COLTRANE, Samuel R. (1913-1944)

COLTRANE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/5/2019 at 16:17:12

Samuel Richard Coltrane
June 14, 1913 - December 18, 1944

Source unknown - copied from folder on Samuel Richard Coltrane at State Historical Society of Iowa, WWII Casualty List
Sgt. Sam R. Coltrane of St. Charles Killed
Mr. and Mrs. Sam R. Coltrane, St. Charles, Iowa, have received word that their son, Staff Sergeant Sam R. Coltrane, 32, member of an armored division, was killed in Belgium Dec. 18. Sergeant Coltrane farmed with his father before going into service and was a football player and amateur wrestler. He graduated from Indianola, Iowa, High School and attended Simpson College. He is survived in addition to his parents by a brother, Eugene, Iowa City, Iowa, and two sisters, Mrs. Virginia Watson, 1439 Twenty-fourth St., and Mrs. Maxine Morturella, St. Charles.

Staff Sergeant Coltrane Killed in Action
The sad news was received by Earl Coltrane and wife last Wednesday that their younger son, Staff Sergeant Sam R. Coltrane was killed in action in Belgium on December 18th. He had been in service for four years, and had been overseas since last August. He attended the St. Charles school, later moving to Indianola where he graduated from the Indianola High School and also attended Simpson College. Sammie was a fine young man and had many friends who regret his untimely end. He was 31 years old. Besides his parents, he leaves a brother, Eugene, two sisters, Mrs. Virginia Watson and Mrs. Maxine Marturello, and grandmother, Mrs. Lena Power.

Sammie Coltrane – A Tribute
The hearts of all St. Charles went out in sympathy to the parents and other relatives of Sammie Coltrane when they received the little yellow slip of paper. Perhaps this incident, remembered vividly by one of his school pals, will recall the task he and so many find lads like him have left for us to finish; It seems his English teacher gave as a class assignment, the learning of the poem, “In Flander’s Fields.” The time limit came and happy-go-lucky Sammie didn’t have it memorized. The teacher got “hard-boiled” and told him he must be able to recite it that day. After lunch, he went back to school early and began repeating it aloud: “In Flander’s fields the poppies grow.” The other boys in the assembly room started to heckle him and he broke out in his characteristic giggle, answering them in his witty manner. So, recalls this other chap, the first line was about all of the poem Sammie succeeded in learning. It might be now, if we could but listen, we’d hear him say with all the meaning Joyce Kilmer put in those beautiful, challenging, words, “If you break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep tho’ poppies grow in Flander’s fields.”