Four brothers served in Germany

By MICHELLE HAACKE, For The Globe Gazette

Four of the Pelleymounter brothers served in Germany during World War II and celebrated their safe return home in December 1946, as pictured L to R: Bernard, Dick, Roman and Bob.

OSAGE, IOWA — For Roman Pelleymounter of Osage, his time in Germany during World War II was very much a family affair.

Pelleymounter, who joined other North Iowa World War II veterans on the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., Saturday, pointed to a photo of four handsome, confident-looking young men dressed in military attire, taken in December 1946.

“I’m very proud of this picture. Three of my brothers and I were all in Germany during the war,” he said, pointing out himself along with brothers Dick, who served in the Army’s Ambulance Corps; Bob, an Army Air Corps mechanic; and Bernard, who served in the Glider Corps for the Army.

“This was taken our first Christmas back together. My mother went to Mass every day for quite a while, praying for our safe return.

“They were there during the combat, on the front lines,” he said. “The combat ceased shortly after I arrived. They were the ones really out on the front lines.”

Roman joined the Army Air Corps in 1945, taking a bus to Mississippi where he trained in both Bolixi and Gulf Port. “When I was going in, I remember I met Dick in Jefferson City, Mo. He was on his way back,” Pelleymounter said, telling how his older brother was among those called to duty in the first draft of Osage men.

“I remember we all went with him when he went to the bus to be inducted. Stanley Smith, a very wealthy man of this area, stood by the door of the bus. He handed a $5 bill to each one of those men as they boarded. Dick was tickled to get $5. That was a lot of money back then,” he said.

“I went in as a cadet,” Pelleymounter continued, referring back to his own experience. “The combat ended just a few months after I got there. So they cut out cadet training and I was transferred to the PR (public relations) department. I had a good job and a transportation vehicle assigned to me. A photographer traveled everywhere with me, too.”

Pelleymounter was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany, located about 30 miles from Frankfurt, at the United States Air Force European Headquarters. Even half a world away from home, family ties remained close.

“I was in Germany with my brother-in-law, Max Elliot.”

Although combat had ceased, Pelleymounter saw first-hand the aftermath of the battles fought across German soils. “I was lucky to be in Wiesbaden. It had been a resort area and it was never bombed. It was left intact.

Near the end of 1946, shortly before the photo of the brothers was taken, Pelleymounter’s time was up.

“I was given a choice, to go back to the States for pilot’s training or take a discharge. I took the discharge and returned to Osage in 1946,” he said.

Bernard was the only brother with physical scars of the long-fought battle overseas. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.

Of the four Pelleymounter brothers who served the U.S. military in Germany, all but one stayed in the Osage area.

[Published originally on www.globegazette.com, 9-28-09]