SGT. DALE ESTLE, LEDYARD, IS WAR VICTIM
Death on a Bombing Flight in Europe is Reported.
Ledyard-Lakota, Oct. 10, 1944
Mrs. Dale Estle, Ledyard received notice from the war department Sunday that her husband, S. Sgt. Dale Estle, had been killed in action. She had been notified August 27 that he was “missing in action over Germany August 15.”
Sergeant Estle, who was a turret gunner on a B-24 Liberator, enlisted at Des Moines and went into service Jan. 4, 1943. He was trained in camps at Miami Beach, Tyndall Field, Fla., Sale Lake City, Pueblo, Colo., and Topeka, Kans. His port of embarkation is on the east coast, and he arrived in England June 27, 1944.
Married Ledyard Girl.
The young man, who was a son of Mr. and Mrs. T. R. Estle, was born near Lakota Sept. 16, 1915, and was nearly 29 at death. He attended high school at Lakota three years, but was graduated from the Ledyard high school in 1933.
Marriage to Lumetta Reece, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Reece, Ledyard, took place September 2, 1936, at Kansas City, Mo. The couple bought a home in Des Moines, where Mr. Estle was second chef at Hotel Fort Des Moines until he left for the service. Mrs. Estle was employed there as a beauty operator.
One of Ten Children
Besides the widow, Sergeant Estle is survived by his brothers and sisters: Lee, in government work in Alabama; Leroy, in service overseas; Mrs. Pearl Smith, Mrs. Edna Winter, Mrs. Mabel Mitchell, all of Lakota; Mrs. Ruth Hartshorn, Fenton; Jeanne, employed at Sweat City; Velda, in school at Estherville; and Doris and Norma, at home.
No plans have been made for a memorial service.
Source: Unknown newspaper submitted by Jerry Yocum, Historian Camp Algona POW Museum, Algona, IA (includes two photos)
80 Kossuth Men Officially Listed As Casualties In War
FIRST RELEASE OF STATE HISTORICAL DEATH SUMMARIES
Eighty men from Kossuth county lost their lives while in the service of their country in World War II.
KOSSUTH'S WAR DEAD.
Estle, Dale R., S.Sgt.
Killed in Germany Aug. 15, 1944.
Wife: Mrs. Lumetta Reece Estle, Ledyard, Ia.
Source: The Algona Upper DesMoines, Tuesday, January 22, 1946 – page 7.
DALE ESTLE
The Estle family lived in the Grant, Lakota and Ledyard areas. Dale grew up here and was attending High School when the family moved to the Ledyard area where he graduated in 1933. Dale, at the time he entered the Army in December 1942, was married and a pastry chef at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. During 1943 he transferred to the Army Air Corps and in June 1944 went overseas as a tail gunner on a B-24 bomber. On August 15, 1944 while flying its thirteenth mission, the plane was shot down over Holland. Of the ten man crew, Dale and four others died. He was buried in a civilian cemetery in Holland where the grave was tended by local people who corresponded with the family until 1945 when he was transferred to the Netherlands American Military Cemetery near Margraten in the south east part of the country. The Matzener-Estle Legion Post of Ledyard bears his name. Dale would be 76 this year and his family are parents T. R. (Ray) and Mary (Pfander) Estle, Wife Lu Metta, now Mrs. Hinkle, sisters; Mabel Mitchell, Pearl Smith, Edna Winter, Ruth Hartshorn, Jeanne McCoy, Velda Logeman, Doris Kliendl and Norma O’singam; brothers Lee, John and Leroy (Nick). Mrs. Hinkle now lives at Ledyard, Iowa.
Bio submitted by Jerry Yocum, Historian Camp Algona POW Museum, Algona, IA
Dale R. Estle was born Sept. 16, 1915 to Tony Ray and Mary Ann Estle. He died Aug. 15, 1944 and is buried in Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands.
Sgt. Estle served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 786th Bomber Squadron, 466th Bomber Group, Heavy and was KIA and awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
Source: ancestry.com
