Iron County, Michigan |
The Bates Township Legacy
THE BATES TOWNSHIP LEGACY, 1885-1985
(Bates Township, Iron County, Michigan)
Published by Bates Boosters (for the Centennial year of 1985)
CHAPTER VI: WAR CASUALTIES
pages 232-237
This work is submitted to Internet records with the kind permission of sisters Jean Benson Lindbeck and Carol Benson Erickson, who served as editors of the book and were active members of the Bates Centennial Committee. This book is no longer in print and no longer available to purchase.
Typed by Dale Safford of Iron River, November, 2002. Contact me at Dale Safford if you have inquiries about information in this book.
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WAR CASUALTIES OF BATES TOWNSHIP
1985 was the 40th Anniversary of the end of World War II and the 10th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
Bates Township salutes the men who have given their lives in all the wars since this township was formed in 1885. It salutes those who were reported as missing in action, those who were held prisoner of war, and the disabled veterans in veteran hospitals, nursing homes, and mental institutions around the country. These men have sacrificed their utmost in the service of their country.
Bates Township proudly pays tribute to her war casualties of World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War, and honors their memory by remembering them here.
PVT. EMIL LEKATZ, WORLD WAR II CASUALY (with photo)
Pvt. Emil Lekatz, 26, was killed in Luxemburg on January 2, 1944. He was a member of the 22 D Infantry, First Army and a son of Mr. And Mrs. Louis Lekatz, Bates Township.
Pvt. Lekatz took part in the Battle of St. Lo and moved from Paris to Belgium. His unit went into Germany and was shoved back to Luxemburg in the German push of December 16, 1943.
A graduate of the Iron River High School Class of 1938, he left Bates to work in a Chicago defense plant and was inducted from there in May of 1943.
SECOND LT. WILLARD LUBA, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Second Lt. Willard Luba, 22, photo reconnaissance pilot and son of Mrs. Edna Luba of Iron River and Isadore Luba of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was killed while aboard a transport which was sunk in the Mediterranean. Pilot of a P-38 Lockheed single-seater, he was attached to an Air Force unit which photographed targets before bombing missions.
Lt. Luba was one of the first county men to enlist in the Air Corps, entering service in September of 1940, just after he graduated from Iron River High School. He was killed in action on April 20, 1944.
PFC. NEIL WILLIS “RED” WAITE, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Pfc. Neil Willis “Red” Waite, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Waite, was missing and declared dead on May 27, 1944, while serving with the Infantry of the 5th Army in Italy.
Pfc. Waite won the purple heart for wounds received on January 2, 1944, on the Anzio Beachhead. He also served in North Africa.
Pfc. Waite graduated in 1941 from Iron River High School, where he was on the basketball team. He was inducted into the Army in 1943, receiving his basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; and Fort George, Meade, Maryland.
PVT. WALTER BAUMGARTNER, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Pvt. Walter Baumgartner, 34, was fatally wounded on June 18, 1944, in France where he was serving with the Infantry. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bert Baumgartner, Rogers Location.
Pvt. Baumgartner graduated from Iron River High School in 1929, received his Bachelors of Education degree from Western State Teachers College of Kalamazoo in 1935. He had been employed as a Social Security Investigator for Iron County and at Sault Ste. Marie for a time. He entered the Army in 1943.
S/SGT. LESLIE MARLOWE, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
S/Sgt. Leslie Marlowe, 23, was declared missing in action on November 3, 1944. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Philip E. Marlowe.
Sgt. Marlowe was inducted in September of 1942, receiving his basic training at Camp Livingston, Louisiana, and Camp Pickette, Virginia. He was shipped overseas in September of 1943 and was stationed in England until September of 1944, when he was sent to France and Germany.
PFC. J. ELLSWORTH HAJKOWICZ, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Pfc. J. Ellsworth Hajkowicz, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Hajkowicz of Mapleton, was declared missing in action in December of 1944 in France. He was a member of the 411th Infantry.
Pfc. Hajkowicz was inducted after high school graduation in June of 1943, where he had a brilliant career in basketball and football, both at Rogers School and at Iron River High School.
Following his basic, he was an ASTP student at the University of Mississippi and later at A&M University of Oklahoma, studying civil and mechanical engineering. In March of 1944, he was transferred to the Infantry at Camp Howze, Texas.
Pfc. Hajkkowicz is buried in St. Avold (Moselle) France in the Lorraine-American Cemetery, Plot A. Row 20, Grave 14. For some time, the American Government paid families to visit an individual grave, bring flowers, and tend the grave.
CPL. EDMUND WODZINSKI, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Edmund Wodzinski, 21, was reported killed in action in December of 1944 in Belgium, where he was serving with the Medical Corp in the 9th Armored Division. He arrived overseas in 1944 where he participated in Ardennes Campaign.
