 24, 1865.

He was mortally wounded while on picket while advancing with the line and died a few days later.

1st Lt. Thomas M. Hood, commissioned October 15, 1861; killed at Shiloh.

Enlisted from Rock Run Township at about age 30.

Helped recruit Company G.

Participated in battles at Fort Donelson and Shiloh, where he was killed while assisting in the command of the company.

He was married.

Eugene V. Kellogg, Co. B, killed at Shiloh, April 6, 1862, the only soldier from Company B to die in battle in the war.

Six died from wounds. Eleven died from disease.

Charles Bowers, apparently not from Stephenson County, was mortally wounded while carrying the flag.

Captain John Musser, Co. A,

He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania March 18, 1833, the second son of Jonas Musser.

In 1856 he moved to Orangeville, Illinois, where he farmed and ran a mercantile business.

At the battle of Shiloh, he was mortally wounded in the first engagement on April 6.

After being wounded with a broken thigh, he sheathed his sword, continued at his post, seized a gun, fired several shots and fell from sheer exhaustion.

He was carried off the field of battle by Robert Ritzman and, with others, was placed on board the hospital boat for home.

At Quincy, Capt. Musser was met by his old friend, Dr. W. P. Naramore. His wound was of such a serious nature that amputation of the leg was found necessary, but he died of his wound.

He was married to Emmaline Evans. They had two children, Thomas and Neava Jennie.

Henry Roush, Co. B, commissioned Sept. 14, 1861; resigned April 18, 1862; died at Freeport, May 10, 1864.

Born in Center County, Penn. Maker of boots & shoes. Moved to Rock Grove, Illinois at age 20, where he opened a successful store.

Was appointed Postmaster by President Buchanan.

Fought in battle at Donelson.

Fell gravely ill and could not fight at Shiloh.

Returned home; recovered; re-enlisted.

Fell gravely ill.

Was transported back and died at Freeport, just a few miles short of home.

He had married Miss McCauley; they had one daughter.

1st Lt. Moses R. Thompson, commissioned 2nd Lt. October 15, 1861; promoted 1st Lt. April 7, 1862; killed at Battle at Hatchie.

Mortally wounded while acting as adjutant. Died October 1862.

Born Draumfargus, parish Donnaughmore, County Donegal, Ireland, Oct. 9, 1816.

Came to America as a young man and located at Pittsburg, Penn., where he was in the mercantile business.

In 1859 he moved to Freeport, where he initially farmed, but then went into the mercantile business with Mr. Frank.

Upon the death of Lt. Hood, who was killed at Shiloh, he was commissioned 1st Lt.

He participated in the battles at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Matamora, and the Hatchie River, where he was mortally wounded.

He was taken by ambulance to Bolivar, Tenn., where he died Oct. 10, 1862.

He was a Mason, and had attained a high degree.

He is buried in the cemetery at Freeport.

Company C was primarily made up of men who were from Stephenson County.

Records show that Heinrich Giloni died at Shiloh on April 6, 1862.

Conrad Riechemeier died at Savanna, Tenn., of wounds, on Jan. 1, 1862.

Gottlieb Greszly died of wounds at Louisville, Ky., on April 26, 1862.

I have no record, so far, of what county they were from.

John Buisman, private, Co. G, enlisted May 14, 1864. Died at White Station, Tenn., September 9, 1864.

From Ridott. Last name may be spelled Bulsman.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1 by Robert Bike

From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

Only $11.99 paperback; only $0.99 ebook.

Captain Edgar F. Koehler, Army 9th Infantry, killed at Barrio Tinubia, The Philippines, by Filipino deserters on March 4, 1900.

Koehler was shot in the abdomen and killed at a village six miles north of Tarlac, where he went in search of some hidden rifles. A Filipino promising to produce the rifles led him into an ambush away from his command. Lt. Hammond and Lt. Wallace accompanied Koehler.

Outside of the village the native pointed out a spot where he said some arms might be found. When he was part way up the path, the native gave a shrill whistle and leaped aside in the brush. At the same instant a volley of bullets poured upon the officers.

Koehler received a mortal wound.

His troops heard the shooting, ran up, burned the village, and killed 24 enemy soldiers.

In the Spanish-American War Koehler served on the staffs of Gens. Liscum, Wyckoff, and Worth. He distinguished himself at El Caney, remaining on horseback through the engagement against the remonstrances of his comrades.

Born July 9, 1868, in Galena, he was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and fearless intrepidity in the battle of San Juan Hill.

He was the only officer who ascended the hill mounted.

He served with his regiment in the Philippines from June 1899 until his death.

His brothers, Capt. Louis M. Koehler of the Fourth Calvary and Capt. Benjamin M. Koehler of the Thirty-seventh Infantry, were West Point graduates.

Lt. Koehler was married to a daughter of Col. William H. Powell. She was preparing to join him in the Philippines from their home in New York City when news of his death arrived.

Koehler is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Seacoast Battery Koehler is named after him.

Three members of Freeport's First Co. L. reportedly died of disease.

Robert Opel's 1949 obituary noted that he was a veteran of the Spanish-American War.

Simon H. Ottenhausen's 1941 obituary noted that he was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He was a member of the old Company L. I.N.G., and served in the Spanish American War with that company as a 1st Lt.

Mary Gerloff wrote that her grandfather, Stephen A. Dorsey (1876-1940) served in the Spanish-American War as a Corporal in Troop K, 1st Regiment, U. S. Calvary. He is buried in Irish Grove Cemetery.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1 by Robert Bike

From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

Only $11.99 paperback; only $0.99 ebook.

Pvt Benjamin Elmer Altenbern of Lena was wounded on October 17, 1918 by friendly fire when he was accidentally shot by a comrade.

Enemy gas infected the wound, resulting in his left leg being amputated.

After effects from the gas, the amputation, and pneumonia resulted in his death.

He died October 20, 1918, in the Evacuation Hospital at Toul, France, and is buried in Lena Burial Park.

He served with Company H, Illinois Infantry.

Benjamin Altenbern was 26 years old.

PFC Leo Barnds died of typhoid and scarlet fever February 27, 1918 or 1919, in Paris, France.

He served with Section 541 Ambulance.

He is buried at Suresnes American Cemetery, Suresnes, Ile-de-France, France.

Pvt John S. Bennehoff of Rock Grove became ill in the Army, was discharged, went home, and died on January 24, 1919.

He served with the 342nd Infantry, Wagoner Supply Company.

He was a 1916 graduate of Freeport High School, where he ran for the relay teams and the track team.

He played in the band.

John Bennehoff was Business Manager of the Polaris and Assistant Business Manager of the school newspaper, then called the Semi-Monthly Polaris.

He is buried in Rock Grove Cemetery.

John Bennehoff was just 22 years old.

Pvt Clarence Milford Best of Davis died of influenza, malaria, and pneumonia on October 20, 1918 at Camp Sevier, S. C.

He served with Headquarters Company, 48th Infantry Signal Corps.

He had been manager of the electric company in Davis until he enlisted.

Clarence Best was 21 years old.

Pvt Herbert Frederick Biersach died October 10, 1918, of Spanish Influenza and pneumonia at Beloit.

He enlisted October 1, 1918, in the Student Army Training Corps.

Herbert Biersach was a popular athlete at Freeport High School, graduating in 1917. He was a forward on the basketball team for four years and was the star quarterback of the football team. He ran on the relay teams, was captain of the basketball, football and baseball teams, and was the Junior Class President. His senior year the football team finished 9-2; the basketball team was 12-1, the only loss coming in the state championship game to Evanston. Freeport finished second.

His death shocked Freeport.

Herbert Biersach was 19 years old.

Pvt. Charles Edward Borgmeier died October 4, 1918 at Camp Hancock, Georgia, of influenza and pneumonia.

He was a private in the 23rd Tr., Company G, 2 M. T. D. .

He is buried in Freeport's City Cemetery.

Charles Borgmeier was 27 years old.

Pvt. Edward Albert Carbiener was Killed In Action on August 5, 1918.

He was a member of Company A., 132nd infantry, 33rd Division.

He was a native of Stephenson County, and farmed in Florence Township.

He was the 14th Stephenson County soldier to die in the Great War.

Edward Carbiener was 24 years old.

Pvt Albert Carstedt was Killed In Action on July 19, 1918.

Raised in Cedarville, Albert Bertie Carstedt was a private with Company G, 6th Marine Corps, 80th Company, 2nd Division.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 18, Site 1714.

Albert Carstedt was 25 years old.

Pvt Luther Bain "Bing" Cazel died October 6, 1918 at Camp Grant, of pneumonia, following an attack of the Spanish influenza.

He had been in service only a month.

He served with Company G, 5th Training Regiment.

He was a renowned semi-pro baseball pitcher. He had been employed by the Illinois Central Railroad.

Bing Cazel was the 20th Stephenson County soldier to die in service.

He was 26 years old.

Pvt Theodore Frederick Demeter was Killed In Action on September 16, 1918.

A private in the 75th Co., 6th Reg., U. S. Marines, he was wounded in the right hand by shrapnel at Chateau Thierry on July 2, 1918. He rejoined his regiment on July 22 after 17 days in the hospital.

Of Hungarian descent, six of his cousins were fighting for the enemy with the Hungarian army.

He is buried at Saint Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Lorraine, France.

Teddy Demeter was a 1916 graduate of Freeport High School. He attended the University of Illinois, where he majored in mechanical engineering.

He was 20 years old.

2 Lt Eugene Francis Egan, Army, died March 23, 1919 at Arennach, Germany.

He was a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry, enlisting in 1898 at Rockford.

He had served for 10 years in Light Artillery.

He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 18, Plot 584.

Francis Egan was an 1896 graduate of the Freeport College of Commerce.

Pvt Elmo K. Eson died of pneumonia, December 6, 1918.

He was a private with the S. A. T. C., at the University of Illinois.

He was a 1916 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was Freshman Class President, Sophomore Class Treasurer, ran on the relay teams, and wrote for the school newspaper, the Semi-Monthly Polaris.

Elmo Eson was 20 years old.

Pvt Joseph C. Farrow was Killed In Action in France on May 28, 1918.

He served with Battery E, 123rd Heavy Field Artillery.

Joseph Farrow is buried at Somme American Cemetery, Somme, Picardie, France.

Pvt Elmer Edward Fischer died May 23, 1918 at Camp Fremont of illness.

He was a private in Company H, 8th Infantry.

He had been employed at the Stover Engine Works.

Elmer Fischer is buried in Freeport.

Pvt Kryle Fuller died October 2, 1918, at Portsmouth, England, of pneumonia.

He was a member of a machine gun company with the famous 86th division, Company A, 332nd Machine Gun Battalion.

He is buried in the military cemetery of Mourn Hill, about two miles west of Winchester.

He worked at the Freeport Gas Company.

In May of 1920, his body was returned to Kingston, Illinois, where he was buried next to his brother, who died two days before he was to enter service.

He was a musician who played with Freeport's Allington Orchestra. He had attended business college in Aurora, Illinois.

Cpl Walter Enoch Furen died March 14, 1918, at Dijon, France, Base Hospital No. 17, of bronchitis.

He was a corporal with the 503rd Engineering, Company C, Service Battalion.

He served with the American Expeditionary Forces.

His body was returned to Freeport for burial in June 1921.

1 Lt Dr. Orlando M. Gochnaur was Killed In Action on November 6, 1917, as a member of the British Expeditionary Forces in France.

He was a 1908 graduate of Freeport High School.

He was a First Lieutenant in the medical corps.

Dr. Gochnaur was the first Freeport resident killed in WWI.

Orlando Gochnaur is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Pvt William Mathew Grant, Army, was Killed In Action in France on August 2, 1918.

He was a member of Company B of the 132nd U.S. Infantry, 33rd Division, American Expeditionary Forces.

Private Harry Krugjohn, who was with him when he was killed, wrote to Grant's parents that he was wounded in battle, and lived but a few moments after he was shot.

William Grant had written home previously about the death of another Freeport soldier, Robert McKibben, on July 4, 1918.

He had worked at the R. N. Swan & Sons Organ Factory.

Willie Grant was born in Freeport April 4th, 1892, and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Freeport.

He was 26 years old.

Cpl Lewis Donald Gray was Killed In Action on July 23, 1918 at Belleau, France.

He was a corporal in the 59th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

He is buried in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, Lorraine, France.

Originally from Dixon, Illinois, he was a member of the Freeport Elks Lodge, and was its first member to be Killed In Action.

He was manager of the Northern Illinois Utility Company of Freeport until his enlistment.

His obituary states that he died of wounds received in action.

Lewis Gray was 30 years old.

Pvt Harry Edward Griffin of Dakota died of disease at sea on October 3, 1918, on board a transport heading to France.

He was assigned to Co. 4, Reg., S.A.R.D.

He had been employed in Davenport, Iowa, for 12 years prior to entering service.

Edward Griffin was 29 years old.

Pvt Lubbert L. Heyenga of Ridott was Killed In Action on October 12, 1918.

He was a member of the 32nd Division, Company D, 127th Infantry.

He is buried in Plot B, Row 35, Grave 7, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Departement de la Meuse, Lorraine, France.

Lubbert Heyenga is memorialized on his parents' stone in the Ridott Township Cemetery.

Pvt Edward M. Hogan died of pneumonia in Scotland on October 1, 1918.

Prior to service he worked for the Illinois Central and Chicago & Eastern Illinois railroads.

After joining service, he was assigned to a motor truck company of a motor supply train. While on the ship headed to Europe, he contracted influenza. When the ship reached port, he was immediately taken to a British Army hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, where he died shortly thereafter from double pneumonia.

He was buried in Creighton Cemetery in Glasgow alongside 116 other American soldiers who had died from influenza.

In June 1922, his body was returned to Freeport for burial in Oakland Cemetery. He was a Freeport native, and had spent his entire life there before entering service.

Edward Hogan was 31 years old.

Pvt William Lloyd Horstmeier died of disease in France on November 24, 1918.

He served with the Q.M.C. Field Remount Squad No. 312.

He is also listed as William D. L. Horstemeier in one source.

Sgt Edward Arthur Hughes died of wounds received in action on October 12, 1918, at Meuse, Argonne.

He served with Company M, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division.

Edward Hughes enlisted in 1912, and served with Company M, 2nd Regiment, Illinois National Guard, Chicago, in St. Mihiel, the Somme offensives and on the Mexican border in 1916.

He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.

Edward Hughes was 26 years old.

Cpl Charles Edward Inman of Lena died October 6, 1918, of pneumonia and influenza.

He served with Company M. D., 161st Depot Brigade.

He enlisted June 28, 1918, at Freeport.

Pvt Elso Sikko Johnson was Killed in Action on July 11, 1918 at Suippe, France on the Meuse Argonne front.

He served with Company D, 117th Engineers, 42nd Division.

His body was reportedly "ripped to shreds", and was impossible to return for burial.

Elso's brother Louis, below, also died in service.

Elso Johnson is memorialized in Scott Cemetery near Baileyville.

Pvt Louis Edwin Johnson died October 16, 1918, at Camp Dodge, Iowa, of Spanish influenza.

He served with Machine Gun Company, 14th U. S. Infantry.

Another source listed his name as Louis C. Johnson.

His brother, Elso Sikko Johnson, above, was Killed In Action.

A third brother, John F. Johnson, served with General Pershing.

Louis Johnson is buried in Scott Cemetery near Baileyville.

Ewert Kline of Orangeville died September 19, 1918, at Ft. Hamilton, New York, from spinal meningitis.

He is buried at the Eldorado Cemetery northeast of Orangeville.

The Orangeville Legion Hall is named after him.

Ewert Kline was 19 years old.

Pvt Grover Herman Koeller died of pneumonia at LeHavre, France, October 15 or 16, 1918.

He served with the 311th Trench Mortar Battery, 86th Division. He was an accredited marksman.

