Stanley L. Broberg
World War II
Stanley Broberg’s is a heartbreaking story – a young man who made it through four years of service during World War II, only to be killed in a traffic accident only a few months after he was discharged from theArmy Air Force.
Stanley was born in Madison County on Dec. 3, 1917, to Lawrence and Adeline Broberg. He was the oldest of three children, and had two younger sisters, Orphie and Arlene.
In the 1930 census, when he was 12 years old, he was living with his family in Boone County, possibly near Newman Grove, which is where his parents ended up living later on.
I’m not sure when exactly Stanley moved to Osmond, but in the 1940 census, he was living with Fred and Josephine Schmitz on their farm at the northwest edge of Osmond. The Schmitzes had two hired hands, but Stanley was just listed as a lodger, and was working as a truck driver for Norfolk Rendering Works.
Stan registered for the draft on Oct. 16, 1940, and was drafted Feb. 18, 1941. He is pictured in the Feb.
19, 1941, Osmond Republican with a group of Pierce County men leaving from Pierce for Omaha to be inducted. The article states that the men left after being given a send-off by the American Legion post and high school band directed by Frank Gamble.
A few months later, when he was stationed in Arkansas, he married Madeline Brandstetter of Osmond on May 17, 1941, at Little Rock, AR. He was 23 and she was 21. The article about his marriage stated that he was a volunteer serving in the medical regiment at Camp Robinson (by Little Rock). During the four years he served in the military, his wife lived in Osmond.
Stanley served with the 1521st Army Air Force Base Unit from February 1941 through Oct. 11. 1945. The only information I found about this unit was the following: The 1521st AAF Base Unit (Foreign Transport Station) was organized at Hickam Fld, HI (later Hickam AFB, HI) on April 1, 1944, as part of the Pacific Division, Air Transport Command, so that was probably where he was stationed at the end of his service.
According to his obituary, it said his unit was engaged in the evacuation of wounded troops, a job that “carried him through the air for many thousands of miles without injury.” He was discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant.
After he was discharged, the Brobergs moved to Norfolk, where he again worked for Norfolk Rendering Works. Only a few weeks later, tragedy struck — he was killed when his pickup truck and a hay laden truck collided nine miles south of Norfolk. The sheriff who investigated the crash said that neither driver saw the other in time to avoid the collision.
Funeral services were held at Sacred Heart Church at Norfolk before he was brought to Osmond and buried in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery. Funeral and burial services were under the direction of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Stanley was 28 years old at the time of his death. He left behind his wife and a son, Stanley Jr., who would have been about 4 years old at the time.
In this picture of WWII draftees, printed in the Osmond Republican in February of 1941, Stanley Broberg is the third from the left in the back row. Other Osmond men in this picture are Lawrence Rasmussen, Joseph Scharfen and Clarence Kalvelage. This is the only picture of Stanley Broberg that I could find.
