10 Sioux County Boys Called Into Army Service
TO SIOUX FALLS ON FEB. 24
Ten Sioux County young men have been selected to go into the army for a one year training in the 5th call. The following list is not official but these men have received notices that they must appear for services on Feb. 24, to go to Sioux Falls: ….. Ernest John Gerritsma, Sioux Center …..
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 6, 1941, p 1
Ernest Gerritsma, the first Sioux Center resident to be drawn into the army by the draft, will leave Sunday night for Sioux Falls, there to await further orders.
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 20, 1941, p 5
Ten Boys Will Go To Camp Sunday
68 PERCENT 1-A PASS PHYSICAL TEST
Ten Sioux County men have been selected to fill Call No. 5. These men will leave from Alton next Sunday evening, February 23rd, at midnight for the induction center at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The men selected to fill the call are as follows: ….. Ernest J. Gerritsma, Sioux Center …..
This is the first time since the Selective Service Act has gone into effect that non-volunteers are being inducted into the service. Mr. Madsen is a transfer from Local Board No. 2, Houston, Texas and will be inducted into the service through the Sioux County Local Board. To date 614 questionnaires have been sent out of which 522 have been returned and considered by the Board. Of this number, approximately 26 percent have been tentatively placed in Class 1-A subject to physical examination. Of the total number of men tentatively placed in Class 1-A, 65 have been examined, and examination returns on file with the Board indicate that of the 65 returns, 68 percent were physically fit for military service; 5 percent for limited service and 26 percent disqualified for service.
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 20, 1941, p 10
Fort Ord, California April 16, 1941
Dear Folks and Sisters: Received your letter two days ago but have been too busy to answer and will not have time perhaps to read and answer your questions but be sure I’ll gladly answer them when time permits. Monday was the day we went on duty with the other men, meaning that now we’ve been assigned to sections such as telephone section, instrument, radio, light and heavy guns, this is the nice part of it but it also means taking turns on K. P. duty and guard. Monday night brought no appreciable change in my habits nor Tuesday either for that matter. Monday morning I worked as carpenter detail for Sgt. Day in Bn. Hdq. and in the afternoon went to gas school. We experimented with the most serious kinds of chemical agents such as the well known Mustard gas, Lewisil, Phosgeme and Chloricrin, all these are casualty agents and one or two breaths of them in heavy concentration will produce a fatal casualty. However, the agent used was not in highly concentrated form but very effective to say the least. A quantity of agent in a tube is placed in a specially constructed hole in the open field and then blown into the air with a blasting cap after which the group walks through the cloud and lightly sniffs it so that odor can be identified. Some of them have a very agreeable odor but some are more disagreeable. Even in light concentration they can cause vomiting and sickness for 12 to 24 hours; all the after-effect I had was a little pain for a short time in the left lung which isn’t bad at all compared to others. This evening, Monday evening, I moved to another tent with three other men, they are every bit as nice as those in the other tent, perhaps nicer. From now on there will only be four men to a tent, makes it nicer eventually but very busy now with a new tent to fix up. Tuesday morning I worked for Capt. Sherburn and Lt. Nace rearranging and making some shelves and clothes racks in their tents. The live separately in tents about one-fourth as big as ours on a separate street for officers. Cpt. Sherburn lives in town with his wife, he’s from South Dakota originally, but keeps a good many of his clothes and belongings in his tent and stays there while in camp. In the afternoon in gas school we were instructed in riot duty acted out in the open field. We used smoke pots about gal. size and when set off they make more smoke each than any coal locomotive, we also used tear gas bombs. Wednesday – Early this morning at 2:00 A.M. we were awakened, made our packs, had a light breakfast and went out on the range on a maneuver problem, the first time for me. I’m assigned to the automatic rifle section and my job is to stand in the front of the truck box and protect the radio truck from aircraft or other enemies, the top is rolled back far enough to stand three in with feet placed on the seat. The rifle, by the way, is a Browning automatic, 30 cal., weighing 18 lbs. shoots twenty rounds per clip and if clips are fed fast enough can shoot at the rate of 500 to 600 rounds per minute. This cannot be done in actual practice, but it’s plenty fast. All one has to do when set on full automatic is to keep the trigger pressed, the gun keeps shooting until all twenty rounds are fired. Gun costs $600 each. Tomorrow we are to go on a long trip lasting into Friday and we’ll have to sleep outside under a pup tent but happily I have a sleeping bag also. Again, thanks for your letter folks, Pa’s especially, the others you understand were fully as warmly received.
