Staff-Sergeant James VanderKooi Missing
Parents Received Word On Tuesday Afternoon, Action Was Over Austria May 24th.
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Vander Kooi and Mrs. James Vander Kooi were notified that their son and husband, S. Sgt. James Vander Kooi was reported missing in action while on a mission over Austria.
S/Sgt. James Vander Kooi, a tail gunner on a B-24, has been overseas a little over two months but has taken part in numerous missions over enemy territory.
Below is the wording of the message as it was received here:
“The Secretary of War desires of me to express his deep regret that your son, Staff Sergeant James Vander Kooi, has been reported missing in action since Twenty-four May, over Austria. If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified. –The Adjutant General.”
This is the second report of Hull men missing in action, received in the last few weeks and it is hoped, as in all other such cases, that “Jim” may be alive and well, even thought in enemy territory and that in due time he may return to dear ones.
Source: The Sioux County Index, Hull, Iowa, Thursday, June 8, 1944
ONE MORE HULL BOY, WAS WAR PRISONER, HEARD FROM
Last Saturday, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Vander Kooi received a telegram from the War Department, informing them that their son, S/Sgt. James Vander Kooi, had been liberated from a prison camp in Germany.
The Vander Kooi’s had previously had news from another source that “Jim” was known to be in good health with the rest of the crew, all together in the same camp.
This news is very pleasing to his wife, parents, brothers and sisters.
Source: Sioux County Index, May 31, 1945
