Kaukauna Times
By Lyle Hansen
February 2, 1945
Mr. and Mrs. Mike Courtney, Gertrude street, received a letter Tuesday from Ted Malone, Network’s War correspondent that he had met your daughter, Lieutenant Eileen Courtney overseas in Europe theater operations. The program will air on February 7 at 7 o’clock in the evening. “You will be able to hear her voice when she is introduced.”
“Corp. Francis Jansen
is recovering in an Army hospital in France,” writes Captain John Hall his
company commander. “He has an eye injury so both eyes are covered to avoid movement.
I was also injured so I am helping where I can. Mrs. Jansen your son is a true
hero and I'm proud to have him in my company and right now he wants to go back
and fight the Germans but that will have to wait. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll
be perfect again. He has the best of care.”
Pfc. Herbert Miller is a member of a tank
Battalion which received accommodation for its performance in battles in the
Pacific area.
Private Mel Paul is currently at Goodfellow Field,
Texas. Paul has been there about 18 months soon after completing his work as
arranger for the Irving Berlin stage show and movie, “This is the Army”, he has
supplied the field with professional talent on numerous occasions for
entertainment that elated local audiences.
At the annual meeting of Kaukauna Building and
Loan Association held Tuesday the articles of incorporation were amended, and
the name was changed to the Kaukauna Savings and Loan Association. The building
and loan Association was organized July 5, 1887, as a cooperative venture to
encourage the building of homes and saving money to be used for building or
purchasing a home. C. J. Hansen was reelected president, W. C. Hess, vice
president, Leo H. Schmalz, Sec. and H. S. Cooke Treas.
Second Lieut. Elroy J.
Peters, Kaukauna, was awarded a second oak leaf cluster to his air medal.
Lieut. Peters is a bombardier on a B-17 flying fortress and is a veteran of
many of the eighth Air Force's huge daylight precision bombing assaults in
German
February 7, 1945
Pfc. George B. Noie was injured in action on
January 18 in Belgium. This is the second time he's been wounded, the first
being June 29 in France. He was awarded the Purple Heart at that time.
In a letter written to the common Council,
Mayor A. F. Nelson charges that the cost of administering relief in the city is
too high. He asked for an investigation to be made to determine whether it
would be possible to reduce the number of relief cases at Kaukauna. He compared
the $12,000 spent on relief in Kaukauna with $8000 spent at Neenah with a
larger population.
George R. Greenwood, chairman of the March
of Dimes drive, announced Tuesday that the total received by the committee up
to that time was $635.26.
Sgt. Leo Vandenberg is a howitzer section chief
with the 337th Wolverine Regiment which recently took Mount Patrone, digging
German soldiers out of elaborate concrete pillboxes on its slopes. The battle
was continuous for three days and nights.
Seaman Richard Wendt writes that he enjoyed a
20-minute visit with Henry Maes somewhere in the South Pacific. The boys were
stationed on LST boats operating in the same vicinity. They knew each other's
boats, but it was not possible to meet for nearly 9 months even though they
were short distance apart.
Sgt. Promer is with the infantry division of
the first Army that fought during the blizzard in the battle of the Belgium
“bulge.” I am currently in a rest area at this time. He wrote to his parents
that “most of us will have to thaw out for a few days and that the condition of
my feet is improving.”
Holding a smaller New London team to 8 points
and one basket until the last quarter while plowing up 33 points for themselves
in the same time in KHS cagers romped to an easy 37 to 20 win over the Bulldogs
Friday evening.
February 9, 1945
Harold Engerson is the new assistant
chief of police, receiving his appointment from the Chief of Police James
McFadden.
A further cut in
passenger tires quotas has been ordered for February by the rationing board of
Outagamie County. The reason for the shortage is explained in two words
“military needs”.
February 14, 1945
It’s been seen before and now it happened again
Kaukauna won the first half and lost the second half to Shawano by a score of
25-18. The Kaukauna fans were greatly disappointed in the poor playing.
Seabee Ervin Lucassen, 19 of Kaukauna, had been
killed in action on January 11 in the South Pacific. He had been in service since Sept. 1943.
Anderson Service
Hardware will begin to rebuild after being destroyed by fire last November.
Carl Anderson said he has received the necessary permit from the war production
board.
February 16, 1945
Second Lieutenant Floyd Hopfensperger, 23,
Kimberly, was killed in action in France on Feb. 2, according to word received
by his parent Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hopfensperger.
Richard “Red” Smith announced his
resignation recently as coach of the Milwaukee Brewers to accept a similar
position with the Chicago Cubs.
For three high school cagers, tonight's game
with Clintonville will be more than just another game. To Fred Nack, Bill
Landreman and Bob La Plante, all seniors, it means the last home game of their
high school career.
