WALTERS, Eilert Jr. 1914-2001
WALTERS, KAISER, WOLTERS
Posted By: Burdette (email)
Date: 8/29/2010 at 19:15:35
Eilert Walters, Jr., 86
Funeral services for Eilert Walters, Jr., 86, of Wellsburg, were Monday, Jan. 8, at 1:30 p.m. at the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, rural Wellsburg. Burial was in the church cemetery. Military honors were conducted by the American Legion Post #213, Wellsburg. A memorial fund has been established. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Redig Funeral Home, Aurelia.
Mr. Walters died Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001, at the Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo following a brief illness.
Eilert Walters Jr., was born on Nov. 2, 1914, to Eilert and Fannie (Frauke Janssen Kaiser) Wolters at the home of his grandparents, Harm and Geertje E. Goldhorn Walters, 1 1/4 mile south of Buck Grove in Pleasant Valley Township, Grundy County. In 1917, the family moved to the John Slight farm 3/4 mile south of Buck Grove. Eilert was baptized on March 5, 1923, in the Reformed Faith by the Reverend Dirk Siemsen. He attended church at Pleasant Valley Reformed Church.
He completed school through the 8th grade at Pleasant Valley No. 5. Due to his mother's death, he then remained at home and farmed with his father along with doing trucking, custom farming and hauling gravel and coal.
In 1931, Eilert and his father moved to their own farm which had been purchased the year before by Eilert, Sr.
Eilert Walters, Jr. entered military service on March 18, 1942, at Ft. Des Moines in the United States Army-Coast Artillery. He received his basic training at Camp Wallace, TX. He was stationed at Ft. Bliss near El Paso, TX where he joined the 402 AAA-2nd-Bn. From October 10 to March 1, 1943, he was stationed at Portsmouth, VA, where he served as Tec. 5 in the 402 Coast Artillery Anti-Aircraft Bn. until it was dissolved.
On May 21, 1943, he arrived at Camp Davis, NC and joined the 205 AA-AW-Bn. He left there on September 7, 1943, arriving at Camp Stoneman, CA, on the 12. Shortly, he left on the U.S.S. Middleton, arriving in the Fiji Islands on October 3. He left the gun position there on March 16, 1944. In November, Eilert went to New Guinea, arriving to prepare for the invasion of the Empire of Japan. On February 27, 1945, he departed on the 468 L.S.T. and arrived in Mindora, Philippines on March 13. He changed to the gun position June 9 at the command post until September 19.
He was in Duma Gueto, Las Negras Island on November 7, leaving there to arrive on Laytee Island December 7, 1945. He departed there on the U.S.S. Rockingham, returning to Camp Pendelton, CA, on December 23. He was discharged from active duty on January 2, 1946, at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, with the rank of Tec. 5, which was a portable power generator operator.
Eilert received medals for Good Conduct, Liberation of the Philippines with one Bronze Star, the Overseas Asiatic medal and a lapel button issued ASR Score 71.
On June 12, 1946, Eilert married Mary (Maria) Kaiser at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Young America, Carver County, MN, by the Reverend W. P. Kramer. To this union one son was born, Burdette E. Walters.
Walters received a diploma for completion of systematic instruction in farm training in agriculture from the Parkersburg High School on June 30, 1949. Eilert and Mary farmed in Grundy County on his father's farm south of Buck Grove. Early in their marriage, Eilert did custom work for neighbors.
On March 18, 1960, they moved to Mary's mother's farm northeast of Wellsburg. They continued to farm and feed cattle until their retirement in 1973.
They moved to their new home, designed by Mary, at 610 8th Street in Wellsburg, on November 25, 1976. Mary died in her sleep at their home on June 9, 1999, and was buried on their 53rd wedding anniversary, June 12, 1999.
Eilert was a member of the St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wellsburg where he served on the church board. He was a 50-year member of the American Legion Post #213 and he was a charter member of the Wellsburg Historical Foundation.
Eilert is survived by his son, Burdette E. Walters of Wellsburg; three sisters-in-law, Emma (Mrs. Herman) Walters of Eldora, Bena (Mrs. Willie) Walters of Allison and Verdena Kaiser (Mrs. Carl) Brower of Holland; six nephews, Kenneth and Martha Walters, Grundy Center, Eilert Lee and Bonnie Walters, Parkersburg, Jake and Lillian Walters, New Hartford, Robert and Darlene Brower, Bernard Brower and Charles Brower, all of Holland; four nieces, Duane and Beverly (Walters) Patterson, Parkersburg, Michael and Betty (Walters) Smith, Clear Lake, Mary June and Nancy Brower, Holland; and many great nieces and nephews, extended family members and friends.
Eilert was preceded in death by his wife, Mary; his parents; two brothers, Herman and Willie; one sister-in-law, Martha (Mrs. Herman) Walters; and one brother-in-law, Carl Brower.
--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 11 January 2001, pg 10
[correction by Burdette: grandparents, Harm and Geertje E. Goldhorn Walters should be Harm and Geertje E. Goldhorn Wolters]
Grundy Obituaries maintained by Tammy D. Mount.
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