More later. Your son and brother, Ernest Gerritsma.
Source: Sioux Center News Apr. 24, 1941, p 3
Fort Ord, Calif. Saturday, May 3, 1941
Dear Folks and Sisters: Quite often you have inquired whether we have Saturday afternoons off and now I’m prepared to answer questions more fully. As a general rule Saturday afternoon is time off duty with the exception of those having guard duty and K. P. which is what I had today. That makes it more busy because usually my letter to you is written on Saturday P. M. but today I was a panhandler. Most soldiers don’t like K.P., just why isn’t made clear except that men aren’t made that way, handling food, dishes, scrubbing the pots and pans, mopping the floor and washing off the tables isn’t their line. Maybe you wonder how an army is fed and would it interest you to be told? To begin then, an army has regular cooks, our battery has 5 of them now, one is for relief mostly. Two cooks are on duty from 12 noon to noon the next day which means preparing three meals per shift. With some 110 or more men to feed means operating on a large scale and that’s the way it’s done too. The coffee, which is very cheap grade, is made in a giant dripolator with a capacity of perhaps 20 gallons and when the time comes to serve the coffee ten one-gallon cans (cans in which fruit comes packed) are taken off the rack, the coffee pot is shoved so that the faucet extends over the edge of the stove and then the cook takes his place, turns the faucet loose and without shutting it off once fills all ten containers in succession. Potatoes are cooked in a 15 gal. aluminum pot and when they’re done (and they are always done, it never misses) they’re taken off the stove, the water drained off and then a big masher makes pulp of them, some milk and butter put in and then put on ten chinaware platters to the tables, more of everything except butter, can always be had. Bacon, meat or meatloaf, gravy and such are fried, baked, cooked, however in a big pan about 2X2 feet square and about six inches deep and except for gravy the pan is put as full as possible and yet allow for the contents being stirred. They don’t have scoop shovels to dish out with, etc., but compared to the utensils our mothers use the ladles, spoons, dippers and the like are just that big in comparison, it surely takes a man to use ‘em. After each meal there are, of course, several hundred dishes to wash, all chinaware, besides the pots and pans used in cooking and preparing. Dishwashing is also done in a wholesale way, each diner takes his own dished to the window or opening in the kitchen and then the K.P.’s stack them on the large drain board of the washing vat. The washing and rinsing vats are really one big rectangular tub with a water-tight partition between, each compartment is about 3 1/2’ by 3’ x 18 in. deep; one is filled with hot water from a faucet and while being filled a gallon pail with holes punched in the bottom and sides and filled with brown soap is hung under the faucet to make the water as soapy as can be, the government is very liberal on soap. It may take two or three vats to clean all the dishes etc., but in whatever way then the dishes come out CLEAN! After being washed in the soap solution they are put into the rinse water in the tub right next, just clear hot water is used and so hot sometimes they have to be fished out with a big spoon. After that they are put on the drain board on a rack and when the rack is full it is carried to the mess hall and the dishes put on the tables again. Chinaware is not dried at all with a cloth. When the tables are cleaned off the plates are put on with the edges extending over the side to allow any moisture that remains to dry off underneath, cups are placed on top of the plates with the edge of the cup on the ridge of the bottom of the plate also that excess moisture will dry off. Silverware is first washed in soapy water, then put in a pot, covered with water and boiled, then it is thrown in a sink to drain the water off and dried with a towel, when put on the tables again it’s still so hot it can hardly be handled. The floor is mopped in the morning and swept twice thereafter, so all in all the mess hall is almost spotlessly clean. The inspector comes once or twice