Lt. Merle Thomas KRATZER 1922-1945.ITALY

KRATZER, HENDERSON

Posted By: Andrew Brown (email)
Date: 11/3/2010 at 13:11:05

Lt. Merle Thomas KRATZER

Manchester, Ia. – Funeral services , in charge of the Rev. Walter E. Schiel of this city, will be held at the Shelly funeral home here Wednesday at 1:30 p. m. for Second Lieutenant Merle Thomas Kratzer, 22, son of Mrs. Anna E. Kratzer of Manchester, who was killed in action in Italy Feb. 9, 1945.

Burial will be in Oakland cemetery here with full military honors.

Merle Thomas, son of the late Jay Harris Kratzer and Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Henderson Kratzer of this city, was born Aug. 22, 1922 in Central City, Ia. He came to Manchester from that point when six years of age, attended the local schools and graduated from Manchester High School in 1940.

He later attended Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls and attended Iowa State College at Ames for two years.

Lieut. Kratzer was a fighter pilot(P-51) in the United States Army Air Corps. Prior to his enlistment, he was a member of the local Presbyterian Church.

Survivors are his mother, of this city; two brothers, Darrell J. Kratzer, a student at Iowa State College at Ames, and Paul F. Kratzer, a student at the University of Iowa at Iowa City, one sister, Miss Betty Anne Kratzer, Cedar Rapids. Lieutenant Kratzer’s father died in 1928.

(Waterloo IA Daily Courier 22NOV1948)

Notes: He won the National Music Contest with a baritone solo. He was Senior Class Vice President and member of the Student Council, Band, Glee Club, Mixed Chorus, Chem Phy Boys Sextet and National Honor Society. He attended Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls and Iowa State University at Ames for two years. He then took two years of Civil Engineer Training at Iowa State.
He joined the Air Force Reserve in February 1943 with preliminary training at Jefferson Barracks, MO with further training at Albion MI, San Antonio TX, Waco TX, Uvalde & Mission TX where he received his wings and was transferred overseas.