Glenn Bellows With Marines In Hawaii
Another Spirit Lake grad realized his ambition, and in short order, in the person of Glenn Bellows, class of 1939. He is a member of Company B at the Marine Barracks at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He writes, “From the sun-lit Isle of Hawaii to say that I cannot forget the beautiful golden memories of school days in Spirit Lake high.”
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, January 18, 1940, Page 10
NO WORD YET RECEIVED FROM LOON LAKE
YOUTH SINCE WAR STARTED
Mr. and Mrs. Burt Bellows received a letter from their son, Glenn, last week from the Philippines. As the letter was mailed Nov. 26, it still leaves Glenn’s whereabouts uncertain as the Navy Yards at Cavite, where he was stationed, has been evacuated.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, January 08, 1942, Page 2
Glenn Bellows In Marine Service at Manilla (sic) Bay
Mr. and Mrs. B. V. Bellows received the following telegram, Saturday:
Washington, D. C., May 9
The commandment U. S. Marine Corps regrets to advise you that according to the records of this headquarters, your son, Private First Class Glenn Cedric Bellows, U. S. Marine Corps, was performing his duty in the service of his country in the Manila Bay area when that station capitulated. He will be carried on the records of the Marine Corps as missing pending further information No report of his death has been received and he may be a prisoner of war. It will probably be several months before definite official information can be expected concerning his status. Sincere sympathy is extended to you in your anxiety and you are assured that any report received will be communicated to you promptly.
(Signed) T. Holcomb, Lieut. General U. S. M. C., the Commandant, U. S. Marine Corps.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, May 14, 1942, Page 4
Glenn Bellows is First In County Missing
SON OF B. V. BELLOWS WAS WITH MARINES
ON THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
The first county youth reported missing in action in foreign service is Pvt. F/c Glenn C. Bellows, a member of the U. S. Marines.
This sorrowful news, supplied by the Marine commandment, was received by Glenn’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bert V. Bellows in a telegram a week ago.
Glenn enlisted in the marines at Kansas City, Mo., August 24, 1939, three months after graduation from the Spirit Lake high school. He immediately went to San Diego, Calif., where he remained until October 5, when he was transferred to Hawaii.
He was ordered to the Philippine Island January 13, 1941, and a month later to the island of Cavite. Frequent correspondence with his parents gave them interesting letter pictures of the U. S. island possessions. Glenn’s last letter to his mother was dated January 16, this year, but minus a postmark.
Friends in Jackson and the Loon Lake vicinity will earnestly hope that news of the safety of the young man will soon be received by his parents and their sorrow turned to joy. It is possible that he may have been taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Victor Bellows, brother of Glenn, was in Minneapolis Monday, called for physical examination, and if accepted will enter the service as an aviation cadet.
Another brother, Vinton, at present farming with his father, saw several year’s service with Company E, Jackson National Guard unit and was discharged with other members early in 1940, when Co. E. entered the federal service, because of dependents. Vinton twice represented the Jackson company as marksman at a rifle school at Perry, Ohio.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, May 21, 1942, Page 2 (photograph included)
Chronology of Spirit Lake and Dickinson County
for 1942
May 9th – Glenn Bellows of Loon Lake territory, reported missing in Manila bay area.
May 28th – Mr. and Mrs. B. V. Bellows, Loon Lake, received word from son, Glenn, who was at Cavite, P. I., when war started.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, January 07, 1943, Page 2
P. F. C. GLENN BELLOWS IS JAPANESE PRISONER
Mr. and Mrs. Burt Bellows of Loon Lake received word Thursday from Washington, D. C., that their son, Glenn, private first class in the U. S. Marine Corps, is a prisoner of war of the Japanese. There has been nearly a year of anxiety and uncertainty concerning Glenn as not a word had been heard since early in May when he was reported missing in action at the time Bataan was lost to the Japanese.
The message did not state where Glenn is being held, but his parents were told that they could reach him by letter through a Tokyo address.
Glenn was stationed at Cavite, in the Manila bay area of the Philippine islands, when war was declared December 7, 1941. A letter that he wrote in November before the war started reached the family the first of the year in 1942, and another letter which the youth wrote Jan. 16, 1942, arrived here March 28, being the last word that the family received from the youth.
The government message received in May stated that he was missing in the Manila Bay area.
Glenn’s Spirit Lake friends are happy to learn that he did not have to sacrifice his life for his country, and can only hope that he is getting good treatment at the hands of the enemy.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, March 25, 1943, Page 1
Glenn Bellows Died In Prison In Philippines
SECOND SON OF MR. AND MRS. BELLOWS
DIED JUNE 11TH
MEMORIAL SERVICE SUN.
Again the grimness of war has entered the Loon Lake community with the death of another of its young men, Pfc. Glenn C. Bellows of the U. S. Marines. Tragically, the death of Glenn in a Japanese prison camp, has taken the second son of Mr. and Mrs. B. V. Bellows of that community, another son, Victor, aged 26, having died April 17 this year as the result of a plane crash at the Army Air Filed, Luke Field, Phoenix, Arizona.