He is buried in St. Marlo's Cemetery at LeHavre, France.

Before entering service he was a salesman for the F. R. Rice company.

He enlisted at Freeport on June 27, 1918. He signed his draft registration card Grover Herman Keller.

Grover Koeller was 24 years old.

Pvt Raymond Julius Kuhlemeier of Dakota was Killed In Action on September 29, 1918, on the St. Mihiel front.

He served with the 39th Infantry, 42nd Machine Gun Battalion, Company K.

Raymond Kuhlemeier is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France.

He enlisted September 22, 1917, at Freeport.

Raymond Kuhlemeier was the 30th Stephenson County man killed in WWI. He worked as a farmer.

He spelled his last name Kuhlmeier on his enlistment, and it is spelled that way on his tombstone, but his family spelled the name Kuhlemeier.

Raymond Kuhlemeier was 23 years old.

Pvt Glen Howard Kuntz died October 13, 1918, in France.

He served in the 150th Infantry Regiment, 38th Division.

He enlisted May 25, 1918, at Freeport.

Glen Kuntz is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Suresnes American Cemetery, Suresnes, Ile-de-France, France.

Cpl Robert R. Langenstein of Rock Grove was Killed In Action on July 18 or 19, 1918, in the Battle of the Marne.

He served in the 59th Infantry, Fourth Division. He enlisted October 6, 1917, at Freeport.

Robert Langenstein graduated from Freeport High School in the Class of 1913, where he ran on the relay teams and was the starting guard in basketball his junior and senior years.

He and his brother, Bee, were defensive stars of the best basketball team Freeport had had up to that point. The team went 14-4, beating teams like Chicago Bowen 73-7 and Rockford 37-14.

The Relay team beat Rockford in its annual rivalry.

Bob Langenstein was born in Afolkey, schooled in Freeport, and moved to Rock Grove after high school. Before entering service, he was employed by the First National Bank of Freeport.

His body was returned to Freeport for burial in Oakland Cemetery in September, 1921.

Bob Langenstein was 23 years old.

Pvt Philip Link was Killed In Action between September 26-30, 1918, in France.

He was a member of Company M, 47th Infantry.

A farmer seven miles south of Pearl City before entering service, Philip Link was 32 years old.

Baker 2nd Class Donald Walter Lynch, U. S. Navy, died of pneumonia at Pelham Bay, New York, on March 30, 1919.

He served overseas for 11 months.

Donald Lynch enlisted in Freeport at age 17.

He was from Forreston, Illinois.

Donald Lynch was just 19 years old.

PFC Robert Roland McKibben was Killed In Action on July 4, 1918, at Hamel, France.

He served with Company A, 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division.

He spelled his last name McKibbin on his draft registration card.

Seaman Machinist Mate Chief John Messang went down with Submarine F. 1, on December 17, 1917, in the waters off Alameda County, California.

Cpl Harry E. Meysembourg was Killed In Action at Chateau Thierry, France, on August 2, 1918.

He served with Company H, 233rd Infantry, Rifleman.

Another source stated that he died on August 3, 1918.

Born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1896, he had lived in Freeport since the age of two. He was employed in his father's mattress factory in Freeport until the factory was destroyed by fire in 1909. Before service he was employed at Al Stephan's Ford garage.

He enlisted on October 5, 1917.

Harry Meysembourg was 22 years old.

John Lester Miller is listed on the Gold Star Men list.

Pvt Carl E. Mishler was wounded at St. Mihiel, and was Killed In Action on September 12, 1918.

He enlisted in Freeport on February 23, 1916, and served with Company H, 18th Infantry, U. S. Regulars.

He is buried at Saint Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Lorraine, France.

Rev Capt Arthur Francis Moseley was Killed In Action on July 5, 1918 at Cantigny, France.

He was in charge of Company G, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, and had been in the trenches for several weeks prior to his death.

Captain Moseley also served during the Spanish-American war as a sergeant.

During the Boer war he served with the British army as a dispatch rider and was rewarded for his gallantry by receiving the Queen's medal.

He served as pastor of the United Brethren church in Freeport.

He reenlisted in Freeport on August 27, 1917.

Arthur Moseley is buried at Somme American Cemetery, Somme, Picardie, France.

Corp August A. Odermatt was wounded twice, at Chateau Thierry and Argonne, and died of his wounds on October 13, 1918.

He served with Company H, 1st Wisconsin Infantry, 32nd Division. He enlisted July 7, 1917, at Monroe, Wisconsin.

Born in Switzerland, he worked with sheet metal in Freeport.

He is buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France.

Lt Dr. Samuel L. Oren of Davis died in an accident in France on October 9, 1918. Another source said that he contracted ambulant typhoid fever and died from nervous collapse.

He served with the 303rd OA, medical department, American Expeditionary Forces.

He is buried in 104 Division, NE corner, Greenwood Cemetery, Canton, Illinois.

Dr. Oren was 26 years old.

Cpl Lynn Peters died October 7, 1918, of influenza and pneumonia at Camp Grant.

He served with the 37th Company, 161st Depot Brigade. He enlisted on June 15, 1918, at Freeport.

He graduated from Freeport High School in the Class of 1916. At FHS he was a star athlete. He was never beaten in the mile run while in high school competition and he was awarded first place medals and cups at the University of Chicago and Cornelle College meets in 1916.

He was also a good musician as a member of the high school band.

He was the 22nd Stephenson County man to die in WWI and the third Stephenson County man to die from influenza at Camp Grant within a week, the others being Privates Luther "Bing" Cazel of Freeport, and Charles Inman of Lena.

Wilbur Thomas Rawleigh died September 27, 1918 of Spanish Influenza and pneumonia in Chicago, after suffering for 10 days.

He served in the U. S. Navy. He enlisted on February 7, 1918, in Freeport.

He was a 1914 graduate of Freeport High School.

Wilbur Rawleigh was the only son of Freeport industrialist W.T. Rawleigh. His father later donated land for a Freeport park named after his son.

PFC Oscar Andrew Rippberger was Killed In Action at Chateau Thierry on July 21, 1918.

He served with Company B., 125th Infantry, 2nd Division. Another source lists him as a Private from Company C, 127th Infantry. Family sources state that he died July 25, 1918.

He wrote to his wife and father that he had been "over the top" (meaning out of the trenches) twice, but returned unharmed.

Born and raised in Freeport, he worked for the Illinois Central Railroad, and was a safety appliance inspector at Wallace Yards.

He was survived by his wife and a son who was born after he joined up, never seeing his son.

Oscar Rippberger is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Site 3170.

He was 23.

Pvt William Roy Runyan of Lena was Killed In Action on September 29, 1918.

He served with the 155th Infantry, 55th Division.

He is buried in Bailey Memorial Cemetery, Tolono, Illinois.

William Runyan was 22 years old.

Pvt Oscar Sandrock was gassed on October 30, 1918 in Meuse-Argonne, and died December 6, 1918, of mustard gas and bronchial pneumonia at Base Hospital No. 83, Revigny, France.

He served with Company G, 352nd Infantry, and Company D, 130th Infantry.

He enlisted on February 24, 1918, at Breckenridge, Minnesota.

Pvt Lewis J. Schwarze died at home on September 27, 1921, in Meekin, Illinois, from a heart condition caused by a severe attack of influenza and pneumonia while serving in France.

He enlisted on June 5, 1917, and served in the Quartermaster Corps in various camps, then spent eight months in France on active duty. He was honorably discharged on July 24, 1919, at Camp Grant.

A 1914 graduate of Freeport High School, he went to college at the Illinois State Normal College, then taught in Stephenson County schools.

Lewis Schwarze is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

PFC William Frederick Seyfarth was wounded overseas on August 4, 1918, and died August 6, 1919.

He served in the Infantry. He enlisted on September 8, 1917, at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

PFC A. Vernon "Ben" Sheetz died August 17, 1918, when he accidently drowned in the River Marne.

He had been bathing in the River Marne in France when he dove off a high spring board and suffered injuries which resulted in his drowning. He got tangled in a mass of weeds. It took searchers two hours to find and remove his body.

He had been at the front several times, and was back on rest leave when he drowned.

On July 31, 1917, he enlisted at Fort Sheridan, was assigned to heavy artillery, and was sent overseas. He served with Battery F, 149th Field Artillery, Rainbow Division.

Ben Sheetz was originally buried at a cemetery in Luzancy, near LeFerte. He is now buried at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, Lorraine Region, France.

He grew up in Florence Township.

A 1910 high honors graduate of Freeport High School, Ben Sheetz was employed in the German Bank. He later graduated from the University of Illinois.

He was the eighth Stephenson County man to lose his life in the Great War.

Ben Sheetz was 26 years old.

Pvt James Marsh Sprague was Killed In Action on October 24th, 1918.

He served with the 353rd Infantry. He enlisted on June 28, 1918, at Freeport.

He was from Lena.

Pvt Carl Ralph Stewart was Killed In Action on July 19, 1918 at Chateau Thierry, from shell shock.

His obituary gave his date of death as July 27, 1918.

He was a member of the signal corps as a lineman, on the western front where fighting was at its height. His duties were to repair the communications telephone wire from the various trenches to the main stations. His work took him into the thickest of the battle where he was exposed to enemy shells.

From Winslow, he enlisted in Stockton on September 7, 1917.

He served with Company C, the 101st Infantry, 26th Division Signal Corps.

Originally buried near the battlefield, his body was returned to Winslow for re-burial in July 1922. More than 2000 people attended his funeral, including more than 100 soldiers in uniform. It was the largest funeral ever in Winslow.

Carl Stewart was 23 years old.

He served with Company F, 14th Infantry, enlisting in May of 1918 at Freeport.

He was the 25th Stephenson County resident who died in service during World War One.

John Ulrich was just 26 years old.

Wilhelm "William" VanDeest died December 7, 1918.

His last name may be spaced as Van Deest.

He is buried in Cranes Grove Cemetery in Stephenson County.

William VanDeest was 24 years old.

Paul Vargas of Freeport died of pneumonia at Camp Merrit, N. J.

Native Americans, his parents moved to Puerto Rico when Paul was a child.

His father, mother and a brother were slain by the Spaniards during the Spanish-American War. Paul was saved by a Spanish woman and some years later was brought to the United States by Frank H. Rockey.

Paul Vargas worked in the physical instruction department of the Freeport Y. M. C. A.

He enlisted in the army soon after the United States went to war with Germany.

Paul Vargas died at age 22.

Cpl Russell J. Wheeland died May 28, 1919, of pneumonia upon his return to U. S. before being discharged.

He served with Headquarters Company, 108th Ammunition Train, 33rd Division, Motor Battalion.

He had enlisted April 5, 1918, at Freeport.

Cpl Frederick C. Yde was killed August 25, 1918 at Nancy, France.

He served with the Company E, 123rd Mortar Battery, 23rd Field Artillery, 33rd Division.

He was riding on top of a rail car when his head hit a tunnel. One of three brothers serving in Europe, he was 22. His brother, Private Emil Yde, was with Frederick when he died. His other brother, William, was also serving in France.

Private Ray Frautschy of Orangeville, wrote a letter to his mother, Mrs. C. W. Frautschy, in which he speaks of the death of Sergeant Yde. He stated that Company E, 123rd Mortar Battery was moved out of a certain place in France and was enroute to the front; that Fred Yde was seated upon the top of a wagon which was loaded on a freight car and he was facing in an opposite direction from which the train was moving. It was stated that the young man did not see the entrance to a tunnel and his head struck the top of the tunnel, which caused injuries resulting in his death a few hours later.

Fred Yde served in Company L, Illinois National Guard for four years and was honorably discharged shortly before the outbreak of the war.

When Company L was being recruited to war strength, he again enlisted on March 17, 1917, and when the company was called out he accompanied them going to the south where the company later was made Company E, 123rd Mortar Battery.

He returned to Freeport as a recruiting officer and had temporary headquarters in a tent on the courthouse lawn.

Fred Yde shipped overseas in April, 1918. His company was being moved to another sector from the one occupied for some weeks when the accident happened.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1 by Robert Bike

From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

Only $11.99 paperback; only $0.99 ebook.

Pvt Robert P. Albert, Army, was Killed In Action.

Robert Albert was a 1943 graduate of Freeport High School.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

PFC Paul E. Albrecht, Army, 167th Ordnance Company, was Killed In Action on November 12, 1944 at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines.

He is buried at Manila American Cemetery, Plot D, Row 9, Grave 225.

Paul Albrecht enlisted in Freeport.

Lt Donald W. Allee of Freeport was Killed In Action on December 19, 1944, in Belgium.

He was a pilot of a P-61 "Black Widow" with the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron, 9th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Corps. He flew combat missions over the English Channel, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. He earned four Oak Leaf Clusters for missions flown, and is credited with a "probable" -- a German Ju-88 that he shot to flames on December 14, 1944.

On the third night of the Battle of the Bulge, Don and his Radar Observer, T/Sgt Richard Heggie, crashed in the fog after being unable to locate any clear airfield at which to land.

He is buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial, Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belgium. From Indiana, he was survived by his wife Cecelia Irene Folbridge Allee and son Donald Jr. in Freeport. He is also memorialized at Roseland Cemetery, Francesville, Indiana.

Donald Allee was 23 years old.

Pvt Merril Althafer of Pearl City was reported as Missing In Action in France on October 26, 1944, and was later believed to have died that day.

During infantry combat patrol in the area of Laveline, France, 12 miles from Epinal, a unit went out to capture a prisoner for the purpose of obtaining information. As the patrol crossed an open field, heavy small arm and machinegun fire was encountered and Althafer was injured. The remainder of the patrol was forced to take cover. After darkness fell, they returned to the scene, but Althafer could not be found.

He is believed to have been Killed In Action.

Merril Althafer is buried in Highland Cemetery at Pearl City.

PFC William D. Barker was the first Cedarville resident killed in WWII.

He was a squad leader and fought on the front lines in Germany with the 271st Infantry, 69th Division of the American First Army, where he died on April 16, 1945, at Weissenfels, Burgenlandkreis, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.

William Barker was a 1943 graduate of Freeport High School, and was employed by Meyers Brothers at Scioto Mills.

He was inducted into the Army on December 20, 1943, went to basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, and took advanced training at Camp Shelby, Mississipi. He went overseas in November 1944.

His body was returned to Cedarville in January of 1949 for internment in Cedarville Cemetery. Full military services were held at the grave by the Freeport Allied Veterans Association.

William Barker was 19 years old.

Lt Dwight B. Belknap, of Ridott was killed in an airplane accident in Utah on August 29, 1943.

Dwight Belknap was a 1938 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played basketball and ran track.

Sgt Kenneth Belknap, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes.

Kenneth Belknap was a graduate of Freeport High School.

PFC Clarence Bergeman of Stephenson County was Killed In Action on August 24, 1944.

He was a member of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

He is buried in Plot B, Row 10, Grave 4, at the Rhone American Cemetery and memorial in Draguignan, Departement du Var, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France.

Clarence Bergeman was a 1942 graduate of Lena High School.

Sgt William Bessert, Jr., Freeport, was Killed In Action in Germany on March 31, 1945, while serving in the infantry division of the 7th Army.

He was awarded the Presidential Citation, a citation by the French army, and three stars on his campaign ribbon.

His body was returned to Freeport on December 6, 1948, where he was buried in Oakland Cemetery.

He was just 23 years old.

William Bessert was survived by a wife and son.

PFC LaVerle E. Bicker of Pearl City served with the 413rd Infantry Regiment, 104th Infantry Division, and was seriously wounded in battle and was designated Killed In Action on November 19, 1944.

He is buried at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, Plot F, Row 4, Grave 22.

He was awarded the Purple Heart.

LaVerle Bicker was 23 years old.

2 Lt Eugene Biesemeier, Army Air Force,was the pilot of a P-51 Mustang flying over Germany on a reconnaissance mission when he was shot down on December 21, 1944. Another report stated that he was flying over the Ardennes sector of Belgium when he was shot down.

