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]
In First Army.
Private Hayes, 19, was wounded March 31, while in combat with the infantry of the First army in Germany, according to word received from him by his parents, Mr. and Ms. Stephen Hayes, 822 Home Park boulevard.
Private Hayes is now hospitalized in England and is “getting along fine,” he writes.
By coincident, Private Hayes was graduated in June, 1943, from West high school and enlisted the same day for service. He has been overseas eight months.
A brother, Jack H. Hayes, aviation metalsmith second class, is stationed at Pearl Harbor.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Sunday, April 15, 1945, Section Two, Pages 9 & 11
William Stephen Hayes was born June 1, 1925 to Stephen and Christine Kier Hayes. He died Feb. 3, 1985 in CA.
William served in World War II with the U.S. Army 86th Division and 26th Infantry, 1st Division.
Source: ancestry.com
