HONORED DEAD.
Sioux County Capital.— The John Ter Horst family received word of the manner of the death of their son and brother, Pvt Gerrit Arthur Ter Horst, who died on D-Day in France. Corp. Eugene To Grotenhuis in France writes that after he had received letters from home telling about Gary's death, he and Pvt Jerry Vander Zwaag checked up on the report. They went to the cemetery close to their camp area, and upon investigation they found Gary's name third on the list of war dead. They located the grave, and revisited it on Sunday, Aug. 6. and decorated it. Corp. Kenneth Jacobs in France writes that he and Gary were together until they were loaded into the invasion barges. He writes that Gary lost his life by enemy gun-fire. A Memorial Service in honor of those of the 6th Engineer's Special Brigade and 207th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group, of which Gary was a member, was held at Normandy, France, June 17. A notice of the Purple Heart which will be awarded Pvt. Ter Horst posthumously was received by the Ter Horst family Saturday,
the Siebert Terpstra home north of Hull on Tuesday eve.
Source: The Sioux Center News, Thursday, Aug. 24, 1944
Gerrit Arthur Ter Horst was born Sept. 4, 1919 to Arend John and Gertie Reekers Ter Horst. He died June 6, 1944 and is buried in West Lawn Cemetery, Orange City, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