He was Killed In Action.

Eugene "Breezy" Biesemeier was a 1938 graduate of Freeport High School where he played on the football team.

Before entering service, he worked at Micro Switch in the drill press and heat treating departments.

While at Maxwell Field Pre-Flight school in Montgomery, Alabama, Cadet Biesemeier broke the physical training sit-up record by almost tripling the former record, doing 1,011 sit-ups. At primary training he was given an engraved identification bracelet as the award for the most outstanding achievements in physical fitness of the 44-A class.

He is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Eugene Biesemeier was 24 years old.

S Sgt Leslie O. Brandenburg of Rock Grove served with the 748 Bombardment Squadron, 457th Bombardment Group.

He was killed in a non-combat situation in 1943.

He is buried in Edgewood Cemetery, Edgewood, Iowa.

Leslie Brandenburg was 22 years old.

PFC Edward L. Branthaver, Army, was Killed In Action on the Anzio Beachhead on May 21, 1944.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in Oakland Cemetery in August 1948.

He attended Freeport High School.

Edward Branthaver was 21 years old.

Capt Robert V. Breyman, Army, Died Of Wounds on October 26, 1944.

He is buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, Lorraine, France.

Robert Breyman was a graduate of Freeport High School.

PFC Arnold P. Buckland, Army, died October 3, 1944 at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines.

He is buried at Manila American Cemetery, Plot A, Row 6, Grave 30.

Arnold Buckland was a graduate of Freeport High School.

T/Sgt. Ted J. Bunnell Died Of Wounds in a German Hospital on or after February 21, 1945.

Bunnell had served as a gunner aboard a B-17 bomber that had been shot down. Some of his crewmates had been captured, and when T/Sgt. Gillecee was taken to a prison camp around April 1, 1945, he reported that Bunnell had died in the hospital.

Just after bombing Vienna, Bunnell's aircraft received two direct hits which cut rudder controls, the vertical stabilizer and the left elevator. The plane lost both engines.

They had released the bombs at 25,000 feet, and were able to restart the engines and regain control at 9500 feet. They headed toward Russian territory. They dumped all extra weight, but more German planes intercepted them, and the pilot told everyone to bail out.

Bunnell was seriously wounded, either from enemy fire or upon landing after parachuting.

Ted Bunnell was a 1939 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football and ran track.

He was just 23 years old.

PFC Melvin L. Burington, of Stephenson County, was Killed In Action on March 15, 1944, with the Fifth Army in Italy.

He is buried at Bethel-Hawthorne Cemetery, Clarno, Wisconsin.

Melvin Burington was 29 years old.

Sgt William H. Campbell of Winslow was Killed In Action on September 12, 1944.

He is buried at Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois, Plot D, Grave 339.

William Campbell was a 1941 graduate of Lena High School.

S/Sgt Merle E. Canfield, R/W, was Killed In Action on November 10, 1943.

Aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress, Canfield flew as a crew member on a bomber that held twelve 500-lb bombs. The target was the Marshalling Yards at Bolzano, Italy.

Twenty-four aircraft took off, but only eight got over the target and dropped their bombs. Photos showed extensive damage to locomotive sheds, rolling stock, buildings and an approach to a railroad bridge. Flak was intense and fairly accurate, resulting in the loss of one aircraft.

Five to ten enemy aircraft attacked the formation, resulting in the loss of a second plane. Canfield was aboard the second aircraft. Several crew members bailed out. The pilot was captured by Germans. The bombardier and the Captain met on the ground and escaped to Switzerland. Several others bailed out, and some were unable to bail out. Canfield did not bail out.

He is buried at Florence American Cemetery in Via Cassia, Italy, Plot F, Row 9, Grave 29.

Merle Canfield was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Pvt Christian Frederick "Buddy" Carstedt, Jr., USMC, died of Non-Battle causes in San Diego, California, while on duty on March 22, 1942. A website commentator states that he was shot to death, while an official report states that he was found dead on San Clemente Island, a fleet training base for marines off the coast of California.

Buddy attended Freeport High School and enlisted on September 13, 1941. He is buried at Cedarville Cemetery, Cedarville, Illinois.

According to his family, the circumstances of his death are classified. He served with Telephone Company, Signal Battalion Base Troops, Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California. He had won several medals for marksmanship.

The painting shown at left was done from a photograph of Buddy Carstedt. The photo at right was taken from his freshman class photo, identified as F. Carstedt.

He was only 17 years old at his death.

S Sgt Laurence A. Clark, of Lena and Stockton, was Killed In Action on May 26, 1943 while in service on the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands.

His body was returned to Lena in October 1948 for reburial.

PFC Robert F. Collalti was a graduate of Freeport High School.

He enlisted April 28, 1941.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

Corp Charles Robert Crowell was a pilot in the navy. He was shot down over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1944, and was lost at sea.

He is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Robert Crowell was a 1938 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played basketball and football, ran track, acted in the senior play The Mikado, and sang with the A Capella Choir.

One source lists him as 1 Lt Charles R Crowell.

Robert Crowell was just 24 years old.

PFC Dale Edward Daughenbaugh was Killed In Action in Germany on February 23, 1945.

He was a member of the 4th Armored division, third army and had been overseas since January 1945.

Dale was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Daughenbaugh, of Lancaster township.

He was a graduate of Dakota Community High School and had been employed at Micro Switch prior to entering the service.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in July of 1948. He is buried in Ridott Township Cemetery.

Dale Daughenbaugh was 22 years old.

Flight Sgt Raymond James "Jimmy" Dillon was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Cluster and the Purple Heart.

He was the first aviator from Stephenson County to be killed in World War II. He was a member of the Eagle Squadron.

Dillon was a 1937 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was the artist for the 1935 and 1936 Polarises, and served on the Prom and Play Production committees. He won an art scholarship and attended the Kansas City Art Institute.

He took flight training at Hillcrest Airport in Freeport under L. C. Wallace, and graduated from the Moncton, New Brunswick, Flying School. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force on May 17, 1941, and completed numerous successful missions over Germany and France.

Jimmy Dillon was Killed In Action on the night of May 15, 1942, during an air raid flight over Germany.

He was pilot of a Hampden AT224 EQ-A of the 408th Bomber Squadron, RCAF (Goose).

His plane was one of three shot down by German Ace pilot Hptm. Eduard Schroder while laying mines in the Pumpkin area (Great Belt) off of Samsø, Kattegat, Denmark.

Other crew on his plane were Sgt Raymond Wesley Dreyer, Pilot Officer Cyril Cresswell, and Sgt William D. Palmer. The plane exploded in the air and crashed into the sea. All were Killed In Action.

The International Red Cross reported that Dillon's body was found on May 29, 1942, and is buried in the Værløse Churchyard, Værløse, Denmark (about 15 miles northwest of Copenhagen). Sgt Palmer's body is at the Tranebjaerg Churchyard, on Sansø Island, Denmark. The other two airmen are memorialized.

A second source stated that Dillon's plane was hit by flak from the German mine sweeper 190J which laid anchored 2 miles west of the Vesborg lighthouse.

Dillon had an earlier escape when his Hampden hit high tension cables, smashing his windscreen and damaging an aileron but he managed to land.

The movie Eagle Squadron, starring Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore, John Loder, Nigel Bruce, Alan Hale, and Eddie Albert is about James Dillon and other American pilots who volunteered to fly for the Royal Air Force.

His mother, Elizabeth Mary Wilson, was Ronald Reagan's first cousin. James was survived by a twin sister, Margaret.

Jimmy Dillon was 23 years old.

PFC Laverne E. Ditsworth, Army, was Killed In Action on February 2, 1944, on the Italian front.

He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

From Stephenson County, he is buried at the Shannon Brethren Cemetery.

Laverne Ditsworth was just 19 years old.

Pvt Herbert McKinley Doe, Army, died of non-combat causes at Camp Adair, Oregon, in April 1943.

He entered the service from Freeport.

Herbert Doe was 41 years old.

Pvt Robert E. Duffield, Army, was Killed In Action on February 9, 1944, at the Anzio beachhead in Italy.

His body was not recovered.

He was a private in the 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division.

A 1943 graduate of Lena High School, he enlisted on April 30, 1943, and went overseas in November 1943, landing in Casablanca, Morocco. He stayed in French North Africa until after Christmas, when he was transferred to the 5th Army in Italy.

Awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Lazio, Italy.

Robert Duffield was 18 years old.

2 Lt Norman A. Engle, Army, was Killed In Action on April 5, 1945. He was a member of the 422nd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division.

He had been reported as Missing In Action in Germany on December 16, 1944, and was held as a Prisoner of War by the Germans. A letter received by his wife gave his prison address as Officers' Camp XIIIB, Hammalberg Mainsranka, Germany. He asked that the family send chocolate, oatmeal, and other food items. He stated that he had heard that permission to mail food in tin and glass containers had been granted by the postal authorities, and that he would appreciate any food shipments he could obtain.

Norman was killed in Germany in a bombing raid of his Prisoner of War camp. The Army reported that he was at Stalag 13d, Nuremburg, Oflag 73 Bavaria 49, one of 587 POWs held at the camp.

He was a former employee of Kraft Foods in Freeport.

He is buried at Lorraine American Cemetery at St. Avold (Moselle), France, Plot F, Row 8, Grave 24. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

An obituary for his wife, who died in 2008, stated that he died in the Battle of the Bulge. His wife had been the personal secretary for author and humorist Arnold Glasow.

A graduate of Freeport High School, Norman Engle was 30 years old.

1 Lt Vernon H. Evans, Army, was Killed In Action on August 11, 1943, during Patton's invasion at Messina, Sicily.

Awarded the Silver Star, he is buried at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Lazio, Italy, Plot I, Row 6, Grave 67.

Vernon Evans was a 1937 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played in the band.

He was 24 years old.

Lt William E. Evans, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes.

William Evans was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Cpl Ronald Dwayne Fickert, Army, was Killed In Action when his plane crashed returning from a mission.

He was a gunner on a B24 Liberator that crashed April 6, 1945, on Los Negros Island, the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea.

Ronald Fickert was a 1944 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was heavily involved in activities, including football, track, play and carnival committees, Red Cross, and much more.

He was 18 years old.

Pvt Wilbur Finkboner, Army, Died as a Prisoner of War in a Japanese prison camp on Iwo Jima on July 2, 1942.

He was reported as Missing In Action when Corregidor, an island in Manila Bay, was captured by the enemy on May 6, 1942.

His family was not notified of his death until May 31, 1945.

He was at Clark Field near Honolulu when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

He is memorialized at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines, in the Manila American Cemetery.

Wilbur Finkboner was a 1934 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football and sang tenor with the Glee Club.

He was 26 years old.

ARm3 Laverne W Finkenbinder died September 21, 1944, and is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

He was born in Freeport and lived in Pearl City.

Laverne Finkenbinder was one of nine airmen killed in the mid-air collision of three VT-4 planes during night operations in a severe rain squall off the coast of Hilo, Hawaii. None of the bodies were recovered.

The other men who were lost were Homer Hutcheson, William Canty, Merrill Stocker, Henry Karsemeyer, Edward Dooner, Thomas Bradley, Harry Johnston, and Raymond Glew.

Pvt Clarence Fishburn, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes.

Clarence Fishburn was a 1932 graduate of Freeport High School.

Seaman 2nd Class Lawrence Richard Francis was Killed In Action.

Lawrence Francis was from Freeport.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

Lt Donald A. Gallagher was Killed In Action on either January 29, 1944, or December 10, 1944.

One source reports that he was buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, Lorraine, France.

Don was reported Missing In Action over Germany on January 29, 1944.

Another source says that he died on January 29, 1944, and is buried at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Liege, Belgium.

He served with the 336th Bomber Squadron 95th Bomber group, and received the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

He was a 1943 graduate of Freeport High School.

Donald Gallagher was 20 years old.

Pvt Wilbert H. Galway, Army, was Killed In Action at Rapido River Crossing, Monte Casino, Italy, on January 23 or 24, 1944.

He was a member of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

Awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, his body was not recovered.

From Freeport, he was survived by his wife, who was a member of the Army Nurse corps. They had been married just three months.

Wilbert Galway is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy, one of 7683 buried or memorialized at Sicily-Rome.

2/Lt Emanuel Georgalas was reported Missing In Action while piloting a B-17 Fortress over Yugoslavia on June 6, 1944.

He was co-pilot of a B-17G, 463rd Bomb Group, 772th Bomb Squadron, which crashed near Belgrade.

He was a Prisoner of War and either died in a POW Camp or was shot by the Germans.

(Info courtesy of Jaap Vermeer, RAF & USAAF researcher, The Netherlands and Europe.)

Emanuel Georgalas had been a star football player at Freeport High School in 1934, before graduating with the Class of 1935. He also played basketball and ran track, sang in the Glee Club, and acted in Pirates of Penzance.

Sgt Jake P. Gerber died November 19, 1942.

His name was listed in the July 5, 1943, issue of Life Magazine.

A member of the 128th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Infantry Division, he was awarded the Purple Heart.

He is buried at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines, in Plot H Row 2 Grave 121, one of 33,528 buried or memorialized at Manila.

Born in Buckeye Township, Stephenson County, Jake Gerber was 27 years old.

BM2C Kenneth Mays Gift died December 7, 1941, aboard the USS Utah at Pearl Harbor. He had enlisted in the Navy about 20 years before, and was Boatswains Mate 2. His father was living in Pennsylvania, so he is listed as from there.

Kenneth was born to Charles and Sarah Mays Gift about two miles south of Orangeville. His mother died when he was three, and with five other children to raise, he was raised by my great-grandparents, William and Annetta Epley Bike on their farm northwest of Cedarville. Annetta's mother and Kenneth's maternal grandmother were sisters. He was survived by his father, his wife Lena May Gift, one brother and four sisters.

He was about 38 years old. Kenneth Gift is memorialized on two plaques, one at the Utah and one at the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. He was one of 58 sailors to die aboard the USS Utah. The bodies 54 of the men who died aboard the Utah were never recovered, and the ship's hull is barely visible above the waterline just off the western shore of Ford Island; the ship is officially a war grave.

PFC Robert Gilman was born in Freeport, though his parents moved him to Detroit, Michigan when he was 3.

He was Killed In Action in northern Luzon on March 30, 1945. He fought on Leyte, Luzon, Baatan and Corregidor.

He is buried at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines, in the Manila American Cemetery, Plot N, Row 7, Grave 198.

Robert Gilman was 24 years old.

S Sgt Robert F. Glaman, Army Air Force, 569th Bomber Squadron, was Killed In Action on February 14, 1945, when his B-17 bomber was shot down over Germany.

Awarded the Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, he is buried at Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands, Plot A, Row 8, Grave 23.

According to a story on oglecountynews.com, Louis Hensgens, a high school music teacher from Shinnen, The Netherlands, has been taking care of the graves of two servicemen, Robert Glaman and Louis S. Prangl, a member of Robert's crew. Robert was a tailgunner. Two of the nine-member crew survived the crash and were captured by the Germans. Hensgens' website has more information about the plane and its crew.

Other crew members were Leonard Gaik, James Carroll, William Eckerly, Joseph Evanovich, William Hofstetter, LeRoy Warwick, Walter Mayer, Raymond Turner, Noel McVay, and Frank Carbone.

Both Robert and his fiancee, Faith Cahoon, worked at Micro Switch. After the war, Faith married Robert's brother, Harold.

Robert Glaman was a 1942 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was business co-manager for the Polaris staff and was a member of the Honor Society. Robert was just 21 years old.

Cpl David Charles Goldy, a graduate of Durand High School, was Killed In Action on January 5, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge, in the vicinity of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, Belgium. This location is about four miles south of Bastogne, Belgium.

