website bigpigeon.us, webpage WW II Dead, © 2021 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated 24 Oct 2021.
The WW II Dead webarea accesses my Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster of over 500 members, including over 99% of the official WW II deaths from Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills, and Shelby Counties in southwestern Iowa. This roster includes both personal information (e.g., parents) and military data (e.g., unit).
I hope to add WW II deaths from Cass and Montgomery Counties to the roster in the future.
Most Recent Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster Additions: - (vet.) means died after separation from service
Why the Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster:
While doing web research on my home town of Avoca, Iowa, I found that some who died in WW II were missing from family histories or family trees. It troubled me that anyone lost while serving their country, dying away from family, usually dying in 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 war dead.
I was fortunate - few counties in the United States have the on-line resources sufficient to build a roster like this.
I've cast my net widely as to who is included in my Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster:
To keep in mind when accesssing my Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster:
Unlike my public Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster on bigpigeon.us, my underlying data is private:
Sources for the WW II Dead webpage:
The WW II Dead webarea accesses my Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster of over 500 members, including over 99% of the official WW II deaths from Pottawattamie, Harrison, Mills, and Shelby Counties in southwestern Iowa. This roster includes both personal information (e.g., parents) and military data (e.g., unit).
I hope to add WW II deaths from Cass and Montgomery Counties to the roster in the future.
Most Recent Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster Additions: - (vet.) means died after separation from service
- Recent additions are logged in the Project Mgt - Public > Website Log webpage.
Why the Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster:
While doing web research on my home town of Avoca, Iowa, I found that some who died in WW II were missing from family histories or family trees. It troubled me that anyone lost while serving their country, dying away from family, usually dying in 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 war dead.
I was fortunate - few counties 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 Resources - WW II webpages link to many to sources that I used for building my roster and for developing my WW II webareas.
- The Roster Outliers webpage has a short list of sources I commonly used for building my roster.
I've cast my net widely as to who is included in my Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster:
- I've included almost all known WW II deaths of those who lived in Pottawattamie, Harison, Mills or Shelby County at one time, or had a spouse or parent who lived in the area.
- The Roster Outliers webpage lists those not included for Pottawattamie County.
- I also included all WW II deaths that I found in my Reunion for Mac databases. Thus a few WW II Dead roster members never lived or had immediate family in the Pottawattamie area.
- I've included a half-dozen who died after the cessation of hostilities but while still in service; these were mostly accidental deaths.
- In the Where Members Died section, those who died in captivity are listed in the area where they were captured, rather than the area where they died.
- The Roster Central > Post-Separation Deaths webpage lists Pottawattamie area WW II veterans who were separated from service but died within the following several years, thus entitling their beneficiary to a bonus.
To keep in mind when accesssing my Pottawattamie Area WW II 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 considerations, I try to use only publicly available information. 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 an alternative.
Unlike my public Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead Roster on bigpigeon.us, my underlying data is private:
- I use the Reunion for Mac genealogical data management software.
- My private St. Paul’s database, which includes most data data, contains information for over 45,000 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.
- For each of the ~100 roster members not in my St. Paul's database, I have built a small private family database in my Mac folder Bob Docs > _Reunion Databases > R11NotInSt.Paul's.
Sources for the WW II Dead webpage:
- The webpage header image, Council Bluffs Veteran's Plaza, shows the Pottawattamie County Veterans Memorial Plaza just east of Bayliss Park. See more at http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/pottawattamie/veterans_plaza.htm.
Epigraph from Veterans Plaza Memorial, Bayliss Park, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Remembering those in my WW II 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.
Remembering those in my WW II 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.