The heroes of Madison County in WWII
County's World War II dead include cross-section of service
“You never lived to see
”What you gave to me
”One shining dream of hope and love
”Life and liberty…”
— “Requiem for a Soldier” (theme from “Band of Brothers”), Frank John Musker, Michael Arnold Kamen.
EARLHAM — Two weeks ago I was asked to give a talk on cusp of Memorial Day weekend at the historic Bricker-Price Block building in the picturesque farming community of Earlham in Madison County.
The topic of my talk was to be Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers who died together during World War II, as part of Bricker-Price Block’s Senior Speaker Series.
It was a topic I’m very familiar with, having grown up in Waterloo and written about the Sullivan brothers most of my journalism career.
To give the topic local context, however, I began researching those in Madison County who, like the Sullivans, had given their lives in World War II.
It was a difficult project.
I found about 50 individuals who had lost their lives in the war. Each story was heartbreaking. Taken as a whole, I believe these individuals are a representative cross-section of the of the various kinds service and sacrifice of all who served our country in uniform during the war.
Two died in the attack at Pearl Harbor. Several were involved in the Normandy invasion which began 81 years ago today. Two died of starvation or disease in German or Japanese prisoner of war camps. One died while transporting wounded and liberated prisoners of war to safety. Some died in accidents after surviving horrifying combat or in mishaps at sea. Several died in training flights or were shot down or lost on combat missions.
It was in that last group that I ran across a story that affected my own family, one I had heard since a child. Its significance resonates with me today and will as long as I live.
Vern Simmons was a navigator/gunner on a B-26 Martin Marauder bomber and died at an English hospital on D-Day+2, June 8, 1944 — 81 years ago this Sunday.
The B-26 Marauder in which he was flying crashed on the side of a mountain near Friston, Sussex County, England.
He had completed 45 missions over enemy territory and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf clusters.
According to one of the medals’ citations, he was decorated "for meritorious achievement” on missions “where enemy anti-aircraft fire experiences and exposure to attack by enemy fighter airplanes involved great personal danger to all members of the crew."
Tech Sgt. Simmons was employed at The Rath Packing Co. in Waterloo before entering service. He was married at Lakeland, Fla., on July 10, 1943, to Elizabeth Kinney of Waterloo. I knew her as Betty. She was my cousin — the daughter of my father’s oldest brother
Betty worked with my mom at the Quick Lunch restaurant in downtown Waterloo for my grandmother, Molly Ernster Kinney Byers, and step grandfather, World War I veteran Frank "Barney" Byers.
In July 1944, a day before Betty learned of Vern’s death, their son, my second cousin Tom Simmons, was born.
In my dad's World War II diary there is a photo of my Grandma Molly holding two little infant boys under either arm. One is my cousin, Tom Simmons. The other is my oldest brother Mike.
Our dad came home from World War II. Tom’s didn’t. Had the tables been turned, I and a good part of my family would not be here today.
That’s the price of liberty.
The numbers and stories on Madison County World War II dead were too many to read in my talk. I didn’t want the research to go to waste and I didn’t want their stories to be forgotten. So here they are — as many as I could find and research.
Thanks to Iowa Gen Web, the Winterset Madisonian, Newspapers.com, Find A Grave and the good volunteers who post to those sites. The photo here is of the Winterset Veterans Memorial.
Lest we forget.
Madison County World War II dead:
-- Benona “Beni” Franklin Abegg, Navy Reserve, was killed in the Strait of Sicily, July 1944.
--Garland Emory Ackelson served in General George S. Patton’s U.S. Third Army. He saw action in France, Luxembourg and Germany and was awarded the Bronze Star. He drowned in Traunsee Lake, in Austria May 21, 1945, two weeks after V-E Day, marking the end of the war in Europe.
--Clayton L. Adams, U.S. Army, an ammo bearer in Co. M. 2nd Battalion of the Iowa National Guard’s 133rd Infantry regiment of the 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, was killed in action Oct. 29, 1944 near Florence, Italy. He had served with the unit through all the previous campaigns in North Africa and Italy.