He lived in Freeport at the time of his enlistment on Aug. 9, 1943. He worked for the Stephenson Service Company.

David was trained in Anti-Aircraft Artillery. He was a Technician 5th Class, US Army, 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Military.

He had a brother, Kenneth who served in the Italian campaign, and a sister, Betty Bloyer, who was in the WAVES.

Awarded the Purple Heart, he is buried at Luxembourg American Cemetery, Hamm, Luxembourg, Plot E, Row 1, Grave 21.

David Goldy was 28 years old.

Sgt Matthew A. Grant, Army, was Killed In Action on November 23, 1944.

Matthew Grant is buried at St. Joseph Cemetery, Freeport, Illinois.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

Pvt Frank F. Guiffre attended Freeport High School and enlisted in 1941.

He was Killed In Action on February 14, 1943.

Frank Guiffre was 25 years old.

Lt Col Ferris F. Hamilton, Army, died of Non-Battle causes on April 13, 1944, and is buried at Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio.

He was Chief of Military Personnel at Fairfield Depot Control Area Command, Patterson Field, Fairfield, Ohio.

A 1912 graduate of Princeton University, Ferris Hamilton was from Stephenson County.

Pvt Floyd B. Hanson, Army Air Force, 577th Bomber Squadron, was "Finding Of Death" (Missing In Action, presumed killed).

He was officially declared dead a year and a day after he disappeared on April 9, 1944.

Awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, he is memorialized at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.

Floyd Hanson was a graduate of Freeport High School.

PFC Clarence J. Harnish, Army, was Killed In Action on December 18, 1944.

He is buried at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, Plot D, Row 10, Grave 33.

Clarence Harnish was a graduate of Freeport High School.

2 Lt John F. Healy, Army Air Force, was Killed In Action on March 1, 1944.

He was a navigator on a B-24 Liberator Bomber #41-28773. for Air Transport Control. His mission was a ferry flight.

Over the northeast leg of the Atkinson range of British Guiana, the plane disappeared. Eight crew were Killed In Action. The pilot was 1 Lt James S. Buchanan. They took off from Waller Field, Trinidad, British West Indies, bound for Belem Brazil. The plane simply vanished. Searches found no trace.

The rest of the crew were co-pilot 2 Lt Victor R. Harmon, engineer S Sgt Eldon D. Hunter Jr., radio operator S Sgt Lawrence Grasha, gunner S Sgt Don L. Maheno, gunner Cpl Benjamin M. Evans, and gunner Cpl Louis J. Enderle.

He is memorialized at the East Coast Memorial in New York City.

Jack Healy was a 1936 graduate of Freeport High School.

Cpl Victor L. Heimbuch, Army, was Killed In Action on Guadalcanal on January 5, 1943.

He was a machinegunner with Company F, 132nd Infantry.

His name was listed in the July 5, 1943, issue of Life Magazine.

He was a popular athlete, playing baseball during his four-year residence in Freeport.

He tried out for the major leagues, notably the St. Louis Browns, the Chicago Cubs and the Brooklyn Dodgers, but did not catch on with any team.

Victor Heimbuch was employed at the Kraft Cheese factory. He played with the Kraft baseball and softball teams, and with the Stover baseball team.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, he graduated from Grossepoint High School in 1936 before moving to Freeport.

In April 1949, his body was returned to Freeport for burial in Oakland Cemetery. The third Freeport man to be killed in WWII, Victor Heimbuch was 25 years old.

Pvt Leroy D. Hellen served in the Army.

From Stephenson County, Leroy Hellen died from non-battle causes.

PFC Theodore R. Herbig, 2nd Marine Division, was Killed In Action on Tarawa Atoll, the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati, on November 21, 1943.

His body was not recovered. Eleven hundred marines lost their lives in a three-day battle to take the island; nearly half the bodies still have not been recovered.

He is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Theodore Herbig was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Cpl Robert C. Hopke, Army, according to official records, Died of Non-Battle causes on May 20, 1945, and is buried in Plot F, Row 2, Grave 42 at Cambridge American Cemetery, Coton, Cambridgeshire, England.

According to his cousin, Dixie Downs Sampson, Bobby's plane went down over England during bad weather. Originally everyone thought he had gone down at sea on the way home from a mission; but they have found paperwork to the contrary, including the official deposition from one of the men who survived the crash.

The plane crashed near the village of Mepal, Cambridgeshire, England.

He had served overseas for 22 months and was engaged to an Englishwoman.

Robert served as a pilot with the 566th Bomber Squadron, 389th Bomb Group, and according to one source was listed as Killed In Action.

The 389th Bomber Group began returning to the USA on May 20, 1945. Most likely the five casualties related to this crew occurred in a crash on this return trip. The plane's serial number is 44-50688. The other crew members were T Sgt Theodore L. Karman, 1 Lt William H. Liming, S Sgt Jack Wayne Moss, and James O'Brien. Another crew member, Nicholas DelCimmuto, Jr, was Killed In Action on March 15, 1944, over Germany.

From Stephenson County, Robert Hopke was 24 years old.

Sgt Wiley J. Huddle, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes on June 16, 1944, and is buried at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii.

From Freeport, Wiley Huddle died at Ramgarh, India, of cerebral malaria.

Pvt. Arthur S. Hutmacher, Army, was Killed In Action in Italy on October 30, 1944.

He had served in campaigns in Africa, Italy and Sicily as a member of an anti-aircraft unit. He served with the 434 AAA, AW, BN, CAC.

His body was returned to Freeport in November 1948 for reburial in the Eleroy Cemetery.

Arthur Hutmacher was 36 years old.

Cpl Donald Katzenberger of Pearl City died January 16, 1943, when his parachute failed to open in a jump from a two-motored bomber that crashed in flames near Tenaha, Texas. Five other crew members from Barksdale Field parachuted to safety.

He enlisted at Freeport, and served as an aerial engineer.

He is buried in Ebenezer Cemetery in Pearl City.

Donald Katzenberger was 22 years old.

Pvt. Wilbur Keil was killed in the African campaign on July 24, 1943.

He served with a coast artillery unit.

He had been assigned indoor work on a switchboard, and requested that he be assigned work outdoors. That same day, he met with an accident while working outdoors and was critically injured. He died later that same day.

Wilbur Keil was a graduate of Freeport High School and had worked at the Kraft Cheese factory.

Seaman 2C Warren Russell Keister, Navy, Fire Controlman 2/C was Killed In Action on April 16, 1945, while serving aboard the USS destroyer Pringel, which participated in the campaign between the mainland of Japan and Okinawa.

Buried at Sea, he is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, and by a memorial stone in the Rock Grove Cemetery.

A graduate of Freeport High School, Warren Keister was 32 years old.

Aviation Machinist's Mate 3C Paul Bookman Kempert, Navy, was Killed In Action on March 11, 1945.

He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Plot F, Grave 52.

He was a 1936 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football and ran track.

A former employee of the Freeport Journal-Standard, he enlisted February 10, 1943.

Paul Kempert served in the Panama Canal Zone before volunteering for service aboard a carrier in the Pacific in January 1945.

He was 26 years old.

Pvt Homer L. Kingston, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes on June 17, 1945.

From Freeport, he died of injuries incurred in an automobile accident at Camp Beale, California, where he was waiting to go overseas.

Before entering service, he worked for Burgess Battery.

Homer Kingston was 23 years old.

Sgt Roy E. Kinzer of Freeport died on January 19, 1943, in the South Pacific theater as the result of a throat infection.

He served with Company F, 132nd Infantry, and was working with a task force in New Caledonia on a device which shoots up a projectile that opens into a parachute from which long wires dangle. The rockets, fired up as planes swoop to attack, force them to veer off course or risk entanglement in the wires.

He is memorialized at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines, in the Manila American Cemetery.

A graduate of Dakota High School, he worked on farms until entering service.

He was an avid softball pitcher.

Roy Kinzer was 26 years old.

S Sgt William A. Koch, Army Air Force, 735th Bomber Squadron, was Killed In Action on March 6, 1944.

His body was not recovered.

He was an engineer with a B-24 Liberator bomber crew, the Lillie Belle which crashed in the North Sea. The plane's serial number was 42-52191.

An Air Medal recipient, he is memorialized at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.

Originally from Stockton, he and his wife lived in Freeport.

William Koch was survived by his wife and an eight-month-old son, whom he saw only once.

Pvt Stanton Kreger was Killed In Action in Germany in 1945.

From Winnebago County, was survived by his wife, Betty Black Cheeseman of Freeport.

Stanton Kreger was 23.

1 Lt Russell J. Lamm, Army, Died of Non-Battle causes.

He served with the 4th Ferrying Command. He died in an airplane crash eight miles north of Davenport, Iowa, on February 25, 1944.

Visibility was poor because of fog and the P-51 Mustang fighter bounced into the air and exploded after an attempted landing. He was flying low because of the fog and struck an iron fence post.

A graduate of Freeport High School, he is buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery.

Russell Lamm was the son of Elmer J. Lamm, who is sometimes erroneously reported as also having been killed during WWII, but whose details are the same as Russell.

Elmer J. Lamm was born in 1894 and died between 1962 and 1968.

Pvt Galen H. Lawler of Freeport Died Of Wounds in from a battle in Italy on December 5, 1943.

He was a graduate of Dakota High School where he had been prominent in both football and basketball.

His body was returned to the USA in August 1948 for reburial.

Galen Lawler was 21 years old.

2 Lt Lawrence S. Lawver, Army Air Force, died in Newark, Ohio, on September 8, 1942, when an army medium bomber crashed.

Lawver attempted to bail out, but the plane was too low, and he was found tangled in his snarled parachute on a railroad loading platform. Six people in the plane and two on the ground died.

Lawrence Lawver was a graduate of Freeport High School.

T Sgt Homer Leverton, Jr., of McConnell was Killed In Action on April 20, 1945, on Okinawa.

He served with Company B, 32nd Infantry, 37th Division.

He saw action in the Aleutians, the Marshal Islands, on Leyte and on Okinawa.

Homer Leverton was 25 years old.

Seaman 1C Herman J. Lisser was Killed In Action on July 2, 1944. Listed as Missing In Action, he was declared dead on July 3, 1945.

He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. There is a second memorial for him in the West Wiota Lutheran Cemetery in Gratiot, Wisconsin.

Prior to his entering service, he was a resident of Freeport.

Herman Lisser was 29 years old.

Seaman 1st Class Leonard C. Lopp was Killed In Action on December 27, 1944, in The Philippines.

Born in Illinois in about 1919, he entered service from Iowa.

He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery. He was survived by wife Neva of Keokuk.

Leonard Lopp grew up in Lena.

Seaman 2C Alvin Orie Lott, who was born in rural Pearl City, was Killed In Action on September 24, 1942, and was buried at sea .

He served with the Navy Armed Guard in the Atlantic Ocean.

He is memorialized at Ebenezer Cemetery in Pearl City.

Alvin Lott was 21 years old.

1 Lt Orville H. Lutz, Army, of Cedarville, was Killed In Action on June 19, 1944, off Omaha Beach during the second wave of the 300th Engineer Combat Battalion. He was platoon leader of the Third Platoon of Company B.

His body was never found.

Lutz was aboard LST (Landing Ship Tank) 523 with 200 other men when it struck a magnetic mine, blowing it completely in two. The stern sunk within 15 minutes into the English Channel about a mile offshore, but the bow remained afloat, allowing some survivors to scramble into the lone life raft that survived the explosion. Many small military craft picked up survivors, but Lutz was not among them.

The rescue continued for two hours as injured men were plucked out of the 55 degree water. 134 men were killed.

Lutz was remembered for his drumming skills, using pots & pans to keep the beat going. He had been a drummer with the Phil Harris Orchestra in Hollywood, and was a regular on the Bing Crosby weekly radio show.

He is memorialized at Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

Orville Lutz was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Pvt Jacob Christ Mani, Marine Corps Reserves, was Killed In Action.

He was from Rock Grove Township, Stephenson County.

Jacob Mani was a 1941 graduate of Lena High School.

T Sgt Andrew L. McBride, Army, was killed in an airplane crash at Georgetown, Wideawake Field, on Ascension Island (St. Helena) on May 10, 1945.

His plane was a Douglas C-54B Skymaster, #17176 (c/n 18376/D0150). Another crew member killed was John Richard Siddall.

Andrew McBride was a 1937 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football, basketball, and ran track.

He served in Africa as a member of the 95th repair squadron of the 8th Air Group.

His body was returned to Freeport in April 1948 for burial in Oakland Cemetery.

Andrew McBride was 27 years old.

Gunner's Mate 3C Barton McCarthy, U. S. Coast Guard, was Killed In Action on June 13, 1943.

Awarded the Purple Heart, he is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, East Coast Memorial, in New York City.

From Chicago, he married Marie de Somer, a Freeport woman who worked at the employment service.

He was in the Coast Guard in transatlantic service.

It is believed that a U-boat torpedoed his ship, the U. S. Coast Guard cutter Excanaba, which sunk in the Atlantic with a loss of 60 crew members.

Barton McCarthy was awarded the Purple Heart.

PFC Fred W. McCool of Orangeville was Killed In Action on May 29, 1943, in the Aleutians.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

Pvt Fred J. McCord of Freeport, Marine Corps Reserve, was Killed In Action in the Pacific Theatre of war on the island of Saipan on July 8, 1944, from a head wound.

Before entering service, he was employed by Schofield Trucking in Freeport.

He served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. He trained as a 1st Class Light Machine Gunner and Ammunition Handler.

He was buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan. Fred was awarded the Purple Heart. The battle for Saipan started on June 15, 1944, and ended on July 9, 1944. The battle killed 2949 Americans.

He was survived by his wife and a year-old son.

In May of 1949, he was reburied in Oakland Cemetery.

Fred McCord was 19 years old.

Pvt Leroy Darrell Mellen, Army, died at Napier Field, Dothan, Alabama, after a month's illness on July 13, 1942.

Darrell Mellen was a 1936 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football. After high school, he played with several softball teams.

He was employed by Freeport's water department prior to enlistment in the air corps ground forces. He had served at Keesler Field, Chanute Field, and Napier Field.

He is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Darrel Mellen was just 24 years old.

PFC Robert Dale Meyers, Marine Corps Reserve, was Killed In Action on May 11, 1945, at Okinawa.

From Freeport, he served with Company C, 6th Marine Division.

He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Plot O, Grave 59. His body was returned from Okinawa and buried there in March 1949.

He was a 1943 graduate of Freeport High School.

Robert Meyers was 21 years old.

Cpl Gustave Edward Midthun, Marine Corps, was Killed In Action on March 15, 1945.

He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, Plot C, Grave 14.

Gustave Midthun was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Pvt Roy A. Mikkelsen, Army, died of Non-Battle causes on May 12, 1945.

He had been in combat only one week.

Roy drowned while swimming in the Umiray River on Luzon, the Philippine Islands.

Before entering service, he was employed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad.

He is buried at Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois.

Roy Mikkelsen was a graduate of Davis Community High School.

Lt Elmer Russell "Mitch" Mitchell, Jr., of Lena Died of Wounds at a hospital in England on December 31, 1944.

He was pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber that crashed on December 28, 1944, at the Clamp Farm, Shrawardine, when all four engines lost power. He was mortally injured, dying of his injuries a few days later.

Also killed in the crash were 2 Lt James Gilbert, 2 Lt Paul Peterson, S Sgt Roger Batchelder, and T Sgt Gwilym Richards.

Originally buried in England, his body was returned to Lena for reburial in the Lena Burial Park.

He had three siblings in service: Seaman 2C Mavis M. Mitchell of the WAVES, Air Corps S Sgt Boyd R. Mitchell, and Air Force cadet Wayne Mitchell in the enlisted reserve.

Mitch Mitchell was 23 years old. He was survived by his wife and a daughter born five months after his death.

