LITTER BEARER DIES OF BURNS
Pfc. Warren Whitcher Was in Battle Near Brest
A litter bearer with the medical corps attached to an infantry unit, Pfc. J. Warren Whitcher, 19, died December 17, following burns suffered in battle near Best, September 13.
In a message from the government received Wednesday night by his parents, Patrolman and Mrs. John Whitcher, 1615 Riverside boulevard, it was stated that the youth had died in France. Patrolman Whitcher was inclined to regard that part of the message as erroneous as the soldier had been in an English hospital since he was injured. His last letter to his parents was written December 10 and a letter as of December 16 from the government informed the parents that “recovery was unsatisfactory.”
The young solider was in England Easter Sunday and he landed in France 10 days after the invasion. He had suffered in battle, his father said, a phosphorous type of burn described as difficult of treatment.
Survivors besides the parents include another son, Pfc. Frank Whitcher, with the infantry of the Fifth army in Italy, and a sister, Mrs. Myrtle McGuire, also of Sioux City.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, January 11, 1945 (photo included)
John Warren “Warren” Whitcher was born Mar. 23, 1925 to John and Opal Benson Whitcher. He died Dec. 17, 1944 and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Sioux City, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
