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| Cousins Sgt. Marvin Koele and Lt. Raymond Koele were killed on the same day in Tunisia. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61466799/marvin-royce-koele https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61426697 |
Marvin Royce Koele never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: Later this month we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
He was born on January 22, 1920 in Hull, Iowa. His parents Nick and Marie were born in Holland and Iowa, respectively. His father worked as a restaurant manager and later as a town night marshal and still later as the town marshal. Marvin had three older sisters and one older brother. By 1940 Marvin had completed three years of high school. He was still living at home and worked as an oil station attendant.
He volunteered for the Iowa National Guard and joined the US Army in February 1941. He rose to the rank of sergeant in Company I, Third Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. The 34th ID began combat operations in November 1942 in North Africa. It defeated Vichy troops in Algeria.
Sgt. Koele was killed on April 8, 1943 during the first day of a new offensive action of the 34th ID. It was attacking across open terrain to take Fondouk, Tunisia. In a sad coincidence, his home town cousin Lt. Raymond Koele, also serving in the army in North Africa, was killed on the very same day.
Their graves are at Hope Cemetery in Hull, Iowa.
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 waist gunner Julian Miller, childhood best friend of Rev. Billy Graham. You can read about Julian here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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