Elmer Meyer
World War II
Elmer Meyer was a gentleman who apparently lived here only a few years before his untimely death, but in that time he had not only joined our American Legion, but as a disabled veteran with an incapacitated left arm, was a regular bowler at the Town Bowl.
Elmer was born in Luxemburg, IA, on Nov. 17, 1923, to Nicholas and Theresa Meyer. He was the seventh of 10 children in the family, with two dying in infancy.
In 1940, when he was 17 years old, it shows his occupation as delivery boy at a drugstore, making $302 in 1939. At age 19, in 1943, Elmer was inducted into the Army. His WWII registration card shows that he was 6 ft., 2 in. tall and weighed 145 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and a ruddy complexion.
Incidentally, all five of Elmer's brothers also served during World War II, four in the Army and one in the Army Air Force.
Elmer served in Company I, 314th Infantry Regiment. He served from April 7 to Oct. 13, 1944, in France. According to the information in his obituary, he was wounded by machine gun fire near Cherbourg, France on July 6, 1944.
Five days later, he was caught in a mortar blast which nearly cost him his life. He sustained severe chest and arm injuries and spent the next 34 months in Army hospitals in France and the United States, undergoing surgical treatment and skin grafting. He was honorably discharged May 7, 1947. Elmer received the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster for injures and valor in battle.
After he was discharged, Elmer owned and drove a taxi in Dubuque. His Korean War registration card from 1948 shows that his left arm was paralyzed, which must have made it a challenge to drive a cab. An application for WWII service compensation, approved in 1949, shows that he would receive $425 per month. His obituary says that, at that time, he also bought and operated a tavern there.
In 1950, he was still living with his parents, along with several younger siblings, including two married brothers and their families. Then in 1952, Elmer married Genevieve Atchinson. According to the obituary, his family moved to Colorado Springs sometime in the 1950s (the year was unreadable in the paper), where he was in charge of an Army Post Exchange at Fort Carson, then assistant manager of a motel, before moving back to Dubuque where he was engaged in specialized farming and operated a night club.
In 1965, Elmer moved to Osmond. Apparently, although he was unable to perform physical labor, he had taken up bowling a couple years before that, and had become proficient beyond the average. He was a regular bowling on several league teams despite his incapacitated left arm.
After a little digging, I did find Elmer Meyer in the bowling standings in the Osmond Republican. He was on three bowling leagues at one time in 1966 at least — the Monday Classic, Wednesday American and Thursday National leagues, with high series scores of 594, 576 and 573, and individual scores of 235, 222 and 205.
On April 18, 1968, Elmer died of a heart attack at Osmond General Hospital at the relatively young age of 44. He left his widow and six children, included a 23-year-old son, Joe, who was stationed with the Navy near Vietnam, as well as Donald in kindergarten; Debra, second grade; Gary, third grade; Pam, fifth, and Robert, a sophomore, all at Osmond Community School.
Elmer's body was flown back to Dubuque where he is buried in Mount
Calvary Cemetery.
