Iowa
Old Press
Spirit Lake Beacon
Spirit Lake, Dickinson co. Iowa
May 31, 1945
SPIRIT LAKE SOLDIER RECOVERING FROM WOUNDS
THE 155TH GENERAL HOSPITAL ENGLAND—Wounded near St.
Vith, Belgium, Private Donald L. Farmer, 19, of Spirit Lake, Iowa
is recovering at this United States Army General Hospital in
England. He has been awarded a Purple Heart.
While Pvt. Farmer’s infantry unit was attacking a Belgian
farm house which had been fortified by the enemy as a
strong-point, they were subjected to a mortar barrage. One of the
mortar shells burst near Pvt. Farmer and shrapnel struck him in
the chest.
After receiving emergency treatment at an aid station, Pvt.
Farmer was taken to an evacuation hospital. Later he was flown to
England from France.
Pvt. Farmer is recovering rapidly. Under skilled treatment in the
thoracic center of this hospital his wounds have healed enough to
permit him to participate in the sports program which has been
especially devised to recondition injured muscles. His ward
surgeon, Captain James W. S. Hartshorn of Springfield,
Massachusetts, said, “Pvt. Farmer is making excellent
progress. After a period of convalescences, he will be able to
return to duty.”
Before entering the Army in June, 1944, Pvt. Farmer was a student
at Spirit Lake High School. His father, Mr. Elwin L. Farmer,
lives in Spirit Lake. A brother, Kenneth Farmer, is serving with
the Navy.
Don has written his parents that he expects to be coming home
soon. Most of the men in his ward had already left for the
States.
LT. SYLVAN CHOZEN SUPPLIES CLOTHES TO YANKS ON OKINAWA
Herb Paul, Des Moines Register staff writer in the
Pacific, has recently met Lt. Sylvan Chozen of Spirit Lake on
Okinawa and tells of Lt. Chozen’s work with the
quartermaster depot of the 96th division, in a recent story
coming from Okinawa.
Paul wrote as follows: “The Doughboys fighting in the rain
and mud at the front must have a clean pair of socks every day.
Shoes last an average of 10 days. He must have clean shirts and
underwear. Lost clothing must be replaced.
Seventy thousand shirts are issued to a division. A million and a
half pair of socks are needed to keep the doughboy’s feet
dry.
In the quartermaster depot of the 96th division, I met Lt. Sylvan
Chozen of Jackson, Minn., and Spirit Lake, Iowa, who runs the
Chozen department stores in these two cities which his father,
Ben Chozen.
In charge of allocating supplies to various divisions, he terms
the quartermaster’s job the biggest business in the Pacific.”
PFC. LAWRENCE LAMBERT LIBERATED IN GERMANY
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Lambert received a government message
Monday morning stating that their son, Pfc. Lawrence Lambert had
been returned to military control May 2. He had been held at the
German Prison of war camp Stalag 2B.
Pfc. Lambert went overseas in May 1942 to Scotland and was with
the American forces that invaded Africa in November of that year.
He was taken prisoner at Faid Pass on Feb. 17, 1943.
In addition to the government message Monday the family was happy
to receive a letter from Lawrence written in France on May 18,
assuring them of his well being.
[transcribed by L.Z., April 2017]