Sioux County

 
Orville Kenneth  Koerselman, S 1/c

 

 

67 Sioux County Men Called For Examination 

On February 11th The following registrants will leave for Army examination on February 11. If they are found to be qualified for service, they will return for a week’s furlough before being called to active duty. 

… Orville Kenneth Koerselman, Hull … 

Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 4, 1943, p 1 

Vernon Droog and Orville Koerselman, who were sworn into the U.S. Navy last Friday at Omaha, Nebr., returned home Sunday morning. The boys will leave from Sheldon on Saturday for Omaha, and then to Idaho where they will be stationed. 

Source: Sioux County Index Feb. 18, 1943, p 5 

Orville Koerselman and Vernon Droog left for Omaha Saturday morning from Sheldon. They have enlisted in the Navy. 

Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 25, 1943, p 10 

Record List Classified By Draft Board Wed. 

DRAFT BOARD MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 17 … 

The following registrants having been accepted for Navy service, same were on motion transferred from Tent. 1-A and placed in Class 1-C. 

… 11,958 Orville Kenneth Koerselman … 

Source: Sioux County Capital Feb. 25, 1943, p 5 

Orville Koerselman, A.S. Co. 115, No. 43, Reg. 3 Camp Bennion, W.S.N.T.S. Farragut, Idaho 

Source: Sioux County Index Mar. 4, 1943, p 5 

Farragut, Idaho, March 5 – A new representative of the Hull community has joined the forces of the U. S. Navy, reporting here at the U. S. Naval Training Station this week. He is Vernon Leonard Droog, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Droog of Hull. During the period of his recruit training, he will learn the fundamentals of seamanship and undergo physical hardening in the intensive program. On graduation he will either be sent to a Navy Service School for additional training in a specialized field or ordered to join the combat forces of the U. S. Fleet in action against the Axis enemies. 

Another new representative at Farragut who hails from Hull is Orville Kenneth Koerselman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman of Hull. He will take the same training. 

Source: Sioux County Index Mar. 11, 1943, p 3 

3 Sons In The Service 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman have three sons serving their country. Willis is at present in Africa having been in the army two years. He recently wrote and said he had picked up a fine souvenir from a dead German soldier which he hoped to be able to show them some day. Clarence is stationed at Camp Truax near Madison, Wis. He has been in the army air corps and is in radio school at present, having gone in last December. Orville joined the navy this past Feb. and his address is: Co. 115-43, Reg. 3, Camp Bennion, A.S.N.T.S., Orville K. Koerselman A.S. 

Source: Sioux Center News Apr. 15, 1943, p 3 

Farragut, Idaho: Orville Kenneth Koerselman, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Koerselman of Hull, has entered the Gunner’s Mate Service School for a sixteen-week specialized course. At this school, which is one of the many Navy Service Schools in operation at this U.S. Naval Training Station, he will learn the latest technical information in the field in which he will serve the Navy and our country. Upon completion of this course, he will be given an opportunity to qualify for a rate of petty officer and assigned to a unit of the Navy, either ashore or afloat. 

Source: Sioux County Index June 3, 1943, p 1&4 

Orville Koerselman, Seaman Second Class, stationed at Farragut, Idaho, is reported to be a patient in the hospital there. 

Source: Sioux County Index June 10, 1943, p 4 

THE THREE KOERSELMAN BROTHERS (photos) PFC. WILLIS KOERSELMAN 

Here are the three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman of Hull, who are in the service of their country. 

PFC Willis C. Koerselman enlisted in December 1940, is a member of the 133rd Infantry. He has been in Africa since December 1942, and recently spent three weeks in a British hospital there with a foot injury. His present address is Co. I. 133rd Infantry, APO34, c.o. Postmaster, New York City, N. Y. He was home on furlough in October 1942. 

PFC Clarence Koerselman is taking up radio work in the Army Air Corps. He entered the service in December 1942. He had been placed in 4F in Sioux County, but had his papers transferred to California where he was accepted for service. He tried out for the position of aerial gunner but didn’t pass the physical test so transferred to radio work instead. He recently had his appendix removed and is just now out of the hospital. His address: 620 TSS, Barracks 1443, Truax Field, Madison, Wisconsin. 

ORVILLE K. KOERSELMAN, S 2-c, entered the navy in February 1943 and is now attending gunners mate school. His present address is Area 3, Barracks 3, Co. 31, U.S.N.T.S., Farragut, Idaho. 

