HERSHEL ACUCUTT – DEAD AT OAHU, WIFE HERE TOLD
News of her husband’s death through a letter of sympathy was received Saturday by Mrs. Hershel Acucutt, 1012 Lombard street, and was corroborated Tuesday by his mother, Mrs. Tom Acucutt, who resides at Edina, Mo.
Sgt. Acucutt, a cook in the U.S. army and based at Oahu, in the territory of Hawaii, was drowned on April 13, according to the official telegram received by the mother on April 19. The wife here did not receive a message due to the fact that the sergeant’s papers listed his mother as the next of kin. The mother did not get in touch with the wife immediately because she assumed the wife has also received a governmental message. The letter of sympathy was received from Sgt. Acucutt’s brother, Howard, who is in training at Stockholm, Calif. Mrs. Acucutt immediately got in touch with the Muscatine chapter of the American Red Cross and those officials are endeavoring to gain information as to how Sgt. Acucutt’s death occurred.
No details were given in the telegram other then that the Sgt. met his death by drowning. He was not in a combat area and it is believed death resulted in an accident of some kind. Sgt. Acucutt entered the army three years ago and had been overseas since July of 1942. Sgt. and Mrs. Acucutt have been married for two years and formerly lived in Missouri, he at Edina and she at Trenton. Mrs. Acucutt had made Muscatine her home for the past eight months. Sgt. Acucutt was 24 years old.
Source: Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, April 26, 1944 (photo included)
WARTIME LISTS OF KILLED IN ACTION
BRING TRAGEDY TO ADDITONAL HOMES
Year End Review Edition
Sorrowful news, in the form of messages advising the next of kin of the death of a loved one somewhere in the service of their nation, came to an increasing number of homes in Muscatine and vicinity during 1944 as the country’s military operations against enemies on World war No. 2 proceeded on an accelerated pace. Emphasis upon the tremendous cost of warfare in human lives was called in repeated instances, by official messages, relating that men from this community had made the supreme sacrifice while following the flag with the respective branches of the armed services. News dispatches from the scenes of history –making engagements recorded in the third year of this nation’s participation in war were followed, in the course of a brief lapse of time, and with distressing regularity, by official notification to the effect that someone from this community was included among those who had given their lives.
But brief bits of information were available, in most instances, for the bereaved relatives of servicemen whose deaths were written into the record during this third year of the war. The date, the theater of action, perchance a note to the effect that the serviceman had been buried in an American cemetery abroad- and but little more were ordinarily included. Subsequently, in instances, letter from companions in service, or others in close association, gave additional details. For some, whose death occurred while in service in this country, funeral services were conducted when bodies were returned to the home community for burial. For others, who died on foreign soil, memorial services were conducted at various churches of their affliction.
Community memorial services, honoring those whose lives were given in the service of their country were conducted at the Muscatine high school auditorium Sunday, Nov. 26, with representatives of various pastoral organizations participating establishing a custom of holding on the last Sunday afternoon of each month, similar memorial service for the community’s war heroes.
Brief sketches of those who gave their lives in the service of their country since the outbreak of the war, compiled from causality list and information obtained from relatives follow:
SGT. HERSHEL ACUCUTT
A cook in the U.S. army, based at Oahu in the territory of Hawaii, Sgt. Hershel Acucutt met death by drowning on April 13, 1944, his wife, who resides at 1012 Lombard street, was informed. Sgt. Acucutt was not in a combat area and his death was believed to have resulted from an accident. He was 24 years old and had formerly resided at Edina, Mo.
Source: Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune, Friday, December 29, 1944 (photo included)
140 Have Made Supreme Sacrifice in Muscatine Area In War Against Axis Powers; Many Reported Wounded
Sgt. Hershel Acucutt, 24, husband of Mrs. Hershel Acucutt, 1012 Lombard street, drowned April 13, 1944, at Oahu, Hawaii.
Source: Muscatine Journal, Victory in Europe Edition, May 7, 1945
