NEWS OF OUR MEN and WOMEN IN UNIFORM
Mr. and Mrs. Cornie Pals were hosts at a Sunday dinner honoring Alfred Pals, son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals of Sioux Center, who will leave for the army in the near future. …
Source: Sioux County Capital Nov. 5, 1942, p 2
Alfred Pals, who has been a boilermaker at the Great Northern Railway at Sioux City for the past two years, has enlisted in the Reserve Corps of Engineers and left Saturday night with the train from here for Fort Snelling at Saint Paul, Minn. He will be an apprentice in the Corps of Engineers in the Engineers 704th Railway Grand Division. He will take six weeks of military training at Fort Snelling and after that he will work for the railroad somewhere. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals who moved from here two weeks ago to Coopersville, Mich.
Source: Sioux Center News Dec. 10, 1942, p 7
Pvt. Alfred Pals, son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals who moved to Michigan a few months ago, came here this week to spend a three-day furlough with friends and relatives here as his time was too short to go all the way to Michigan. Alfred is in the Military Railway Service and likes his work. He has been in the army for two months.
His address is Pvt. Alfred Pals, 704 Ry., Gd. Div., Ft. Snelling, Minn.
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 11, 1943, p 9
Sunday, Feb. 21, 1943
Hello Ed: It is Sunday afternoon, and I have just finished eating a tasty dinner. We have our best meals on Sundays, and as yet our food supply is not rationed. Some camps I hear have butter and meat 3 days of every week. This might only be a false rumor but it is said that Fort Snelling is the best fed place in the United States and I think there is some truth to that because I don't believe there is a better place. I attended the Protestant services at the chapel this morning at 10:30 and the chaplain is a very friendly character and preaches well. Services are held for a period of forty-five minutes, and the chapel is right across the street from our barracks. The shoemaker shop, tailor shop, and photo shop are all in one long building which is also only a block from our barracks, and the PX or Post Exchange is a block in the opposite direction.
Outside of that the main street carline runs right past our barracks which will take us either to St. Paul or Minneapolis, and our barracks are also very nice. We get up at 6:30 every morning except Sunday, some fellows go to bed late Saturday night or early Sunday morning and sleep all day, getting up only for meals. We stand reveille at 6:55 and eat breakfast at 7:00. Then through the day, if we are not drilling or marching, we shine our shoes, keep the clothes in our lockers straightened, and our rifle clean. And at five o’clock we stand retreat, after which we are free to leave for town or do as we please. Yes, it's a great life if you don't weaken. While I was home on a furlough, people asked me what kind of an outfit I had enlisted in. It is not a newly organized outfit, for the Corp of Engineers (now the Transportation Corp) was operating overseas in World War I also. Our mission is to operate railroads in foreign countries.
We have finished our basic training two months ago and are waiting for orders to be called for duty overseas. I don't have much news but I do wish to thank everybody who has given a hand in sending the boys in service the Sioux Center News. I found out there is nothing more cheerful than to receive news from the good old hometown, outside of a furlough or three-day pass. The weather out here is warming up fine and it's about time too. It really was cold up here for a while. In case anybody is interested in knowing how my dad (Emery Pals) is getting along, he likes it fine and is the A-1 handyman of the dairy farm. I hope to get a furlough soon so I can see my parents and three brothers at Coopersville, Mich. Well I guess I had better close.
I must also write to a sweetheart of mine living near Sioux Center, and in addition to that I wish to thank everyone who has written me. Pvt. Al Pals Pvt. Alfred Pals 704th Ry. Ad. Div. Fort Snelling, Minn.
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 25, 1943, p 10
Pvt. Alfred Pals and Jeanette Louise Van Kley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley, will be married next week Monday, March 15 at Sioux Center. Alfred is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals who moved to Michigan last fall.
Source: Sioux Center News March 11, 1943, p 10
Van Kley-Pals On Monday evening, March 15, Pvt. Alfred Pals, son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals of Grand Rapids, Mich. and Jeanette Van Kley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley of Sioux Center were married by candlelight at the home of the bride’s parents by Rev. O. Breen, pastor of the Second Christian Reformed Church.
