Roster Outliers

Ruby Smith Grave, Macedonia, IA

website bigpigeon.us, webpage WWII Roster > Roster Outliers - © 2022 by Robert A. “Bob” Christiansen, updated 23 May 2022.

The following three sources were of major use in developing my Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster:

Iowa Bonus Case Files for Beneficiaries - from ancestry.com - Applications for payment of up to $500 to beneficiary of most Iowa WW II veterans who died before 1950.
Pottawattamie Area Army & AAF Dead - excerpted from 1946 War Dept. list of WWII dead with service credited to Iowa.
Pottawattamie Area Navy, Marine Corps, & Coast Guard Dead - excerpted from 1946 Navy Dept. list of WWII dead with Iowa next of kin.

By the Pottawattamie Area, I mean Cass, Harrison, Mills, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, & Shelby Counties, although my roster still doesn't include around 30 Montgomery County dead listed below. The following are the only names from these counties that are in the War and Navy Department sources listed above but are not yet in my roster:

Crook, Lyle W., Montgomery Co. - resident of Mason City, National Guard, service credited to Montgomery Co.; no known connection to Montgomery Co.; defer adding.
Davis, Willard H. 37-460-144 PVT KIA; added 23 May 2022.
Delaney, Harlan A.
Doggett, Clair O.
Dutton, Finley J.
Gregg, Barney W.
Hale, Donald M.
Hayes, Robert A.
Jackson, Bryon E.
Johnson, Myron P. E.
Johnson, Russell J. V.
Kennedy, Hugh
Larson, Darwin N.
Lawson, Hershal V.
Lowman, George A.
Martin, James R.
McCormick, Dale T.
McCrew, Orville F.
Miller, Wesley R.
Pearce, Lawrence C.
Platt, Donald A.
Reifschneider, D. W.
Roach, Fredrick F.
Shrimpton, Wayne R.
Spicer, Robert F.
Stout, Richard C.
Sunberg, John L.
Sundberg, Clark G.
Thompson, Robert O.
Hall, Peter - Area Navy Dead, beneficiary living in Glenwood, Mills Co. - lack of information

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For Pottawattamie County, I used the following two sources:

http://iagenweb.org/wwii/WWIIRollofHonor/PottawattamieRollofHonor.html - Pott. Co. only, denoted below by Roll of Honor, developed using WW II era articles from the Council Bluffs Nonpareil.
http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/pottawattamie/veterans_plaza.htm - Pott. Co. only, denoted below by Veteran's Plaza, names inscribed on the Veteran's Plaza wall at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs.

The Roster Outliers webpage content that follows is specific to Pottawattamie County and lists differences between my Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster and the above five sources and lacks general interest.

==> Part 1 - Names from the above sources that are not in my roster because of lack of information.

Andersen, Andrew - Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Blair, Clyde T. - Veteran's Plaza
Petersen, Merle J. Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Porter, Dale L. - Veteran's Plaza
Saunders, William “Jim” - Veteran's Plaza
Weide, Elaine G. - Veteran's Plaza
Wilkinson, Robert L., d. 27 Mar ’45 - Roll of Honor

==> Part 2 - Names from the above sources that are in my roster with connection to Pott. Co. area unknown.

Anderson, Virgil Wendell, SN T-003902, USAAF, Buena Vista & Pott. Cos. - Area Army Dead, Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Gerdts, Luther Charles, SN 37-647 -768, US Army, Clinton & Shelby Cos. - Area Army Dead
Hansen, Matthias Peter, SN 39-839-172, US Army, Humboldt Co., CA - Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Jensen, Carl Christian, SN 6-863-492, US Army, Audubon & Pott. Cos. - Area Army Dead, Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Rhoads, Guy Benjamin, SN 648-06-39, US Navy, Custer Co., NE - Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza
Smith, Norman Franklin, SN 37-071-817, US Army, O'Brien & Shelby Cos. - Area Army Dead
Sturd, Clarence Vincent, SNs 37-112-253 & 37-142-251, US Army, Harvey Co., KS, Area Army Dead, Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza

==> Part 3 - Major differences between the boldfaced WWII Dead Roster names and italicized names as found in the above sources (minor differences are noted in the roster).

Alter, Earl Carlton, SN O-157398, US Naval Aviation, Harrison Co. - Roll of Honor: Carlton, Earl.
Bach, Paul Leonard. SN O-311373, US Army, Pott. Co. - Area Army Dead, Roll of Honor: appears both as Bach Paul L & Beach Paul L.
Duffy/Lein, Robert Eugene, SN 17-197-256, US Army, Pott. Co. - mother divorced from Lawrence D. Lein & married to Edward P. Duffy - Area Army Dead, Roll of Honor, Veteran's Plaza: appears both as Lein Robert E and Duffy Robert E. gravestone inscription: Robert Lein Duffy.
McLoud, James Fredrick, SN 37-442-043, US Army, Pott. Co. & Washington Co., OK - sister lived in Walnut, Pott. Co.; served from Washington Co., Oklahoma using pseudonym Long, Fred O. - Roll of Honor: McLoud, James Fredrick; Veteran's Plaza: Long, Fred O; Luxembourg American Cem. cross inscription: Fred O Long.

