The son of Mr and Mrs P.F. Peterson, R.F.D. 2, Ames, was reported as having been killed in action in France in Normandy on 30 July 1944. A different report said in the "south" of France. It is believed he was in the 120th Infantry of the 30th Division.
Pvt. Peterson was 24 years old and had spent his entire life in the Ames community. He had attended the Kelley, North Grant and Milford schools and was graduated from the Milford high school in 1940.
He took training at Camp Robinson, Ark., Camp Carson, Colo., and Camp Roberts, Calif. and then received overseas assignment, arriving in England about the first of July. The last letter received by his parents was dated in France on 18 July.
Matt Rierson, son of Loren Rierson `46, was killed in Oct of 1993 in Somalia. He gave up his life in a mortar attack on 6 Oct. 1993.
Matt attended Milford Twp School when it was a part of the Nevada School System as a fifth and sixth grade lad. He was born in 1960 and graduated from Nevada in the class of 1979. His photo reveals a much decorated and experienced young soldier.
A memorial Service for Matt was held at the Nevada Community School gym in early Nov. 1993 with over 700 in attendance including 31 of his fellow soldiers from the Special Op- erations Command and many of his former Nevada High schoolmates. He left behind his young family; wife, Trish and two sons, Jacob and Kaleb, of North Carolina, and his mother, Kay Carsrud Rierson. In 2011 Jacob graduated form U of NC were he played 7 man Rugby. His father Loren'46 died in 1988.
Bob Matters, a cousin of Fred Matters, was a rifleman and a front line Marine veteran of some of the most vicious hostilities of WWII. In the process he had his left leg so badly injured it was amputated following the 20 November 1943 invasion of the small island of Tarawa. An artillery shell landed near Matters and knocked him to the ground and killing three or four soldiers near him. Several others were wounded. Like others who were wounded, Matters yelled for help. "I didn't realize it was that bad. I knew I was hit, but I didn't know how bad until I reached down there and felt a hole that big", Matters said as he held his hands several inches apart. He says he "felt invincible before Tarawa because he didn't think there was any way the Japanese could get me but they sure proved me wrong."
Meanwhile, half way `round the world, brother Leslie Matters, assigned to a Tank Unit, was wounded on 23 November 1944 in Germany--no news of the type of wound. He was able to be returned to active duty in May of 1945. VE day was 8 May 1945.
Both Bob and Leslie are the sons of Will Matters, a former resident of Milford Twp. A third son, Kenneth, also served in the service attached to the Medical Corps.