The double ring ceremony was used. Miss Johanna Niezink played Lohengrins wedding march while the couple took their places beneath an arch decorated in red, white and blue. The bride wore a white floor length gown and carried a white Bible. She wore white gardenias in her hair. Her only jewelry was a military locket, a gift of the groom. The groom wore his army uniform. Only the immediate relatives and a few friends of the couple were present. …
The couple left Tuesday evening for Ft. Snelling, Minn. on a brief wedding trip, where she will remain for a week and will then make her home with her parents. Pvt. Pals is stationed at Ft. Snelling, Minn. and is with the railway division. His parents called by long distance from Grand Rapids to offer their congratulations as they could not be present at the wedding.
Source: Sioux Center News March 18, 1943, p 5
Mrs. Alfred Pals returned home last Friday evening after visiting her husband, Pvt. Pals at Minneapolis for a short time. Mrs. Pals makes her home with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley.
Source: Sioux Center News April 22, 1943, p 10
With Railway Division (photo) PVT. ALFRED PALS
Pvt. Alfred Pals has been transferred the past week from Ft. Snelling, Minn. to the east coast. He has been in the armed forces since December 6, 1942, had three brief passes which he spent here in Sioux Center. He expects to be sent overseas soon.
He was married to Jeanette Van Kley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley on March 15th. She returned home when he was transferred.
Source: Sioux Center News April 29, 1943, p 1
April 23, 1943, Dear Ed and friends: How are you all? I just want to say that I have moved and about all I can tell you is: “Hello how are you? I am fine – goodbye”. That's all you have to know about me. I am fine and hope you all are too.
We had a nice trip up here, at least it was the longest ride I ever had. There was a lot of beautiful scenery, hills, and towns and cities of interest and all of the boys enjoyed it a great deal. Those three day passes I used to take every month to Sioux Center are gone now because distance now makes it impossible. It didn't seem like army life then but now it seems as if we're just being inducted for military service. This is really the army now. We can't go to town every night anymore, and the PX's are so crowded, we sometimes have to wait a half hour to buy anything.
I'm glad I had the chance of meeting my folks before I left, which was April 3, the funeral of my grandfather, even though it was only for a few hours, it's a moment a soldier always thinks of. Well I haven't much news so I will close, my address is on the envelope. Please print it so people will know the change. So long everybody, Al pals.
Pvt. Alfred Pals Hdqtrs. Co. 704 Ry. Grand Div. (m.r.s.) c.o. Postmaster, APO 3922 New York City, N. Y. Alfred is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals who moved to Michigan a few months ago. Alfred was married this year to Janet Van Kley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley and she has been with him until he moved and is now with her parents here.
Source: Sioux Center News April 29, 1943, p 2
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Van Kley received two letters from Pvt. Alfred Pals, their son-in-law, since his arrival in North Africa about two weeks ago. He left the states presumably about May 1st.
His new address is Hdq. Co., 704 Ry. Grand Div., APO 698, c.o. Postmaster, New York City, N. Y.
Source: Sioux Center News June 10, 1943, p 2
June 1, 1943
Hello Ed and Sioux Center friends: I thought I'd sit down and write a few lines now that we are settled down on our permanent place. I suppose you are all quite surprised to hear that we went across so soon, we were not in New York long enough to see the city. I'll never forget that night when we were awakened and marched up to the train and from there up the gangplank.
The trip across was a great experience but it took too long, and then too the water is not so solid as the good old ground, is it? But we were fed very well on the ship and twice a day had the opportunity of going on the top deck where we could see the whole ocean (what we could see) and watch the other ships following us.
We have a swell place here now, we have a radio which gives us the news and music broadcasted by shortwave from New York. We also have electric lights, which is very fine. We even had ice cream and ice-cold lemonade once in a while, so it isn't so bad here as I thought. We also have our half-days off once a week to go to the city. One really gets to see the different ways the foreign soldiers dress. We either have to speak French or British to get anywhere around here, we have an awful time telling the laundry boy when we are getting our clothes back or how much it costs. Well, I guess I had better close. I've still got the last Sioux Center News I received at New York, dated April 22. I really enjoy the News and in closing want to thank all my friends for writing me. So far have received 14 letters which I had so long waited for.
So long, and the best of luck to you all. Your friend, Al Pals Pvt. Alfred Pals 17155612 Hq. 704 Ry. Grand Div. APO 698, c.o. Postmaster New York City, N. Y.
Source: Sioux Center News June 17, 1943, p 2
Military Railway Service, North Africa Allied Force Headquarters, N. Africa July 7 - Promotion of a Sioux Center man now serving with U.S. Armed Forces in North Africa has been announced by the headquarters of Brigadier General Carl R. Gray, Jr., Director General of the Military Railway Service in this theater of operations.