Pvt Frank E. Moore of Freeport was Killed In Action on December 23, 1944, on Elsenborn Ridge, east of the town of Elsenborn, Belgium, in the Ardennes forest that was the blocking line on the northern shoulder of the Battle of the Bulge. The battle at Elsenborn Ridge lasted from December 16-26, and resulted in Allied victory.

He served with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, Ninth Division of the First army in Belgium.

Frank participated in action in France on D-Day, and after 17 days of fighting, was wounded. He was hospitalized in England, and in November returned to the front lines.

Prior to entering service he was employed by Spencer Leather Goods, while his wife worked for Guyer-Calkins.

He entered service in Iowa, though he lived in Freeport.

Frank Moore was 37 years old.

Sgt Thomas Moore, an Army flier in the European war zone, was reported Missing In Action on May 15, 1943.

Another source stated that he was Killed In Action on April 24, 1943.

Thomas Moore graduated from Aquin in 1935.

S Sgt Roy E. Morris, Army, was Killed In Action on February 10, 1944.

He served with the 15th Squadron, 315th Bomb Wing, 16th Bomb Group, as a radioman. The mission was to Brunswick. They crashed near Kemmel, Belgium.

This was their fourth mission. Other crewmembers lost that day were navigator 2 Lt John L. Nightingale, and bombadier 2 Lt William M. Doyle. The rest of the crew, all taken prisoner, were pilot 2 Lt Kenneth D. Smith, co-pilot 2 Lt Robert R. Nixon, engineer T Sgt Charles W. Hacic, w gunner S Sgt Floyd E. Holman, w gunner Sgt Russell C. Moss, bt gunner Harvey H. Fleming, and tail gunner Sgt Kenneth W. Burns.

Hit by fighters, two engines burning, the plane crashed a mile north of Kemmel, Belgium.

He is buried at Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois, Plot E, 66 67 6.

Roy Morris was a 1935 graduate of Freeport High School, where he ran on the track team.

Thomas Morris was a graduate of Freeport High School.

I have not been able to find out more about him yet.

Sgt Shelly E. Morrison was Killed In Action on March 17, 1945, in Germany.

While serving with the 7th Army, he was awarded the Bronze Star for gallantry in action and assisting in evacuating the wounded. In this action his battalion was cut off and surrounded for seven days. A parachute carrying vitally needed supplies for the sick and wounded became caught in a tree. Sgt. Morrison volunteered to climb the tree to release it. He became the target of enemy fire while he climbed the tree and successfully released the parachute.

Born in Freeport, he spent his childhood there before his parents moved with him to Chicago.

Shelly Morrison is buried in Freeport's Oakland Cemetery.

T Sgt Leo J. Nash, a native of Stephenson County, Died Of Wounds October 16, 1944, in England.

Before entering service, he was employed by the Kraft Cheese Company.

He participated in the invasion of France on D-Day.

A squad leader, he was mortally wounded in France on August 8, 1944.

Awarded the Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, he is buried at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England, Plot D, Row 6, Grave 24.

Leo Nash was 21 years old.

Ship's Cook 3C Glenn C. Nelson, Navy, was lost at sea on September 13, 1944.

His ship-destroyer Warrington went down off the Virginia coast on September 12, 1944, during the Great Atlantic Hurricane.

He is memorialized at the East Coast Memorial in New York City.

Glenn Nelson was a graduate of Freeport High School.

S Sgt Gregg Nesemeier was Killed In Action on February 26, 1943, while serving with the US Army Air Force, the 401st Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group, Heavy.

His body was never found.

His B-17 Fortress, the Kickapoo, serial number 41-24447, went missing after a bombing run over Germany. The plane was last seen losing altitude over Holland while returning to England. He was a waist gunner. The mission was to attack the navy yard and other industries at Wilhelmshaven on Air Force mission number 37.

There were two B-17 bombers lost on the run over Wilhelmshaven.

The crew of the Kickapoo were the pilot Capt John Swais, copilot Harry Green, navigator Ralston Bixler, bombardier Cassius Brandenburg, engineer/top turret gunner Walt Gilroy, radio operator Everett Gause, ball turret gunner Art Sullivan, waist gunners Bob DeBarbrie and Gregg Nesemeier, and tail gunner Herb Fisher. All ten men were Killed In Action.

Flak from enemy defenses cause a fire in engine #4, and the plane, attempting to make it across the Netherlands and the North Sea to England, crashed into the North Sea.

There was a 1944 documentary film, The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, that was partly filmed on February 26, 1943, during the Wilhelmshaven bombing run. The first mission flown in filming was done from the Jersey Bounce. The mission experienced heavy German fighter attacks. The film is available on Blu-ray disc by Periscope Film LLC.

Gregg Nesemeier was a graduate of Freeport High School. Awarded the Air Medal, he is memorialized at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.

John Alden Niemeyer was Killed In Action on Normandy Beach, France, on June 14, 1944.

He was a 1927 graduate of Winslow High School, and worked as an attorney.

He is buried in Plot H, Row 26, grave 21 at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer, Basse-Normandie, France.

Alden Niemeyer was 33 years old.

PFC Paul H. Nott died of Non-Battle causes on December 17, 1942, in Tunisia.

He died of malaria, certain acute, severe, in a western European area. He was serving with the coast artillery, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

He is buried at North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage Tunisia, Plot H, Row 1, Grave 7, and is memorialized in the Rock Grove Union Cemetery.

A graduate of Orangeville High School, he farmed in the Rock Grove area.

Paul Nott was 25 years old.

T Sgt Dale H. Nuss of Lena was Killed In Action on April 11, 1945.

He was a member of the 348th Army Combat Engineers.

He and S Sgt Russell Ter Hark of Ridott served together. They went on missions taking pictures and making maps prior to invasions. They traveled in a jeep. Both were present on D-Day for the invasion of Europe, and had worked together since. Sgt Ter Hark was killed the day before Sgt Nuss was killed.

Sgt Nuss was born in Lena and graduated from Lena High School in 1938. In 1940 he graduated from the Iowa State Teachers' College in Cedar Falls, and later taught music in the Consolidated High School at Rinard, Iowa.

He enlisted on his first wedding anniversary. Dale was survived by his wife and two-year-old son.

He is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands.

Dale Nuss was 27 years old.

Electrician's Mate 3C LeRoy M. Ocker farmed near Winslow before he enlisted.

He was Lost At Sea on December 3, 1944, when a torpedo attacked the ship he was sailing on near Ormoc Bay, The Philippines. The USS Cooper sank within a minute, taking 191 sailors to their grave.

He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, The Philippines.

LeRoy Ocker was a 1929 graduate of Winslow High School.

PFC Walter L. O'Haver, Marine Corps Reserve, was Killed In Action on March 1, 1945, at Iwo Jima.

He served with the 3rd Marine Division.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in June, 1948.

A native of Freeport, Walter O'Haver is buried at Oakland Cemetery.

S Sgt Thomas J. O'Moore, Army Air Force, from Freeport, was lost at sea on April 24, 1943.

He served with the 526th Bomber Squadron, 379th Bomber Group, as a gunner.

His plane was on a ferry mission when the B-17G, serial number 42-3132, ditched into the Atlantic Ocean, with a loss of all ten men. The plane and crew were en route from Gander Bay, Newfoundland, to Prestwick, Scotland, when it went down.

The crew were the pilot Capt Lawrence M Elstead, co-pilot 1 Lt Frederick K. Plyley, navigator 2 Lt Arthur F Ciccarello, bombardier 2 Lt James W. Courtright, gunner S Sgt Thomas J. O'Moore, gunner Sgt Arthur R. McKinley, gunner S Sgt Lowell A. Lindblom, gunner S Sgt Arthur E. Mahoney, gunner Sgt Alfred F. Garretson, and gunner Pvt George I. Brown.

Thomas O'Moore is memorialized at the East Coast Memorial in New York City.

Pvt Donald W. Orth, Army, was Killed In Action on July 13, 1944.

He served with the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division.

He is buried at Florence American Cemetery, Florence, Toscana, Italy, in Plot G, Row 7, Grave 9.

Donald Orth married Martha Shade in Freeport in March 1941.

Sgt Everette Osgood, Jr., Army, was Killed In Action on July 25, 1944.

He is buried at Normandy American Cemetery, Colle-sur-Mer, France, Plot D, Row 3, Grave 43.

Everette Osgood was a graduate of Freeport High School.

2 Lt Robert Osterholdt, a Marine Corps fighter pilot, died August 8, 1943, in a plane crash near Jacksonville, Florida.

Born in Freeport, he is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Plot B, 191-A.

Robert Osterholdt was 19 years old.

Pvt Sam Pirrello, Marine Corps Reserves, was Killed In Action in 1945.

He was from Freeport.

Sam Pirrello was 26 years old.

PFC Adolph F. Rampenthal, Marine Corps, was Killed In Action on Iwo Jima on February 25, 1945.

He was a member of the 1945 graduating class of Freeport High School, but died in service before his class graduated.

The photos are from the 1942 Polaris, when he was just a freshman. At FHS, he was active in drama. He enlisted in September of his junior year at age 16.

His body was returned to Freeport in April 1948 for reburial in Oakland Cemetery.

Adolph Rampenthal was Killed In Action when he was only 17 years old.

PFC Russell E. Rayhorn, Army, died of gunshot wounds on March 20, 1944, while on maneuvers on the Italian front.

He served with the 1st Ranger Battalion.

His body was returned to Freeport in November of 1948 for reburial in City Cemetery.

He was a 1941 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was active in theater. He was employed by Kraft Foods before entering service.

Russell Rayhorn was 23 years old.

S Sgt Ray W. Reed, Army Air Corps, was Killed In Action on August 24, 1943, near Hsiung Chia Tsung, China.

He was a rear gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber. Originally declared Missing In Action, he was declared dead in June of 1946.

His body was returned to the USA for reburial in August 1949. He is buried at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky, Plot E, 137-138.

Ray Reed, a Freeport native, was 31 years old.

Seaman 1C Lester William Rehfeld, Navy, was Killed In Action on February 28, 1943.

He was the first Stephenson County member of the Armed Forces to lose his life in World War II when the USS Houston was sunk by the Japanese during the battle of the Java Sea.

He was awarded the Presidential Citation.

At sea almost constantly from December 7, 1941, until it was sunk, the Houston repulsed Japanese bombing squadrons attacking a troop convoy under her escort.

All his sea voyages were in the Pacific, with his base in Manila. His ship was cruising when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

In the battle of the Java Sea, the Japanese sunk two Dutch cruisers and three destroyers. The American heavy cruiser Houston and the Australian light cruiser Perth attempted to pass through the Sundra Strait to reach the safer waters of the Indian Ocean. They unexpectedly encountered a very large Japanese invasion fleet.

During the battle, four torpedoes struck and sunk the Perth. The Houston continued the battle alone, engaging the enemy at a distance of less than one mile. The Houston hit three destroyers and sunk a minesweeper, but was struck by many shells and four torpedoes and started to sink.

Following orders to abandon ship, the crew jumped overboard and tried to swim to the distant shore of Java. The ship, still under heavy fire, rolled over and sank with her colors still flying.

Seven hundred of the ship's 1068 crew members died. The crew who survived were captured by the Japanese. They became part of a large slave labor force of captured Allied troops in Burma building a rail line between Thailand and Burma for the Japanese. Many died as Prisoners Of War, including 79 members of the Houston.

Because the U. S. Navy didn't know who died in the sinking and who survived, Lester Rehfeld was listed as Missing In Action until after the war. His parents were finally notified on January 7, 1946, that since he was not among the survivors, and since he was not listed among the Prisoners Of War, that he was presumed to have gone down with his ship.

He attended Harlem school and Freeport High School. He was employed by the Main Recreation Center and at the Dixie Sandwich Shop.

Lester Rehfeld was 32 years old.

S Sgt Glenn Donald Rice of Lena was Killed In Action on October 20, 1944, on Leyte Island, The Philippines.

He served with Company A, the 383rd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division.

He entered service at Modesto, California, where he was attending college.

Glenn is buried in Plot G, Row 5, Grave 36, Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.

His brother Vernon Rice, listed just below, was also Killed In Action. Two more brother also served overseas during WWII.

There is a headstone memorial for Glenn at Hopewell Cemetery, Ohio.

He was a 1932 graduate of Lena High School.

Glenn Rice died two days before his 30th birthday.

Pvt Vernon Earl Rice of Lena was Killed In Action in France on February 10, 1945.

He served with the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division. He entered service in Ohio.

He is buried in Plot A, Row 43, Grave 8 at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Epinal, Departement des Vosges, Lorraine, France.

He attended Lena High School, where he was active with FFA.

Vernon Rice died 15 days before his 23rd birthday.

His brother Glenn Rice, listed just above, was also Killed In Action.

A third brother, Burdette H. Rice served with Battery C, 124th Field Artillery, in The Philippines, and survived the war.

A fourth brother, William A. Rice also served in France during WWII.

PFC Rodney D. Rinderman, Army, Died Of Wounds on October 21, 1944, that he suffered in action on October 16 in Germany.

He attended Freeport schools, and was an employee of Burgess Battery before entering service.

Rodney was a member of one of the first units to land on the Normandy beachhead during the European invasion.

He was a paratrooper, and suffered an injury while parachuting into France. Following convalescence he was transferred to the 26th infantry regiment.

Rodney was reportedly wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, but that battle didn't start until December 16, 1944, two months after his death.

He was buried in the Henri-Chapelle military cemetery. In December 1947 his body was returned to Freeport for reburial in the Lena Cemetery.

Rodney Rinderman and Henry Robert Wienand were the first two soldiers whose bodies were returned to Stephenson County after the war. Many downtown stores closed so that people could go to the train station to meet the coffins, which were taken to the Consistory Auditorium for public services on December 12, 1947.

Capt Richard G. Rogers was Killed In Action on March 11, 1945, in a plane crash at Luzon, Philippine Islands, while serving with the 11th Army Corps.

He was the supervisory officer for the units engaged in dropping supplies, like medicine, food and ammunition, from airplanes to troops who could be supplied no other way.

Previously he had been stationed in New Guinea and had taken part in the Altape campaign, the landings on Morate in the Philippines, and was at Corregidor when the American flag was raised by General MacArthur.

Richard Rogers was given a soldier's burial at Iwo Jima.

He was a 1933 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was on the basketball and track teams. He later graduated from the University of Illinois.

Dick Rogers is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

PFC Dale Ray Runte, Army, Died Of Wounds.

He was wounded in the back and head by shrapnel while fighting on Luzon on April 3, 1945, and died on May 2, 1945. He wrote to his father on April 28, telling him about his wounds.

He served with the 145th Infantry of the 37th Division. He was awarded the Combat Infantryman badge.

Before entering service he had been in business with his brother Donald operating the Dixie Sandwich Shop, and also did farm work near Freeport.

Originally buried in the Pacific area, his body was returned to Freeport in September 1948 for reburial.

Dale Runte was 23 years old.

Pvt Roland Miller Rutter was Killed In Action on June 16, 1944, on the island of Saipan.

He attended Freeport High School.

Before service he worked at Burgess Battery.

Roland volunteered for the Marine Corp amphibious group, 10 Marines, 2 Marine Division.

He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Section C, Site 382.

Roland Rutter was 27 years old.

S/Sgt John F. Ryan, was Killed In Action over Regensburg, Germany, on February 25, 1944.

He had completed 38 missions over enemy territory.

Ryan was aboard aircraft #42-31416, 20th Squadron, 301st Bombing Group.

Ten long-range B-17s dropped 27 tons of bombs on the Prufening Aircraft Plant at Regensburg. The assigned target, the Final Assembly Shop Building #7 was well bombed, with many visible hits on six other buildings. Fires and explosions were visible for many miles from the target. An estimated 100 to 125 enemy fighters attacked the bombing group, resulting in the loss of three B-17s.

