GI MISSING -- Lloyd V. Hagen of Nora Springs, son of Mrs. Katrine Hagen of Nothwood, was reported missing in France Jan. 21 with the 7th army. His wife and 3 year old son live in Nora Springs. He has been overseas since October last year.
Source: The Mason City Globe-Gazette, February 14, 1945 (photo included)
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH found regarding the battle that took the life of Lloyd V. Hagen and so many others. My father was a member of this same group of soldiers with the 157th Infantry, 45th Division. My Dad was wounded the night before the Battle of the Bulge began and transported to a Paris hospital. Dad was in the hospital there from Dec. 15, 1944 to his release on Feb. 8, 1945. His being wounded and the hospital stay, very likely spared his life. See below a portion of what Dad wrote in his Memoirs years later. ~Contributed by Linda (Ewin) Ziemann, the Iowa in WWII Coordinator
"While I was in Paris, on 20 Jan.1945, my entire battalion was wiped out. It was one of my saddest moments when I heard of the disaster that happened to my outfit during January. I was sitting on my bed on the afternoon of 24th January. One of the fellows came in and asked me if I was with the 157th infantry. I told him yes I was. He handed me the Stars and Stripes newspaper. This was a service newspaper printed once a week and distributed among the service people. The following is the actual account of what happened."
5 OUTFITS STORMED HILL OF DEATH---2 MEN CAME DOWN
“With the seventh army, 14 Jan. 1945: Five companies of Yanks—veterans of 19 months of combat—clawed their way to the top of a 1500 foot crest in the mountains of North Alsace. Then came snow, and then a mighty Nazi artillery barrage that isolated the Yanks.
An estimated 150 enemy artillery pieces, from 75s up, zeroed their fire on the hill. The barrage bored into the foxholes on the crest and men simply vanished. It nailed trucks and armored vehicles as they shot past crossroads on reinforcement missions.
Then the Germans began throwing in rockets. By the end of the third day, 100 of the men on the ridge had been evacuated or had withdrawn. And the enemy’s fire, with his infiltrations behind our lines had prevented further reinforcements and supply of the men still marooned.
But Lt. Col. Felix l. Sparks, of Miami, Ariz. Battle 3rd battalion CO, hammered his way up the mountain in a medium tank, firing its big gun and loosing more than 5000 rounds from the 30-caliber machine gun. He was aided by an unknown sergeant, rescued three of our wounded and took them down the mountain. The day before, 2nd Lt. Willis Talkington, of Craig, Colo., had gone up the mountain in a light tank with blankets, rations and ammo. On the way down, the tank was hit by bazooka fire, only Talkington escaped.
Capt. Leroy W. Raley, chaplain from Cameron, TX., also made the trip up–three times on foot-although the battalion executive officer had forbidden him to go.
This went on for five days when the end came in the late afternoon of 20 Jan.1945, when two bleary-eyed shaky GI’s stumbled down through the snow from the mountain top. They were the only ones who did, and the only ones who ever will. They were Pfc. Walter T. Bruce, Gainsville, Ga. and Pvt. Benjamin C. Melton, Goldsboro, N.C.
They told how the remainder of the five companies had tried to break out. There were 90 men not wounded and more than a hundred wounded. As they made their rush, the jerries opened up.
This is the way it looked to Melton, who was himself knocked down four times by concussion. Men were being hit directly by artillery and rockets all around me, legs and arms were flying everywhere. It was a God-awful thing. Melton was captured by the Germans last May on the drive to Rome, but escaped later.”
Contributed by Sgt. Vernon C. Ewin, 157th Infantry, 45th Division
NORA SPRINGS GI DIES IN FRANCE
Pvt. Lloyd V. Hagen Leaves Wife and Son, 3
Nora Springs -- Mrs. Lloyd Hagen received an official message from the government information informing her that her husband, Pfc. Lloyd V. Hagen, 33, had been killed in action in France on Jan. 21.
Pvt. Hagen entered the service April 8, 1944, and received his basic training at Camp Fannin, Texas. He went overseas in October, 1944, from the embarkation point of Fort Meade, Md., landing in England where he spent 5 days before going into France.
The Hagen family came to Nora Springs in December, 1942, from Northwood, where Mr. Hagen had been employed by the Nelson Produce company. He was employed in the Graney pool hall here, owned by his sister-in-law, until the spring of 1943, when he began work on the Henry Steidl farm. In the fall of 1943 he accepted a position at the Oliver Equipment company in Charles City and was employed there until his induction.
His wife and 3 year old son, Harley, live in Nora Springs with Mrs Hagen's sister, Mrs. Bernard Clifford. Pvt. Hagen was the youngest son of Mrs. Katrina Hagen of Northwood.
Source: The Mason City Globe-Gazette, June 22, 1945 (photo included)
Lloyd Vernon Hagen was born Mar. 25, 1911 to Knudt D. and Katrina Ulvensoen Hagen. He died Jan. 21, 1945 and is buried in Sunset Rest Cemetery, Northwood, IA.
Pvt. Hagen served in World War II with the U.S. Army 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division and was KIA.
Source: ancestry.com