---Dale E. Bell, U.S. Army, Co. S 109th Infantry, was killed in action March 13, 1945 in Germany.
--Harold Edward Bloomquist, U.S. Navy, died with more than 300 shipmates when the destroyer USS Spence capsized and sank in Typhoon Cobra near the Philippines Dec. 18. 1944. There were only 24 survivors. Two other destroyers also sank with a total loss of nearly 800 lives. The battleship USS Iowa sustained its most serious damage of the war in that storm.
--Orville Breeding, U.S. Army 110th Infantry, was a prisoner of war, captured in the Battle of Bulge near Bastogne, Belgium Dec. 12, 1944. He died of starvation in Stalag 9B, April 18, 1945, according to a July 11, 1945 article in the Winterset Madisonian.
--Edward L. Briggle, U.S. Army 418th Ordnance Evacuation Company, died in a vehicle accident near Tremblois, France April 25, 1945.
--Edward Butcher of Macksburg, U.S. Army 32nd Division, was killed in the Battle of Villa Verde Trail on the island of Luzon in the Philippines on May 2, 1945
--Herbert Ross Chickering, a U.S. Army Air Force pilot, was killed with 30 crew and passengers when his C-46 medevac transport plane crashed into a cloud-shrouded radar tower near Hazelmere England, on May 6, 1945, two days before V-E Day. He and his crew were flying American, British and Canadian wounded and liberated prisoners of war back to England for further treatment and repatriation.
--2nd Lt. George Delbert Clark, U.S. Army Air Force, was killed with six crew members when his B-17 Flying Fortress bomber crashed on a training flight near Bandera, Texas March 21, 1944.
--Sgt. Scott Edward Cole of Winterset served in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 101s Airborne Division – the “Band of Brothers.” He received the Silver Star for gallantry in action in the D-Day invasion. He was killed September 25, 1944 in Operation Market Garden in Veghel, North Brabant, Holland.
--U.S. Navy Ensign Floyd Craven was killed in January 1944 with the B-24 aircraft he was flying crashed into a mountain in the Philippines. He was buried at sea.
--Pfc. Russell “Bus” Davis, born in Earlham and raised in Winterset, served in the 38th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, U.S. First Army, under General Courtney Hodges. He was killed in action in Germany April 13, 1945. He was 36 years old and survived by a wife and five children. He is buried in Earlham Cemetery.
--Sgt. Wilbert E. Dodd of Truro served in the U.S. Army. He was reported killed in early April 1945. No other information was available.
--Private Lloyd M. Edwards served in the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. He was killed March 17, 1945 and is buried at Henri-Chappellle American Cemetery in Belgium.
--Sgt. William H. Edwards was the crew chief on an Army transport plane when it crashed near Sweetwater Texas on April 20, 1945. Eleven officers and 14 enlisted men, some returning from combat in Europe, were killed in the crash, including Sgt. Edwards and Private Kenneth W. Carlson of Oskaloosa.
-- U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Norman Felton, who was born in Clear Lake and lived in Winterset, served as an automatic rifleman in H Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. He was killed March 16, 1945 in the Battle of Iwo Jima. According to an article in the Aug. 2, 1945 Mason City Globe-Gazette, he was shot in the chest while leading his squad against a fortified enemy position. A few days earlier he led his squad in a successful attack on another enemy position for which he was awarded the Silver Star. He was survived by a wife and two children and is buried in Winterset Cemetery.
--George Perry Foote Jr. was a U.S. Navy storekeeper third class and one of 429 shipmates killed on the USS Oklahoma when it was torpedoed and capsized in the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. His and some 30 other shipmates' remans were identified by the U.S. Department of Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency in October 2021 and interred at the National Military Cemtery of the Pacific at the Punchbowl Crater in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 2021.
--Harold Flaugh served as a bombardier in the 44th Bomber Group, Heavy, 67th Bomber Squadron. His B-24 Liberator bomber went missing over Holland after a mission over Wesel, Germany and was believed to have crashed near Bohoven, Holland. No trace of the plane or crew was found and it was listed as missing in action or lost at sea. Flaugh's name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, Belgium
--Technician Fifth class John W Garner of Truro was killed March 6, 1945 in Europe serving with the 36th Tank Battalion, 8th Armored Division, which was in heavy fighting near the Rhine River in Germany at the time of his death.