Mr. and Mrs. Bellows received a government message last Wednesday evening bringing word of the death of their son, Glenn, and a following letter brought the information that the date of death was established as June 11, 1943, and the cause of death was acute pneumonia.
Glenn’s death brings to a sorrowful close more than a year of anxiety for his parents and relatives and friends.
A resume of his service life will bring to readers a picture of his activities since he left Spirit Lake nearly four years ago, never to return again.
Glenn enlisted in the U. S. Marines at Kansas City, Mo. August 24, 1939, three months after his graduation from the Spirit Lake high school. He immediately went to San Diego, Calif., where he remained for training and on October 5, 1939 he was transferred to Hawaii. He was ordered to the Philippine Islands, January 12, 1941 and a month later to Cavite. Prior to the start of the war in December 1941, he had sent many interesting letters to his parents telling them of his experiences and the countries he was seeing. They received a letter early in 1942, written in November before the war started but the only word received since that time was a letter which arrived April 26, 1942, which had been written Jan. 18.
On May 9, 1942, word came to his parents from the government that Glenn was missing in the Philippine area and then nearly a year of silence followed until March 16, 1943 when a wire stated that Glenn was reported to be a Japanese prisoner. A month after receiving that message, the family was brought sorrow with the death of Glenn’s brother, Victor, on April 17, as the result of a crash of an army plane.
Memorial services for Glenn will be held at the Loon Lake church Sunday morning, June 27, during the regular morning worship hour at 11 o’clock. Rev. Bernard Waage, pastor of the church, will speak and the music at the piano will be furnished by Miss Evelyn Brown, a former school mate of Glenn. A men’s quartette made up of Arthur Noland, Wendell Brown, Merton Johnson and Fred Jones will sing one of Glenn’s beloved hymn’s (sic), “Lead Kindly Light.”
In connection with this hymn it will be remembered that in the last letter received from Glenn, he closed his letter with verses from that favorite hymn. The family has kindly given permission to reprint parts of his last letter which seems so fitting at this time.
Dear Mother,
I have a lot to say and a small space to say it on. It’ll be very condensed. I’m feeling fine and hope everyone is O. K. at home. Christmas and New Years was well celebrated, wasn’t it.
It won’t do a great deal of good to try and write me. It might be best if you didn’t. I trust that this small message will reach you. Don’t worry and keep your chin up. It’s pretty hard, but keep smiling. It must be a funny feeling to have a son thousands of miles away, but be of good cheer. This is a game and a hard game, where the chances are great.
When the day is over, the sky is filled with stars, and the heavens are beautiful up there, I think of a song we used to sing.
“So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on.
“O’er moon and feri (?), o’er craig and torrent, till the night is gone.
“And with the morn those angel faces smile.
“Which I loved long since, and lost a while.”
Say hello to the nephews and nieces for me. Tell dad I’ll be home when “The work is done this fall.”
Love, Glenn.
Glenn C. Bellows was born at Loon Lake, July 3rd, 1919, and would have reached his 24th birthday this year had he lived. He attended the grade school at Loon Lake and entered the Spirit Lake high school, where he was graduated with the class of 1939.
He took an active part in the work of the young people of the Loon Lake church, being a true Christian from a Christian home. After his enlistment in the service four years ago he was never privileged to return to his home here and his family had never had the opportunity of talking with him in regard to his training or the experiences he had had, this information coming only in his regular letters to his family and friends.
Glenn’s death is mourned by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. B. V. Bellows of Spirit Lake, and by three brothers and three sisters, Mr. Dorothy Wilmarth of Harris, Mrs. Alton Clark, Lake Park, Vinton at home, Pvt. Donald Bellows, who is with the College Training Detachment of the Army Air Corps at East Lansing, Mich., and Bruce and Grace at home. Donald arrived Tuesday to be with his parents for a week and to attend the memorial services.
Two nephews and three nieces also survive.
Interesting News from Loon Lake
Mr. and Mrs. B. V. Bellows received a telegram Wednesday evening informing them of the death of their son, Pfc. Glenn C. Bellows, who had been a prisoner of war in the Philippines for more than a year. A memorial service will be held for Glenn some time soon at the Loon Lake church.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, June 24, 1943, Pages 1 & 4
Iowa Honor Roll
These Iowans have given their lives for their country. Each man pictured here has been killed in combat or has died in a prison camp. This group includes the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, who went down with the Juneau. The fourth line under each picture indicates the area in which the man last served. Further Honor Roll photographs will be carried here later.
Source: The Des Moines Register, Sunday, February 27, 1944 (photos included)
***Further Research:
Glenn Cedric Bellows was born July 3, 1919 to Burt Vinton and Hattie Melissa Stillwell Bellows. He died June 11, 1943 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Spirit Lake, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