Tech. Sgt. Norman Ashe
is back in the states after being wounded. He is now in a Military hospital in
South Caroline
L. C. Smith has been appointed general chairman of
the Red Cross drive which will start in Kaukauna Thursday.
Tech Sgt. George J. Weyenberg, Little Chute, is
a supply clerk with the 15th Air Force command that received a accommodation
from the base commander at Corpus Christi, Texas. The engineers working 24
hours a day have repaired 126 fighter planes and one heavy bomber since it
started serving the group.
Cpl. Karl H. Minkebige is now located somewhere
in the Pacific area according to a letter received by the Times. He tells of a
strange coincidence which happened while in the mid-Pacific. He was crossing
the International Date Line and lost the day, which happened to be on his
birthday. Karl says, “I’ll just have to
go without a birthday this year.”
Sgt. Elmer Whitman, Kaukauna, was reported to
have been in a recent battle in which German planes bombed and scraped behind
the line supply depots in Belgium. The clerk's typist and truck drivers of the
headquarters group manned 50 caliber machine guns and were placed on 24-hour
duty during the emergency.
On February 10 the bag mill employees of the
Thilmany Pulp and Paper Company had completed 1,001,424 workhours since the
last disabling injury which occurred on April 28, 1940. On average of 90 people
are employed at the mill of which 50 are women, according to L. C. Smith,
personnel director.
February 21, 1945
Maj. Clyde E. Bay, Kaukauna, is acquainted with
his 26-month son, Clyde Jr. while on a 21-day leave in Miami, Fla. Major Bay is
a Wisconsin University graduate and learned Chinese while in India and Burma
and got acquainted with the Chinese G.I. Joe's.
The Kaukauna high cagers finally came alive in
the last half of the game to take a 42 to 35 decision from a hard fighting
Clintonville team here Friday night.
Lehman showed very well offensively and defensively, pumping in eight
buckets and a free throw to take individual scoring honors. The practice of
missing most of their free throws seems to have become a habit for the Kaws,
who had 17 chances and only made six of them.
February 23, 1945
We at the Times received an interesting letter
from staff Sgt. Leroy W. Seifert, stationed in England with a finance
distributing unit. He says he likes it there. A week ago we had a touch of
winter and a little snow but the sun came out now and the snow is gone.
Flight officer Robert O. Nettekoven was awarded
the bronze Oak leaf cluster for meritorious achievement while participating in
aerial flights in September. He had previously been awarded the air medal.
An order requiring that all taverns, night
clubs and places of amusement be closed promptly at 12 midnight will go into
effect Monday, February 26. War mobilization Dir. James F Byers issued the
directive. Chief of police James E McFadden declared that Kaukauna with its 27
license taverns will support the law 100% and will be pleased to do so if it
will support the war effort.
February 28, 1945
“Rah, rah!” “Let’s give the Fight Team Fight”
and such yells are echoed around the gymnasium at all the school affairs. These
cheers represent at least three hours of practice each week. As in previous
years, graduation is always bound to claim some of the popular cheerleaders
from basketball, football and boxing events. Three seniors will be leaving at
the end of this year. They are Pat Miller, Norman “Muzz” Janssen, and Dolores
“Blondie” Rieth.
N.
Leigh, J. Bauer, P. Miller, B. Faust, D. Rieth, N. Janssen.
E.
Keough, G. LaBorde, E. Bernard.
From Kaukauna Papyrus 1945
Two brothers meet in the Philippines. Pfc.
George Steffens writes that he met his brother, Sgt. Williams Steffens in the
Philippines. They had not seen each other for 2 1/2 years. George said he knew
his brother's unit was nearby and took a long time before he found him. They
only had one hour together that day. William had been overseas for about 90
months and had been in a number of campaigns being hospitalized several times
with minor injuries.
Staff Sgt. Matt Leonard, who was seriously
wounded while serving with General Patton's army in Germany, is expected to
return to the states very soon. He is now hospitalized in England. He went
overseas in February 1944, landing in England and was transferred to France in
August. He was seriously wounded on December 10.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert De Bruin Desnoyer
Street now have four sons serving in
the military. Staff Sgt. Alvin De Bruin, Marine Corps, Cpl. Carl De Bruin,
Army, Pvt. first class Cal De Bruin, Army, and the latest member Seaman
Frederick De Bruin entered the Navy.
Pfc. Kenneth Reinholz was slightly wounded in
action January 28 in the Pacific war zone. He is a 1942 graduate of Kaukauna
high school and in the Army since March 1943, being overseas for 16
months.
George Proper Jr. was surprised one day by
receiving a huge package from his uncle, Capt. Robert G. Meyer, Marine Corps.
The package contained a bow, seven arrows and a spear, made by the natives on
the Solomon Islands. The souvenirs can be seen on display in the Meyer Drug
store window.
