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“All the friends and relatives had gathered at the house to celebrate what they thought was my return home. Instead, I had to inform them of Pat's death. I remember looking at my dad, and tears were pouring down his cheeks. He didn't say a word.”
--Mary Finn Hancock, a Navy Nurse Corps officer who was sent home to Emmetsburg, Iowa, with the news of her brother's death
"At War, At Home"
This article contains excerpts from “At War, At Home: World War II,” The World-Herald's special look back at the Nebraskans and Iowans who helped the nation win a war.
The 350-page book, filled with gripping stories and compelling photographs from 70 years of coverage, recounts the sacrifice and commitment of a remarkable generation of Americans. The book, which costs $29.95, can be ordered online here for delivery by Christmas.
Click here for our Behind the Headline video detailing how the book was made.
Coming up
Dec. 15: The war in the sky
Dec. 16: The great invasion
Dec. 17: Lawrence Youngman in Europe
Dec. 18: The horror of the Holocaust
Dec. 19: Brutal island warfare
Dec. 20: Bill Billotte in the Pacific
Dec. 21: The end comes at last
Southwest Iowans proudly received the news in February 1943 that Capt. Robert Moore of Villisca had saved hundreds of members of the 168th Infantry Regiment in a daring escape from behind German lines in North Africa.
The early reports revealed only that the 168th, which had been an Iowa National Guard unit, had been surrounded by the Germans at Faid Pass in Tunisia.
But in early March the rejoicing ended, as knocks on doors were accompanied by telegrams that began, "We regret to inform you ..."
Twenty-seven such telegrams came to Red Oak on March 6 to inform families that a son or husband was missing in action.
As the news spread, families of the 168th Regiment's soldiers began to appear in the lobby of the Hotel Johnson, next to the Western Union office. After 10 days, Red Oak had received word that 44 of its young men were missing.
Similar telegrams arrived in Glenwood, Atlantic, Council Bluffs and Clarinda.
"We were horrified," recalled Dorothy Reynolds of Villisca, whose husband, Ed, led his company to safety with Capt. Moore. "We didn't know what had happened."
By the time the 168th Regiment had regrouped in Algeria, its toll included 59 killed, 176 wounded and about 2,000 missing or captured. Among them were 200 southwest Iowans held prisoner.
E.A. Alderman of the New York Herald-Tribune later pointed to the heavy price paid by Red Oak, which then had a population of 5,600. By war's end, the community had lost 50 men, the equivalent of 70,000 deaths in New York City, Alderman wrote.
Life and Look magazines also featured the community.
Two southwest Iowa families had triple losses.
Mr. and Mrs. Mac Stifle of Red Oak lost sons Frank and Dean and son-in-law Darwin Wolfe, while Mr. and Mrs. Vern Bierbaum of Griswold lost sons Cleo and Harold and son-in-law John Halbert.
"We all hung together," said Lois Bryson, whose husband, Fred, was wounded at Faid. "Everybody had somebody who had left."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1082, dan.sullivan@owh.com
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