ANOTHER K. MAN SHOT
Second Son of Granville Woman Wounded In North Africa
Another member of K. company has been reported wounded in action in North Africa by the War Department.
Mrs. Frank Holles of Granville received word Monday morning informing her that her son, Ambrose W. Forkenbrock, technician 5th grade, was seriously wounded in action on May 5.
Another son, Herbert Forkenbrock was wounded last winter while serving in the same area. She received a letter from him dated May 5 saying that he was getting along fine. He wrote his mother that he is now a first cook.
Ambrose Forkenbrock entered the service with K. company and went to Camp Claiborne. When the Japs struck Pearl Harbor, he was then sent to northern Ireland and later to Africa with many more troops.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, May 27, 1943 (photograph included)
Our Neighbors in the Service
Granville, Iowa—Technician, 5th grade, Ambrose W. Forkenbrock was seriously wounded in action on May 5, in north Africa, a message received by his mother, Mrs. Frank Holles, revealed. Private Herbert Forkenbrock, another son, was seriously wounded in action in Africa last November, but has informed his mother that he is back in service.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, May 28, 1943
Two Forkenbrock Boys, of K Company, Are Still In Hospital
Tech. 5 Ambrose Forkenbrock and his brother, Pfc. Herbert (Fat) Forkenbrock have both been seeing the seamy side of war and write from their hospital beds in North Africa that they are trying to forget it.
The Alton Democrat also reports that Ambrose was wounded seriously on May 4, according to advice from the War Department to his mother, Mrs. Frank Holles, of Granville, and has received the Purple Heart medal, which he writes he is having the Red Cross send home. He wrote his mother the wounds was only a scratch, but he is still in the hospital.
Although the brothers have been in North Africa since the invasion started in November, they are three hundred miles apart and have never met. Herbert, known in school as Fat, was wounded in the leg, back and toe by an exploding bomb from an airplane which was strafing his unit as the Americans went ashore on Nov. 22.
He writes that he is back in the hospital again with fever and headache and a slight case of dysentery, but hopes to be out again in a few days. He writes, “I tried to get back to my unit again and was told I would be finished with fighting. So let’s hope I pull through O.K. My wounds do not bother me except for rheumatism in my leg.”
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, July 19, 1943
NEWS of the Boys in the Service.
Mrs. Frank Holles, of Granville, has received the purple heart award presented her son, Technician Fifth Grade Ambrose W. Forkenbrock, who was wounded in action on the Tunisian front, May 5. Private First Class Herbert Forkenbrock paid his brother, Ambrose, a surprise visit while the latter was in a hospital. It was their first meeting since August, 1942, when they parted in Ireland. Herbert was with American troops in the invasion of Africa and was wounded November 22. The brothers left for service with the LeMars national guard unit, Co. K., when it went to Camp Claiborne.
Source: LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, August 10, 1943
Ambrose William Forkenbrock was born Dec. 31, 1919 to Frederick Henry and Catherine Ann Diers Forkenbrock. He died Mar. 1, 1991 and is buried in Fort Riley Post Cemetery, Fort Riley, KS.
Source: ancestry.com
