The St. Charles County Veterans Museum

On This Day, 26-FEB 1945 We Remember a Fallen Hero Norman T. Dieckmann was born on March 20, 1922. His father was Herman Eugene (Gene) Dieckmann (1881-1964) and his mother was Francisca Lena Ellen Buenemann (1894-1966). He had three sisters: Josephine, Hazel and Darlene. According to the Marthasville Record on 13-APR-1945, He spent his entire life in the Augusta area and was a graduate of Augusta High School in 1942. He enlisted in the Army at Jefferson Barracks on 17-DE...Continue reading

On This Day 26-FEB 1944, We Remember a Fallen Hero David Alphonse Dyer was born in St. Charles Missouri on 17-MAY 1911. His father was Judge Bernard Hayden Dyer (1874-1954) and his mother was Adelaide H. Aymond Dyer (1879- 1984). He had one sister, Margaret. Bernard Dyer. His mother was Adelaide Dyer. His parents lived at 525 North Fifth Street in St. Charles. David was a graduate of Georgetown University and Washington University. He graduated with a law degree in 1...935. He was elected as prosecuting attorney in St. Charles County at age 28. He was the youngest prosecuting attorney in the history of St. Charles County. He was re-elected in 1940. The Wentzville Union reported on 10-MAR 1944, He quickly earned a reputation not only as a good prosecutor, but as a faithful servant of the people. He was always friendly, courteous and ready to render service to the people of the county as well as doing the best for the state and country. He resigned during his second term in January 1942 to serve his country in the U.S. Navy. He enlisted 9-MAY 1942. He was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He requested oversea duty and was serving in a war zone beginning in July 1944. He was executive officer and navigator of a warship on LST 208 (Landing Ship Tank) while serving in the Navy in the Atlantic. An LST typically carried tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment and military supplies. An LST carried a crew of 13 officers and 104 enlisted men He served in Normandy France just after the D-Day landings. LST-208 earned one battle star for World War II. Another report lists him as being on a destroyer. David Alphonse Dyer died 26-FEB 1944. He was 32. Newspapers reported he drowned in the Atlantic saying, no other details were known. The Navy, Marine and Coast Guard Casualty list says, killed in action. He is buried at St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery in St. Charles MO. David is honored and remembered at the St. Charles County Veterans Museum. For more information about the men from St. Charles County Killed in Action, visit www.stcharlescountyveteransmuseum.org.

On This Day 26-FEB 1944, We Remember a Fallen Hero Ronald F Thomson was born in 1918 and lived at 427 N. Kingshighway in St. Charles Missouri. His father was Ronald M. Thomson (1876-1953) and his mother was Elma Maude Filar (1883-1944). He had one brother and one sister: Julia and Mark. He attended St. Charles High School. Ronald received his degree from University of Missouri in 1941. Prior to his induction in the Army, Ronald F. Thomson was employed by his father as a... reporter and advertising manager for St Charles Banner News in St Charles. Ronald was a 2nd Lieutenant with the 592nd Engineer Shore Regiment. Since February 1943, Ronald was serving with an Army Amphibian Engineer unit in the Southwest Pacific. Beginning in the summer of 1943, U.S. forces in the Pacific launched Operation Cartwheel, a series of amphibious assaults aimed at encircling the major Japanese base at Rabaul, on the island of New Britain in the southwest Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur led the Allied advance through New Guinea, while Admiral William Bull Halsey led a simultaneous northward advance in the Solomon Islands. The two-pronged campaign was able to neutralize Rabaul by March 1944, effectively cutting it off from the rest of Japan’s island positions in the Pacific. It was during this operation on 26-FEB 1944 that Ronald F. Thomson was killed in action. He was 26. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the news in St. Louis on 7-MAR-1944. The newspaper article stated, Ronald was killed while participating in an amphibious landing on a mission to Biliku Island near New Britain. Ronald’s mother, Mrs. Elma M. Thomson, wife of Ronald M. Thomson (Ronald F’s father) died on 13-MAY after an illness intensified by the news on 6-MAR that her son was killed in action. Mrs. Thomson was 60 years old and volunteered for the war effort as Production Chairman of Red Cross Sewing Projects in St. Charles. Ronald is buried at Fort McKinley Manila American Cemetery. There is a memorial tombstone in Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Charles. Ronald F. Thomson is honored and remembered at the St. Charles County Veterans Museum on the Wall of Honor. For more information about the 115 men from St. Charles County Killed in action, visit www.stcharlescountyveteransmuseum.org.

