Rhode, Edmund W. 1921-1944

RHODE

Posted By: Linda Mohning, volunteer (email)
Date: 6/16/2012 at 14:45:19

Memorial Services. Memorial services for Edmund Rhode will be held Friday at 8 o’clock. The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, all the discharged service men and all those in the armed services who are home on leave, as well as the Auxiliary unites of the Legion, are requested to wear their uniforms. They will meet at the American Legion hall at 7:30. – Le Mars Globe Post, Monday, Oct. 22, 1945, page 3.
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Mrs. Rohde’s Long Vigil over, Son Now Rests at Home.
Out of town friends and relatives who attended the burial services for Lt. Edmund W. Rohde in Remsen Sunday included Capt. Frank Kufts, of Montville, N. J., who escorted the body to Remsen, and Roy Lo Manno, Philadelphia, the only crew member to survive the bomber’s last flight.
He had been the tail gunner, and was struck by flak. The last thing he remembers hearing aboard the plane, he told Mrs. Rohde, was the voice of her son, the bombardier, on the intercom.
Lt. Rohde gave the time, 11:50 o’clock, and announced they were on the target. Lo Manno was captured by the Germans and became a prisoner of war, after the plane crashed into the Berlin suburb of Spendan.
Others attending the service were Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Neiman, Jasper, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Hans Briegman and Alfred McKenney and son of Windom, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. W. Herbert and daughter, Worthington, Minn.
Mr. and Mrs. B Knack, Correctionville; Mr. and Mrs. E. Hesse, Hartington, Neb.; Bob Hesse, Lincoln, Neb.; Mr. and Mrs. G. Kirchof and children, Marcus; Mrs. A. Krause, Hinton and W. Swanson, Elk Point, S. D.
The service Sunday marked the end of Mrs. Rohde’s long uncertainty and bereavement over the death of her son, who was first reported missing and then lost Oct. 6, 1944.
After the war his mother made two trips to Europe, and visited the grave where he and several of his crew members were reburied following the war.
When the war department informed her they had been definitely able to identify her son’s remains, she decided to have them returned to the family plot in Remsen.
It was a hard decision to reach; particularly after having visited the beautiful cemetery in Europe where he lay among his comrades.
But the army’s decision to close the cemetery and move the remaining bodies to another American cemetery in France, and their later positive identification of his body led her to change her mind, and ask for his return.
Sunday, the funeral cortege drove down the familiar streets of Remsen where she and her family had lived for so many years. “It was as though we had come home at last,” she said. – Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, May 25, 1951, page 1 and 4.
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Lieut. Edmund Rhode is Presumed Dead By War Department Official. Was Reported As Missing In Action Over Year Ago.
Mrs. Alma Rhode of Le Mars has been notified by the war department that her son, Lieut. Edmund Rhode, last hear from more than a year ago on a bomber mission over Germany, is presumed to be dead. A letter from the Adjutant General’s office addressed to Mrs. Rhode says:
“Since your son, Second Lieutenant Edmund W. Rhode, Air Corps, was reported missing in action October 6, 1944, the War Department has entertained hope that he survived and that information would be revealed dispelling the uncertainty surrounding his absence. However, as in many cases, the conditions of warfare deny us such information. The record concerning your son shows that he was a crew member aboard a B-17 (Flying Fortress) bomber which was lost on a mission to bomb the Spandau tank factory in Berlin, Germany. A returned crew member states that during sudden and aggressive attack by enemy fighters in the target area, their plane received a direct flak burst between No. 2 and No. 1 engines. The wing burst into flame and the aircraft went spinning down.
Full consideration has recently been given to all available information bearing on the absence of your son, including all records, ports and circumstances. These have been carefully reviewed and considered. In view of the fact that twelve months have now expired without the receipt of evidence to support a continued presumption of survival, the War Department must terminate such absence by a presumptive finding of death. Accordingly, an official finding of death has been recorded under the provisions of Public Law 490, 77th Congress, approved March 7, 1942, as amended.
The finding does not establish an actual or probably date of death; however, as required by law, it includes a presumptive date of death for the termination of pay and allowances, settlement of accounts and payment of death gratuities. In the case of your son this date has been set as October 7, 1945, the day following the expiration of twelve month’s absence.
I regret the necessity for this message but trust that the ending of a long period of uncertainty may give at least some small measure of consolation. I hope you many find sustaining comfort in the thought that the uncertainty with which war has surrounded the absence of your son has enhanced the honor of his service to his country and of his sacrifice. – Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, Oct. 19, 1945, pages 1 and 2.

From our files – Only Yesterday… Back in 1956.. Sunday morning, Nov. 25 at St. John Evangelical and Reformed church a new red leather book of workshop was dedicated in memory of Edmund Rhode, who gave his life for his country in world war 2. The altar book was given by his mother Mrs. Alma Rhode. – Le Mars Daily Sentinel, Dec. 15, 1966, page 3.

Second Lieutenant Edmund W. Rhode soon will complete his training at the combat crew training school, Sioux City, Iowa, and be ready to go overseas to do his part in defeating the enemy. Lt. Rhode, bombardier, in a heavy bomber crew, is the son of Alma Rhode, Le Mars. He entered the service December 7, 1942. Prior to entry into the service he was a meter man at Iowa Public Service company – Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, June 27, 1944, page 4.