Walter Bernard Gielow was born on 29 September 1912, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Fred and Annie Neidemeier Gielow. Walter’s father Fred was a miner who was born in an area in Germany lying about 75 miles north of Berlin. In 1887, when Fred was 23, he and his brother Carl left Germany for America. The next year Fred’s parents, Heinrich and Alexandrina Gielow, arrived with another brother Henry Jr. and his family. Fred Gielow married Annie Neidemeier—a local girl born in Peru—on 30 September 1891. It’s unknown if Walter’s maternal grandmother, Sophia Niedemeier was alive at this time—his maternal grandfather…
Tag: LaSalle
SGT Carl John Gielow, Service Number 36485740
Carl John Gielow was born on 16 April 1921, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Carl Louis and Rose Kierski Gielow. Carl’s parents had married the year before on 16 September 1920. Gielow Sr. was a teamster at Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company, the same job held by his father-in-law., John Kierski. Three of Carl Gielow Jr.’s grandparents were immigrants from Germany, and one was from Poland. All had settled in the U.S. in the 1880s, and Carl most likely would have known all four of them. His paternal grandparent Carl Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Gielow died in 1928 when Carl was 6…
PVT Stanley Casimir Frackowiak, Service No. 36319811
Stanley Casimir Frackowiak was born on March 11, 1914, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Stanley and Julia Malek Frackowiak. Both of his parents were from Poland. Stanley Frackowiak Sr. left for America when he was in his 20s. accompanied by his uncle, Francis Michalek, and arrived in Baltimore in 1901. Julia came to America in 1883 when she was 2 years old with her parents, Johan and Marianna Malek, and two sisters, Josephine and Katherine. When Stanley was born his parents had been married for over 11 years and already had three sons: Joseph, Frank (Stanley), and John (Michael). His father…
S SG Gilbert Edward Amos, Service No. 36430298
Gilbert Edward Amos was born at home on October 22, 1921, in Peru, Illinois, to Edgar Robert and Bertha Wobrock Amos. Edgar, who was crippled since birth, worked as a bookkeeper at Vollmer Furniture Store—a local business owned by his mother’s family. Bertha also worked as a bookkeeper, but at L&B Wobrock—her family’s dry goods store in Peru. Throughout his life, Gilbert lived with and close to his extended family. In 1927, when Gilbert was six years old, his mother passed away. With his father apparently unable to care for him, his aunt and uncle, Lena and Fred Sibley, were…