Ferdinand F. Kumm
World War I
Ferdinand, or Ferd, Kumm, was one of eight kids born to Herman and Wilhelmina “Minna” Kumm. His grandfather was also named Ferdinand, by the way. He was born at Wisner on June 1, 1892, and most of his younger life was spent in Nebraska, although his parents moved the family back to Germany from 1898 to 1902. Coincidentally, some of the information gathered for this tribute was already handy as I had actually researched him for my children — who are great-grandchildren of Ferdinand and Hilda Kumm. Ferd married Hilda Lenz on June 6, 1917, and he was inducted into the Army Oct. 6, 1917. I found a U.S.Army transport record of him arriving back in the United States from Brest, France, on the ship Imperator on Aug. 3, 1919. The ship records stated he served as a private in Company B, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion. The infantry divisions in the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I contained 260 machine guns, 36 of which were used as antiaircraft weapons within the division field artillery brigade. The third machine gun battalion was a division unit under command of the division commander. The battalion had a strength of 16 officers and 377 enlisted men and was motorized.
After traveling to Camp Merritt in New Jersey, Ferd was discharged Aug. 16, 1919. When he returned home, he saw his one-year-old son, Elmer, for the first time.
Ferd and his wife started their married life northwest of Osmond, but moved to Holyoke, CO, in 1929. According to grandson LeRoy Kumm, Ferd and Hilda moved to Colorado to live on the farm his father bought for him. They had three bad years of drought and the grain prices were bad. They moved west of Battle Creek in 1934, and then the barn caught on fire and they lost everything. They then moved back to Osmond in 1938.
Ferd and Hilda had four children: Elmer, Ervin, Delores and Duane. The grandchildren and other family members shared some memories of Ferd, including the following: "I remember we had a large patch of cucumbers in the corner of the field. Ervin, Lorena, Leland, Warren, Gorden, Grandpa and Grandma went to pick cucumbers about 8 a.m. in the morning. [After a coffee break] they went out to pick some more. By noon they were finished. They sorted the cucumbers by the different sizes. Then toward evening they would take them to Pierce for the Gedney Company.” “I remember one time when Grandpa and Grandma still lived on the farm, we had a family reunion of all their children and grandchildren. The men went pheasant hunting in the early morning and wouldn’t come home till about noon.” “I remember Grandpa loved eating turnips right out of the garden. Hardly cleaned them. He would take his pocket knife out of his overall pocket.” — Irene Hill "I remember Grandpa loved to go fishing and many times caught enough to feed the family. While he mainly fished for crappies and bullheads, I remember seeing a picture of a large northern pike that he caught.” — Don Kumm “Grandpa and Grandma were active members of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Grandpa did the mowing and snow removal around the church grounds.” — Linda Mickley Ferdinand Kumm suffered a coronary and died Jan. 21, 1986. He had been a member of American Legion Post 326 for more than 50 years and was one of the last two World War I veterans at the time of his death. Services were held at Immanuel Lutheran Church with burial in the parish cemetery and graveside services conducted by members of American Legion Post 326.
