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WW II Casualty Details for Cherokee County Service Members




Barnes, Dale E
LIEUTENANT DALE BARNES KILLED IN ITALY - Lieutenant Dale Barnes was killed in action in Italy on January 22, 1944.  His death occurred as the result of wounds received while serving with a field artillery unit in the fifth army.

He was born in Marcus, Iowa, Feb 20, 1911 to Mr. & Mrs. Ray Barnes.  Dale attended the Marcus public schools, graduating from High School there.  He completed a four-year course at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.


He returned to Cherokee County a few years before entering the army and worked for several Cherokee concerns, including his grandfather Fred Carpenter's confectionary and tobacco shop, the Skelly & Standar Oil Companies, and finally at the Goodrich Silvertown Store.

Dale was inducted into the service June 12, 1942, at Fort Des Moines, IA. Later he was sent to Fort Sill, OK, where he received officers' training.  While in Officers' Candidate School, he married Harriet Sjostrom, the daughter of Mr. & MRs. Ernest Sjostrom of Cherokee.

He was stationed for a time in Colorado and was shipped overseas in the Fall of 1943.  At the time of his death, he was in command of a field artillery u nit. Dale's mother died unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day 1943.  At that time he was either in transit overseas or had only recently arrived at his foreign duty location.

His father was notified via telegram from the War Department, that his son had been killed in action, on Feb 23, 1944.  No details were given in the official communication.  His wife Harriet was making her home with her parents at the time of his death.  Formerly, she had been Junior librarian at the Cherokee Library. Immediate survivors were his widow, his father and a sister.

Lieutenant Dale Barnes was 32 yrs old at the time of his death and had been in service two and a half years.  Lieutenant Barnes received his commission through Officers' Candidate School.  (Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter Vol 15, #2, Feb 1980, Sec VI
)
Becker, Roy Erwin, Jr.
(No details at this time)
Buck, Wayne LeRoy
Second Lieutenant, 324th Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, World War II.

Entered the service from Iowa; ASN O-729806.
Enlisted at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, January 23, 1942.

Co-Pilot of B-17F Flying Fortress #42-3053, nicknamed "Desperate Journey."
Shot down by enemy fighters while on mission to Wilhelmshaven, Germany, and went down near Wittmund, Germany, May 21, 1943. Eight of the 10-man crew were killed. Two survived and became POWs. Missing Air Crew Report № 4438 and 4633.

The crewmembers Killed In Action were:

1st Lt. Norbert D Koll, IA, O-726258, Pilot
2nd Lt. Wayne L Buck, IA, O-729806, Co-Pilot
2nd Lt. Edwin M Bruton Jr, MO, O-731017, Bombardier
T/Sgt. Alfredo L Davila, TX, 38093722, Radio Operator/Gunner
T/Sgt. Albert W Zaverl, CO, 18047296, Flight Engineer/Top Turret Gunner
S/Sgt. William L Caligan Jr, CT, 11045589, Tail Gunner
Sgt. Elwyn J Roberts, PA, 13025136, Right Waist Gunner
S/Sgt. Guy F Wyatt, IN, 35358470, Left Waist Gunner

Date of burial 10/19/1950.
Click here to learn more information about Lt. Buck
Mongan, Glenn R.
TRAINING ACCIDENT FATAL TO AURELIAN - Private First-Class Glenn R. Mongan was killed March 2, 1944, in an accident during training at Camp Polk, Louisiana.  Glenn was born at Aurelia, Iowa, November 5, 1910, and lived most of his life there, graduating from the Aurelia schools. He had been in the service nearly a year, being inducted at Camp Dodge, Iowa, in April 1943.  P.F.C. Mongan was a skilled railroad man, having been employed for several years on the Illinois Central Railroad as a section worker.

The day prior to his accident, he arrived at Camp Polk after transfer from Fort Sam, Houston, Texas. He was riding in a motor car, operating on the railroad line, when the vehicle jumped the tracks. Private Mongan was on a training mission on a specal stretch of track built between Camp Polk and Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, by the army for training purposes.  The fifty mile stretch of railroad is known as the worst railroad in the world.  It was built purposely for the training of army railroad crews, in operation and maintenance of military trains.

He was the son of C. H. Mongan of Aurelia.  At the time of his death he was 33 years old and single.  He was survived by his father; three brothers Laurence, Ralph, and Carroll; and a sister Mrs. Freeman Conley of Cherokee.

The body was returned to Aurelia for burial in the Aurelia Cemetery.  The body was accompaniee by Private William W. Graham, a military escort sent by the Army.   (Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter Vol 15, #2, Feb 1980, Sec VI
)
Morrow, Lynn
(no details at this time) (Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter)






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