JOE BOSTEDT HELD PRISONER BY JAPS
Mr. and Mrs. John Bostedt of St. Mary's township received unwelcome news in a telegram from the war department in Washington, D.C., which advised them that their son, Joe, had been located and was being held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese. Joe and his twin brother, John and their brother, Glen, who enlisted about two years ago were last heard from about the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were, at that time, at Corregidor. It had been over a year since Mr. and Mrs. Bostedt have had word from any of their three sons.
The many friends of these boys are now more hopeful than ever that as long as they have not been reported as "missing in action" by the war department that Glen and John may also later be located, and while being a prisoner of war, particularly, when held as such by the Japanese, is something to be dreaded, yet there is hope of ultimate release.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Wednesday, July 29, 1943, Page 8
JOE BOSTEDT DIED IN PRISON CAMP
International Red Cross Reports Death of
Well Known Bostedt Twin on June 16th
Was On Bataan Penisula
The sympathy of the entire community goes into the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Bostedt of St. Mary's township, this week, sympathy over the untimely death of their twin son, Corporal Joe W. Bostedt, who has been a prisoner of war of the Japanese government in the Philippine Islands, and whose death was reported in a telegram from the war department received by them on Tuesday evening of this week.
This official message read as follows: "Report now received from the Japanese Government through the International Red Cross that your son, Corporal Joe W. Bostedt, who was previously reported a prisoner of war died on the sixteenth of June in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary of War shares your grief and extends his deep sympathy. Letter follows."
John and Joe Bostedt, 21, twins, enlisted shortly after their graduation from a Council Bluffs high school, having served some three years in the air force. They were both known to have been on Bataan at the time of its surrender to the Japanese in February of last year. No word has ever been received of what became of John, whether he lost his life at the time of the occupation of the Islands by the Japanese or whether he has also been a prisoner of war. Another son, Glen Bostedt, with the U.S. Army in the Philippines has been reported as a prison of war although no direct word has been received from him by his parents.
Some 300 names of American soldiers who died recently in the Islands have been released by the war department. They have been reported to have died from malaria, dysentery, pneumonia and other diseases, known to be prevalent in Japanese prison camps.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Thursday, September 30, 1943, Page 6
MEMORIAL SERVICES
St. John’s English Lutheran Church, Willow avenue and Seventh Street., Rev. Ralph W. Livers, D. D. pastor. Memorial Service for Glenn and Joe Bostedt, who died in Jap prison camps recently, 11 a.m. Sunday.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Saturday, October 9, 1943
NEWS of 1943
July 9 – Cpls. Joe and Glenn Bostedt, sons of Mr. and Mrs. John Bostedt, died in Jap prison camps. Cpl. John, Joe’s twin brother, is still a prisoner.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Sunday, January 02, 1944, Page 10
CPL. JOHN BOSTEDT REPORTED DEAD
Third Son IS BATAAN VICTIM
Cpl. John Bostedt, captured with his two brothers when Bataan fell to the Japanese, has been listed as officially dead by the war department.
Cpl. Bostedt’s twin brother, Joe and another brother, Glen, were also captured at that time and have been reported dead since their internment in a Japanese prison camp.
The youths, all serving with the army air force, had been permitted to serve together after insisting that they did not want to be separated.
All three were graduates of Abraham high school. They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Bostedt, 1017 Twenty-eighth avenue.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Monday, May 14, 1945, Page 5
PLAN MEMORIAL FOR JOHN BOSTEDT
Memorial services for Cpl. John Bostedt, third son of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Bostedt, 1017 Twenty-eighth avenue, who was lost in the service, will be held Sunday at 11 a. m. at St. John’s English Lutheran church, Willow avenue and South Seventh street.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Friday, May 25, 1945, Page 10
City Pauses to Honor Its Dead
Present Flags
American flags were presented by the Grenville M. Dodge post No. 737, Veterans of foreign Wars, to next of kin of those who died in world war II. Among those were Mr. and Mrs. John Bostedt, who received three flags, one for each son killed in action.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Thursday, May 31, 1945, Page 1
NOTES: Glenn [born in 1917] and his brothers, twins John and Joe, [born in 1922], enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a privates on September 12, 1940 at Omaha, Nebraska. They served with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group in the Philippines.
Glenn died approximately on May 7, 1942. John died July 7, 1942. Joe died on September 20, 1942.
The Bostedt brothers are memorialized on the Fort William McKinley Monument, Manila, Philippines.
Sources: U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946; WWII Veterans Interred Overseas; U.S. Veterans Gravesites; World War II Prisoners of War; U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead 1939-1945 ~ ancestry.com databases.
