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| Tec5 Benedict Axtman served in the 850th Engineer Aviation Battalion in Germany. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71757400/benedict-frank-axtman WWII 850th Aviation Battalion Booklet |
Benedict Frank Axtman never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Ben was born on July 29, 1920 in Aberdeen, South Dakota one of ten children to Anton and Christina Axtman, immigrants from Russia. Anton was a cobbler and worked for the Webb-Carter Shoe Company in Aberdeen.
Ben had nine siblings: Helen, Michael, Madeline, Eva, Mathilda, Casper, Rose, Anton, and Paul.
Ben's interests were fishing and hunting, his favorite sport, baseball.
He was a typical young man. Ben attended St. Mary's grade school, graduated the 8th grade but had no further education. He worked a various jobs including egg candler, the CCC in the Black Hills, and as a meat cutter for Swift Company.
His brother Sebastian remembers him as a jolly soul who always carried a smile and a laugh.
Ben enlisted in the service on September 1st, 1942 and trained at Camp Roberts and Ft. Ord, California and was sent overseas on May 23rd, 1943. He became a TEC5 and was stationed in England and eventually Germany as part of Company C, 850th Engineer Aviation Battalion then attached to the 3rd Armored Division nicknamed “The Third Herd”. The engineer aviation battalions were created to build airbase. In the case of 850th EAB it either built new airfields repaired airfields captured from the Germans.
He died on April 27, 1945. Since he was in a non-combat unit, it was likely due to an accident. Ben’s enlistment card has "Cancelled–Died Non Battle" written across it in red pencil. The booklet honoring the 850th Engineer Aviation Battalion has Ben listed on their memorial page.
He has a government issued headstone at Saint Mary’s Cemetery in his home town of Aberdeen, South Dakota. I could find no awards issued to Ben.
Courtesy - Midge Ruggles
Thank you, Benedict Frank Axtman for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Ben.
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This profile was written by Linda Simpson. I’m retired from the floriculture field and have been an avid genealogist and historian for over 40 years. When I saw an article on Don’s project I knew I wanted to be a part of Stories Behind the Stars. What an amazing way to honor our fallen, by ‘Earning It’ for them.
This is one of the final 50 stories (36) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Jack Chambers, 2nd Armored Division. You can read about Jack 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.
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“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”
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