Rev. and Mrs. Henry Franken and family arrived at the parental Wm. Dykshorn home on Thursday morning to visit relatives here for a few days, as Rev. Franken will go into the service as an army chaplain. He will take a 6 weeks course at the chaplains school at Harvard University at Boston, Mass., beginning there on June 8. Rev. Franken has secured a leave of absence from his church at Aurora Center, S. D. and will preach his farewell sermon there on Sunday.
Source: Sioux Center News June 3, 1943, p 8
Lt. Henry E. Franken graduated from Harvard’s Chaplain School June 17. He is now located in Marysville, Calif. His address: Chaplain 1st Lt. Henry E. Franken, 240 Station Hospital, Camp Beale, Calif.
Source: Sioux Center News July 29, 1943, p 2
Army Chaplain LT. HENRY E. FRANKEN Lt. Henry E. Franken, son of Evert Franken of Sioux Center, entered the service this past May and graduated from the Harvard Chaplains School June 17th. His new address is: 240 Station Hospital, Camp Beale, Calif. He has been granted a furlough and will come back to get his wife and four children who are still at Aurora Center, S. D. where he was pastor before entering the service. Mrs. Franken is the former Harriet Dykshorn of Sioux Center.
Source: Sioux Center News Aug. 5, 1943, p 1
Chaplain Henry E. Franken, former pastor of the Reformed church at Aurora Center, S. D. is now stationed at Camp Beale, Calif. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Franken of Sioux Center. Mrs. Franken, formerly Harriet Dykshorn and four children, who have been staying in Aurora Center the past summer, joined him recently and they live near Camp Beale.
Source: Sioux Center News Sept. 16, 1943, p 6
Washington (AP)—The War Department announced today the promotion of seven Iowa officers, appointment of two and orders directing one to active duty.
Three were promoted from captain to major:
Dudley C. Gillette, Sig. C., Cedar Rapids;
Fred W. Sims, AC, Ottumwa;
George Katres, Sig. C., Sioux City.
Promoted from lieutenant to captain:
Norman C. Warner, OD, Clinton;
Henry E. Franken, CH, Sioux Center;
Elmer L. Patterson, CH, Winterset.
Clinton M. Miller, AC, Lorimor, was promoted from second to first lieutenant.
Marjorie E. Miller, Des Moines, and Freyda M. Whiting, Lanesboro, were appointed second lieutenants in the army nurse corps.
Second Lt. Max Laverne Peters, AUS, Ottumwa, was ordered to active duty.
Source: Carroll Daily Times Herald, Thursday, March 30, 1944
Chaplain Henry Franken formerly of Aurora Center, South Dakota visited in Sioux Center on Thursday and Friday, enroute to Stickney for the Mortgage Burning celebration which will be held there. Chaplain Franken was formerly a pastor in that church. His family are living on the west coast near to the place where he is stationed. He is being transferred from Camp Cooke to Camp Roberts, Calif.
Source: Sioux Center News May 25, 1944, p 2
Source: Rock Valley Bee July 6, 1945, p 5
Mrs. Henry Franken has rented the Foreman-Wiersma house in the south part of town. She and their four children will come from Aurora Center, S.D. to take possession September 1st. Chaplain Franken is on Luzon.
Source: Sioux County Capital Aug. 23, 1945, p 8
Source: Alton Democrat Jan. 17, 1946, p 5
Source: Alton Democrat Jan. 31, 1946, p 3
Chaplain Franken Returns To Hot Springs
CHAPLAIN H. E. FRANKEN
Chaplain Henry E. Franken, who recently returned from Manila, the Philippines, is the in the Army and Navy General Hospital, Hot Springs, Ark. for a series of treatments for arthritis. Prior to going overseas Mr. Franken served 32 months in camps in California as a hospital Chaplain except for a short while during which he served as a battalion chaplain at an Infantry Replacement Center. While overseas he was with the 313th General Hospital at Manila where he served as head chaplain. He had the privilege not only to minister to the sick and war wounded of the Unit personnel but he also ministered to the released prisoners-of-war: American, Dutch, British, Australian, Canadian and Filipinos, coming from Formosa, Korea and other Japanese prison camps, and conducted both the American and Dutch services for a few months. In addition he preached in native Filipino churches. A Chaplain’s duties are manifold, and his advice is constantly sought. Besides engaging in building spiritual tabernacles of the hearts of men he must be able to supervise, if needs be, the erection of temples wherein the souls of men are raised. Hence, Chaplain Franken supervised the building of a chapel for Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish services. Upon discharge from service after hospitalization, Chaplain Franken will return to take up his pastoral duties at the Aurora Reformed Church, Stickney, S. D., from which he had leave of absence since June 1943. Mrs. Franken and 4 children, who lived in California near camps where Mr. Franken was stationed, later came to Orange City and now resides there. The oldest son Darrell attends the Academy, Marilyn, David and Robert attend the public school.
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 21, 1946, p 1
Source: Sioux County Capital Mar. 7, 1946, p 5
Henry E. Franken was born Nov. 18, 1899. He died Dec. 6, 1995 and is buried in Memory Gardens Sioux Center Cemetery, Sioux Center, IA.
Capt. Franken served as a Chaplain with the U.S. Army in World War II.
Source: ancestry.com