We received an interesting letter at the Times from Cpl. Willard Keil who is serving in Europe. Although he cannot say where he is located, he did state that he received his pay in German money. He says he's been in the European theater for going on two years and has been receiving the Times regularly and wants to thank the Times for the splendid job of getting the paper to the boys over here.
Private Robert E. Nack, Kaukauna, has been
awarded the combat infantryman's badge for combat action against the enemy in
Italy. He is serving with the fifth Army.
First Lieut. Casimir J. Casper is a pilot
assigned to Cazas air base, Casablanca, in the North African division of the
air transport command. His wife Marina Duprey Casper is living with her parents
on W. 4th St. Kaukauna.
Sgt. Edward H. Jirikowic has been cited by his
commanding officer for courageous performance during the battle for Leyte. He
is with the 82nd infantry division in the Philippines.
Missing nine of the 15 free throws the Kaw
cagers again learned the hard way that free throws are important. They
outscored Menasha in the field goal department but then absorbed a 28 to 26
beating on the Jays court Friday evening.
Notes from the Armed Forces
Flight Officer D. J. Rohlinger. 4th
Street, will soon complete an intensive course in combat flying at Alexandria,
La.
Private John Grogan is
home on furlough this week after finishing basic training at Camp Walters,
Texas
Sgt. Harold Walsh has
been promoted to Staff Sgt. he is stationed in the Philippines and is in charge
of one of the mess halls there.
Staff Sgt. Jack Winn is
currently stationed in the Philippines.
RT 3/c Virginia Mae
Phillips returned yesterday to Philadelphia, Pa., after a short visit with her
parents.
Tech, Sgt. John E.
Kerry has arrived in France. He is with the ordinance division.
Tech. Sgt. Russell J.
Gerrits has arrived in France.
Arnold Vaubel, serving
in the South Pacific area, has been promoted from Pfc. to Cpl. His brother
seaman Donald Vaubel has recently made his first trip to the South Pacific
zone.
Cpl. Nicholas H.
Dercks, Little Chute, is a cook with the US seventh Army ninth evacuation
hospital. The ninth has been in continuous operation for more than two years
and has treated more than 41,932 allied and enemy patients.
Five young men enlisted
in the Navy during the last week. They are Duane C. Wheaton, Michael J. Effa,
Robert R. Kappell, John E. Weber and Robert Kobs.
T/5
J. Willems, serving with the Signal Corps, has returned from 28 months overseas
in European theater.
Pfc.
Robert Schuh is spending a 10-day furlough at home. He is now stationed at
Norman, Ok.
The following men were inducted in the Army:
Robert H. Steyvenberg – Kimberly
Theodore
M. De Kleyn – Kimberly
Donald
K. Balk – Kaukauna
Robert
H. Biese – Kaukauna
Percy
P. Garvey – Kaukauna
Glenn
W. Hass – Kaukauna
Norbert
C. Hilleger – Kaukauna
Jerome
VandenHeuvel – Kaukauna
Joseph
H. Reynebeau – Little Chute
In the Marine Corps:
Robert
C. School – Kaukauna
In the Navy:
Howard
H. Gerrke – Kaukauna
John
J. Sosman – Kaukauna
Emroy
G. Daelke – Kaukauna
Gerhardt
H. Grietzmacher – Kaukauna
Adam
A. Miller – Kaukauna
Clarence
C. Dercks – Little Chute
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Coxswain Frances Giordana is spending a 10-day
leave with his parents. He is currently stationed at Oceanside, Calf.
Pvt. Arthur Pruess recently spent an 8-day
furlough at Kaukauna with his wife.
Genevieve M. Bergman is spending a 7-day leave
with her parents. She will then report to the naval hospital at San Diego,
Calif.
Pvt. Rita Verhagen, a member of the Women’s
Army Corps, recently left for the Army hospital at Camp Berkeley, Texas.
Pfc. Joseph V. Shablak is enjoying a 14-day
furlough at home. He will return to Camp Maxey, Texas.
Sgt.
John R. Keough spent the weekend with his parents. He is stationed at Fort
Knox, Ky.
Pvt. LeRoy J. Balza has
reported to Keesler Field, Biloxi, Miss.
Edwin L. Rosenow has
been promoted to corporal. He is on duty with the 6th air force in
Panama.
Keith Ploetz, 18, has
enrolled recently in a radio Navel school in Indianapolis. Ind.
LeRoy Seifert, who is
stationed in England has been promoted to Staff Sergeant.
Second, Lieut. John W.
Lindstrom has arrived at Randolph field, Texas to take Army Air Force command
courses. Overseas Lieut. Lindstrom flew
a P-38 fighter on escort missions.
Pvt. Raymond Van
Stiphout spent a three-day furlough with his wife and family. He is currently
stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
