bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Roster > Roster Notes > About the Roster, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated 24 May2023.
Why the Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster
Why the Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster
While researching my home town of Avoca, Iowa, I found that some World War II deaths were missing from sources such as family histories or family trees.
It troubled me that anyone who died while serving their country, dying distant from family and usually in some combination of misery, filth, pain or terror, might be forgotten. Most war dead did not even have children to preserve their memory; some were as young as 18. This I began this on-line roster to preserve key information about the Pottawattamie area WWII dead. This roster and associated material occupies the WWII Roster module of my nine-module Big Pigeon website. The roster records themselves are organized alphabetically and occupy 17 webpages in WWII Roster > Roster Records.
I was fortunate - few areas in the United States have the on-line resources sufficient to build a roster like this.
It troubled me that anyone who died while serving their country, dying distant from family and usually in some combination of misery, filth, pain or terror, might be forgotten. Most war dead did not even have children to preserve their memory; some were as young as 18. This I began this on-line roster to preserve key information about the Pottawattamie area WWII dead. This roster and associated material occupies the WWII Roster module of my nine-module Big Pigeon website. The roster records themselves are organized alphabetically and occupy 17 webpages in WWII Roster > Roster Records.
I was fortunate - few areas in the United States have the on-line resources sufficient to build a roster like this.
- Resources for the Pottawattamie area were developed over the years by hundreds of individuals, most of whom are both unknown and deceased. I am grateful to all of them for making this project possible.
- The WWII US > WWII Web Sources submodule contains links to many sources that used in building the roster and the associated Japan and Germany modules.
- The WWII Roster > Roster Sources webpage lists my most commonly-used sources.
Who is included in the Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster
I've cast my net widely as to who is included in my Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster:
Perhaps 100 Pottawattamie area individuals served during WWII, were separated from service, and then died in the immediate postwar period before 1950. These veterans are not included in Big Pigeon's Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster, but rather appear in WWII Roster > Other WWII Dead.
WWII Roster > Roster Additions lists records being prepared but not yet incorporated within Big Pigeon.
- I've included almost all known WWII deaths of those who lived in Cass, Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, or Shelby Counties. WWII Roster > Roster Outliers lists known deaths that are not included.
- Some who had a spouse, parent, or next of kin who lived in the Pottawattamie area.
- Almost all WWII deaths that I found in my Reunion for Mac databases such as my main database, St. Paul's. Thus a few roster members never lived or had immediate family in the Pottawattamie area.
- Those who were in service when hostilities ended in 1945 and died while still in service before the WWII period officially ended on 31 December 1946; these were mostly accidental deaths.
Perhaps 100 Pottawattamie area individuals served during WWII, were separated from service, and then died in the immediate postwar period before 1950. These veterans are not included in Big Pigeon's Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster, but rather appear in WWII Roster > Other WWII Dead.
WWII Roster > Roster Additions lists records being prepared but not yet incorporated within Big Pigeon.
About Big Pigeon's WWII Japan and Germany Modules
As a retired teacher, I developed these two modules with two major goals:
I broke World War II up into two natural areas:
- Supporting my Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster.
- Developing a brief overview of World War II that is easier to grasp for systemic learners like me.
I broke World War II up into two natural areas:
- The War with Japan
- The War with Germany
To keep in mind when viewing the Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster
- Beware - My roster has voluminous amounts of data and is bound to contain errors. Please feel free to report errors or suggest changes via the Contact Form at the end of the Home > Usage Hints webpage.
- Regarding privacy - I try to use only publicly available information. I believe that all individuals named, including spouses, are now deceased. However, in a few cases my information might be embarrassing to surviving family members. If this is the case, please contact me and we will work out an alternative.
Unlike Big Pigeon's Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster which has universal access via my website, my underlying data is on my personal computer and thus is private:
- I store my data using Release 13 of the Reunion for Mac genealogical data management software.
- Most data is in a large database named St. Paul’s, which contains information for over 48,000 individuals with family connections, albeit often tenuous, to rural Pottawattamie County. St. Paul's focuses on the Boomer/Hazel Township area, in which St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is located. My St. Paul's database is in my Mac folder Bob Docs | _Reunion Databases.
- Each of the ~140 roster members and veterans not in my St. Paul's database has a small family database in my Mac folder Bob Docs | _Reunion Databases | R13 - Not In St.Paul's. WWII Roster > Roster Notes > Members Not in St. Paul's lists these members.
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Roster > About the Roster webpage:
- "History would never be forgotten if it were taught through stories" page header quote, c/o https://tfipost.com/2022/07/gone-but-not-forgotten-quotes/.
Epigraph from Veterans Plaza Memorial, Bayliss Park, Council Bluffs, Iowa
In memory of those in my WWII Dead roster to whom we owe so much, I have included the following eloquent and moving epigraph, The Glory of their Spirit by the late Richard W. Peterson of Council Bluffs.
When destiny demanded and country called,
they in answer left our rolling hills
and great river valley, and learned the arts of war. Then, on and beneath restless waves of the deep,
in endless skies and across vast oceans to island shores, on broad plains and barren hillsides, in dark forests,
on snow-covered mountains and in the rubble of smashed villages
and cities they faced and fought, with valor and dedication,
those who challenged our ideals and freedom and,
in the very vortex of combat, were then greeted and embraced by Death. The soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen were not born
to die in the youth of their lives – yet they did.
They were not born to die death of violence – yet they did.
By cruel and brutal circumstances of war, they gave their lives
that we might live our lives and years in liberty and peace.
Never should we forget their ultimate sacrifice.
We now in their memory carve their names in stone,
and enshrine them in our hearts;
we now cast in eternal bronze, figures who in sorrow and
in the long, long thoughts of youth
reflect on the last measure of devotion given by those we now honor, and we join their mute and motionless yet eloquent presence
in their silent meditation,
Thinking not only of the passing of the departed patriots,
But remembering the glory of their spirit.
© Richard W. Peterson, reprinted with permission of Kip (Peterson) Sherbondy.
In memory of those in my WWII Dead roster to whom we owe so much, I have included the following eloquent and moving epigraph, The Glory of their Spirit by the late Richard W. Peterson of Council Bluffs.
When destiny demanded and country called,
they in answer left our rolling hills
and great river valley, and learned the arts of war. Then, on and beneath restless waves of the deep,
in endless skies and across vast oceans to island shores, on broad plains and barren hillsides, in dark forests,
on snow-covered mountains and in the rubble of smashed villages
and cities they faced and fought, with valor and dedication,
those who challenged our ideals and freedom and,
in the very vortex of combat, were then greeted and embraced by Death. The soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen were not born
to die in the youth of their lives – yet they did.
They were not born to die death of violence – yet they did.
By cruel and brutal circumstances of war, they gave their lives
that we might live our lives and years in liberty and peace.
Never should we forget their ultimate sacrifice.
We now in their memory carve their names in stone,
and enshrine them in our hearts;
we now cast in eternal bronze, figures who in sorrow and
in the long, long thoughts of youth
reflect on the last measure of devotion given by those we now honor, and we join their mute and motionless yet eloquent presence
in their silent meditation,
Thinking not only of the passing of the departed patriots,
But remembering the glory of their spirit.
© Richard W. Peterson, reprinted with permission of Kip (Peterson) Sherbondy.