David Buchanan Jr.
World War II
David Buchanan Jr. was the son of David Sr. and Luella Buchanan, and the grandson of Burton Buchanan, the founder of Buchanan Well Co. He was born in Osmond on Sept. 3, 1926, and spent his entire life in Os mond except for three years that the family lived in Michigan and during his period of service.
David attended Osmond elementary and high school, graduating from OHS in 1943 at the age of 16.
He worked with his father in the well drilling business for a couple of years before the war, although on his military papers, it states that he had worked at Osmond Oil Co. as a tank wagon driver before entry into the service.
According to his records, he en- listed Oct. 28, 1943, and served until June 25, 1945, in the U. S. Navy
Reserves. His son, Roger, said that David was barely 17 years old, and at that age he had to have his parents sign papers allowing him to enlist.
According to a history of the Navy Reserves on Wikipedia, “By the summer of 1941, virtually all of its members were serving on active duty, their numbers destined to swell when Japanese planes roared out of a clear blue sky over Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941."
His discharge papers state that his rank at discharge was Fireman First Class, and Roger filled in more information, saying that his father served in the South Pacific. Roger is in possession of a diary that David
was sent in a Christmas box on Dec.
25, 1944. In it, he writes about his experiences there. The title of the
diary is "My Stretch in the Service." The first entry in his diary was writ -
ten Dec. 25, 1944, and the last was in February of 1945, a few months
before he was discharged.
On Dec. 27, 1944, he wrote, "Didn't work so went to Pitylou Island and had a bottle of beer. First I’ve had. They got thousands of cases, but try and get it!! Got two letters from Mom and a couple of cards. Wish to God Hollis would write. . ." On Dec.
28, “Three more boys were put to rest in the cemetery below the hill. Hope it doesn’t happen to me, but if my number comes up, I’m ready. No mail. Been some time since I’ve heard from Hollis." And on Dec. 30, “Wrote to Hollis and Mom and told her to buy me a watch and send it."
Throughout his diary, he mentions many times his wish for Hollis to write to him. I can’t be positive, but I found a Hollis Chase in the Osmond alumni directory for the Class of 1945, which would have been two years behind him. I can only assume that she was his girlfriend at home. In reading through the diary, Roger said it looks like Hollis only wrote to David one time. I wonder what happened? Sounds like she may have broken his heart.
David was discharged June 25, 1945, from the Great Lakes Training Center at Great Lakes, IL, which is where he met his future wife.
Less than a month later, on July 9, 1945, when he was 18 years old, he actually registered for the draft. According to Roger, it was common at that time that if a man hadn’t served at least six years, you had to sign up again.
The description on David’s registration card noted he had brown hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. Under “Other obvious physical character- istics that will aid in identification," there is something written that looks like "tattoos on right and left forearm."
It’s hard to read and a couple words are misspelled, but that sure looks like what it says. Even conferring with his granddaughter, Margaret Ryan, we couldn’t come up with anything else.
After his time in the service, David returned to work in the well drilling and irrigation business with his father. He married Doris Buege in Detroit, MI, on Nov. 1, 1947, and they lived there for three years, but by 1950, he, his wife and their one-year-old son Bruce were back in Osmond. At the time of the 1950 census, they were living with David’s mother, Luella, who was divorced from his father.
And then came the tragedy of June 26, 1960. David and his 11-year-old son Bruce, and a friend, Elmer Johannsen, had left about midnight the night before and traveled to a park- ing and fishing area below Gavins Point dam, four miles upstream from Yankton. They slept until daybreak and then fished the tail waters for a while, then drove to a different area. At that point, the men asked Bruce to remain on shore in the car while they went out on a boat.
Three college students, picnicking with their families that day, spotted a life preserver near the shore as they were about to return home, and then found it was attached to Johannsen’s body. The authorities were called, and they soon found out that Johannsen had been with the Buchanans.
Bruce was found asleep in the car, and the boat was discovered overturned the next day. Buchanan’s body was not recovered for several more days, after an organized search by about 75 men, many from this area, and including David Buchanan Sr.
David Jr. was 33 years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife and three sons: Bruce, 11, Roger, 9, and Dennis, almost two.
A military funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church, and burial was in the city cemetery. The Osmond Boy Scout troop formed a Guard of Honor around the casket at both the church and the cemetery.
David is buried in the Buchanan plot which is several rows up from the main entrance and to the left, most of the way across the row. ————— My thanks to Margaret Ryan for finding the picture of her grandfather in his uniform. Margaret is the daughter of Bruce and Valerie (Clayton) Buchanan.
As I was preparing to print David’s story for this week, I found a note I have had here for some time about his son, Roger, visiting Osmond in 2024 for the Osmond alumni reunion and finding his father's Navy uniform at the Down Memory Lane museum at the Osmond senior center. The picture of Roger kneeling beside the uniform was sent to me at that time.
Roger said he remembers that uniform being in a cedar chest in his grandmother Ella’s house, and David’s granddaughter Robbie Gansebom donated it to the museum.
I had been in contact with Roger back in 2024, and he said then that he was going to research his dad’s service and get back to me. I texted him a while back to see if he had found any information for me because I was going to print what I had found, and I heard back last week, when he gave me some of the above information. My thanks to Roger for the information about David’s service, and for sending me copies of some of the diary pages.
This was one of the longest stories about one of our local veterans, but I hope you enjoyed reading it!
