FIGHTING MEN WHITESELL
AND MERCER KILLED
One on Iwo; Another on the West Front;
Six Men Are Wounded.
As Waterloo and the rest of the nation mourned its late commander-in-chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the impact of war was felt again in a number of homes through casualty reports of loved ones from the battlefronts.
Two were reported dead, one on Iwo Jima and one in Germany, and six wounded, all the later on the German front.
The dead:
Marine Pfc. George B. Mercer, 20, killed in action March 26, on Iwo Jima.
Pvt. Virgil Whitesell, 18, killed in action with the Ninth army in Germany, March 24.
The wounded:
Staff Sgt. Deloy L. Gabbard, on March 28.
Staff Sgt. Clarence W. Dawson, on March 29.
Sgt. Michael Zegarac, in late March.
Pfc. William S. Hayes, on March 31.
Pfc. Edward A. Schultz, on March 27.
Pfc. William J. Halterman, on April 2.
[Page 11]
Arm Amputated.
Staff Sgt. Dawson, son of Clarence Dawson, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Ms. Nora Stewart, 1007 Mulberry street, had his right arm amputated below the elbow after being wounded in infantry action in Germany on March 29. Dawson, who lived in Des Moines before entering service in October, 1941, has now returned to the States, being stationed at McClosky General hospital at Temple, Tex. Before entering the army, Dawson was employed at Ankeny ordnance plant in Des Moines.
His wife, Mrs. Vera Dawson, and two children reside in Des Moines. The soldier had been overseas only six weeks before he was wounded.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Sunday, April 15, 1945, Section Two, Pages 9 & 11
