Despite treacherous roads and inclement weather, a large number of relatives and friends gathered in St. Paul Lutheran Church at Midway Sunday afternoon, December 3, 1944, to pay respect to the memory of Pvt. Alfred F. Hamann, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hans P. Hamann of Anthon, who was killed in action October 24, 1944, in Germany.
Both the upstairs and basement of the church were filled with persons desiring to extend sympathy to the bereaved family and to join in the memorial service for the young man who made the supreme sacrifice that justice and right might return to a suffering war-torn world.
An amplifying system enabled those downstairs to hear the service as well as those seated in the church proper. Just before the memorial service opened a body of 25 veterans of World wars 1 and 2 and three soldiers home on furlough marched into the church, led by Cpl. John Sevening, Jr. and Pvt. LeRoy Burow as color bearers and Pvt. Kenneth Heald and Louis Petersen, who recently received a medical discharge after long service overseas, as color guards.
A mixed sextet of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Strackbein, Lee Strackbein, Mrs. Walter Albers, Mrs. Peter B. Jansen and Clarence Rossow, sang, "Rise Ye Children of Salvation" to open the service. Waneta Strackbein presided at the organ and played the accompaniment.
Rev. C.F. Gottberg, pastor of St. Paul Church, read a sketch of the life of Pvt. Hamann, after which he announced that in place of flowers relatives and friends had made contributions to a memorial fund to be divided equally between the Lutheran Hour on the air and the Army and Navy Service Fund. He read the names of those giving to the "memory wreath".
The sextet then sang "Nearer My God to Thee". In a most appropriate and well delivered sermon, Rev. Gottberg paid tribute to his youthful parishioner who shed his blood on the battlefields of Germany for the cause of humanity. The pastor stated that Pvt. Hamann, as a good Christian, knew what he was fighting for, and he endeavored to comfort the bereaved by admonishing them to look to the Almighty for consolation in their great sorrow.
Following the singing of "Rock of Ages" by the sextet and benediction by Rev. Gottberg, Bugler Marvin Jansen sounded taps. The Legionnaires then retired the colors and marched out of the church to close the memorial service.
A large picture of Pvt. Hamann and a table of flowers were in the front of the church, with an American flag and the Legion cross, helmet and lighted candle symbolizing that another gallant soldier had given his life for his country.
Source: The Anthon Herald, December 6, 1944
Alfred August Frederick Hamann was born Jan. 5, 1920 to Hans Peter and Henrietta Elizabeth Hattie Zellmer Hamann. He died Oct. 24, 1944 and is buried in Midway Cemetery, Anthon, IA.
Pvt. Hamann served in World War II with the 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division and was KIA in Aachen, Germany.
Source: ancestry.com