Three Me-109s attacked Ryan's plane, setting it afire. Four of the crew bailed out, but the rest were Killed In Action in the air. One of the crew who bailed out also was killed. The three who survived were taken prisoner. The plane blew up in the air and crashed at Moosdorf, Germany.

The other men killed aboard Ryan's plane were Capt Robert E. Arnold, 2nd Lt Clyde J. Hayden, 2nd Lt Furman M. Schneiderman, S/Sgt Dwight E. Heatwold, PFC William B. Buchanan, and S/Sgt Robert W. Hiatt.

Born and raised in Florida, he was survived by his widow and a daughter in Freeport.

John Ryan was 24 years old.

Sgt Charles M. Schlamp, Army Air Force, 331st Bomber Squadron, died September 24, 1943. The Army did not release the cause of his death, but one source stated that it was from non-battle causes, and two sources stated that he was Killed In Action.

One source stated that he was a bombardier stationed in England; another source said he was stationed in Finland.

He is buried at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England, Plot E, Row 2, Grave 21.

A native of Silver Creek, Charles Schlamp was 37 years old.

Cpl LaVerne A. Schleich, Army, died in a hospital in San Francisco of wounds received in action on Guadalcanal.

He served with the 132nd Infantry.

He is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

A 1938 graduate of Aquin High School, LaVerne Schleich was 24 years old.

T Sgt Delvin A. Schneider was Killed in Action on June 1, 1944, in Italy.

He died of wounds four months after his heroic exploits as head man of a combat patrol.

The patrol was sent into enemy territory in Italy on February 9, 1944. When the roof was torn off a German entrenchment, he knocked the helmets off of German officers with his rifle barrel. Single handedly, he took eight prisoners, moving from foxhole to foxhole with bullets missing him by inches. For this feat Delvin was awarded the Silver Star posthumously.

He was awarded the Purple Heart before his death.

He joined the Army on February 12, 1941. His division was among the first to land in north Africa. He saw service in Africa, Sicily and Italy.

Delvin was a 1936 graduate of Winslow High School.

Before entering service, he worked for his father on their farm near Winslow.

He is buried in Rock Lily Cemetery, Winslow.

Delvin Schneider was 25 years old.

PFC Robert Kenneth Schunk, Army, was Killed In Action in Africa on August 17, 1943.

He was engaged in communications and radio work.

He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

A graduate of Freeport High School, Kenneth was the seventh serviceman from Stephenson County to meet death in action.

Before entering service, he served with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and was a clerk at Montgomery Ward.

Kenneth Schunk was 22 years old.

1 Lt Herbert C. Schwarz, Army, was Killed In Action on the Burma Road January 28, 1945.

Before entering service, he worked with his father in the family business, the Schwarz Funeral Home.

He enlisted in the National Guard and entered active service when that state militia organization became a part of the federal forces in March 1941.

He served with the 33rd Infantry Division. Herbert was a graduate of the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He transferred to the air corps during June 1942 and received flight training.

He was stationed in the Ledo Road area of Burma. The Ledo Road was built during WWII so that the Allies could supply China with military gear. The majority of supplies were airlifted over the eastern end of the Himalayas.

A 1936 graduate of Aquin High School, Herbert Schwarz was 27 years old.

S Sgt Jack W. Sellke was Killed In Action January 9, 1945, when his regiment was resisting a strong enemy attack at Hatten, France.

He was not seen after his position was overrun by the enemy.

He enlisted in June 1944 and was assigned to C Company of the 242nd Infantry of the 42nd Rainbow Division. He went overseas in December 1944.

Jack graduated with honors from Freeport High School in 1943. He was prominent in high school activities, including public speaking, and was an active member of the Winneshieks. He was Junior Class president (photo on right), Senior Class vice president, Honor Society, Polaris business manager, captain of the debate team, and acted in school plays. His senior bio was eleven lines long.

He attended Northern Illinois State Teachers College at DeKalb for one year, where he continued his public speaking career. He won first place in many contests and was state champion of both oratory and extempore speaking.

He was president of the freshman class at DeKalb, a member of the National Honor Society, the Alpha Phi Omega National Service fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic fraternity, Pi Kappa Delta Forensic fraternity receiving the highest honor of degree of merit, degree of honor, degree of excellence and degree of distinction.

An outstanding orator at Northern Illinois, starting in 1946 and lasting until at least 1971, NIU conducted an annual oratorial contest in Jack's memory, with prizes provided by the Freeport Rotary Club.

His body was returned to Freeport in December 1948, and was buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Jack Sellke was 19 years old.

Tech 4 Clifford Robert Shafer of Ridott was Killed In Action on March 5, 1945.

He wrote his parents that he had been wounded and hospitalized in France in February of 1945. He returned to his unit and was killed shortly thereafter. He was a tank driver with Patton's 3rd Army.

His body was returned to Freeport in August of 1948 for burial in Ridott Cemetery.

A 1932 graduate of Freeport High School, he was on the basketball and track teams.

Robert Shafer was 29 years old.

Pvt Kenneth Shamway was Killed In Action in North Africa on April 17, 1943.

He had worked in the printing department at W. T. Rawleigh.

His name was listed in the July 5, 1943, issue of Life Magazine.

He is buried in City Cemetery.

Kenneth Shamway was 31 years old.

Lt Eugene Russell Shannon, former rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Freeport, was Killed In Action off Iwo Jima when the carrier Bismarck Sea, on which he was chaplain, was sunk.

A member of the Naval Reserve, Chaplains Corps, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy-Marine Corps medal. "For heroic contact as chaplain attached to the U.S.S. Bismarck Sea, in connection with the ultimate rescue of personnel following the sinking of that vessel by enemy Japanese aerial forces during operations in support of our landings at Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, February 21, 1945.

"Sensing the plight of the men struggling in the waters in the vicinity of his lifeboat after abandoning the doomed Bismarck Sea, Lieutenant Shannon, who had lapsed into a semi-conscious condition as a result of serious wounds, repeatedly roused himself in an effort to allay the fears of all who were affected by shock and exhaustion and, drawing deeply from his spiritual strength in the midst of chaos and disaster, spoke with calm courage to the panic-stricken, bewildered men, pronouncing words of infinite faith and wisdom and inspiring in the despairing company the resolute acceptance of temporal hardship and the determination to survive, which enabled them to fact the rigors and uncertainties of their circumstances with fortitude.

"Completely selfless in his concern for others and tireless in his vigilance, he grievously overtaxed his waning energies during the long hours of exposure and succumed shortly after his own rescue had seen effected. Held in reverence by the entire personnel of the Bismarck Sea, Lieutenant Shannon, by his unfaltering leadership, sympathetic understanding and practical counsel in a period of crisis, contributed essentially to the saving of many who otherwise might have perished, and his self-sacrificing devotion to duty throughout upheld the highest traditions of the United States naval service. He gallantly gave his life that others might live. (Signed) James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy.

Eugene Shannon died February 21, 1945, and is memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

PFC Joe R. Siedenburg, Jr., of Pecatonica Died of Wounds suffered on May 2 or 3, 1945, with his date of death May 3, 1945 on board the USS Calaway.

He served in Company F, 187th Glider Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne, as a medic.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest military award that can be given to a member of the United States Army for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. He was also awarded the Bronze Star, the fourth highest medal for bravery, heroism or meritorious service, as well as the Purple Heart.

He is buried in Adeline Cemetery, east of Forreston.

He sometimes stayed with his relatives in Freeport.

Joe Siedenburg was 21 years old.

Sgt Smith B. Sommer was Killed In Action on May 28, 1944, in the battle for the Anzio beachhead.

He served with the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.

After graduating from Lena High School, Smith attended college and became a school teacher at Pickard School (north of Eleroy) and Nora public school.

He was working at a packing plant at Indianapolis when he joined the service.

He is buried in Plot G, Row 9, Grave 34, Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, Florence, Provincia di Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

He was married with one daughter.

Smith Sommer was 28 years old.

PFC Robert Leslie Speer, Marine Corps Reserve, was Killed In Action on September 23, 1944, in the south Pacific.

He was attached to a weapons company of the 3rd Marines.

In the photo to the right, he is shown with classmate Jack Sellke, listed above.

Robert Speer attended Freeport High School, where he sang with the A Capella Choir. He entered service after in September 1942, before his senior year, and would have graduated with the Class of 1943.

He worked at the Union Dairy.

Robert Speer was 20 years old.

Lt William Erwin Stevens was Killed In Action in a bombing run over the marshalling area of Hamm, Germany, on October 25, 1943.

He was a Bombardier on a B-17. Nearing its target, the plane was attacked by two Focke 190s. One was damaged but continued its attack. The two attacking planes knocked out the starboard machine gun, wounding the starboard waist gunner, killing Lt. Stevens, and wounding the navigator. After the #4 engine was knocked out, the plane returned to base. Lt. Stevens was the only one killed.

William Stevens was a graduate of Freeport High School.

Sgt. Harley E. Swartz of Ridott was Killed In Action on April 15, 1945, in Bayreuth, Germany, by German machine gun fire.

An infantryman, he served with the both the 66th and the 71st Division of the 3rd Army as a 604-Light Machine Gunner.

He is buried in Harrison Cemetery, Winnebago County.

Harley Swartz was 23 years old.

S Sgt Russell W. Ter Hark of Ridott was Killed In Action in Germany on April 11, 1945.

He served with the 348th Engineers. He and S Sgt Dale Nuss of Lena had previously gone on missions taking pictures and making maps prior to invasions. They traveled in a Jeep. Both were present on the D-Day invasion and had served together since. Nuss was reported as Killed In Action on the next day.

His wife survived him.

Russell Ter Hark was 26 years old.

Sgt Kenneth R. Toelle was Killed In Action on January 9, 1945, near Tokyo, Japan.

He served with the 871st Bomber Squadron, 497th Bomber Group, Very Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force. A B-29 gunner based on Saipan, he participated in the first raid over Japan on Thanksgiving Day, 1944, and on successive missions until his death.

A few minutes after the bombs were dropped on the target, Tokyo, his plane was damaged in a collision with a Tojo fighter, which was out of control, and his plane lost altitude. Then it was attacked by approximately 20 enemy fighters. Another plane in the U. S. formation dropped down to protect his “Miss Behavin” bomber and both planes were last seen heading out to sea. Searchers found nothing.

He is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial and in the Garden of Devotion at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens.

He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

Born in Freeport and a graduate of Freeport High School and the Chicago Technical College, he was employed as a draftsman at Woodmanse.

He got married August 14, 1944, to Grace Van den Heurk of Lena.

Kenneth Toelle was 23 years old.

Sgt Warren P. Trunkhill was Killed In Action on March 29, 1943.

He served with the 365th Bomber Squadron, 305th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Forces.

He had been in service for 35 years. Warren had been in the Army Air Corps since the attack on Pearl Harbor, and prior to that time had been in the regular army. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor prior to the war.

He is buried in Plot F, Row 7, Grave 63, Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England.

Warren Trunkhill was survived by his widow and three children, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a sister in Freeport.

Pvt Arthur J. Van Vleck, Army, died August 29, 1944.

He was Awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster after being wounded in France on June 29, 1944. After being hospitalized in England for six weeks, he returned to duty.

He was an assistant tank driver with the 32nd Armored Regiment of the Third Army.

A report of the action in which this division participated reads, "As a result of its brilliant action in France, the outfit has been named the "Spear Head Division" in recognition of its almost incessant fighting from last June through August when it snapped the trap on German forces between Promentel and Putangea. The Spear Head Division was pared down in this fighting that frequently two Sherman tanks had to go against as many as ten of the enemy. Yet they pressed on, and eventually forced the Germans to withdraw."

He went Missing In Action in France on August 29, 1944, during a fierce battle, and on February 23, 1945, was listed as Killed In Action.

Arthur is buried at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal (Vosges), France, Plot B, Row 31, Grave 55.

He was employed at the Vohlken dairy before he enlisted.

His brother Donald Van Vleck served with the Navy in the Pacific.

Arthur Van Vleck was 22 years old.

PFC Elmer R. Veach was Killed In Action over Italy on May 20, 1944.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in July 1948.

Elmer Veach was 19 years old.

Seaman 1C Alvin Leo Voss, Rock City, was Killed In Action on March 19, 1945.

He was one of 832 members of his crew of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin who died when their ship was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack..

Posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, he is memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Alvin Voss was a 1940 graduate of Freeport High School, where he played football and was a member of the track team.

PFC Alvin F. Wachlin, Marine Corps Reserve, was Killed In Action in the Pacific war area on July 21, 1944.

He is listed as a casualty on the Memorial Wall at Asan Bay Overlook, War in the Pacific Historical Park, Guam.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in Oakland Cemetery during January 1949.

Born in Freeport, he attended Dakota High School and was employed at Kraft Foods.

Alvin Wachlin was 22 years old.

Pvt George Wesley Wardle of Freeport was Killed In Action in France on August 2, 1944.

He was a member of an anti-tank unit of the 110th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.

Awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, George Wardle is buried at Brittany American Cemetery, St. James (Manche), France, Plot J, Row 1, Grave 18.

He had been employed at Burgess Battery. His mother died when he was 4, his father when he was 16. He was raised by his aunt in Freeport.

PFC Donald L. Weber, Army, was Killed In Action in Belgium on January 13, 1945.

He took part in the D-Day Normandy Invasion as a paratrooper member of Company 502, First Airborne forces, known as the "Screaming Elgin" Division. He landed behind the German lines at midnight at Chirenton, France. In the following 33-day battle, he was never out of uniform. Later he received the Presidential Citation, Combat Badge and Good Conduct medal.

He later served as a paratrooper in the invasion of southern France, where he was hospitalized for appendicitis. Sent to the western front near Bastogne, Belgium, on January 7, he was killed while in a front line position on January 13, in the closing phase of that operation.

He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

Born in Chadwick, Donald moved to Freeport with his parents at age four. He was a graduate of Freeport High School. He got married on Thanksgiving Day, 1942. He had been employed at Kraft Cheese.

His body was returned to Freeport for reburial in December 1948. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Donald Weber was just 20 years old.

PFC Henry Robert Wienand, Army, was Killed In Action in Germany on March 9, 1945.

He was a member of one of the first units to land on the Normandy beachhead during the European Invasion and had received the Purple Heart and Presidential Citation.

He joined the service on April 30, 1943, and went overseas in October 1943.

He served with the 634th Anti-Aircraft unit, and fought in battles in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe.

Follow the link to his tribute page, with more photos and videos of the bridge he was defending from Hitler's attempts to blow it up. Here is a U. S. Army film, produced by the Department of War, with much actual footage of the capture and defence of the bridge.

On the right is a photo of allied troops crossing the bridge:

My Uncle Bob was Killed In Action at Erpel, Germany while protecting the Remagen Bridge on March 9, 1945. The bridge was the only one over the Rhine River to survive Hitler's attempts to blow them all up.

His commanding officer, A. E. Rackec, Lieutenant Colonel CAO, said of him, "He died a hero's death and proved himself to be a fine soldier. He and his comrades who fell in battle have not died in vain."

He was a 1942 graduate of Freeport High School. Before entering service, Bob Wienand was employed by the Arcade Manufacturing Company.

His body was buried at the American Military Cemetery at Henri Chapelle, Belgium. His body was returned to Freeport in December 1947 and was reburied at Oakland Cemetery.

He and Rodney Rinderman were the first two soldiers whose bodies were returned to Stephenson County after the war. Many downtown stores closed so that people could go to the train station to meet the coffins, which were taken to the Consistory Auditorium for public services.

The two soldiers were among the 6,000 aboard the army transport Joseph V. Conolly, which docked in New York City on October 26, 1947.

PFC Herman F. Woolsey was Killed In Action in Germany on March 3, 1945.

He was on guard duty when he was shot and instantly killed by an enemy rifleman. He served with the 330th Infantry.

Born in Polo, he graduated from Forreston High School.

