COMPANY E MEN ARE ENJOYING A VISIT AT HOME
After months of intensive military training at Camp Claiborne, La., a large number of Company E members are home on furloughs. However, they must be back in camp by July 8.
Among those reported home on furlough are:
Sergeants—Homer Ankrum, Karl Waggoner, Charles Meyers, Marvin Knapp, Eugene Wilson.
Corporals—Melvin McCollough, Don Shelton, Melvin Greenley, Charles Wilson, jack Petrow.
Privates—Robert Patterson, Frank Smalley, Herman Streb, Lawrence McConnell, Ralph Shaffer, John Biggs, Warren Loder, Howard Kirkpatrick, Delmer Dole, Orville Jondal, Darold McIntyre, Homer Pilk, Lawrence Crouch, Rayburn Lentsch.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA- July 1, 1941
KARL WAGGONER SENDS GREETINGS TO FATHER
Scott Waggoner, of Webster City, has received a birthday telegram greeting from his son, Sgt. Karl Waggoner, who is with company E in northern Ireland.
Mr. Waggoner observed his birthday Monday. The wire read, “Just a word or two to let you know I am o. k. and happy birthday.”
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - June 16, 1942
KARL WAGGONER WRITES PARENTS FROM IRISH BASE
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city have just received their first V-mail letter from their son, Sgt. Karl Waggoner who is stationed in Northern Ireland with Company E.
Sergeant Waggoner reports that the boys are going through some rigid maneuvers especially the last few days but all are well and in good shape. According to Waggoner’s letter, the company is still intact in Ireland and the majority of men are buying war bonds each pay day to help their country back them up with funds and supplies. Waggoner expressed the wish, prevalent in everyone’s mind, that the war would soon be over and they were back in the U. S.
This is the first letter the Waggoners have received from their son since July 12, and it among the first V-mail messages received in Webster City.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - August 14, 1942
RECEIVES GREETINGS
Miss Bonnie Waggoner, of Webster City, received birthday greetings recently via cablegram from her brother, Sgt. Karl Waggoner, who is in foreign service.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Sept. 8, 1942
In Africa
Sergeant Karl Waggoner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city, is now stationed in Africa, according to letters received by his parents. Sergeant Waggoner was formerly stationed in northern Ireland and England following training at Camp Claiborne, La. He left Webster City in 1941 with Company E.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - March 8, 1943
WRITES LETTER
Sgt. Karl Waggoner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city, has sent the Freeman-Journal a letter from North Africa where he says, “all the boys are batting 100 per cent and we appreciate getting the home paper very much. Sometimes they are a little old when they get here, but there are not so many of us who can read a French paper, so we are glad to get them.”
“It is interesting to know and see how people live here,” the sergeant adds, “then I stop and wonder how some of them really do live. I know now when I get back to the good old U. S. A., that I am going to appreciate the things I have more than I ever did.
“The boys morale is 100 per cent,” Waggoner concludes, “and I think before another year rolls around we will all be back home, we hope. Everybody is in the best of health and everything is going good.”
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Apr. 5, 1943
SENDS JEWELRY
Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner, has sent his mother and sisters here several pieces of jewelry from Italy. The items, which include bracelets, pins and an evening bag, will be on display at Lehnhard’s window Friday and Saturday.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - August 25, 1944
TWO MORE I.N.G. MEN WOUNDED
Two more members of the Iowa National Guard company from this city were reported as casualties, Monday, both Sgt. Eugene Bashford and Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner being listed among the wounded in Italian action Sept. 16. They were wounded the next day after Staff Sgt. Donald Shelton and Pfc. Truman Sharkey, I N G members were killed.
Mrs. Maggie Bashford, mother of Sergeant Bashford, Monday reported she had received a telegram from the war department and a letter from her son in which it was stated he had been slightly wounded and in a hospital in Italy.
Bashford was hit in the left leg by fragments from a mortar shell. He recently underwent an operation on a knee and had just returned to the front.
Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner of this city was seriously wounded in action in Italy on Sept. 16, according to a war department telegram received here by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner.
A member of the National Guard unit from this city, Sergeant Waggoner has been overseas for more than two years, having been stationed in Ireland, England, North Africa and Italy.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Oct. 2, 1944
RECEIVE LETTER
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city have received a letter, dated Oct. 14, from their son, Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner, who was seriously wounded in action in Italy, Sept. 16. He says, “Am getting along as well as can be expected. Able to be in wheel chair today. This is a nice hospital and am getting excellent care.” He goes on to say the food is good, and that he is sending his Purple Heart award home soon. Sergeant Waggoner was wounded in the face and chest. According to his letter he gets lots of mail, most of it now dated about Sept. 16.
