bigpigeon.us webpage WW II Dead > About the Roster, updated by RAC 26 Jun 2020
Version 3 of the WW II Dead Roster includes 454 WW II dead, most from Pottawattamie County or nearby counties.
Version 3 of the WW II Dead Roster includes 454 WW II dead, most from Pottawattamie County or nearby counties.
View my Pottawattamie County area WW II Dead Roster, in eleven alphabetical portions, via the WW II Dead > Roster Access webpage. Those who died outside the United States appear in two other locations:
Why this webarea:
In 2018, I noticed that several World War II dead from Pottawattamie County were missing from family histories or family trees on the web. I regretted that some who died in the service of their country, generally in pain or misery, might be forgotten. Most of these dead did not even have children to pass on their memory. This I began my WW II Dead project, developing an on-line roster to preserve key information about the area fallen.
Where I keep my data:
Special Thanks:
To Keep in Mind:
The Pottawattamie County Area WW II Dead Version History:
Sources for The WW II Dead - Project Info webpage:
- In WW II Dead > Where They Died: in lists of dead for the War with Japan and the War with Germany.
- At the end of a WW II - Japan or WW II - Germany webpage that outlines a battle or campaign: in a list of dead from that operation.
- My main source of names was the Pottawattamie County Roll of Honor, found on-line at http://iagenweb.org/wwii/WWIIRollofHonor/PottawattamieRollofHonor.html. Most nearby counties have similar lists, but some are incomplete.
- For Version 2, I added names from the Council Bluffs Bayliss Park Veterans' Plaza wall.
- For Version 3, I also checked the ancestry.com database Iowa Bonus Case Files for Beneficiaries and looked at WW II death lists for nearby counties.
- For my home town of Avoca, Iowa, I used Service Record - World War II - Avoca and Community, produced by Glen Henderson and his Avoca Boy Scout troop after World War II ended.
- Additional data came from the numerous on-line resources listed on the WW II Dead - Links webpage.
Why this webarea:
In 2018, I noticed that several World War II dead from Pottawattamie County were missing from family histories or family trees on the web. I regretted that some who died in the service of their country, generally in pain or misery, might be forgotten. Most of these dead did not even have children to pass on their memory. This I began my WW II Dead project, developing an on-line roster to preserve key information about the area fallen.
Where I keep my data:
- My private St. Paul’s community database, from which I draw most of my WW II dead roster data, contains information for over 43,000 individuals with family connections to rural Pottawattamie County, Iowa. St. Paul's focuses on the Boomer and Hazel Township area, in which St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is located. (My St. Paul's database is on my Mac in the folder Bob Docs > _Reunion Databases.)
- The 101 veterans in my WW II Dead roster who aren't in my St. Paul's database have small family databases. (These family databases, also private, are on my Mac in the folder Bob Docs > _Reunion Databases > R11NotInSt.Paul's.)
Special Thanks:
- My WW II Dead project builds on work done by hundreds of others over the years. I am grateful to all of them for making this project possible.
- In particular, thanks to those who compiled the Pottawattamie County Roll of Honor and later developed the Bayliss Park Veteran's Plaza in Council Bluffs.
To Keep in Mind:
- Beware - My WW II Dead 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.
- I try to use only information that is also publicly available. I believe that all individuals named, such as spouses, are deceased. However, in a few cases my information might be embarassing to surviving family members. If this is the case, please contact me and we will work out alternative wording.
- After the cessation of hostilities but while still in service, mostly from accidents.
- Soon after being released from service, mostly in hospitals or from accidents.
The Pottawattamie County Area WW II Dead Version History:
- Version 3, Apr '20, 544 records (added 110 names, mostly from nearby counties).
- Version 2 – 23 Sep ’19, 344 records (added records from the Veteran's Plaza in Council Bluffs).
- Version 1 – 25 Aug ’19, 307 records.
Sources for The WW II Dead - Project Info webpage:
- The webpage header photo, National WW II Memorial, is courtesy of https://washington.org/dc-guide-to/national-world-war-ii-memorial.