Springfield South Dakota Veterans
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      • Robert McCollum
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Home Front-The Rest of The Story

3/22/2020

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by Dick Martin

When reading about WWII, it is easy to forget what the veteran’s loved ones were enduring back on the home front, constantly aware of their family member in harm’s way in a far off land..  Gertrude Namminga Ludens, wife of Clarence Ludens, had a penchant for recording in writing what she was experiencing and thinking while her husband was away.  Following is an excerpt from her writings that will give one and idea of what a family member was experiencing and thinking while her loved one was away at war.
 
“After coming home (from seeing her husband off to the Pacific) more and more 18 year olds were called up and sent to camps for training.  Jake (brother), received his notice and left just shortly before Dad.  I vividly remember the morning Jake left.  My dad sat in his usual place by the window in his favorite chair.  He was crying.

Shortly after Dad (Clarence) left for training in Texas, I was staying with my folks.  One morning the telephone rang; word had just come that Allen Palsma had been killed on a ship in the Pacific.  The ship had been torpedoed.  It was the last week in May 1945.  He was Jake’s age and we were stunned.  Everyone grieved with the families when such news came but life just had to go on.  After a period of time the casket arrived and the funeral service was held.

There were many others who served, some in very dangerous situations.  I think of Lawrence (brother) fighting in the Battle of the Bulge as a forward observer for the artillery, Phil Odens, Bernard Kastein, Tom Ruppelt, Ode Odens, and John Palsma.  There were many more and it seemed as though every family was touched.  Another thing comes to mind so clearly; a memorial service for Jake Den Ouden, who was killed in Europe.  Since he was buried over there, there was no casket, just a large picture of him placed on the communion table.

Life continued on and as Dad settled into the routine at camp he started writing letters and we were able to write him.  After his furlough there were times he was not able to let us know where he was and he did not get our letters either.  These were some of the hard times.  At home we settled into a routine.  It seemed to me life became a little easier because there were jobs and so more money.  Crops were better and we got better prices for them and best of all there were no dust storms and no grasshoppers.  Oh, we still needed ration cards for gas, tires, some food items such as sugar and coffee.  Good meat was sometimes hard to come by.  Oh yes, we did a lot of substituting and many cakes were made with corn syrup, though not always successfully.  But by making adjustments we usually managed to get by.”


                                                                                                                Gertrude Namminga Ludens


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Luckiest Man in the Army - The Rest of the Story

3/15/2020

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By Dick Martin
FRED C HORNSTRA
 may have been the luckiest man in the United States Army during WWII.  As Fred and the 11th Calvary put the finishing touches on the German Wehrmacht in Germany near the end of the war, Fred had the misfortune of having one of the German's famous 88 artillery rounds land near him, which is not a good thing.  However, the round was a dud, still blowing Fred off his feet, causing injuries that Fred, under the circumstances, was willing to accept. Fred acknowledged that he may owe his life to an anonymous Jew who was busy sabotaging the ammunition the German’s were forcing him to make in the work camps.

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Movie Star-The Rest of the Story

3/1/2020

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Picture
                                        Movie Star!

Springfield has plenty of veterans with military service worthy of a motion picture.    In fact, Springfield has a veteran who was part of a small force in the Philippine Islands whose heroics were depicted in the motion picture “They Were Expendable” starring John Wayne.  The individual was Grover DeLong, Springfield native and 1937 graduate of the Naval Academy.  Grover got caught right in the middle of the darkest period for the United States in the Pacific war.  After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese turned their attention to the Philippine Islands where they systematically pushed the American contingent down the Bataan Peninsula to the island of Corregidor.  During the first six months, Grover DeLong skippered his Torpedo boat as it harassed the advancing Japanese. The exploits of the DeLong and the Motor Torpedo Squadron Three would be depicted in the movie “They were Expendable.”  DeLong was eventually captured by the Japanese and executed. 

By Dick Martin


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This web page is a work in progress. It has been created through the donated efforts of Laura Genant Martin, Dick Martin, and Jim Hornstra. When Laura was made aware of what we needed, she took the initiative to research and educate herself on how to create a web site to identify, respect and honor the military veterans in Springfield. The web site had to be easy to navigate and had to provide the viewer a method of providing feedback. Most of the written material has been provided by Dick Martin over the past couple of years with some important contributions from others, i.e. Jim Kirk.  Jim Hornstra has been the reliable source as he has been the collector of information concerning Springfield Veterans and has provided Laura much of what has gone into the web site.
  • World War I
    • Veteran Photos
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • Edwin Dwight Wood
  • World War II
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Lawrence Namminga
      • Fred C Hornstra
      • Chuck Dawes
      • Grover DeLong
      • John Palsma
      • Clarence Ludens
      • Jack Martin
      • Bob Slade
      • Joe Uken Jr
    • Springfield Was There
    • Biographies A-H >
      • Walter Babcock
      • Wayne Barham
      • Charles "Chuck" Dawes
      • Grover DeLong
      • Jake DenOuden
      • Biographies K-Ma >
        • Bernard Kastein
        • James Kirk
        • Leonard Lange
        • Ted Lindeman
        • Clarence Ludens
        • John C. Ludens
        • John "Jack" Martin
        • Richard "Darby" Martin
      • Robert DeRoos
      • Shorty Halsey
      • Nanno Hiemstra
      • Fred C Hornstra
    • Biographies Mi-O >
      • Floyd Mitchell
      • Jacob Namminga
      • Lawrence Namminga Sr
      • Ode Odens
      • Lawrence Owens
    • Biographies P-S >
      • Allen Palsma
      • John Palsma
      • Virgil Rauch
      • Jack Rich
      • Robert Slade
    • Biographies Th-U >
      • Clark Thomas
      • Neil Thomas
      • Merle Toyne
      • Joe Uken
  • Korean War
    • Veteran Photos
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Robert "Bob" Ludens
    • Biographies >
      • Donald Dempster
      • Gelvin "Gil" DeRoos
      • Robert "Bob" Ludens
      • Virginia McClure
      • Donald McMillan
      • Peter Monfore
      • Wilbert Renner
      • Clarence Vanderlei
  • Cold War
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • Robert McCollum
  • Vietnam War
    • Veteran Photos
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Daryl Heusinkveld
      • Harvey Kastein
      • Dan Mejstrik
      • Lee Merchen
      • Larry Talsma
    • My Week in Hue City
    • Biographies >
      • Daryl Heusinkveld
      • Harvey Kastein
      • Perry Lundin
      • Dan Mejstrik
      • Lee Merchen
      • Robert Monfore
      • Larry Talsma
  • Middle East Wars
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • James "Uke" Uken
  • Army National Guard
    • Veteran Photos
    • Rapid City Flood
    • Japanese Internment