On This Day 25-FEB 1945, We Honor a Fallen Hero Charles Ross Sederwall was born October 31, 1925. He entered Wentzville Public School in 1939. His father was Clarence Gustav Sederwall (1901-1975) and his mother was Drucella Maude Williams (1901-1976). He had three siblings: Eugene, Chester and Evan. He graduated from Wentzville High School in 1943. When he registered for the draft, the family and his residence was 1110 Powell Street in St. Charles MO. He was attending ...the University of Missouri in Columbia at the time. The Wentzville Union reported on 4-MAY 1945, Ross entered the school in 1939. The school was proud of his record. He was studious and gave his lessons all of his attention. Some of his school activities were basketball, track and baseball. He played the violin in the school band. His favorite sport was football, he loved to play it, and knew how. His sportsmanship was excellent. He could take all the kidding his schoolmates could give him and more. He disliked no one in school and in turn was liked by all the boys and girls in school. Ross enlisted 4-JAN 1944. He stayed in touch with the school even after he joined the Marines. He wrote Miss Woods (a teacher), to save his 1944 Year Book and asked for one again this year. Sederwall was a PFC in the 26th Marine Regiment, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Division. The 5th Marine Division landed on Iwo Jima on 19-FEB 1945. Initially the 26th Regiment was held in reserve. The division sustained so many heavy initial losses, that the 26th Regiment had to be released as the division reserve. The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought from 19-FEB to 26-MAR 1945. The 36-day battle for Iwo Jima resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Marine Corp Headquarters initially notified Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Sederwall that their son had been wounded in action 25-FEB 1945. They were later notified he had died of his wounds the same day. A memorial service was held 22-APR 1945 at 2:30 PM in St. Charles. The newspaper reported, An appropriate program has been prepared by the Boy Scouts and Young People’s Classes of the Sunday School of which Ross was a member. His body was later sent home and buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in St. Charles. His brother Seaman W. Eugene Sederwall is serving with the Pacific Fleet. Charles Ross Sederwall is honored and remembered at the St. Charles County Veterans Museum. For more information about the 115 men killed in action from St. Charles County, visit www.stcharlescountyveteransmuseum.org

On 22-FEB 2021, we recorded Bud’s Story. Though it’s long, we think you’ll enjoy it. Paul "Bud" Haedike will never forget what came in the mail on his 18th birthday - a draft card. It was 30-MAY 1943, and the United States was in the middle of World War II. ... Bud said, "When I got my draft notice, it says be on time and I got there in line." Bud continued, "They had rubber stamps and they stamped my hand ‘NAVY' and I pleaded, No, come on man, not Navy. Bud explained, I'm not afraid of water. I love to swim but I don't want to go on a boat. He said, You've got to move on. Once again, Bud pleaded his case, please. And he took another stamp and stamped it Army. After extensive training, which included basic at Jefferson Barracks, he found himself in the nose of a B-17 as a bombardier, part of the 730th Bomb Squadron in the 452nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. Bud was shot down on his first mission. He went on to fly 23 missions. Today, Bud though 95-years-old still speaks to junior high and high school students about WWII and the 8th Air Force. He still has his flight gear and lets the students put it on. The same flight gear he and his father smuggled out of the Air Corp and Union Station. And he always finishes his lesson with a simple request. "I say, 'Will you say a prayer of thanks to God for those 28,000 guys who gave their life so that you guys have the kind of life you've got today?'" Bud said. "And then they're not smiling, and they shake their heads (yes). In other words, war is not fun and sometimes we take the things that we have for granted too much." We are reminded, Freedom is NEVER Free! This video is Bud’s presentation he gives to schools. Thank you Bud!

Hey Mom & Dad!!...It’s an EASTER BASKET RAFFLE!Stop by & get your tickets $2 each or 6 for $10. The drawing will take place at 6pm on April 2nd. Visit the museum to purchase tickets on Thursdays and Fridays from 10 AM till 6 PM or Saturdays from 10 AM till 4 PM. Located at: 410 East Elm St., O’Fallon, MO 63366 For more details, call: (636) 294-2657... All proceeds go to the St. Charles County Veterans Museum. PLEASE SHARE!