--Edwin E. Henry was killed Nov. 12, 1944 serving with the U.S. Navy off Leyte Island in the Pacific. He is buried in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville, Ky.
--Eugene F. Holmes served in World War II with the U.S. Army and died May 21, 1943 as the result of an airplane accident on a training flight while serving as a member of Battery A, 33rd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Training Regiment. He was flying solo and two other airmen, a flight instructor and a trainee, were killed in midair collision near Denton, Texas.
— Lloyd Andrew Hudson of Macksburg was serving in an anti-tank unit when he was killed in France Sept, 15, 1944.
--Glen Charles Johnson, 29 of Winterset was killed April 14, 1945, fighting in Italy. He had lived in Adel, worked at an ordnance plant in Ankeny prior to entering the Army and was survived by a wife and three children.
---U.S. Army Air Force Lieut. R. Glenn Leach of Boulder Colo., son of Mrs. Laura Leach of Winterset, was killed in line of duty in a mid-air crash between two large army airplanes March 18, 1943 near Winslow, Ariz.
--Tech Sgt. 4th Class John J. Linnane of Bevingon in Crawford Township was killed in combat in Belgium Dec. 23, 1944. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Jefferson Township.
--Ben Kiddoo Jr., born in Minnesota and raised near Macksburg, served the 313th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division. He participated in the Normandy invasion at Utah Beach and saw action at Cherbourg and two other engagements before being killed July 7, 1944 in France. He is buried at the national cemetery at Rock Island Ill.
--Kenneth H. Kinney of Winterset served as a radioman third class on the U.S. Navy minesweeper USS Quail in the Philippines before being captured in the fall of Corregidor in May 1942. The Quail was scuttled to prevent capture by the enemy. Kinney died in the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp in the Philippines of cerebral malaria. His mother was notified of his death Aug. 26, 1943.
--Robert E. Lowe was a navigator on a C-47 transport plan in the 80th Squadron, 436th Troop Carrier Group. He and two crewmates including the pilot were killed April 13, 1945 when their plane crashed at Wenigenlupnitz Airfield, Germany. He is buried at Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten, the Netherlands, He received the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters in addition to his Purple Heart.
--Clyde Lull was killed in combat in November 1944 serving with the 100th Division in France. The division was engaged in fighting in the Vosges Mountains region of Alsace-Lorraine, France, near Remy at the time.
---U.S. Navy Lt. JG James Dean Martin was flying a mission over Borneo when his Lockheed PV-1 patrol bomber went missing over the northeast coast. No trace of the plane or crew was found after a three-day search; it was believed weather was a factor. He and crew were declared killed in action in 1946. His name is listed on the Manila American Cemetery memorial in the Philippines.
--Floyd E. McLarnand of Winterset was a private in the 147th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division. He was killed in action by enemy fire near Nancy, France on Sept. 20, 1944. He is buried at Lorraine American Cemtery and Memorial in Lorraine, France.
--David B. Miles of Winterset was a first lieutenant in the 136th Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard, 33rd Infantry Division. He was killed March 30, 1945 in fighting on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. He is buried in Winterset Cemetery.
--Morris R. Patty was a technical sergeant in the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment,17th Airborne Division. He was killed in Germany March 26, 1945. He is buried at Netherlands American Cemtery at Maastrict, the Netherlands and has a memorial marker at East Linn Cemetery in Redfield. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidty in action."
--Sgt. Harold M. Pinckney , born in Macksburg, served with the U.S. Army Air Force in the China-Burma-India theater of the war. He died of cerebral malaria July 1, 1944 in Burma. He is buried a Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.
--Rolland Eugene Pryor of Earlham served in the U.S. Marine Corps, entering service the day after high school graduation. He was killed July 21, 1944, as Marines captured Mount Aifan in first day of fighting to retake the island of Guam. He is buried in Earlham Cemetery.
