Terril News Items
Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland have received word their son, Jerry, who joined the navy at Fort Dodge, is now located at Great Lakes, Ill., for the present.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, December 19, 1940, Page 5
Milford News
Dr. Fred Wyland has taken the rooms west of Stratmans store for an office and will have Dr. Leslie Moore, who graduated from Veterinary work at Iowa State College in Ames this spring. Moore is commissioned as Lieutenant in Reserve and will work here until called. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Will A. Moore living north of Terril.
In a letter home, Fred Wyland jr. gives his address as: Fred E. Wyland, Jr., SK3-c, U. S. Naval Station, Supply Office West Bank, Balboa, Canal Zone.
Jerry Wyland is now at Jacksonville, Fla., and his address is : U.S. M. A. S. T. VM-12, Main Station, Jacksonville, Fla. Jerry is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland and hasn’t been home for a year, but likes the Navy fine.
Sgt. Ralph Wyland is also the son of Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland and now stationed in Columbia, S. Carolina. His address is HQ. and HQ SQ 309th Bomb GP, Columbia Air base, Columbia, S. Carolina. Ralph was home just before Christmas on a furlough.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, January 30, 1941, Page 12
News Letter In Terril Vicinity
Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland have received word their son, Jerry, who joined the navy at Fort Dodge, is now located at Great Lakes, Ill., for the present.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, June 25, 1942, Page 5
Killed in Action in the South Pacific
Memorial Day will have more significance for Terril this year, perhaps than ever before, as the news spread rapidly on May 29 that Jerry Wyland had been killed in action in the South Pacific and his body buried at sea. These few words can break the hearts of parents and family and sadden the hearts of all friends and acquaintances.
Jerry Dale Wyland AMM, 2-c, fourth son of Dr. and Mrs. F. E. Wyland, was born in Terril January 21, 1923. He attended school here until he joined the Navy, enlisting in November, 1940. He took his boot training at Great Lakes Training school and was later located at Jacksonville, Florida. He was transferred to San Francisco in the fall of 1943. He visited home in February 1944 and has been out since January 1945.
There are three brothers in the service. John SC 1-c, in the Navy in the South Pacific; Fred Jr., CSK, in the Navy in the South Pacific, and S. Sgt. Ralph in the Army on his way home from the European theater.
Jerry was among the first from here to enlist. All four of the Wyland boys enlisted.
There are two children yet at home, Dicky and Mary Alice, who will ever remember and grieve and still be proud of their sailor brother who gave his life for his country.
Source: The Terril Record, Terril, Iowa, Thursday, May 31, 1945, Page 1
Memorial Services Held For Jerry Wyland
Memorial services were held at the Methodist church Sunday afternoon, honoring Jerry Dale Wyland, who gave his life in the South Pacific May 11. Following is the short history of his life as given by Rev. Nelson.
Jerry Dale Wyland, son of Dr. .and Mrs. Fred Wyland, was born January 21, 1923 at Terril. He grew to young manhood in this community and attended the Terril public school. When he was seventeen years old, he enlisted in the service of his country. That was in the fall of 1940, over a year before the United States was engaged in war. He took his boot training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.From there, he went to Jacksonville, Florida, where he took further training at the naval Base and at the Lee Air Field. His training was continued at the Naval Base in Miami, Florida. In May of 1944, he was transferred to the Naval Base at San Diego, California. There he was assigned to an aircraft carrier and entered active duty at the beginning of the year 1945.
On May 29th, his parents were notified that he has been killed in action while in the service of his country. A letter from his commanding captain stated that Jerry’s death occurred on May 11, 1945. He was buried by a Protestant Chaplain. Memorial services with full military honors were also held May 20, with the ship’s company in attendance.
Jerry had attained the rank of Aviation Machinist’s mate, second class, United States Navy. His commanding captain spoke of him as a very competent aviation mechanic and one in whom all the pilots had the greatest confidence. His willingness and ability in his work and the cheerful manner in which it was performed, said his captain, gained for him the respect of every officer and man in his squadron.
The following members of his immediate family mourn his death, his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland, four brothers, John, Fred, Ralph and Dick, of whom the first three are members of the Armed Forces, and one sister, Mary. There are also two aunts, Elizabeth Wyland and Mary Jane Wyland of Pennsylvania. The whole community mourns with the family as it has with the other families who have gone through this same experience in recent months.
Source: The Terril Record, Terril, Iowa, Thursday, June 28, 1945, Page 1
Jerry Wyland of Terril Killed in Action
On The Bunker Hill
The censorship has been raised and the story of the death of Jerry Wyland son of Dr. and Mrs. Fred Wyland of Terril has been made public by his ship mate Francis Van De Walle of Wallingford.
Jerry Whalen was killed May 11 in the Japanese attack on the Bunker Hill and was buried at sea. The next day Memorial honors were given May 20 for him and others who died in this action his family was notified May 28 of his death but was not permitted to reveal the action in a letter received later the commanding officer paid tribute to Wyland and told of the circumstances of his death. Memorial services were held at Terril June 24.
Jerry Wyland went into the service in the autumn of 1940 enlisting well yes attending high school he went to the Great Lakes Naval Station and later to Florida and then to San Diego, California.
Van De Walle escaped uninjured and is now at home while the Bunker Hill is being repaired at Brermerton, Washington.
Two of his buddies were suffocated below deck of the carrier after the deck hatches had been closed and the smoke and flame was drawn below by ventilators. All but a few of the engine crew died but enough survived to bring the ship back to port.
The Bunker Hill lost 383 in dead 19 missing and 284 wounded when the 27,000 ton Essex class carrier was attacked off Okinawa by suicide planes that had eluded detection.
Source: The Terril Record, Terril, Iowa, Thursday, July 05, 1945, Page 1
Jerry Dale Wyland was born Jan. 21, 1923 to Fred E. and Ruth D. Shook Wyland. He died May 11, 1945 and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Source: ancestry.com
