Iowa
Old Press
The Courier, Waterloo, IA – Wednesday, August 1, 1945
Aplington—Word has been received here by Mrs. Blanche Voogd that her son, Derek, has arrived at an unidentified destination in the South Pacific. He has been reclassified and is now employed in the adjutant general’s department. He formerly was a rifleman in the infantry. Private Voogd was inducted June 8, 1944.
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An Aplington man is a member of the First battalion of the 339th “Polar Bear” regiment, which found more than 25 tons of gold in a cave beneath an ancient fortress in the Fifth army sector in Italy. He is Pfc. Leonard G. Abkes, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Abkes, Iowa Falls, who has served as a rifleman in the battalion. His wife, formerly Gertie Fecht, makes her home here. Taken from the Bank of Italy, in Rome, the gold had been placed in its deep underground resting place by the Germans last October. It required a heavily-armed convoy of 12 trucks to transport the loot back to the Bank of Italy. Before entering the service Abkes was a clerk in the Aplington postoffice.
[transcribed by L.Z., Aug 2020]