--Charles Leo Rehbein served in Company B of the 17th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division. He was reported missing and declared dead in the Battle of Okinawa on April 21, 1945. He received the Bronze Star. His name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing Honolulu Memorial at the National Military Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii and he has a memorial marker at Trinity German Lutheran Cemetery in Madison County.
--George Albert Robshaw of Peru in Madison County served with the Army's 358th Infantry Regiment, 90th Division. He was killed in action near Fontoy, France Sept. 9, 1944. He is buried in Peru Cemetery.
--Dale E. Schoonover served on a machine gun squad with the 393rd Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division and was killed in action in Belgium on Dec. 17, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. His remains were returned from Europe and buried in Winterset Cemtery in 1947.
— Tech Sgt. Vernon Simmons served with the U.S. Army Air Force 558th Bomb Squadron and was a radioman and gunner on a B-26 Martin Marauder bomber. He had completed 45 missions over enemy territory. He was killed June 8, 1944 when his bomber crashed into the side of a mountain in England. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with one silver and four bronze Oak Leaf Clusters. Before military service he had been employed at the Rath Packing Company in Waterloo and was survived by a wife and son.
Harold Laurence Smith was Winterset High School class of 1943 valedictorian, participating in basketball, band and glee club, and was Madison County spelling champion in 1938. He attended the Iowa State University College of Engineering for a year. He served in the Army's 1255th Combat Engineer Battalion. He died of wounds suffered in combat in Vianden, Luxembourg on February 12, 1945 at the age of 19 and is buried in the Winterset City Cemetery, He served with the battalion headquarters and service company and was electrician an alternative chemist for the battalion. He also performed construction work in Cherbourg while stationed there. He was honored in a ceremony at Gold Star Hall at Iowa State University’s Memorial Union in 2012.
--John Sylvester Smith. born in Earlham Jan. 10, 1921, was the first Madison County resident to die in World War II. A second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, he was killed when his fighter plane crashed on a training flight near Woodbury, N.J. Aug. 3. 1942. He had enlisted in the Air Force while in his junior year at the University of Oklahoma. He is buried at Winterset Cemetery.
-Billy James Stewart of Macksburg served in the 23rd Infantry Regiment as part of the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, He was killed July 12, 1944 in the hedgerow fighting around St. Lo in France as part of the Normandy invasion. He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France. He has a memorial marker at Moon Cemetery, Grand River Township, Madison County.
--Floyd James Strong, a seaman second class in the United States Naval Reserve, drowned in a mishap while serving on LST landing ship USS Crook County (LST-611) in New Orleans on June 7, 1944, less than three weeks after the ship had been commissioned into service. He was survived by a wife and two young children. He is buried in Penn Center Cemetery.
--Aaron Gerald Stump, born in Van Meter and raised in Earlham and De Soto, served in the 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division. He was injured in the Normandy invasion and died of his injuries June 16, 1944. He is buried in St. Charles Cemetery
--Theodore R. (Ted) Tucker, was an electrician's mate first class aboard the troop transport USS Storm King in the South Pacific. He died in a non-combat death Aug. 21, 1944, as the ship was between the Saipan and Palau campaigns.
--1st Lt. Rex Robert Wade served with the U.S. Army 101st Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division. He was wounded in action on Dec. 1, 1944 and died of those wounds Dec. 4, 1944. The unit was involved in an action on Sarre-Union in northeastern France at the time. He is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint Avold, France.. He was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.
--Merl Morris Welty served with the U.S. Army 133rd Infantry, 34th “Red Bull” Infantry Division, Iowa National Guard and was killed in Italy Nov. 4, 1943 along the "Gothic Line" in the Apennine Mountains region. He is buried in Keokuk National Cemetery, Keokuk, IA.
--Wernald Oren Wetrich was among the 58 sailors killed when the USS Utah was torpedoed and sunk at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He is listed at the USS Utah memorial at Pearl Harbor near the ship, which was never salvaged and remains where it sank.
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. They are listed here. Clink on their individual links to check them out, subscribe for free - and, if you believe in the value of quality journalism, support this column and/or any of theirs with a paid subscription. Thank you.
Thank you for delving into my home county's legacy of service.
Thank you.