Source: Sioux Center News June 10, 1943, p 10 

Orville Koerselman, S 2-c has a slight change of address as follows: G. M. School Bks. 7 up, Camp Peterson, Farragut, Idaho. 

Source: Sioux Center News June 24, 1943, p 2 

Orville Koerselman 2nd class seaman of Farragut, Idaho came home Sunday evening and will return to Camp Thursday. 

Source: Sioux Center News Sept. 30, 1943, p 10 

Orville Koerselman 2nd Class Seaman, and Dorothy Albers of Sheldon were married at Dakota City, Nebr. last week Wednesday. Friday he left for San Francisco, Calif. 

Source: Sioux Center News Oct. 7, 1943, p 10 

Orville K. Koerselman, S 2-c G.M.S. was home on a four-day leave recently. On his return he called his parents to say he had been transferred from Pleasanton, Calif. to Treasure Island near San Francisco and from there out to sea for an unknown destination. Orville is the youngest of the three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman who are in the service. 

Source: Sioux Center News Oct. 28, 1943, p 2 

Orville K. Koerselman, S 2-c c.o. Fleet Post Office San Francisco, Calif. 

Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 11, 1943, p 5 

NEWS OF OUR MEN and WOMEN IN UNIFORM BACK AT FRONT. 

Sgt. Willis Koerselman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman of Hull, was wounded in Italy some weeks ago. He is now out of the hospital and back at the front again. He was able to tell his parents how he received his wounds, in a letter which they just received last week. A buddy of his stepped on a land mine just a few feet away from Willis. The boy was blown to pieces on the spot. Willis had sixteen stones removed from one eye, wounds in his ears, neck, face, and legs. He said his ears were still not completely healed. He also had shrapnel wounds in his legs. He asked the News to publish his thanks to the many people who sent cards and letters to him while he was in the hospital. 

Another son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman, Arie Koerselman, S 3/c, Farragut, Idaho, has also been in the hospital for the past sixty days. He was home in June on leave having completed his boot training. Immediately upon his return, he contracted scarlet fever and since then has been ill with rheumatic fever. He is still in the hospital and may be there for some weeks longer. 

Their third son, Orville Koerselman S 1/c, is somewhere in the southwest Pacific. He has been in four major battles. In May, he had a six-day leave and wired his wife to meet him in California. Since then they have had no indication of his whereabouts. 

Source: The Sioux Center News, August 31, 1944 

Seaman Koerselman Home 

Orville Koerselman, S 1/c, arrived in Sheldon today on a leave from the Navy, which he is spending with his wife, Dorothy Albro Koerselman, in this city; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Koerselman at Hull, and with other relatives and friends. Seaman Koerselman has been on sea duty 17 months, and in the Navy two years and one month. He has been in the South Pacific. 

Source: Sioux Center News Mar. 22, 1945, p 2 

Orville Koerselman S 1/c arrived home last week Wednesday from San Francisco. He will leave again on the 29th of March. 

Source: Sioux Center News Mar. 22, 1945, p 2 

Sunday dinner guests in the Henry Koerselman home were Orville Koerselman, S 1/c, Mrs. Orville Koerselman, Mrs. Milo Benedict and Mrs. Arie Koerselman and daughter, all of Sheldon. Seaman Koerselman is on a 23-day leave and will report at Mare Island April 3. 

Source: Sioux County Index April 5, 1945, p 8 

Orville Koerselman returned home Tuesday from the Pacific Theater of Action and has received his discharge. Orville was in the service nearly three years, and on the cruiser Chester. 

Source: Sioux County Index Nov. 29, 1945, p 4 

Discharged (Continued from page 1) … Orville Koerselman … 

Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 29, 1945, p 10 

Iowa, U.S., World War II Bonus Case Files, Claim Number 175616 

Orville Kenneth Koerselman, was born June 21, 1923, at Sheldon, Iowa. He was living at Hull, Iowa prior to enlisting in the Navy on Feb. 23, 1943, at Omaha, Nebraska, served with NRS at Omaha, Nebraska, NTS at Farragut, Idaho, and on the USS Chester (CA27), left for overseas duty on Oct. 13, 1943, returned on Nov. 26, 1945, and was honorably discharged on Nov. 26, 1945. His application for bonus pay was filed on June 1, 1949, for which he received $260.00. 

Source: Ancestry.com