Source: Webster City Freeman, Webster City, IA - Oct. 26, 1944
RECEIVE AWARD
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city have received the Purple Heart award awarded to their son, Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner, who was wounded in action in Italy, Sept. 16. They also have a report from the war department that Sergeant Waggoner is making a normal recovery.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Nov. 8, 1944
BACK IN STATES
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city have received word that their son, Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner has arrived at Stark hospital, Charleston, S. C. The sergeant was seriously wounded in action in Italy Sept. 16, and since then has been hospitalized in Rome and Naples.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - January 29, 1945
WAGGONER TRANSFERRED
Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner has been transferred from the Stark hospital in South Carolina to the Dibble hospital at Menlo, Calif., according to word received here by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner. Sgt. Waggoner’s sister, Bonnie, who is stationed at Mojave, Calif., with the women’s marine corps, is spending a short furlough with him.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Feb. 6, 1945
GETTING BETTER
Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner of this city, writes his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner, from Dibble hospital, Menlo Park, Cal., that he is getting “better and better every day.” He reports the hospital where he is receiving treatment of wounds is very fine, and excellent care is taken of the patients. The sergeant is privileged to leave the grounds and has been into town a number of times, and also has been horseback riding. Having had no milk for three and one-half years, Sergeant Waggoner says he “certainly is doing justice” to his share, “a quart of milk with each meal.”
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Feb. 23, 1945
SENDS LETTER
Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner, undergoing medical treatment at the army hospital, Menlo Park, Cal., writes that he is recovering nicely from a major operation on his eyes. He has undergone 11 major operations since he was wounded last September fighting with the 34th “Red Bull” division in Italy while the Fifth army was cracking the Gothic line. He expects to have two more operations.
“H. Greenley just dropped in to see me,” the sergeant writes. “Just got back from a furlough and said that he had a good time back there. It makes it nice to have somebody from your own home town in the same hospital as we get together quite often and talk over old times.”
The letter was written from Waggoner by an American Red Cross “Gray Lady”,” The sergeant’s address is: S. Sgt. Karl Waggoner, Ward 11, Dibble Gen. Hospital, Menlo Park, Cal.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Sept. 8, 1945
ATTENDING SERIES
According to an Associated Press dispatch from Menlo Park, Cal., Staff Sgt. Karl Waggoner, son of Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner of this city, is one of ten war veterans specially selected from patients at the Dibble hospital there to attend the World Series. The army is paying for plane transportation for the men and the San Francisco Examiner other expenses.
Waggoner, whose eyesight was impaired by injuries received in the Italian campaign, has been undergoing special treatment at Dibble hospital. The ten veterans, four of whom are totally blind, left Tuesday for Detroit and are accompanied by three “orienteers”—specially trained personnel who help them overcome special problems which confront them.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Oct. 2, 1945
S. Sgt. Karl Waggoner and Miss Bonnie Waggoner of Menlo Park, Cal., have arrived here to spend a 45 day furlough with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner, and other relatives and friends. On completion of their furloughs, they will both report back to Menlo Park.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - Oct. 23, 1945
S/Sgt. Karl Waggoner, left; Sgt. Leonard Scott at right; with celebrity Tallullah Bankhead
Source: Personal files of Allen Welsh
S/SGT. KARL WAGGONER DISCHARGED FROM ARMY
S/Sgt. Karl Waggoner called his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Waggoner, Thursday from the hospital at Menlo Park, Calif., to tell them he had received his discharge from the army.
Sgt. Waggoner had been hospitalized 17 months. He expects to reach Webster City in about three weeks.
Source: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA - May 31, 1946
Karl Winfield Walter Waggoner was born Sept. 10, 1914 to Winfield Scott and Rose Alice Martin Waggoner. He died Mar. 27, 1992 and is buried in Skylawn Memorial Park, San Mateo, CA.
Sgt. Waggoner served with the 34th Infantry, 133rd Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company E. He was wounded in the mountains in Italy near Po Valley. A mortar shell exploded a couple feet in front of Karl, blinding him and causing extensive wounds. Sgt. Waggoner was overseas for 35 months and holds the purple heart, the European theater ribbon with two stars, the good conduct medal, pre-Pearl Harbor ribbon and the combat infantryman’s medal.
Sources:
Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA (photo included)
World War II Memorial Honoree
His Obituary: Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA -
March 31, 1992
Karl Waggoner, 77, Redwood City, Calif., formerly of Webster City, died Friday, March 27. Services will be held at noon Wednesday at the Church of Latter Day Saints, 1475 Edgewood Road, Redwood City, Calif. Internment will be in Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, Calif.
Karl Waggoner lived in Redwood City for the past 48 years after moving there from Webster City. He retired in 1978 after having been an assemblyman for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto for 7 years. He was also a World War II veteran.
He is survived by sons, LaVerne Waggoner, Pahrump, Nev., Larry Waggoner, Camarillo, Calif., daughter, Jean Moore, Phoenix, Ariz.; top-sons, Howard Mathison, Barstow, Calif., Arthur Mathison, Daly City; sister, Bonnie Rasmussen, Webster City; brother, Don Waggoner, West Des Moines; 15 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
He was a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, Redwood City Ward and Big Brothers Association.
ADDITION - Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA, April 21, 1992
In addition to the obituary of Karl Waggoner, 77, Redwood City, Calif., formerly of Webster City, who died March 27 is the following.
Karl Waggoner, son of Scott and Rose Waggoner, was born Sept. 10, 1914 in Webster City. He attended the Webster City schools.
In 1933, he married Edith May Dilley of Webster City.
He served in the U.S. Army in World War II in the North African Theatre and at the Anzio Beach Head in Italy. In 1945, he returned to the United States to the Dibble General Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. Following his discharge in 1946, he was employed for 27 years at Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, Calif.
He was preceded in death by his wife, parents and three sisters.
