PFC Ralph William Mueller was born on 18 August 1911, in the city of Peru, Illinois—a small city nestled in the heart of the Illinois Valley. His parents, John and Petronilla (Wagner) Mueller, were both natives of the area, with deep roots in the local community and large extended families. Ralph also had a younger sister Mildetta who was born in 1914. Ralph’s paternal grandparents William and Mary (Schwamborn) Mueller were immigrants from Ruppichteroth and Heßheim in Germany respectively. They left their country for the U.S. in the early 1880s. Upon arriving, they met and married in 1882, and eventually…
Tag: WWII
S SG Frank Florian Liss, Service No. 36014000
Frank Florian Liss was born the day before Christmas in 1916, in Peru, Illinois, to Frank and Anna (Budziak) Liss. He was the third son born to the couple. Frank Sr. worked as a machinist and ultimately a sheet metal worker at the cement mill. By 1930 when Frank Jr. was 14, the family was living in a home they purchased at 715 Fifth street in Peru. Frank’s upbringing was possibly influenced by his maternal grandmother, Josephine Budziak, who lived just a few blocks away. His paternal grandmother, Josie Liss, also resided in the area living in 1930 in LaSalle…
S SG Alfred Charles Knudtson, Service No. 16079636
Alfred Charles Knudtson, born on 5 June 1921 in Peru, Illinois, was the second child of James C. and Luella (Schmidt) Knudtson. Alfred’s father was a Norwegian immigrant who arrived in America in 1889 under the name James Christian Winter. James Knudtson ultimately settled in Peru, Illinois, where he met and married Luella Schmidt in November 1910. Much of Alfred’s life was spent in his family’s home at 2229 State Street in Peru with his parents and three sisters— Genevieve, Mavis, and Ruth. Their father James supported the family by working when he could as a cigar maker. As a…
1 LT Valerian Emet Klein, Service No. O-819407
Valerian Emet Klein, who entered this world on 26 April 1920 in Peru, Illinois, was the first-born son of Henry A. and Clara M. (Zaniecki) Klein. His early years in his Roman Catholic family were marked by the hardworking ethos of his father, grandfather, and uncle, all employed at Westclox—a local clock factory. Tragedy first struck the family with the death of Valerian’s grandfather, a German immigrant, who succumbed at age 60 to flu and pneumonia when Valerian was just under a year old. Throughout his childhood, Valerian experienced further personal loss; his younger brothers, Howard and William Edward, passed…
PVT Albert Lee Johnson, Service No. 36673535
Military Service In the summer of 1943, 21-year-old Albert Lee Johnson joined the U.S. Army to serve his country in World War II. He trained at Camp Reynolds near Greenville, Pennsylvania and in May 1944 deployed overseas as a medical aidman in the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. A month later he parachuted into Europe as part of the D-Day invasion. In the ensuing months, PVT Johnson’s resolve was unyielding as he aided his unit across the war-torn landscapes of France and Belgium. Amidst the chaos of one of his unit’s battles in Germany on 15 September…
PFC John Anthony Torchia, Service Number 36438620
John Anthony Torchia’s story is a poignant reminder of the human cost of war and the valor of those who serve. He was born on 27 June 1922, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Anton and Angelina (Colmane) Torchia, immigrants from Parco, Sicily, Italy (now Altofonte). John’s father, Anton, had arrived in America in 1912 at age 16, and married John’s mother, Angelina, in 1920. John’s mother Angelina made her own journey of immigration from Italy to the U.S. in 1906 at age four along with her mother and younger brother Antonio. John’s early life was steeped in the close-knit, hardworking community…
Using ChatGPT 4 to Transcribe Data from a PDF
If you’ve visited this site before, you are probably aware I have been volunteering with the Stories Behind the Stars (SBTS) effort to write stories for those who lost their lives serving in the US military during WWII. Soon after getting involved I also volunteered to help manage the Illinois database of names of the fallen from that state. The main challenge of that task has been to figure out which county each fallen member was from. To do this, I have relied on the WWII Honor List of Dead and Missing in the State of Illinois because this document…
PFC Delmar A Delaney, Service No. 36372055
Delmar Albert Delaney was born on 21 August 1917, in Peru, Illinois, to John and Edith (Meyer) Delaney. When Delmar was born his parents had been married for five years and had two older children: John and Lucille. Delmar had Irish ancestry through his paternal great grandparents John and Mary Cusick Delaney who immigrated to America from Ireland in the 1800s. However, he also had a strong German background through his other set of paternal great grandparents Philip Fouth and Philipena Walter Fouth who had arrived in America from Germany in the early 1800s and settled in Bureau county. Delmar…
TEC5 Clement L. Gillio, Service No. 36323575
TEC5 Clement Louis Gillio was born to Italian immigrant parents, August and Angelina (Benedino) Gillio, in Oglesby, Illinois, on 12 October 1916. Clement’s father, August Gillio, had come to the United States at age 21 to join his older brother Antonio. It’s unclear where August first settled upon arriving. However, in Pontiac, Illinois, in 1906, August Gillio married Angelina Benedino, a young lady from his hometown of Cascinette, Italy, By 1910, August and his wife were living in Oglesby, Illinois, and August was supporting his family by working in the coal mine. In 1920 when Clement was three, the Gillio…
PFC Batista J. Gillio, Service No. 36482154
PFC Batista John Gillio’s story is a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by many young Americans during World War II. He was born to Italian immigrant parents, Louis and Enrichetta Gillio, in Oglesby, Illinois, on 21 July 1921. Batista’s father, Louis Gillio, had come to the United States as a teenager joining his older brothers Antonio and August. He settled near them in the LaSalle/Peru/Oglesby area of LaSalle County, Illinois, and eventually met and married Enrichetta. Together, they had in addition to Batista, two older sons Charles and Louis Jr and two daughters Rose and Mary. Life was challenging…