website bigpigeon.us, webpage WWII Roster > About the Roster, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated 24 Dec 2022.
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 family histories or family trees.
It troubled me that anyone lost while serving their country, dying away from family, 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.
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 lost while serving their country, dying away from family, 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.
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.
- The WWII Roster > Roster Outliers webpage has a short list of my 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:
Two appendices list Pottawattamie area individuals who served during WWII but died in the immediate postwar period. Those listed are not included in Big Pigeon's Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster, although their beneficiaries were entitled to a bonus from the 1949 Iowa WWII bonus program.
WWII Roster > About the Roster > Roster Planning lists roster 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 at one time. Roster Outliers lists 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 and died while still in service before the WWII period officially ended on 31 December 1946; these were mostly accidental deaths.
Two appendices list Pottawattamie area individuals who served during WWII but died in the immediate postwar period. Those listed are not included in Big Pigeon's Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster, although their beneficiaries were entitled to a bonus from the 1949 Iowa WWII bonus program.
- WWII Roster > Roster Appendices > Other In-Service Deaths - joined before WWII ended and died while in service before 7 December 1941 or after 31 December 1946.
- WWII Roster > Roster Appendices > Post-Separation Deaths - died after separation from service. An unknown number of those on this long and sad list died from wounds, psychic or physical, suffered during their WWII service.
WWII Roster > About the Roster > Roster Planning lists roster records being prepared but not yet incorporated within Big Pigeon.
About Big Pigeon's WWII-Japan and WWII-Germany Modules
As a retired teacher, I developed these two modules with two major goals:
By systemic learning, I mean the learning of a difficult and complex subject by starting with a simple outline and gradually adding complexity and detail, using analogy, visual aids, bullets, and timelines when possible. With this in mind, I proceded thusly:
I broke World War II up into two natural areas:
Viewed geographically, the War with Japan has two major components:
to be continued ...
- 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.
By systemic learning, I mean the learning of a difficult and complex subject by starting with a simple outline and gradually adding complexity and detail, using analogy, visual aids, bullets, and timelines when possible. With this in mind, I proceded thusly:
I broke World War II up into two natural areas:
- The War with Japan
- The War with Germany
Viewed geographically, the War with Japan has two major components:
- The war in Asia, which started with the war between China and Japan from 1937 to 1941 and segued into operations in what is known as the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, from 1941 to 1945.
- The war in the vast Pacific Ocean area, often briefly referred to as Pacific Theater operations, from 1941-1945.
to be continued ...
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 the web, 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 47,000 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 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 > About the Roster > 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.