every day and if, for example, the dishes aren’t perfectly clean they have to be done all over again, believe me, they have eyes! A bushel of potatoes or more have to be peeled every day, and as you can guess, that goes so-so too. There’s at least one nice thing about on K.P. and that is you don’t have to be hungry any of the time, we can eat all day long if we care to. I’m still on carpenter detail quite often and the deal as a whole is all right except that they expect you to work without tools and lumber practically – must figure that I still have good teeth, I guess. Now I’ll tell you how that sometimes goes. When the captain needed some work done a couple of weeks ago he was thoughtful enough to realize that tools were necessary (he isn’t a captain just for nothing at all) and being that the fellow in our own battery who owns some tools was using them himself the captain made out a requisition to the W. P. A. warehouse stating exactly the tools wanted and by whom. Well a saw is what you call it but I didn’t call it a saw, a square of a kind and a hammer was all I could get and with these I’m expected to work, and yes, they must be brought back before 3:30 the same day! You call that red tape at home, but that’s the army all the way through, it has it’s own way of doing things and in no other way will they be done. Usually I can use tools from a soldier in our own battery but when they’re loaned out to almost everybody – “nu, dat maakt ook een droevig verhaal”. Thursday and Friday morning Stolte and I worked on a sort of a cupboard which the mess sergeant wanted made to put dishes in. As lumber is always a problem here we obtained permission to tear down two partitions in an old building consisting of No. 3 or 4 grade fir flooring and made a cupboard out of it. Yesterday afternoon Sgt. Dag, a very nice fellow, wanted me to make some shelving in B. Hdq. building, but when the question of lumber came up, as it always does, of course, it was the same old story, but to make it short most of the pleasure of woodworking vanishes when neither tools nor lumber are what they could be. Couple of days ago I was called on to put a screen door on the Major’s tent (Major Mann) and was supposed to take one off some vacant tent in the vicinity to put on his. Well and good, but all those had screen doors six inches too narrow and two inches too short. There was nothing else to do that to report back to the first Sgt. which I did. I told him the doors wouldn’t fit and as he’s a very nice man he suggested building up the screen door somehow but I told him this would result in an inferior job but mentioned that perhaps a screen door from some other unused building night answer the purpose, his reply was: “Well anyway at all, a screen door is what the major is interested in,” and I complied. So you see that sometimes the end does justify the means! Your pictures came over just fine folks and they were good too, somehow or other I don’t get around to taking many of myself, maybe it’s still that childhood streak running through me. I didn’t in the least think that you were going to publish any one of my letters and you nearly had me upset until I saw it in print, you see, had no thought of writing for the paper because I was not born with a pen in my hand, since I have so many letters to write I couldn’t figure out which letter it might have been and thus believed that possibly there were things I wouldn’t have said at all or in some other way. There aren’t any objections to publishing this one but do be a bit more careful in the future. Next week at this time we hope to be in Yosemite park, I believe, so don’t be worried if your letter is not as prompt as otherwise. We were to have gone somewhere this weekend but somehow or other nothing came of it. And now goodnight folks until later.
Best regards also to Uncle Ben and Aunt Tena. Ernest Gerritsma
Source: Sioux Center News June 5, 1941, p 6
Ernest Gerritsma Headquarters Battery 2nd Battalion, 147 Field Art. Garrimon Fort Ord, Calif.
Source: Sioux Center News July 31, 1941, p 3
Ernest Gerritsma arrived here unexpectedly Tuesday morning from Fort Ord, Calif., where he has been located since he was conscripted into the army last spring. He has a 15 day leave of absence.