Promoted from Private to Private First Class is Alfred Pals, formerly a boilermaker for the Great Northern Railway Co., and now assigned to Headquarters Company in a Military Railway Service Grand Division in North Africa. The Military Railway Service, to which PFC Pals belongs, was formed in the United States for the specific purpose of operating railways wherever they might be needed to speed the flow of food, munitions and other supplies to our troops on the fighting fronts.
Source: Sioux Center News July 8, 1943, p 8
Alfred Pals Writes From North Africa
August 3, 1943 Hello Editor and Friends: - Well after a half day at the beach, a steak supper topped with a pie alamode, I’m in a pretty good mood to write a few lines. You also asked for more letters from the men overseas so here it is. Surely appreciate the Sioux Center News at least when I'm so far from home, the latest issue I received was the first week in July.
The first thing I look for is news from the soldiers and then the Sermonette to the men in service. Still haven't met anyone I know but sure wish I could meet Jim Achterhof, Ted Vanden Berg and Fred Herweyer who aren't too far away, we’re all in North Africa but that takes in a lot of territory.
The weather is starting to get quite hot, yesterday 104 degrees in the tents, but soon the rainy season begins and it will rain all winter, so they say. Well, I'll have to hurry up as the lights will soon go out, our meal is quite regular coming in but I heard from my wife that she received one letter from me in seven days, which is real service.
I sure hope and pray that this war will soon come to an end, so many soldiers and sailors are looking forward to sailing back home and believe me I’m one of them. So until later. Just a friend, Al Pals
Pfc. Alfred Pals 17155612 Hq. 704 Ry. Branch Divn. APO 690, c.o. Postmaster New York City, N. Y.
Source: Sioux Center News Aug. 19, 1943, p 2
PFC Alfred Pals writes from North Africa to greet his Sioux Center friends Sept. 21, 1943 Hello Sioux Center friends: - Sorry I didn't write sooner than this but it's just one of those things you know and I don't have an excuse for not writing because I do have a lot of time, so no alibis.
Well, I'm still in North Africa and as far as living conditions are concerned I have no complaints to make. Meals are very wholesome I believe the best. Hardly a day misses that I am not at the head of the chow line; for this we are named a “chow-hound”, but it's better than waiting at the end of the line. Of all the Iowa boys I met at the Red Cross I know not one of them. It's amazing the number of American soldiers that are here. Weather is quite favorable out here although the past few days the wind has been blowing from across the desert which is equally as bad as the 4th of July wind we had in 1936. Last week we had a few heavy rains which were the first we had since our arrival here. I am at present working in the supply room to take over the place while the supply sergeant is out on business. Not a bad job. So far have received quite a number of the Sioux Center News. When I read that paper it seems as if I am not so far from home.
Letters come in quite regularly, nothing is more inviting than to see a letter in the box from Mrs. Al Pals. Also, I want to thank everyone else for writing me as a letter from home is all a soldier looks forward to. So until some other time. Just a friend. – Al Pals
Source: Sioux Center News Oct. 14, 1943, p 2
The APO number in Alfred Pals address has changed to 512.
Source: Sioux Center News Jan. 13, 1944, p 8
MOVED TO ITALY.
Alfred Pals was recently promoted to Corporal, and is now in Italy. He has been in North Africa until recently. His wife had a letter from his Chaplain, who wrote they attended services in St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome and heard organ music for the first time since leaving the States, which they enjoyed very much. Alfred has a new APO number, 400. Call the News or his wife for his complete address.
Source: Sioux Center News, August 31, 1944
Discharged (photo) CPL. ALFRED PALS
Cpl. Alfred Pals, son of former residents of this area, Mr. and Mrs. Emery Pals, arrived home Monday after 31 months’ absence and three years in service. His wife is the former Janet Van Kley. Alfred served in Africa, Italy, France and Germany with the 704th Railway Grand Division, was assistant to the supply sergeant.
He wears four battle stars. He received his discharge at Ft. Sheridan, Ill., Sunday, Nov. 4. His plans for the future are indefinite.
Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 8, 1945, p 1
Servicemen Discharged
Servicemen who have filed discharges in the County Recorder’s Office since October 31 include: … Alfred Pals, Sioux Center …
Source: Sioux Center News Nov. 8, 1945, p 1
