In Memory of

U.S. Army Technician 5th Class

Herman Wilhelm Wudel

Alexandria, South Dakota

Hanson County

March 31, 1916 – February 4, 1945

Killed in Action in France

Herman W. Wudel was born March 31, 1916, at Clayton, South Dakota, to Nathaniel “Dan” and Dora Rose (Harnisch) Wudel. He had two brothers, Edwin and Alfred, and three sisters: Lenora, Dora, and Martha. A fourth sister, Myrtle, died in 1928. Herman was the oldest of the sons and moved with his family to Hanson County in 1925. He graduated from Alexandria High School in 1935 and then attended the Flandreau Vocational School (NYA). When not in school, Herman worked as a brick-layer and mason. On April 3, 1941, Edwin married Esther Graves at Salinas, California. They had a daughter, Penelope.

Herman Wudel was a member of the South Dakota National Guard and went with the 147th Field Artillery when called up to Fort Ord, California. When they shipped out for overseas duty, Herman was temporarily deferred due to health concerns. After Pearl Harbor, Wudel was recalled to the service in March of 1942. He was stationed at Fort Ord, California; Camp Campbell, Kentucky; and Camp Barkeley, Texas. T-5 Wudel was shipped overseas as part of the 119th Engineers Battalion, 12th Armored Division, on August 29, 1944. Technician Fifth Class Herman Wudel was serving in the demolition squad, Corps of Engineers, First Army in France when, on February 4, 1945, he was seriously wounded in action. Telegrams were sent out first to notify his family that he had been wounded and later to notify them that he had died on the day he was wounded.

Herman Wudel is buried at Plot A, Row 18, Grave 51, Epinal American Cemetery in France. He was awarded the Purple Heart. Herman was the second son who was lost in the Wudel family in WW II. Edwin, Herman’s brother, was killed in action in the Pacific theater on July 28, 1943. The Alexandria Herald wrote: “…the two brothers lie buried in a foreign land, as far distant from one another as they are from home. Yes, we will win the war—we must win it in order that all that is good shall triumph—but at what tremendous cost!”

The paper goes on to quote the letter that President Abraham Lincoln was said to have sent to Mrs. Bixby in Boston, Massachusetts in 1864:

I have been shown in the files of the war department a statement of the adjutant general

of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who died gloriously on the field of

battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to

beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering

you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray

that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only

the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have

laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Respectfully submitted by Anna Klassy, 8th grade student, Rutland Junior High, Rutland, SD, April 2, 2002 and revised by Sheila Hansen, Fallen Sons State Coordinator, Spearfish, SD. Information for this entry was provided by the ABMC site, the Alexandria Herald, issue 2/22/45, the Daily Republic, and an application for a SD veteran’s bonus payment.

Herman W Wudel