==> Part 4 - Roll of Honor names that are not in my roster.

Petersen, Jack Millard, SN 648-08-27, US Navy; b. 18 Oct 1921 Co. Bluffs; s/o Harley Petersen & Frances H. Millard of Co. Bluffs; entered service 4 Jan 1942 from Co. Bluffs; released 5 Nov 1945; d. 4 Mar 1973; probable confusion with Jack Peterson of Harlan, Shelby Co., s/o Harlan Peterson, who was lost at sea in the Atlantic Ocean during WW II and is included in my WW II Roster.

==> Part 5 - Veteran's Plaza's WWII section names that are not in my roster.
5a - Belongs in the Veteran's Plaza's WWI section:

Smith, Ruby - b. 13 Jan 1888 Pott. Co.; d/o Willard E. Smith & Susan Knox of Grove Twp.; WW I Red Cross volunteer from Macedonia, Pott. Co.; d. 16 Oct 1918 in New York during the influenza pandemic en route to France; bur. Macedonia Cem.; Macedonia's Ruby Smith Post 648 of the American Legion carries her name.

5b - WWII veteran who died later than 1949 and thus not qualified for my WWII Dead Roster:

Cain, Orville J. - Orville James Cain, SN 250572, Sgt., USMC; b. 9 Feb 1909 s/o James E. Cain & Catherine E. Schriver who lived in Nebraska and then settled in rural Carson, Pott. Co.; 1st Defense Bn., Wake Island; POW near Shanghai, China; m. Bernice Rose Viola Kunze; d. 8 Oct 1987; bur. Wheeler Grove Cem. near Carson.
Wall, Charles E. - Charles Elmer Wall b. 18 Mar 1923 near Griswold, Pleasant Twp., Cass Co.; s/o Vernon E. Wall & Edith Moore; served in ETO in WW II; m. Betty J. Briles; d. 7 Feb 1995; bur. Mt. Olivet Cem., Cheyenne, WY.
Winger, Ancil W. - Ancil Wayne Winger, SN 3164416, Electrician's Mate 3/c, US Navy; b. 29 Oct 1916 Plattsmouth, NE s/o Earl Winger & Gladys Edie; raised in Co. Bluffs; parents at 1607 4th Ave. during WW II; submarine USS Perch (SS-176), damaged by Japanese destroyer torpedoes and scuttled NW of Surabaya, Java 3 Mar 1942; POW (of the crew of 54, five died in captivity, 49 survived WW II); remained in service after WW II; married Elizabeth Jane "Betty" Wise 1954; d. 8 May 1986, bur. Ft. Logan Nat'l Cem., Denver, CO.

5c - Enlisted after WWII ended, belong in the Veteran's Plaza's Died While Serving in the Military section:

Grate, Forest G., USAF - b. 20 Oct 1928; s/o Forest Glenn Grate & Perninah Jean “Jennie” Penman; enlisted Feb 1946; Sgt. 1100th Sta. Med, Gp.; d. 24 Aug 1948 in two-plane collision near Newton, NJ; bur. Memorial Park Cem., Co. Bluffs.
Hathaway, Joseph L., US Army - b. 7 Oct 1929; s/o Gaylord Roy Hathaway & Lessie Pearl German; enlisted 16 Jan 1946; d. 17 Jul 1949 in Germany; bur. Memorial Park Cem., Co. Bluffs.
Phipps, Louis C., SN 3180449, US Navy - b. 8 Dec 1930; s/o Carroll Wilfred Phipps & Sarah Arlene Colwell; enlisted 19 Feb 1948; d. 6 Aug 1951 at Moffett Field, Santa Clara Co., CA; bur. Cedar Lawn Cem., Co. Bluffs.
Pierson, Lawrence E., US Navy - b. 2 Jan 1930 Co. Bluffs; s/o Leo Dallas Pierson & Eva Umble; enlisted 1948; d. at home on leave 3 Jul 1950; bur. Memorial Park Cem., Co. Bluffs.

5d - Died in the Vietnam War, belong in the Veteran's Plaza's Vietnam section:

Leighton, Earl L., SN B608294, USN - b. 22 Oct 1937 Colorado; s/o Ellsworth Sherbeck Leighton & Erma Gertrude Kirby; enlisted ~ 1957 from Omaha; d. 17 Jan 1969 Bien Hoa, Dong Hai, Vietnam; bur. Cedar Lawn Cem., Co. Bluffs.
Schickner, Bernard E. - SSN 485-54-3089, US Army; b. 10 Feb '45; entered service 3 Jan '66, released 16 Dec '68; d. 4 Apr '72; bur. Hardin Twp. Cem. SE of McClelland, Pott. Co.
Schmidt, Howard D. This is Dale Howard Schmidt, 1947-1968, who died in Vietnam, and who also appears in the Veteran's Plaza Vietnam section as Dale H. Schmidt. There is a memorial to Dale on the grounds of the Twisted Tail restaurant in Beebeetown, Shelby Co. erected by his friend, Eddie Spencer.

Sources for the WWII Roster > Roster Outliers webpage:

The webpage header photo, Ruby Smith Grave, Macedonia, Iowa, is courtesy of findagrave.com.