ROCKVALLEY:
Pvt. William Koedam of Camp Roberts, Calif., arrived home last Monday for a visit in the parental home and with other relatives and friends.
Source: Alton Democrat, August 24, 1944
Pvt. William Koedam, son of John Koedam of Hull, has moved from Camp Roberts, Calif., and now has an overseas address. Anyone wishing to know his address may call the News for it.
Source: Sioux Center News, September 21, 1944
BILL KOEDAM IS WOUNDED 2ND TIME
Parents of Pfc. Bill Koedam, Mr. and Mrs. John Koedam, received a telegram Wednesday stating that their son had been slightly wounded for the second time, in Luxemborg. The trouble this time seems to be with his feet, for he has been knee-deep in snow for so long that the cold has affected his feet and in his last letter, received Monday and written February 6, he was in a hospital in Paris, France. The Des Moines Register, in an error made by the Associated Press, on Saturday reported Pfc. Koedam killed in action, but has corrected that error.
On December 23, just before Christmas, Pfc. Koedam had been wounded when shrapnel entered his side and broke two ribs. His parents have received his purple heart for this, along with the official citation stating that the soldier had taken part in three major battles and two minor skirmishes. On January 5 he returned to action and on January 30 had to go back to the hospital.
Pfc. Koedam has been fighting in Belgium, also. At the time of his last letter, he had received two of his Christmas packages. We hope to print Pfc. Bill’s picture in a week or two.
Source: Rock Valley Bee, February 23, 1945
Pfc. Bill Koedam Writes of Some Narrow Escapes
Pfc. Bill Koedam, in a letter received Monday, tells his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Koedam, that he is in a hospital in England, undergoing treatment for his back. Bill had been reported wounded for a second time, when his feet were so badly frost bitten that he could not stand, about a month ago. He says that he is now getting the best of care. His back has been X-rayed, and he is lying on a bed with boards under it.
It was while saving about twenty soldiers lying wounded in a forest in Luxembourg, that Pfc. Koedam’s feet became seriously frost bitten. He was with a small group of infantrymen who set out, cutting their way through the forest and through enemy fire, to reach the men, and then were forced to make their own stretchers from any available material. When they got back to camp, their feet were examined and found badly frostbitten. Koedam was sent to a hospital in Paris. Trouble has now developed with his back, and he is in England.
The young soldier wrote of another narrow escape he had when he was with a few other men emerging from a pass, came face to face with eight large German tanks. It seems the American artillery arrived just in time to save that day for the men. His address is now Dept. of Patients 41S1; U.S. Army Hospital plant, APO 131-B, c/o Postmaster, New York.
Source: Rock Valley Bee, March 23, 1945 (photo included)
SERVICEMEN
ROCK VALLEY:
Pfc. Bill Koedam called his folks, Mr. and Mrs. John Koedam, recently to tell them that he was back in this country in Virginia. He is not able to walk yet.
Source: Sioux County Capital, May 3, 1945
Miss Gertrude Klarenbeek left on Wednesday afternoon for Colorado Springs, Colo., where she will make an extended visit with her friend, Pfc. William Koedam, who is in the hospital at Camp Carson after being wounded in Germany about 4 months ago.
Source: Sioux Center News, May 31, 1945
Hospital Center, Camp Carson, Colorado, 21 August 1945—(Special)—Pfc. William Koedam, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Koedam, Hull, a veteran infantryman of 8 months in European Theater of Operations and the wearer of the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, today received a medical discharge from Camp Carson Hospital Center located near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Prior to his discharge, Pfc. Koedam has been convalescing at Carson’s Hospital Center, which is one of nine such units in the United States. This recently established Center consists of a General and Convalescent Hospital. It carries out the complete program of physical and mental reconditioning of soldiers for return to civilian life or for further military duty.
Source: Sioux County Index, Hull, Iowa, August 23, 1945