Cpl. Wodzinski was inducted November 10, 1942, receiving his basic training at Fort Riley, Kansas, and his advanced training in Camp Polk, Louisiana.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wodzinski and the husband of the former Stella Swindewicz. He left two children: Diane and Jimmy.
PFC. RAYMOND JOHNSON, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Pfc. Raymond Johnson, 20, was killed in action in France in December of 1944.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Johnson, Johnson left the states in November of 1944. He was stationed in England for a brief period, where he was attached to an artillery unit as a radio operator.
Pfc. Johnson graduated from Iron River High School in 1942 and in February of 1943, entered the Army. (typist’s note: buried in Bates Township Cemetery)
PFC. WM. R. JOHNSON, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Pfc. Wm. R. Johnson was killed in action on March 24, 1945, on his 23rd birthday, in Germany, while participating in the airborne operation of enlarging the Rhine River bridgehead.
Johnson, who was attached to the 17th Airborne Division, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albin (Shorty) R. Johnson of Bates Mine Location.
Pfc. Johnson was killed at Wesel, Germany, and was buried in Margraten, Holland, a simple cross with his name and serial number marking his grave site. “He was well liked by the men and everyone respected him for the good soldier he was,” wrote his commanding officer, Col. Kenneth L. Booth.
Wm. Johnson entered the service in October of 1942 and went overseas in August of 1944.
KENNETH L. WILLIS, WORLD WAR II CASUALTY (with photo)
Kenneth L. Willis, 21, aviation radio man 3rd class attached to a Navy air arm was killed in action in or near the Phillipines in March of 1945.
He was with the U.S. Navy and had taken part in the Luzon Campaign, where he had seen much action as a dive bomber crew of three. His plane was carrier based.
Willis entered the Navy in February of 1943 and received his radio training at Memphis, Tennessee and his operational work in Florida.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Baehr, Willis graduated from Iron River High School in 1942.
PFC. CLARENCE ELIASSON, OCCUPATIONAL FORCES IN GERMANY
Pfc. Clarence Eliasson, 20, was fatally injured in a motor vehicle accident while serving with the occupational forces in Mannheim, Germany, on Thanksgiving Day, 1946.
Pfc. Eliasson worked in a ship yard previous to entering the Army in August of 1945. He trained at Camp Robinson, Little Rock, Arkansas, and at Camp Pickett, Virginia. He spent nine months overseas with a quarter-master unit.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Art Eliasson, Little Finland area, north of Sunset Lake.
PVT. WILLIAM A. LAHTI, KOREAN CONFLICT
Pvt. William A. Lahti, 21, was killed in action on March 7, 1951, in Korea, where he was serving with the First Cavalry Division of the 8th Army. Pvt. Lahti had been in Korea since November of 1950 and had been engaged in heavy fighting almost since the day his unit was ordered to the front.
Pvt. Lahti graduated from Iron River High School in 1950 and enlisted in the Army the same month. He received his basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and later was transferred to Fort Lawton, Washington.
Pvt. Lahti was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Lahti Jr. of Rogers Location.
2nd LT. ODVIN MARTINSON, KOREAN CONFLICT (with photo)
2nd Lt. Odvin Martinson was killed in action in Korea on July 6, 1951. Lt. Martinson, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Martinson of Rogers Location, was given direct commission in the field on May 28, 1951, in recognition of outstanding leadership and courage in action against the enemy.
2nd Lt. Martinson was serving with the 21st Regiment of 24th Infantry Division. He had been wounded in January, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart and had been evacuated to a military hospital in Tokyo. After his convalescence, he returned to the battle area where he was killed.
Odvin Martinson was born on November 30, 1924, and enlisted in the Army at the age of 17 in 1941, during World War II, where he rose from buck private to noncommissioned officer status. While serving with an infantry unit in World War II, he spent time in the Southwest Pacific and the Phillipines. After his discharge at the end of the war, he returned home but less than a year later, he re-enlisted and spent two years with the occupational forces in Korea when the Korean War broke out.
2nd Lt. Martinson had also been awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
(typist’s note: Bates Township Cemetery has a headstone for him which says “in memoriam”)
SP/4 JOHN R. VINNEDGE, VIETNAM WAR
Sp/4 John R. Vinnedge, age 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Vinnedge, Bates Township, died October 5, 1969, in Vietnam.
He was born February 20, 1950, in Broken Bow, Nebraska, and attended Niles Public School. He also attended Carpentersville High School near Lake of the Hills, Illinois.
John entered the service in the U.S. Army in 1968. After completing his basic training, he went to Vietnam in March of 1969.
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