Arnold H. Gelder

No Photo
Available
Please Contact
The County
Coordinator
If You Have One
To Share

Military Service
War: WWII
Branch: U.S. Army
Entered Service: 19 October 1942
Company: 753 Tank Bn
Rank: Pfc

Personal Details
Born: 28 March 1919
Died: Killed In Action: 22 July 1943
Parents: Dick and Marie (Grau) Gelder Sr.

Buried: Wellsburg Reformed Church Cemetery
Wellsburg, Iowa

Arnold Gelder Is Killed In War In Sicily

Member Of Wellsburg Family With Five Boys In Armed Forces Loses Life On July 22nd

Arnold Gelder, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dick Gelder from Wellsburg, was killed in action with the American army in Sicily on July 22. His parents received a telegram on Saturday from the War Department telling them of the fate of their son.

Arnold Gelder was one of five brothers who were called to serve with the American forces. This is the largest group of boys from one family in Grundy county who were enlisted in the service of their country. One of the brothers, Dick Gelder, received his honorable discharge a short time ago and he has returned to join his family at Wellsburg. Gerrit is now in training at a camp at Ft. Wayne, Ind. Leonard is stationed at Camp Claiborne, La. Stoffer is now on his way overseas and he may have reached his destination.

Word had been received here a few weeks ago from his overseas mates that Arnold Gelder had met with misfortune, but the family had no definite information of the misfortune that came to their son until the official message from Washington was received by them last Saturday.

Arnold was inducted into the army October 19, 1942. He received his training at Camp Wood, Texas, and at Camp Pickett, Va. He arrived in Africa in May of this year and took part in the engagements in and around Tunisia.

This is the 10th war casualty for Grundy county since the selective service program began. Three of these were in the vicinity of Wellsburg. The other two casualties in the northwest part of the county were Ed Finger of Pleasant Valley township and Franklin Jaspers from Colfax township.

Other Grundy county war casualties were Stanley Sansenbach, Elden Wilhelm, Robert McIntyre, Rex Shirk, Kenneth Engel, Reinhard Alter and H. L. Watson.

The seven Grundy boys listed as prisoners of war are Delmar Cooley, Robert Ditch, Leonard Crouse, Edward Volberding, Carl Schneider, Holger Holm and Ted Carnes.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 9 September 1943, pg 1

Arnold Gelder Dies in African Battle on July 22

Is Second Wellsburg Youth To Be Killed In Action In World War

Mr. and Mrs. Dick Gelder received word Saturday, Sept. 4 from the war department that their son, Pfc. Arnold Gelder, age 24, had been killed in action July 22 in North Africa. He was inducted into the army October 19, 1942. He went to Camp Wood, Texas, and from there to Camp Pickett, Va. He arrived in Africa in May, 1943.

Arnold has three brothers in the army, Sgt. Stoffer, now at sea enroute to some foreign destination, Cpl. Gerrett in New Orleans, La., and Pfc. Leonard in Camp Claiborne.

Pfc. Dick Gelder, another brother, was given an honorable discharge a month ago due to heart trouble, and is now at home.

This is the second casualty for Wellsburg since the war began. The other was Franklin Jaspers, who was killed in action in the Pacific last winter.

--The Wellsburg Herald (Wellsburg, Iowa), 8 September 1943, pg 1