Originally buried in Holland, his body was returned to the U. S. in October 1948 and is now buried at Grandview Cemetery, north of Freeport, Illinois.

Herman Woolsey was 24 years old.

S Sgt John N. Yakovich, Army Air Corps, was killed in an auto accident in March 1942 while stationed at Luke Field, an Army base near Phoenix, Arizona.

He is a former Aquin football and basketball star, and was vice president of the graduating class of 1935.

John Yakovich was 26 years old.

Ship's Cook 3C Robert Wilson Young was Killed In Action in the Mediterranean on December 10, 1944.

Born in Freeport, he lived in Rockford in his youth, and attended Freeport High School.

He enlisted in the Navy.

He was reburied in Oakland Cemetery in May 1948.

Robert Young was 22 years old.

Sgt William C. Young, Jr., Army, was aboard a plane shot down over the ocean near the British Isles on December 9, 1944, and did not survive.

He is memorialized at Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint-Avold, Lorraine, France.

William Young was a 1942 graduate of Freeport High School, where he was a member of the football, basketball and track teams, and served on the Student Council.

S Sgt Julian N. Zahary of Stephenson County Died Of Wounds at Ormoc, Leyte, February 24, 1945. He was mortally wounded on February 23. Because of a mix-up by the Army, the family was not informed of his injury until April 13, 1945. They learned of his death on May 14, 1945.

He served with the 132nd Infantry Regiment, Americal Division. He had been overseas for 39 months, and had participated in campaigns on Guadalcanal, the terrific battle for the famous Hill 260 on Bougainville, and in other engagements.

Before service he worked at Burgess Battery.

He is buried at Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines, in the Manila American Cemetery, Plot A, Row 11, Grave 167.

Julian Zahary was 27 years old. He had a one-year-old son whom he had never seen.

S Sgt John Zastrow of Freeport died in the Mediterranean on April 20, 1944, when an American troop ship was sunk.

He was a member of an Aircraft Photo Reconnaissance team.

He was employed by Kraft Foods before entering service.

John Zastrow is buried at North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial, Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia.

2 Lt Arthur Zellweger of Freeport was Killed In Action on June 2, 1945, when the P-51 he was piloting was shot down over Chichi Jima.

He served with the 72nd Fighter Squadron, 21st Fighter Group, based on Iwo Jima.

He took off from Motoyama No. 1 (Chidori, Central Field) on Iwo Jima, tasked with a dive bombing mission against the nearby island of Chichi Jima. Japanese anti-aircraft fire from Haha Jima hit his plane and blew it apart mid-air.

Part of his plane landed in the bay, and part landed in the jungle, though no remains were ever found.

Lead P-51 pilot Lt Clyde Decker reported that Arthur's plane failed to rejoin the formation after dive bombing the target, and clouds obscured the crash. Air Sea Rescue service and the 7th Fighter Command both unsuccessfully searched, but no smoke, fire, debris or oil slick was observed.

Some of the information above came from a Facebook page showing parts of the plane that landed in the jungle.

He served with the US Army Air Forces, and was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.

He was born in Argyle, Wisconsin, and attended school in Stephenson County. In 1937 he earned his 8th grade diploma with an address of Rt. 3, Freeport.

He is memorialized in the Garden of Devotion at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens and also on the Tablets of the Missing at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Arthur Zellweger was 21 years old. He and his wife Mae Elizabeth Kent from Sarasota, Florida, had a son, Richard Arthur Zellweger, who was born two months after he was shot down.

Sgt. William F. Zimmerman of Rock Grove was Killed In Action on Bougainville, in the South Pacific on February 6, 1944.

He served with Company G of the 132nd Infantry, 33rd Division.

His body was returned for reburial in Rock Grove Cemetery in June 1948.

William Zimmerman was 28 years old.

Others

For various reasons the following men have, in one publication or another, been included in Stephenson County war dead. From my research, I don't believe they belong in this list.

PFC Donald E. Bard was reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him living in Stephenson County. He appears to be from Wapello, Iowa, and was Killed In Action.

Cpl Frank P. Becker has been reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him living in Stephenson County. He appears to be a farm worker from Winnebago, and was Killed In Action. He is buried in Plot A, Row 13, Grave 148, Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.

John C. Brown was reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him.

Pvt Irvin Edward Doersam of Warren was Killed In Action in France in July 1944. He has been reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him living in Stephenson County.

PFC Erwin H. Espenschield, Army, was Killed In Action. One source lists his hometown as Freeburg, Illinois, (St. Clair County) but another source lists him as a resident of Stephenson County. His last name also may be spelled Espenschied. As there are still quite a number of people with the last name Espenschield in Freeburg, but none in Freeport, I believe the Stephenson County listing is incorrect.

Seaman 1C John Dale Grander was Killed In Action aboard the USS San Francisco in the Pacific war area on November 13, 1942. He was wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He has been reported with Stephenson County, but it appears he was from Wilton, Iowa, near Muscatine.

1 Lt Kenneth M. Greear of Chicago flew with the 372nd Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Group, Heavy. The crew went down on October 25, 1943. He is memorialized at Fort William McKinley, Manila, The Philippines along with the rest of his crew members. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He was 22 years old. He has been reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him living in Stephenson County.

T 5C William Hengst was Killed In Action on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He served with the 320th Field Artillery Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. He is buried in Plot F, Row 24, Grave 23 at the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He was from Racine, Wisconsin. He has been reported among Stephenson County lost, but I can find no record of him living in Stephenson County.

Pvt Anthony Ryan, died April 18, 1941 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Freeport. Often listed with WWII deaths, he actually died more than seven months before America's entry into the war on December 7, 1941..

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PFC Leo R. Ault of Orangeville, was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regimental Combat Team.

He was Killed in Action in South Korea on August 19, 1950.

PFC Ault was just 20 years old.

PFC Jack E. Baxter of Freeport, a veteran of World War II, in Korea was a member of Company C, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

On August 14, 1952, he personally attacked a fortified enemy position near Chorwon, North Korea to relieve his company from enemy fire. He was Killed In Action. He was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor for his actions.

His remains were not recovered.

His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Jack Eugene Baxter was 27 years old.

PFC Edward A. Cardinal was a member of the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion (105 MM), 24th Infantry Division.

He was Killed in Action in Osan, South Korea on July 5, 1950.

PFC Cardinal was 20 years old.

Pvt William D. Clark, Army, Killed In Action on September 1, 1951.

Cpl Francis R. Gilbertson of Davis was Killed In Action on August 8, 1952, while fighting the enemy near DT 192-402, North Korea.

He was a squadron leader with Company A, 5th Infantry Regiment Combat Team, 25th Division.

Previously he had guarded a prison camp on Koje Island.

He was 18 years old.

PFC James L. Green was a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division.

He was listed as Missing in Action in Korea on August 9, 1952, and was presumed dead and listed as Killed In Action on February 10, 1954.

His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

He is also listed as being buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Freeport.

James Laverne Green was 22 years old.

1st Lt. Richard W. Haas of the Air Corps was Killed in Action on December 20, 1950.

He was pilot of a P-51 and flew many missions over North Korea.

In a letter to his parents in Freeport on Nov. 3, 1950, “these boys from NK know how to fight a war and are showing it. We’ve lost a lot of people and will lose a lot more.”

“I was hit in the engine over their capital city of Pyongyang. Was lucky and it kept running long enough to clear enemy territory.”

“I broke my right arm. Am just getting so I can use it.”

Six weeks later he was shot down and killed.

John L. Heilman was a member of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

He was Killed in Action in the Western Outposts of Korea on July 20, 1953.

Private Heilman was 20 years old.

One website spelled his last name Hellman.

Pvt Arthur L. A. Hodapp was listed as Missing in Action in April of 1951.

Hodapp fought with the 5th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, nicknamed "The Bobcats", which on April 23, 1951, was defending part of a 75-mile line northeast of Seoul, Korea, when a major Chinese assault by 250,000 soldiers, known as the Spring Offensive (April 22-29), overwhelmed the position.

Hodapp was taken prisoner and was later taken to a prison camp in North Korea.

After the war, on July 7, 1953, the family was notified that Hodapp had died two years earlier on July 3, 1951, of dysentery.

In 1993, many remains were turned over to the United Nations and were held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, pending identification.

Using DNA, the Army confirmed that some of the remains were Hodapp.

A full military funeral service was held for Art Hodapp at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Freeport, on May 25, 2011.

He was just 22 years old.

Lt JG Judd C. Hodgson, U. S. Navy, from Waddams Grove, was lost at sea on November 6, 1951.

He was the pilot of a patrol bomber, P2V-3 Neptune, from Patrol Squadron 6 (VP-6) at Naval Air Station Atsugi, Japan. He was on an intelligence gathering mission over the Sea of Japan on November 6, 1951, and was shot down by Soviet La-11 fighter aircraft, piloted by I. Ya. Lukashyev and M.K. Shchukin, near Vladivostok, Siberia, USSR.

The United Nations claimed that the plane was conducting a weather reconnaissance mission under United Nations command. The attack occurred over international waters, but the Russians claimed the aircraft had violated Soviet airspace over Cape Ostrovnoy. The Soviet pilots reported that they intercepted the VP-6 aircraft near Cape Ostrovnoy approximately 7-8 miles from the shore. After firing upon the P2 Neptune, the aircraft burned, fell into the water, and exploded 18 miles from the shore killing the entire crew of 10 men.

No remains were recovered. Hodgson's name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

For his leadership and valor, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 3 Gold Stars, the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

He was 23 years old.

The other men lost were: Lt JG Sam Rosenfiel USNR, Ens Donald A. Smith USNR, AD1 Paul R. Foster USN, AO1 Reubens Baggett USN, AL2 Paul G. Juric USN, AD3 Jack Lively USN, AT1 Eriwn D. Raglin USN, AL2 Ralph A. Wigert Jr USNR, and AT2 William S. Meyer USNR.

Here is a newspaper story from the November 11, 2002, Honolulu Advertiser about the plane and its crew, known as Crew 12. Part 1 Part 2

PFC Sammie Locash was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

He was Killed in Action in the Western Outposts in Korea on February 3, 1953.

Locash was 21 years old.

Cpl Paul Ray Reynolds of Lena and Pearl City, a veteran of World War II, in Korea was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

He was Killed in Action at the Chosin Reservoir, Battle of Changjin, North Korea on December 3, 1950.

His remains were not recovered. He was posthumously awarded a Silver Star for conspicuous and intrepedity in action while serving as squad leader.

Reynolds was 25 years old.

Pvt James F. Stephens was a member of Battery C, 196th Field Artillery Battalion (155 MM), X Corps.

On September 22, 1952, Stephens was a member of a three man outpost, directing artillery fire north of Kajon-ni, North Korea when it was overrun by the enemy.

He was Killed in Action.

PFC Stephens was 21 years old.

PFC Frank H. Vincent was a machine gunner from Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regimental Combat Team.

On September 18, 1950, near Waegwan, South Korea, he was protecting his retreating comrades with machine gun fire.

When his machine gun failed, he used a rifle to protect the withdrawal until he was Killed In Action.

Vincent was awarded a Silver Star for his actions.

He was 21 years old.

Sgt 1C Burton A. Wagner of Freeport was an engineer with Company A, 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division in Korea.

He served with the Corps of Engineers as a Combat Construction Specialist. On December 2, 1950, his unit was constructing a bridge across the Taedong River near Yopa, North Korea, when it was attacked. He held off the enemy charge singlehandedly until his position was overrun, and he was Killed In Action.

His death was one of 724 casualties on the same day. His remains were not recovered. He was presumed dead December 31, 1953.

Given the mission of providing security for a crew from his company in the process of building a bridge, he was checking his positions for maximum defense when suddenly attacked by Chinese Communist troops apparently intent on sweeping through his line of resistance and destroying the bridgehead. He courageously moved forward alone to engage and sufficiently delay the foe in order that the members of th ecrew might be alerted against surprise attack. Armed with only a carbine, he fearlessly exposed himself to enemy observation and action and delivered a deadly accurate fire into the advancing hostile force until his position was overrun and he was mortally wounded. Sergeant Wagner's stand alerted the company and enabled the men to contain the enemy attack and save the bridgehead.

Sergeant First Class Burton Ales Wagner, a veteran of World War II, a posthumous recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, was just 23 years old.

PFC Edward H. West of Baileyville was a member of Army Company F, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

He was Killed in Action on Heartbreak Ridge in North Korea on September 17, 1951.

PFC West was 18 years old.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1 by Robert Bike

From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

Only $11.99 paperback; only $0.99 ebook.

Richard Otte

Dick Otte portrait in his mother's home in Freeport.
He was the first of nine Freeporters to die in Vietnam.

My mother, Anna Otte, with Dick's mother, Ida Otte, at Ida's home.

Richard Otte's name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall
in Washington, D.C.,
and link to etching from the wall.
Photos above and below and etching courtesy of Jeff Chlupsa.

Richard Otte's name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall
in Springfield

PFC Richard Lee Otte was a PFC - E2 in the Marine Corps.

Richard Otte was killed by "friendly fire" on December 15, 1966 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam. On December 14, he stepped on an explosive device and suffered fragmentation wounds. He passed the next day. He was a rifleman with Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Service Medal with One Service Star, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

A 1961 graduate of Freeport High School, his name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 13E, Line 48. He is buried at Salem UCC Cemetery in Lena. He was only 23.

LaVerne Frederick Albright

Airman 1st Class LaVerne Frederick (Freddy) Albright, Jr., was killed Sept. 18, 1970 at Traverse Air Base, California in a freak accident involving his car.

Born in Freeport in 1948, Airman Albright graduated from high school in Newburg, Missouri, in 1966.

He served in Vietnam from February 1969 to February 1970 as an aircraft mechanic. Freddy is buried at Cedarville Cemetery. He was just 22 years old.

Barry Armstrong

CPL Barry Lee Armstrong died on February 2, 1970 in Binh Thuan, South Vietnam. He was killed in action while serving with the First Cavalry Division (Air Mobile). He was mortally wounded while pursuing fleeing enemy troops. An army corporal, he was only 19.

Click on photo to enlarge the clipping. Thanks to Jim Mertins for the clipping that appeared in the February 5, 1970 issue of the Freeport Journal-Standard, and the Life Magazine photos, below.

The November 1992 issue of Life Magazine ran a feature article on the Vietnam Memorial, and in the main photo in the center of the magazine is the section of the wall that has Barry's name on it. His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 14W, Line 92.

Click on photos to enlarge. Barry Armstrong is listed at the center of the photo, next to the woman's hand.

"I got goosebumps when I looked at your memorial page. I used to babysit for Barry Armstrong, and I have the rubbing from his panel when I went to DC. I have a great appreciation for this memorial you've created. Thank you so much."—Sherry Maves

Robert Bonebright

Robert Allen Bonebright was a Marine Corps Sergeant. He died from non-hostile fire at age 25 on May 18, 1969 over Thua Thien, South Vietnam.

A Marine KC-130 with Bob aboard was refueling two F-4B jets just south of the DMZ. As the three aircraft flew in formation, with the Phantoms plugged in and taking fuel, a third F-4B collided with the C-130's right wing near the #3 engine. The collision destroyed the F-4B, sheared the wing from the C-130, and damaged one F-4B refueling from the right side. The F-4B on the left escaped without damage. The F-4B on the right crashed, but the two crewmen were rescued.

All six men aboard the C-130, including Bob, and the two crewmen aboard the F-4B that crashed into them were killed in the accident.

A 1962 graduate of FHS, his name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 24W, Line 37.

Ronald Boyer

Ronald Earnest Boyer was a PFC in the army from Lena. Ronald (Rod) Boyer was killed in action on February 9, 1969, at Tam Ky, in Quang Nam Province. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He served in C Co., 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade.

Rod died from hostile fire at age 21, and is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 33W, Line 091.

