LaVerne M. Feltner

World War II

LaVerne “Curly” Feltner was born on November 29, 1915, in Audubon, IA to John and Clupia (Schwartz) Feltner. When he registered for the military draft on October 16, 1940, he listed his occupation as self-employed trucker.

Curly enlisted in the US Army on February 1, 1942, and was inducted at Fort Des Moines, IA. He was assigned serial number 37 113 450. The location of his initial training is unknown. When that training was complete, he was assigned to Battery B of the 980th Field Artillery Battalion. This unit had its origins in the California National Guard. When Curly joined this unit, they were training at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, WA.

On February 13, 1943, Curly was married to Evelyn Kohorst, daughter of Joe and Mary Kohorst of Templeton, in Tacoma. Evelyn listed her address on the marriage license as Long Beach, CA. Presumably, she had moved to California as the war started as did a number of Carroll County residents.

The 980th FA Battalion continued its training and, in June, 1943, trained at the newly constructed Yakima Training Center in central Washington which had the space to simulate combat situations. In August, 1943, the battalion moved to Camp Young at the California-Arizona Maneuver Area for desert training.

By October, 1943, the battalion was preparing to be sent to England. However, on October 25, 1943, Curly received a medical discharge from the US Army. The reason is unknown. The 980th Field Artillery Battalion went on to England and landed in Normandy at Utah Beach a few days after the invasion. They remained in the fight to liberate Europe until the end of the war.

Curly and Evelyn remained in Los Angeles, California for the rest of the 1940’s. By the early 1950’s, the family had moved to Templeton where Curly was employed by the Templeton Locker. They later moved to Carroll. On October 30, 1965, their oldest son Jerry was the first Carroll County serviceman killed in Vietnam. Jerry was a medical corpsman in the US Navy and was attached to the 1st Marine Division when he was wounded earlier that week. He was on limited duty working in the hospital tent at the DaNang airbase when he was killed by a mortar shell.

Curly died in Carroll on January 10, 2004 at age 88. He was buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton.