Cpl. Dennis E Pingel (1924-1945)

PINGEL

Posted By: jane austin (email)
Date: 6/12/2021 at 21:05:24

Memorial Service for D.E. Pingel

Memorial Services for Cpl. Dennis E. Pingel of Lake Preston will be conducted at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, September 3, at the Lutheran church in Lake Preston, with Rev. E.C. Eid and the Legion participating.

The former Lake Preston boy was killed in action in the New Guinea area during an enemy attack on the night of May 28-29. According to a letter received by his mother from the Major and Lt. of the battallion, he with two other soldiers were manning a perimeter outpost when the enemy attacked throwing hand grenades. When a grenade lit in the foxhole, Denniss threw himself on it and smothered the explosion, saving the lives of the other two soldiers in the outpost. He recieves the Distinguished Service Cross and he had been awarded the Purple Heart.

He was born in O'Brien County, Iowa, and came to South Dakota with his parents in 1924. He attended the Lake Preston school and left Fort Ord, California in November, 1941 for the South Pacific and had been in Pearl Harbor a week before the Jap attack [sic] on December 7.

He was a member of the famous former 147th Field Artillery of the South Dakota National Guard who had been in service thirty months in the jungles of the Pacific and was up for furlough in rotation at the time of his death.

Newspaper clipping, Source: Unknown.