26 FROM IOWA LOST IN ACTION
[Excerpt]
WASHINGTON, D. C. (AP)—The War Department Saturday listed 26 Iowa soldiers as missing in action in the European and Mediterranean theaters. They were:
EUROPEAN.
Algona—Staff Sergeant Robert W. Thompson.
Audubon—Sergt. Donald C. Munksgaard.
Boone—Second Lieutenant Robert W. Ward.
Cedar Rapids—Pvt. (f.c.) Harvey H. Wehde.
Council Bluffs—Corp. Dale E. Gustafson.
Des Moines—Pvt. (f.c.) Lester W. Pfannkuch.
Dubuque—Lieut. Arthur C. Toepel.
Source: The DesMoines Register, August 27, 1944
Source of the portrait photograph: Bombardier Class Book 43-12, Deming Army Air Field, New Mexico. Courtesy of Fields of Honor Database
Arthur C. Toepel was born July 7, 1917 to William V. and Verena W. Traut Toepel. He died June 29, 1944 and is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint-Avold, France.
Lt. Toepel served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 44th Bomb Group, Heavy, 506th Squadron as a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator “My Everlovin’ Gal”. He was awarded the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart. He was also part of the 2nd Bomb Division, 44th Bomb Group on D-Day.
In 1950 a copy of the Statue of Liberty was erected in Washington Park, Dubuque, Iowa, in memory of Lt. Arthur Toepel.
Source: ancestry.com; americandday.org; abmc.gov
