FIVE LE MARS BROTHERS SERVE COUNTRY
LeMars, IA.—Special: Mr. and Mrs. Emil Hansen of LeMars have four sons in the Army, two of whom are overseas, and a fifth son who received an honorable discharge in July, 1943.
Two of their sons are in the infantry, one serving in France and the other in Italy, while the other two sons are in the air corps.
Cpl. Cletus Hansen, 27, who received an honorable discharge, is the oldest of the five boys, and served in the coast artillery at Staten Island, N. Y. He entered the Army September 4, 1942, being discharged in July, 1943.
The second son, Pfc. Lawrence P. Hansen, 25, has been in the Army the longest of the five boys. He was a member of a national guard unit and left February 27, 1941, fro Sheldon, Ia., for Camp Claiborne, La. He went overseas in February, 1942, and has been serving as a first cook in an infantry division in Italy. He is expected to arrive home on furlough some time this month.
Pvt. Ambrose J. Hansen, 24, who entered service May 31, 1944, is serving with an infantry division in France. Stationed at Camp Fannin, Tex., for nearly five months, he returned home for a short furlough before being transferred to Fort Meade, Md. Shortly after that he left for overseas service.
A member of the medical corps attached to the air corps, Cpl. Alfred N. Hansen, 23, is stationed at Hamilton field, Cal. He entered service November 9, 1942.
The youngest of the brothers, Cpl. Leonard J. Hansen, 21, enlisted in the Army January 23, 1943, and is serving with a signal corps unit in the air corps. He is stationed at Camp Pinedale, Fresno, Cal.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, January 7, 1945
NEWS of the BOYS in the SERVICE.
Pvt. Ambrose Hansen came Saturday from Camp Fannin, Texas, on a 15-day furlough, after his 17 weeks basic training in the infantry and is visiting relatives in Remsen. On leaving he will report at Camp Meade, Md.
Source: LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, October 24, 1944
MR. & MRS. E. HANSEN HAVE FOUR SONS IN SERVICE
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Hansen, 434 Fourth Ave. SE, are looking forward for a welcome visit with their son, Pfc. Lawrence Hansen, who has been overseas for almost three years. They have four sons in the armed forces, and Pfc. Lawrence called them Friday morning from somewhere in the states, saying he would arrive home soon. He was on the war front in Italy and has been granted a rotation furlough.
Cpl. Alfred Hansen is home on furlough from Geiger Field, Wash., and has been ordered to report back February 1. He wired for an extension of time in order to visit his brother.
The two other sons are Pvt. Ambrose Hansen, somewhere in France and Cpl. Leonard J. Hansen, somewhere in the Pacific area.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, January 29, 1945 (photograph included of each of the brothers)
PFC. LAWRENCE HANSEN HOME AFTER THREE YEARS OVERSEAS DUTY
Pfc. Lawrence Hansen, of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Hansen, 434 Fourth avenue SE, has arrived in LeMars on a 30-day furlough after serving 35 months of overseas duty in Ireland, England, Africa and Italy. Pfc. Hansen was a member of Co. I unit of the National Guard and left from Sheldon on February 27, 1941. He went first to Camp Claiborne, La., and left for overseas duty in February 1942.
Mr. and Mrs. Hansen have three other sons in the service, Pvt. Ambrose Hansen, now serving with an infantry division in France; Cpl. Alfred Hansen, stationed at Hamilton Field, California; and Cpl. Leonard Hansen, stationed at Fresno, California. Another son, Cletus Hansen, who was a corporal in the coast artillery at Staten Island, New York, received an honorable discharge from the service in July 1943.
Source: LeMars Sentinel, February 13, 1945
PVT. AMBROSE HANSEN AWARDED COMBAT INFANTRYMAN’S BADGE
With the 100th Infantry Division of the 7th Army in France—Pvt. Ambrose J. Hansen, son of Mrs. Margaret Hansen, of 434 Fourth Ave., LeMars, was recently awarded the combat infantryman badge for satisfactory performance of duty in ground combat against the enemy. He is with a company of the 398th infantry regiment.
The local soldier’s division is one of the newest on the front of Lt. General Alexander M. Patch’s American 7th Army.
The 100th Division, commanded by Major General Withers A. Burress, left the United States with a high reputation earned in its training period in the Carolinas and Louisiana maneuver areas. It was the Century Division which was called upon to provide an infantry battalion which paraded and demonstrated in New York City as part of the country’s first infantry day celebration on June 15, 1944. Another honor paid the division in March of this year was the War Department’s selection of the 100th division to be the first organization to present the expert infantryman badge to one of its members.
Activated on November 15, 1942, at Fort Jackson, S. C., the 100th division’s personnel makes it a fighting unit representative of every state in the union.
Source: The LeMars Globe-Post, February 19, 1945
Ambrose Hansen Reported Slightly Wounded
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Hansen received a telegram today, informing them that their son, Sgt. Ambrose Hansen, was slightly wounded in Germany on April 7. He is serving in the Seventh Army and has been overseas since November, 1944.
Sgt. Hansen arrived in France on November 20. In a recent letter he said that the infantry unit to which he belongs rode into Germany in style, on top of tanks. He is 24 years old and until recently had four brothers in the service.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, April 23, 1945
AMBROSE HANSEN WRITES FROM HOSPITAL
Mr. and Mrs. Emil Hansen have received a letter from their son Ambrose Hansen, dated April 13, in which he mentions that he has received no mail for two weeks, but says nothing about being wounded on April 7.
Reading “between the lines,” members of his family here surmize that he is in a hospital, which explains the remark about no mail reaching him. His silence about his wound indicates that he is unaware of the fact that his parents have already been notified. Monday’s Globe-Post published a story about his being wounded in action April 7th.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, April 26, 1945
***Further Research:
Ambrose John Hansen was born Sept. 18, 1920 to Emil Theodore and Margaret Gaul Hansen. He died Apr. 4, 2000 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Waterloo, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