From left: Rod Boyer, Jerry Stocks, Charlotte & Basil Hartman, Gene Pinnow.
This photo was taken the night before Rod left for Vietnam.
(Photos provided by Greg Hartman)

Douglas Gillette

Doug Gillette, at left, with Carl Scheffler,
Gary Glenn, John Pfeiffer & friends, at USAF Hahn AFB Germany in 1967.
Photo courtesy of Carl Scheffler.

Douglas Gillette of Lena died in a drowning accident June 30, 1968, in the Mosel River near Zell, Germany. He was trying to swim across the river on a bet. He was stationed with the United States Air Force at Hahn Air Force Base in Frankfurt. Doug was a 1965 graduate of Le-Win High School. He was 22 years old.

Doug Hagen

Loren "Festus" Douglas Hagen was killed in action in Vietnam on August 7, 1971. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery during the firefight that killed him.

Doug Hagen in Vietnam

The citation given to his parents by President Ford reads, "1st Lt. Hagen distinguished himself in action while serving as the team leader of a small reconnaissance team operating deep within enemy-held territory.

"At approximately 0630 hours on the morning of 7 August 1971 the small team came under a fierce assault by a superior-sized enemy force using heavy small arms, automatic weapons, mortar, and rocket fire.

"1st Lt. Hagen immediately began returning small-arms fire upon the attackers and successfully led this team in repelling the first enemy onslaught. He then quickly deployed his men into more strategic defense locations before the enemy struck again in an attempt to overrun and annihilate the beleaguered team's members. 1st Lt. Hagen repeatedly exposed himself to the enemy fire directed at him as he constantly moved about the team's perimeter, directing fire, rallying the members, and resupplying the team with ammunition, while courageously returning small arms and hand grenade fire in a valorous attempt to repel the advancing enemy force.

"The courageous actions and expert leadership abilities of 1st Lt. Hagen were a great source of inspiration and instilled confidence in the team members.

"After observing an enemy rocket make a direct hit on and destroy one of the team's bunkers, 1st Lt. Hagen moved toward the wrecked bunker in search of team members despite the fact that the enemy force now controlled the bunker area.

"With total disregard for his own personal safety, he crawled through the enemy fire while returning small-arms fire upon the enemy force. Undaunted by the enemy rockets and grenades impacting all around him, 1st Lt. Hagen desperately advanced upon the destroyed bunker until he was fatally wounded by enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire.

"With complete disregard for his personal safety, 1st Lt. Hagen's courageous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon him and the U.S. Army."

The Medal of Honor

Doug attended Freeport High School as a sophomore. Doug, along with his parents and brothers, attended St. John Church in Freeport. Before Freeport, Doug attended South Junior High School in Moorhead, Minnesota. After Freeport, his parents moved the family to Decatur where Doug graduated in 1964 from McArthur High School. He graduated from North Dakota State University in 1968.

Here is a link to Doug's page on Wikipedia.

Doug served in the Special Forces of the Army with a Studies & Observations Group (SOG). The SOG was a top-secret organization assigned to conduct covert missions behind enemy lines in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. By 1971, the SOG was used to cover the U.S. withdrawal.

In July of 1971, intelligence reported that a large enemy force was moving south. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) used the narrow 25-mile long A Shau Valley to move troops and supplies south toward Hue, Danang and Phu Bai, home of large American ground units. The 304th NVA Division had about 1500 soldiers at a staging area in the northern part of the A Shau Valley, known as Base Area 611.

Doug was a Recon Team leader of a 14-man special reconnaissance unit, RT Kansas, manned by six Green Berets and eight highly trained Montagnard commandos from Task Force One Advisory Element. His team had landed in the A Shau Valley of western Thua Thien Province and secured their position for the overnight mission almost within sight of the six-inch fuel pipeline the Hanoi High Command had laid across the Vietnamese De-Militarized Zone.

The team had taken up a position on a small hill and spent the night, receiving probing activities during the night. As dawn approached, trucks began to arrive filled with NVA. RT Kansas was equipped with only what they had on their backs, CAR 15's, grenade launchers and one M-60 machine gun. All 1500 enemy soldiers attacked their position at dawn on August 7, 1971. At a mismatch seven times greater than the Alamo, it was the most one-sided battle of the Vietnam War.

Doug led his recon team's defense, and when USASF Sgt. Bruce Allen Berg, 21, of Olympia, Washington, was hit by a rocket in one of the team's bunkers, Doug crawled towards Berg's position through heavy fire in an attempt to assist Berg, returning fire as he proceeded. Doug was killed searching for Berg.

Air support arrived, and the dead and wounded were evacuated. Three Americans and three Montagnard's were killed, along with 185 confirmed NVA. SSG Oran L. Bingham of Salt Lake City, Utah, was the third American killed that morning. Berg's body was never found. The combat action in which Doug was killed is described in the last chapter of John L. Plaster's book SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam (1997 Simon & Schuster).

Doug was only 25 at his death. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 28, Grave 1204. Fargo, North Dakota, has a Veteran's Memorial dedicated to Doug.

Doug, Berg and Bingam are memorialized together on the Vietnam War Memorial Wall on Panel 03W, Line 125.

Emil Handel

Staff Sgt. Emil Handel was killed August 25, 1970, in Bangkok, Thailand. He was a passenger in a bus which was struck by a passenger train.

He entered the Air Force in 1967 and had been serving with the Strategic Air Command in Michigan before going to Thailand.

He was a graduate of Aquin High School and Midstate College of Commerce in Rockford.

He is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery. He was just 26 years old. His widow Carol and son Stephen survived him.

Paul Hudson

Paul Hudson was a fireman serving aboard the U.S.S. Essex, a US Navy Aircraft Carrier, when he was electrocuted while working on April 16, 1964.

Jerry Jenner

PFC Jerry Elwyn Jenner was killed in a car accident while home on leave before being sent to Vietnam. He died October 7, 1968. He had been stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas. He served with Company D, 63 Engineering Construction Battalion.

I graduated from Freeport High School in 1966 with Jerry. I knew him since grade school. He is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery.

Donald Keep

Don in combat gear.


Don, center, in sweltering Vietnam.
(Photos courtesy Don's nephew, Clifford Keep, Jr.)

Dale Koertner

Dale Koertner, a Navy Seabee, died March 27, 1968. He was killed while at work at Virginia Beach, VA. He apparently fell from a boat into a barge-like section of an amphibious landing construction. Dale graduated from FHS in 1965.

Joel Koester

Marine Cpl. Joel Frederick Koester was Killed In Action on January 10, 1968. He died from a head wound while serving at Nui Con Thien, Vietnam, two days before his 19th birthday. He served with H Co, 2nd Bn, 1st Marines, 1st Mardiv, III MAF. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

While living in Freeport, he attended Lincoln School. A soldier who knew him wrote about his death. “The aftershocks of Vietnam are going to remain with us forever.” — Corporal Joel F. Koester

Dave Krueger

David Russel Krueger was a corporal in the army. He was Killed In Action March 17, 1970, while on a combat mission in Vietnam. He died of wounds received when an enemy booby trap exploded. Dave graduated from FHS in 1965. He was 22.

Dave in 1st grade, 1952.
(photo courtesy of Terry Dale Janssen)

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 12W, Line 013.

Larry Mack

SP5 Larry Wesley Mack of Pearl City was Killed In Action by a land mine on April 20, 1968.

He was a member of the 71st Assault Helicopter Company, 14th BN, 16th AVN group. He repaired helicopters.

A chopper went down and Larry's crew flew in to look for survivors. When they landed, Larry and another soldier approached the copter to see if anyone was alive. Both he and John Rodgers stepped on land mines. Both were killed. All the men in the downed chopper were killed, as well.

The helicopters were Huey Cobras, and the crews that repaired them were known as Snake Doctors. Larry was a crew chief in the maintenance area, known as the Snake Pit.

Larry was awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the National Defense, Vietnam Service and Vietnam Campaign Medals. He is on the Vietnam Memorial Wall at Panel 51E, Line 9, and is buried in Chapel Hill Cemetery. He was 23.

Stephen Osran

Stephen Osran died March 16, 1969, at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He was assigned to Eglin AFB in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. He became seriously ill and died at the hospital. Steve graduated from FHS in 1965.

Franklin Picking

Franklin William Picking was an Air Force Major. Originally listed as missing, he died on July 23, 1969 at age 38. He was piloting a plane in support of an army division when he was shot down over An Khe, Vietnam. Another source says his plane went down in Binh, Dinh, South Vietnam. He was an A-1G Skyraider pilot -- a propeller-driven, single-seat aircraft -- with the 6th Special Operations Squadron assigned to Pleiku Air Base. He was credited with flying 35 missions in the month of May, 1969. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 8, Site 5506-E.

Franklin was the older brother of one of my Class of 1966 classmates, Darius Picking. Darius was serving in the Navy off the coast of Vietnam when his brother died.

Franklin's name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 20W, Line 036.

Jerry Pool

Jerry Lynn Pool was a Green Beret Special Forces captain. He led a military team sent to Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia, as a U.S. long range reconnaissance patrol to check on enemy activity. Within an hour, his eight-man squad found the enemy, who aggressively chased them for three days. He called in a helicopter to evacuate his team when they came under heavy enemy fire.

The four-man helicopter team picked him up along with his two men and five Montagnard tribesmen. Moments after lifting off, the helicopter was hit by a rocket, exploded, crashed and burned. Because of heavy enemy fire, other helicopters nearby were not able to land and search for survivors. The crash site was about 23 miles southwest of the tri-border junction of Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam at the bottom of a valley with steep walls.

He was officially listed as missing and probably died on March 24, 1970, at age 23, in Cambodia. The crash site was found on April 12, 1995. He was declared dead on June 20, 2001, although his remains were never individually identified. On August 16, 2001, a group burial was conducted at Arlington National Cemetery for the seven Americans and the five Montagnards.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 12W, Line 040.

Richard Reed

Sgt. Richard Leon Reed of Rock City was killed in action December 7, 1970, when a booby trap detonated at a Da Nang area base near the DMZ in Quang Ngai Province. Richard took basic training at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.

Richard was sent to Non-Commissioned Officers School, where he earned the highest marks ever achieved at that time. He then went to Jump School. He was an army sergeant, assigned to Company B, First Battalion, 20th Infantry, 23rd Division (American Division).

Richard Reed was the last Stephenson County soldier to lose his life in the Vietnam War. He was only 21.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 06W, Line 113.

Ronald Schurch

Ronald Lee Schurch of Orangeville was a Lance Corporal in the Marines, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III MAF. He was an anti-tank assault man.

Ronald Schurch was killed in action in Thua Thien Province when a land mine exploded. He joined the Marines shortly after graduation. He died from hostile from multiple fragmentation wounds on June 26, 1967 at age 20.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 22E, Line 066.

Louie Shianna

The photos for this memorial to Louie Shianna were sent in by his nephew, Dr. Shawn Shianna of Freeport,"Thank you for putting my uncle on your website. I'm touched."

Louie Shianna	Click on this photo to enlarge it.

Louie John Shianna grew up in Red Oak and graduated from Orangeville High School. He & his wife were residents of Freeport at the time of his service. Louie was an SP4 in the army. He died from hostile fire on April 18, 1969 at age 25.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 26W, Line 004.

Fred Welker

Fred Carl Welker, Sp4 Army, of rural Lena was killed on December 13, 1970, in an auto accident while on his way home from Texas for a 30-day leave. He is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Freeport.

Willie Wright

CPL Willie Alfred Wright was killed in action November 6, 1967. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, our third highest award for gallantry, for repeatedly putting himself in danger while pulling wounded comrades from heavy enemy fire. Wright was leading a search and destroy mission when he and his men came under heavy fire. He died from small arms fire at Hill 823 Ngok Kim Leat, Kontum Province, South Vietnam.

He was on his second tour of duty and had been wounded five times previously. He served with C Company, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. His family had just moved to Stephenson County from Chicago in 1966. Willie Wright was 29 years old.

His name is on the Vietnam War Memorial, Panel 29E Line 037.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1 by Robert Bike

From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

Only $11.99 paperback; only $0.99 ebook.

Andrew Lancaster

Sergeant Andrew Wayne Lancaster of Stockton was killed in action in Iraq on August 11, 2007. Lancaster was with the 1st Battalion 30th Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia.

A sniper in Arab Jabour, Iraq (southeast of Baghdad), killed U.S. soldier PFC William L. Edwards, 23. Lancaster and seven other soldiers rushed the house where the gunman was holed up. One of the soldiers stepped on a buried pressure-triggered bomb at the house. Lancaster and three other soldiers died; four more were wounded in the blast. Killed alongside Lancaster were Army Specialist Justin O. Penrod, 24, of Mahomet, Illinois, Sergeant Scott L. Kirkpatrick, 26, of Reston, Virginia and Staff Sergeant William D. Scates, 31, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Andy Lancaster attended Stockton High School before graduating from Freeport High School in 2002.

He was previously deployed to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army's Elite Squadron, 173rd Airborne Brigade.

He earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, posthumously. House Resolution 704 was read on the Illinois House of Representatives floor honoring Lancaster.

Ft. Stewart honors soldiers from that base who are killed in action. A red bud tree was planted for Lancaster at Warriors Walk among the nearly 400 planted there. He is buried at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church Cemetery, Thompson Township, Jo Daviess County, Illinois.

Andrew Lancaster was only 23 years old.

Neil Petsche

Marine Lance Corporal Neil D. Petsche of Lena died while serving in Iraq on December 21, 2004, from injuries received in a non-hostile vehicle incident in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Petsche was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California. He is buried in Lena Burial Park, Lena, Illinois.

Neil Petsche was only 21 years old.

Norman Cain III

Spc. Norman Lewis Cain III, a 2006 graduate of Freeport High School, was killed in action on Sunday, March 15, 2009, in Kot, Nangarhar Province, in eastern Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near his vehicle. He was killed instantly.

Cain enlisted in the Illinois National Guard in July 2007 and served in Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry. This was his first deployment. He arrived in Afghanistan in late October 2008. He was a part of the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), providing security for Provincial Reconstruction Teams that are helping the Afghan government build roads, hospitals, government buildings and other infrastructure.

Also killed were two other soldiers from his unit, Sgt. Christopher Abeyta, 23, of Midlothian, and Spc. Robert Weinger, 24, of Round Lake Beach, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy L. Bowles, 24, from Tucson, Arizona. Cain, Abeyta and Weinger were the 9th, 10th and 11th deaths from the Illinois Army National Guard’s 33rd IBCT since their deployment to Afghanistan. Eight of the deaths occurred in 2009. Cain died at the scene, while Abeyta and Weinger were taken to a hospital in Jalabad, Afghanistan, where they died.

Cain was a resident of Mount Morris. He attended Highland Community College Auto Mechanics School. He was survived by his wife Brigette and his two children, a step-daughter, Fallon Spielman, and a son, Toryn Cain. His grandmother was my classmate in 1966, Pamela Harnish Wise.

Norman Cain was just 22 years old. He is buried in North Grove Christian Cemetery, Egan, Illinois.

Here is a video tribute to Norman Cain from Memorial Day 2012. Selma Blair recites Gold Star Widow Brigette Cain's story on this PBS concert:

All sales go to help support this website.

Remarkable Stories, Volume 1
by Robert Bike

Remarkable events have happened in Freeport and Stephenson County, Illinois, and remarkable people have lived there. These are stories gathered about people and events from 1835 through World War II.

By no means complete, these are overviews of lives and events which shaped our country and our world. From events in the lives of Tutty Baker, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Guiteau, Leonard Colby, Jane Addams and Bob Wienand come stories that will amaze you. Welcome to Volume 1 of our living history.

The author lives in Eugene, Oregon, and works as a Licensed Massage Therapist and Life Coach. An amateur historian, parts of these stories and many more appear on his website, www.robertbike.com.

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