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]
Left U. S. March 1.
Private Halterman, whose wife and two sons, William Lee, 6, and James, 3, reside at 608 ½ Ash street, entered the army Aug. 24, 1944, and left for Germany Mar. 1, 1945. He trained at Fort Warren, Wyo., at Camp Howze and Maxey, Tex.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Halterman, 608 Ash street, he worked as a fireman on the Illinois Central railroad before entering service. His wife had learned only yesterday of his arrival in Germany. She received the message that he was wounded from the war department late yesterday.
Private Halterman went overseas with an infantry replacement division of the Third army.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Sunday, April 15, 1945, Section Two, Pages 9 & 11 (photo included)
William Junior Halterman was born Feb. 24, 1920 to William Fay and Flossie Lueane Edgeton Halterman. He died July 1, 1974 and is buried in Garden of Memories, Waterloo, IA.
William served in World War II with the U.S. Army 26th Infantry, 101st Regiment.
Source: ancestry.com