Source: Sioux Center News Sept. 18, 1941, p 3
Ernest Gerritsma Headquarters Battery 2nd Battalion, 147 Field Art. Fort Garrison Fort Ord, Calif.
Source: Sioux Center News Oct. 30, 1941, p 4
Change of Address Ernest Gerritsma 37078142 Hdq. Btry. 2nd battalion 147th F. A. PLUM, c.o. Postmaster San Francisco, Calif.
Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 27, 1941, p 12
Two Local Soldiers Will Leave the Mainland
Two of the soldiers from this vicinity, Marty Sneller and Ernest Gerritsma, may be among the first men in the service who are being mobilized and sent to key positions by the U.S. Army. There is no definite understanding as yet just where the boys will be sent but according to the summer clothing issued to them and inoculations the boys had to submit to, they may be sent to the Philippines or the Dutch Indies.
Ernest Gerritsma was drafted into the army in February and was home on one furlough of fifteen days in September. He has been in camp at Fort Ord, Calif. and recently was sent to Angel Island off the coast of California where the soldiers live in unheated barracks. The soldiers have been told that they will be transferred by boat soon to a new location. Their destination is unknown but they will be on the water 25 days.
Marty Sneller left home for the U.S. Army in June and has not been home on furlough since that time. He has been located in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and has been notified that he will be transferred soon to some point far distant from his present location. Since the boys were issued summer clothing it is presumed they may go to the Philippines or even the Dutch Indies. The Philippines are 8000 miles from the coast of California and almost 1,000 miles from home and the Dutch East Indies are a little south of the Philippines.
There are many boys in the service today but Marty Sneller and Ernest Gerritsma are the first in this immediate territory to leave the mainland of the United States to be sent to outlying positions. Ernest Gerritsma is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Seine Gerritsma, and Martin Sneller is a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Sneller.
Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 27, 1941, p 1
United States Enters Second World War
Local Boys In Pacific War Area
The United States is now at war. While we are actually at war against all the axis powers, officially we have declared war only against Japan, following their attack on our Pacific ocean possessions. The people of the U. S. do not like war. But now that war is a fact they will support the government’s war program 100 percent. During the coming months the tragedy of war will be brought close to home. We may lose some of our boys in active battle. We will be asked to sacrifice through taxes and thru lack of materials we need in our business. Already we are deeply concerned about the welfare of people who are in the Pacific war area.
Two weeks ago the News reported that two of the local boys who are in the armed service were ready to sail to an unnamed port in the Pacific, presumably to the Philippines.
Ernest Gerritsma, son of Mr. and Mrs. Seine Gerritsma, wrote his parents just before sailing that he was leaving on the Willard S. Howard for an unknown destination. Ernest is a gunner in the army. Late work was received this week that Ernest Gerritsma, son of Mr. and Mrs. Seine Gerritsma, had been in Honolulu, Hawaii for two days. The ship he was on travelled alone to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They left Pearl Harbor on Saturday and their ship was escorted by several warships, and destroyers in convoy. Ernest wrote that the ship was very crowded, about 200 men in one part of the boat with poor ventilation and light. Martin Sneller, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Sneller, wrote a card last Friday saying that he was going aboard a ship ready to leave. He did not know where he was bound. Radio reports said that the division of which he is a member was being sent to Pearl Harbor. …..
Source: Sioux Center News Dec. 11, 1941, p 1
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Iowa, U.S., WWII Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954, Claim No.139700
Ernest J. Gerritsma, SN 37078142, was born Jan. 13, 1917, at Sioux Center, Iowa, where he resided prior to entering the army on Feb. 23, 1941, at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He served with the Headquarters Battery 147th Field Artillery Bn., departed for foreign duty on Nov. 22, 1941, and returned on March 25, 1945.
He was honorably discharged on July 24, 1945. His application for bonus compensation was filed on May 27, 1949, for which he received $500.00.
Source: ancestry.com
